----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 21:26:30 -0700

Subject:Chat with Michael Krawitz Sunday! Up TOC

From: Richard Lake <rlake@mapinc.org>

Michael Krawitz will be our special guest in the DrugSense Chat Room, 
Sunday, May 12, 2002 8 pm EDT, 5 pm Pacific time.

http://www.mapinc.org/chat/

Mike is the founder of The Cannabis Museum, http://www.cannabismuseum.org - 
Listmaster/Moderator and Chair, Marijuana Legalization Committee, 
Virginians Against Drug Violence, http://www.drugsense.org/DPFVA - Advisor 
to Patient's Out of Time, http://www.medicalcannabis.com and a Regional 
Leader for the The November Coalition http://www.november.org

Two articles were recently published about the museum, 'The Louvre Of Pot' 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n773/a07.html
and  'Collection Celebrates Cannabis' 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n804/a14.html

The articles were a result of newspaper interviews at the NORML conference 
where parts of the museum were on display. A few pictures taken at the 
conference of the displays are currently at these links:

http://www.mapinc.org/temp/DCP_0017.JPG

http://www.mapinc.org/temp/DCP_0019.JPG

http://www.mapinc.org/temp/museum1.jpg

http://www.mapinc.org/temp/museum2.jpg





 
 


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web:     http://www.crrh.org/

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Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 21:29:59 -0700

Subject:Playboy: Pot Clubs Under Attack Up TOC

Pot Clubs Under Attack - Playboy
Pubdate: Sat, 01 Jun 2002
Source: Playboy Magazine (US)
Section: Forum
Author: Dean Kuipers

POT CLUBS UNDER ATTACK
Why Raid Pot Clubs Now
By midafternoon on Thursday, October 25, 10 people had gathered in a 
storefront in West Hollywood to bake pot brownies and fill 400 sandwich 
bags with weed. If all went according to plan, about two pounds of 
marijuana would be distributed the next morning to members of the Los 
Angeles Cannabis Resource Co-op, just as the group had been doing three 
times every week for the past five years.
Founded in 1996, the LACRC had grown to include 960 members who relied on 
marijuana for medical purposes, including relief from the nausea associated 
with AIDS and cancer treatments. Pot keeps meds down and appetites up. It 
relieves the pain and spasticity of multiple sclerosis. It reduces 
intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients. It's easy to grow and less 
expensive than pharmaceuticals. One of the side effects is a pleasant buzz 
- - - a similar effect to what one might feel on codeine or other pain 
relievers.
The center had operated with immunity because of Proposition 215. Passed in 
1996 by California voters, it allowed doctors to recommend and seriously 
ill residents to use ( and grow ) medical marijuana. The federal government 
took a different view. Drugs not prescribed by a physician are illegal and 
therefore a threat akin to terrorists. That's one conclusion that can be 
drawn from what occurred at the LACRC six weeks after September 11, with 
the World Trade Center still smoldering and the country on edge because of 
an anthrax scare.
Around 5 P.M., an officer from the Drug Enforcement Administration rang the 
bell at the co-op. Behind him stood 29 other agents, most armed with 
pistols. Their unmarked sedans clogged the street. Anyone passing by the 
nondescript building on Santa Monica Boulevard might have assumed a drug 
kingpin lived inside.
When he heard the bell, Scott Imler, the center's 43-year-old director, 
looked up at the security monitor in his office. He noticed a crowd. Then 
he spotted the letters DEA on the back of a jacket. He raced to the front 
door, but it was too late. The security guard, a volunteer with AIDS who 
had been assigned to check ID cards and prescriptions, forgot to look at 
his own monitor before opening the door. Who else would it be but a patient 
or volunteer? Two agents pinned him against a wall as the others swarmed 
into the building, their guns bolstered. They herded everyone into the 
lounge, including Imler, who uses cannabis to control his epileptic 
seizures and cluster headaches. One agent asked him for his keys to the 
building while others raised the delivery door and backed two rental trucks 
into position.
As Imler and the others waited, the agents searched the offices. According 
to its warrant, the government suspected the LACRC of three federal crimes: 
manufacture of marijuana for sale, maintaining a drug house and money 
laundering.
In the basement, agents chopped up the center's 400 plants and loaded the 
debris into rental trucks. They also carried out 56 grow lights and an 
array of power tools. Timers used to regulate the water intake of the 
plants couldn't be removed from the walls, so the agents smashed them. They 
removed the processing units from five computers used to track patients and 
carted away 60 boxes of dispensary chits - the records of every pot 
prescription the center had ever filled. When a cabinet filled with medical 
records proved too heavy to move, the agents dumped its contents 
haphazardly into more boxes.
Shortly after the raid began, the LACRC's attorney, John Duran ( who also 
serves on the West Hollywood city council ), arrived. Agents claimed the 
center was a "federal crime scene" and that Duran would have to wait 
outside. He asked if he could phone his clients. He was told no.
He waited for nearly six hours. At 11 PM, the agents piled into their cars, 
started the trucks and left en masse. They had with them almost the entire 
contents of the LACRC'S offices, excluding furniture. They made no arrests.
The next morning, more than 150 people showed up at the center to fill 
their prescriptions. Either by design or accident, the feds had overlooked 
a six-ounce bag of pot in the dispensary. That was just enough for everyone 
present to get a one-gram dose, and then the LACRC was out of business.
Scott Imler had anticipated the raid long before the agents arrived. At one 
time, the movement to legalize medical marijuana had been gaining 
momenturn. Besides California, eight states ( Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, 
Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington ) allow patients to smoke weed 
under controlled circumstances. Voters in Washington, D.C. also approved a 
referendum, though Congress squashed it. But last year the U.S. Supreme 
Court decided that states could not legalize marijuana for any purpose, 
regardless of what voters thought. The court ruled that the federal 
Controlled Substances Act, which makes marijuana the legal equivalent of 
heroin and cocaine, trumps any local measure. So much for states' rights. 
The ruling coincided with the arrival of Bush appointees John Ashcroft as 
attorney general and Asa Hutchinson as director of the DEA. Both men 
support the drug war without exception.
Federal agents had been harassing other pot clubs before September 11, but 
the attacks forced them to suspend their campaign -- for two weeks. On 
September 28, DEA agents took thousands of records from a medical research 
center in El Dorado County.
The California Medical Association denounced the raid, saying it threatened 
the confidential physician-patient relationship. It wondered why federal 
agents were "tossing doctor's offices" in a time of national crisis. On 
that same day, agents raided the LACRC's gardens in Ventura County, 
removing 342 plants and cultivation equipment.
So on October 25, Imler was more saddened than surprised to see the DEA at 
his door. The agency admits it targeted the LACRC because the center had 
generated too much publicity, which flew in the face of the official line 
that marijuana use has to be stamped out. "In light of the Supreme Court 
ruling, it became incumbent upon us to establish federal law with regard to 
this cannabis buyers club, which was basically being flaunted," said a DEA 
spokesman.
In fact, the LACRC is a model of civic responsibility and of the American 
way of revolutionary change. Imler, a former high school teacher, tested 
the waters in 1992 by pushing an ordinance in Santa Cruz County that 
legalized medical marijuana there. Over the next four years, he worked to 
get the issue on the state ballot. Before the LACRC opened its doors to 
patients, Imler and his board met with the Los Angeles County sheriff and 
the West Hollywood City Council to coordinate how it would be integrated 
with the legal and health care systems. Everyone seemed content with the 
arrangement - except the White House.
To prevent anyone from abusing the system, the club created ID cards for 
patients who could produce valid doctors' prescriptions. Since the raid, 
Imler has spent most of his time reconstructing the LACRC'S records. He 
also takes regular calls from local deputies attempting to confirm that a 
person found with pot is a member of the club.
Captain Lynda Castro, who oversees the West Hollywood office of the LA 
Sheriff's Department, condemned the DEA raid and defends the way her office 
monitors the club. She relates an anecdote about a co-op member whose 
neighbor turned him in for growing a potted marijuana plant on his stoop. 
Her officers impounded the weed. But once they had received certification 
from the LACRC ( including a copy of the prescription ), a deputy gave the 
man and his plant a ride home.
Had the Justice Department been involved, the man might still be in jail. 
Federal authorities have been mired in paranoia since Richard Nixon 
launched the drug war in 1971. Even the General Accounting Office, the 
investigative arm of Congress generally viewed as an independent watchdog, 
appears to be entrenched. Last summer an official from the GAO told Imler 
that his agency had been directed by Congress ( specifically, the 
Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal justice Drug Policy and Human 
Resources ) to review medical marijuana facilities. Paul Jones, director of 
the GAO team, says its main interest was how the club makes sure pot goes 
to prescribed users. When the four investigators arrived, however, Imler 
says they seemed interested only in examining the basement grow room and in 
learning more about the club's Ventura County gardens. An hour after they 
left, a judge signed a warrant authorizing a raid on the Ventura gardens, 
which took place the following day. Jones says there is no connection 
between the events: "We don't show our information until the report is 
done, and then only to the requester in Congress." The GAO's report is 
expected in August.
Imler says the LACRC has not grown or distributed marijuana since the 
October raid. Patients must grow their own or find a dealer. With its 
stubborn and senseless marijuana policy, the White House has provided a 
stimulus package for the illegal drug trade.
Following the raid, a grand jury reviewed the two truckloads of material 
seized from the LACRC. As of presstime, there's been no word about its 
conclusions. Pot clubs in the Bay Area hid their medical records in 
anticipation of more raids. San Francisco officials declared the city a 
sanctuary for medical marijuana, and the district attorney made it clear 
his office and other city agencies would not be assisting in any raids. 
These measures, however, could not protect the clubs. On February 12, hours 
before DEA director Hutchinson gave a speech at the Commonwealth Club in 
San Francisco in which he claimed "science has told us so far there is no 
medical benefit to smoking marijuana" ( a disingenuous claim given that the 
government refuses to allow researchers access to marijuana so they can 
test the drug's effectiveness ), his agents raided the Sixth Street Harm 
Reduction Center along with several of its alleged suppliers, including one 
in British Columbia. The agency arrested four people, including the 
center's executive director, and seized 8300 plants.
Just as in Los Angeles, agents ransacked the center, which fills 
prescriptions for about 200 patients each day, and loaded a rental truck 
with plants and other evidence. The center was able to locate other sources 
of marijuana and reopened within hours. Protestors, including four city 
supervisors, later disrupted Hutchinson's speech, yelling "liar," blowing 
kazoos outside and chanting "Go away, DEA." Tom Ammiano, president of the 
board of supervisors, stood before the crowd and called the Drug 
Enforcement Administration "obnoxious" and "grandstanding," adding, "I 
don't want somebody in my house who isn't invited."
In Washington, D.C. that same day, Attorney General Ashcroft issued the 
federal government's latest warning that another attack on the U.S. could 
be imminent. The government then distributed the names and photographs of 
15 suspects. The DEA acknowledges that "there are other events going on in 
the world that are of a crisis nature" but says "the citizens of the United 
States expect us to continue to do our job." Otherwise, of course, the 
terrorists win.



 
 


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web:     http://www.crrh.org/

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Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 10:18:41 -0700

Subject:OR: Where There's Smoke Up TOC

Newshawk: The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation  www.thc-foundation.org
Pubdate: Sun, 12 May 2002
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Copyright: 2002 The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author: Geoffrey Arnold

Where there's smoke . . .

The investigation of Trail Blazers guard Damon Stoudamire in connection 
with a pound of marijuana police say they found in his home calls 
attention, once again, to a subject the NBA and its players would just as 
soon forget: marijuana use in the league.

Despite efforts to downplay the issue, it continues to surface. Whether in 
failed drug tests, marijuana possession charges, or police officers finding 
a pound of marijuana while checking a security alarm at a player's house, 
the combination of marijuana and the NBA has been around for a long time 
and doesn't appear to be going away any time soon.

And some say the league is not doing all it can to acknowledge the problem 
and curtail the risks.

"The NBA is not even concerned with marijuana use; it's not part of their 
substance control," said Dr. Linn Goldberg, head of Oregon Health & Science 
University's division of health promotion and sports medicine. "The policy 
is more image-related.

"If athletes are caught with drugs, it tarnishes their sport," said 
Goldberg, a professor of medicine who has studied the subject of drugs and 
sports for 15 years. "It's not that they're concerned about the athletes' 
health. I don't think they're concerned about that at all."

The league and the players union deny that marijuana is an issue of any 
magnitude, saying results of the most recent leaguewide drug tests show 
marijuana use among players is low.

However, several reports, as well as candid comments by current and former 
players over the years, suggest use is rampant and the league -- conscious 
of its image -- is loath to do anything about it.

A 1997 New York Times report quoted unnamed players who estimated that 60 
percent to 70 percent of NBA players smoked marijuana.

Richard Dumas, who was banned from the league for drug and alcohol abuse in 
1993 (and later reinstated), said in 1997 that the league ignores marijuana 
use. If the NBA tested players for marijuana, he said, "There would be no 
league."

Said Dumas: "Weed is something guys grow up doing, and there's no reason 
for them to stop. Because almost everyone does it, no one wants to test for 
it. They're afraid to."

Charles Oakley, a 17-year veteran forward who is with the Chicago Bulls, 
said last year he estimates that 60 percent of the players use marijuana.

"You have guys playing high every night," Oakley said.

Even Stoudamire once said marijuana use was a problem.

"As far as use, it's bad in the league, but I think that half of America 
might smoke marijuana, whether you want to believe that or not," Stoudamire 
told the New York Times in 1997.

According to a league source, the NBA probably will take some type of 
punitive action if Stoudamire is convicted or agrees to a plea bargain.

"He's likely to face some type of discipline," the source said. "It depends 
on the circumstances, but once you're convicted or accept a plea bargain, 
you're susceptible to discipline from the league."

The league and the players union, the National Basketball Players 
Association, disparaged the New York Times report and vehemently denied 
that marijuana use is anywhere near 60 percent in the NBA.

However, the league stiffened its drug policy in the latest collective 
bargaining agreement of 1999, calling for expanded drug testing that 
included marijuana. Yet critics call its marijuana testing nothing more 
than a public relations move.

Through a spokesman, NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik refused to comment 
for this article, citing the labor agreement's confidentiality for the 
anti-drug program.

The league's anti-drug policy is geared toward helping players, one team 
executive said.

"The league's policy is pretty stringent, but it does try to assist players 
who come forward wanting help," Indiana Pacers president Donnie Walsh said. 
"I don't think the percentage of players who use (marijuana) is any greater 
- -- and it might be less -- than the percentage in the general public."

Addressing a perception of widespread abuse, the league implemented its 
first anti-drug policy in 1984. The original program called for testing to 
focus on cocaine and heroin, considered the drugs of choice in the league 
during the 1970s and 1980s. Initially, the program was hailed for its 
toughness. It didn't include marijuana testing because of resistance from 
the players union.

Even though the NBA banned players such as Dumas, Mitchell Wiggins, Lewis 
Lloyd and Micheal Ray Richardson for cocaine use, critics complained that 
without testing for marijuana, the league didn't address the real problem.

In much the same way some alcoholics are outwardly "functional," marijuana 
users can be difficult to identify in a professional setting. Unless the 
result of their drug use is obvious -- such as attending games or practices 
visibly stoned -- identifying a marijuana user can be next to impossible.

"Some abusers can hide it well. It has to be pretty blatant, where the 
player is exhibiting compulsive and habitual behavior," Goldberg said. 
"Then the drug is affecting the individual's ability to perform."

But the league and the players union were forced to strengthen the 
anti-drug policy after arrests involving marijuana and big-name players in 
1997 and 1998.

Philadelphia's Allen Iverson pleaded no contest to a concealed weapon 
charge, and a marijuana possession charge was dropped in 1997. Marcus 
Camby, then with Toronto, avoided a marijuana possession charge by agreeing 
to do community service in 1997. The same year, Isaiah Rider -- then with 
the Trail Blazers --was convicted of a non-criminal a possession charge. In 
1998, Washington's Chris Webber, now with Sacramento, was arrested and 
charged with marijuana possession (and found not guilty) after police 
discovered a marijuana cigarette in the vehicle he was driving.

Those incidents, along with the conclusions in the 1997 Times article, 
prompted the league and the players union to revisit the issue of testing 
for marijuana during the protracted labor negotiations in 1998. The 
six-month negotiations, which resulted in a 204-day lockout and delayed the 
start of the season, produced a new anti-drug policy that increased the 
substances players could be tested for -- marijuana, amphetamines, LSD and 
steroids.

The new program also called for routine testing of all players at least 
once a year. The players union, which had resisted attempts to allow 
marijuana testing, finally gave in.

"We did what we had to do to help enhance the image of our players," Billy 
Hunter, executive director of the players association, told the New York 
Times in 1999. "The appearance was that many of them engaged in the use of 
marijuana. The NBA had been pleading or crying for an expanded drug program 
for years, so we took the high road and acquiesced."

To counter the perception of widespread drug use, NBA commissioner David 
Stern pointed to the results of leaguewide testing during training camp in 
October 1999. The results showed that 12 of 430 active players tested 
positive for marijuana.

"We're pleased with our drug policy so far," Granik said at the time.

The league has briefly suspended players who were convicted of drug crimes 
or negotiated a plea bargain to a lesser offense, including Iverson for one 
game and Rider for two games in 1997. It also has suspended players who 
failed to adhere to the anti-drug aftercare program.

Blazers forward Shawn Kemp, who entered drug rehabilitation in April 2001 
and missed the rest of the season, was suspended for an aftercare program 
violation and missed five games this season.

Critics say the leaguewide results didn't reflect the true number of 
marijuana users because the union notified its players by letter during the 
summer that they would be tested.

"If at any time this past summer, you or a player you know has smoked 
marijuana, used cocaine, heroin or other hard drugs, or taken steroids, you 
must read this," the letter began.

Because marijuana residue is stored in the body's fat cells, it can be 
detected up to a month after smoking. The union's early-warning system gave 
users plenty of time to stop smoking and allow the drug to be flushed out 
of their system. There also are products that claim to help detoxify the 
body and dilute urine.

So, with warning, how did 12 players fail the tests?

"Either they're really stupid or they don't care," Goldberg said.

Critics of the new policy cite the lack of testing throughout the season. 
Anyone other than a first-year player is subject to random testing no more 
than once each season, usually during training camp. Rookies can be tested 
once during training camp and up to three times during the regular season.

Critics say all players should be subject to random testing throughout the 
season.

Player advocates counter: How far should testing go? Should they be tested 
every day? Once a week? Where do you draw the line? They say random testing 
throughout the season is intrusive and an invasion of privacy, the same 
arguments used by the general public.

And the league's policy isn't much different from that of many corporations 
- -- testing new employees but not longtime employees unless there is 
suspicion of drug use or distribution.

The league can test players if it has "reasonable cause" to suspect use or 
distribution. That means if team officials suspect a player is using drugs, 
they can appeal to an arbitrator to determine if a player must undergo a 
drug test. If the player tests positive, he will face four random tests 
during the next six weeks.

But what's reasonable cause? Behavior such as unexcused absences from games 
and practices, tardiness to team functions or rapid weight loss could be 
viewed as suspicious.

Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal was fined after missing an extra 
day to spend time with his newborn on one occasion and fined for skipping a 
practice on another this season. Should those incidents be considered 
erratic behavior?

Rider displayed erratic behavior for much of his nine seasons in the 
league. During his three-year stay with the Blazers, he was fined $500 
after being convicted of a non-criminal violation for possessing less than 
an ounce of marijuana in May 1997. In part as a result of that, the league 
suspended him for the first two games of the 1997-98 season. And three 
years later, after Atlanta Hawks general manager Pete Babcock informed 
officials of possible drug use, the league suspended Rider again.

"They'll look you right in the eye every time and deny (drug use)," said 
Bill Fitch, the Rockets' coach when Lloyd and Wiggins were dismissed from 
the league in 1987.

Stardom like O'Neal's could pose another problem. If a player as important 
as he displayed erratic behavior and the team knew he was using illegal 
drugs -- no evidence exists to suggest this in O'Neal's case -- would team 
officials report him to the league?

What about Minnesota's Kevin Garnett? Or Orlando's Tracy McGrady? How about 
Toronto's Vince Carter? Would a team be willing to run the risk of 
embarrassing its star player and subject him to the constant scrutiny of 
the anti-drug program?

"The drug program is a very private policy matter between the league and 
the (players association)," Walsh said. "We don't really know how it's 
taken care of except through the (collective bargaining agreement). It's 
dealt with through the players."

Players have been reluctant to voluntarily enter the anti-drug program 
because of confidentiality concerns. Even though the results of the 1999 
drug tests were supposed to remain secret, someone within the league 
informed the media about the results and who failed the tests. Some players 
could lose millions of endorsement dollars if word got out that they 
entered the program.

The new agreement calls for banning players who test positive for cocaine, 
heroin, amphetamines or LSD, but not for marijuana. Although offenders 
could face escalating fines and suspensions, they will never be kicked out 
of the league for marijuana use, no matter how many times they test positive.

Lamar Odom remains in the NBA despite having been suspended twice in eight 
months. The Los Angeles Clippers forward said his decision to smoke 
marijuana before playing in the NBA led to his eventual suspension.

"I chose to experiment with marijuana, that's why I'm here," he said in 
November. "I'll be receiving counseling, not rehab."

Because marijuana is a more socially accepted drug, it carries far less 
stigma than so-called "hard" drugs such as cocaine and heroin. That's why 
the 22-year-old Odom emphasized the term "counseling" not rehabilitation. 
Rehabilitation suggests physical dependency -- addiction -- associated with 
crack cocaine, alcohol, heroin and amphetamines.

A strong advocacy movement claims that marijuana is relatively benign to 
the body. Many members of the medical profession dispute that view. They 
contend that continued marijuana use can result in memory loss, reduced 
testosterone levels and decreased learning ability.

"There isn't such a thing as a harmless drug," Goldberg said. He added that 
marijuana also could affect coordination and motor skills.

The NBA does offer mandatory classes to help rookies adjust to life in the 
league, on and off the court, including finances and drug abuse. Such 
opportunities also are available to the veterans. However, it is hard to 
measure their effectiveness.

"They should evaluate their classes. Do they do an assessment to see if the 
classes are preventing drug use?" Goldberg said. "Ask them what they 
learned. Ask them how resistant they are. If they don't, then what good is 
the class?"

Is the league, not wanting to rock a successful boat, knowingly looking the 
other way?

"You don't need a prevention program if you don't believe you have a 
problem," Goldberg said. "They shouldn't stick their heads in the sand and 
say they don't have a problem."

Or is the prevalence of marijuana use an overblown issue, reflecting a 
hypocritical public once again coming down on a league filled with young, 
rich, predominantly African American athletes?

"I really don't know," Walsh said. "We're not privy to all the details, so 
I can't really answer that question."

With strict rules regarding confidentiality, threats of lawsuits and 
dismissal hanging over the subject, the league and its players don't talk 
much about it.

"Nobody will touch that one with a 10-foot pole," said one league source.

You can reach Geoffrey C. Arnold at 503-221-8556 or at 
geoffrey-arnold@news.oregonian.com

------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 10:21:06 -0700

Subject:CA: NORML Conference 2002 Up TOC

Newshawk: The gateway to email lists http://www.drugsense.org/lists/
Pubdate: Sat, 11 May 2002
Webpage: http://www.hightimes.com/News/2002_05/norml.html
Source: High Times (US)
Copyright: 2002 Trans-High Corporation
Contact: letters@hightimes.com
Website: http://www.hightimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/191
Author: Daniel Forbes, ddanforbes@aol.com
Note: Daniel Forbes writes on social policy from New York.
Note: MAP posted as an exception to our web source item policies.
Also: All of the cited and related links are at the end of this item.

NORML CONFERENCE 2002

They ran out of beer early at the jammed, raucous, spit-and-baling-wire
emergency party that closed this April's National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws annual conference in San Francisco. Thirsty guests
found thirstful ways to compensate for the suds, and if you ignored the
computers and filing cabinets, it was easy to forget you were violating
fire codes at an ad hoc shindig at a hotshot law office. The wife and I
decamped around midnight, not content with the five cases of water trucked
in to replenish the sweat the crowd had been shaking on each other
jitterbugging to a 40-piece (stationary) marching band. We landed in a
little North Beach boite. At one point, my New Yorker was aghast to see a
purse all by its lonesome on the floor by the jukebox. Voicing her alarm,
she was told don't be silly, woman-this is San Francisco.

NORML convened this year in America's most tolerant city, its chief
prosecutor an acknowledged inhaler, he told HIGH TIMES. During breaks in
the demanding schedule (presentations started well before 9 AM. and ran
'til evening), at times 40 or more smokers spilled from the hotel's side
entrance out on to the busy, tourist-trap sidewalk. And not a one, patient
or head a like, peered timorously over his shoulder. There were masses of
billowing, very public smoke, with tourists and their kids-who as a class,
are generally coddled by authorities-gaping from passing trolley cars.
Still, police action, even short of arrest, was somehow unthinkable in San
Francisco, and not just because the record 560 participants (up from 400
last year in DC) were spending aplenty.

And yet, a specter gripped the gathering despite the easy-going gloss lent
by geography and numbers. No wraith, it was a federal fist that has struck
often to smash, grab and incarcerate. Candidate Bush's empty promise in
1999 that medical use is a states' issue ("I believe each state can choose
that decision as they so choose.") and his administration's avowed
federalism have proved equally hollow. Launching proceedings, NORML Board
chair Steve Dillon admitted, "I love America, but I fear my government I'm
ashamed to say." Former big-time police chief Joseph McNamara, now with the
Hoover Institute, warned of the faux drug/terrorism nexus: "Don't
underestimate that. When they mix in patriotism with the war on drugs,
almost anything can happen."

The specter grew on the second day as grim news filtered out from federal
district court where Judge Charles R. Breyer pondered the fate of the
Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative (OCBC). Wayne Justmann, director of
the SF Patients Cooperative, told HT a negative ruling from Breyer is a
"done deal," with cease and desist injunctions served on the 50 clubs that
operate openly in California the likely consequence.

The frayed DEA leash soon to be further loosened, the local medical
marijuana dispensary honchos grinned through their fears, their gallows'
humor growing thin. The numerous patients in attendance, including often
the honchos themselves, were just plain frightened. The HIV-positive
Justmann, who suffers from neuropathy's nerve damage and pain, will be
forced to turn to debilitating opiates without his normal medicine.
Whatever the Feds do, his "pretty continual pain" isn't going away. Said
Debby Goldsberry, director of both Cannabis Action Network and the Berkeley
Patients Group, "I don't want to say we're in crisis, but boy do we need
help." She added, "But we're not so scared we can't organize."

Patient or not, people who to some degree have been running scared all
their lives are getting awfully sick of it. As Politically Incorrect's Bill
Maher complained, "We still have to crawl in the alleyway like criminals,
and those are the lucky ones who aren't in prison."

Fear falls on all combatants in this grim, decades-old culture war of
attrition, no end in sight. Said Michael Aldrich of CHAMP, "Once marijuana
is introduced into a culture, it's never eradicated." California state
senator John Vasconcellos noted that the Feds are supporting research for
administering medicine in pill or aerosol form-"so there's no joint, which
is symbolic of freedom in the 1960s." He declared that free expression and
emotional openness and sexuality all "threaten people with no sense of
themselves. They challenge the hierarchy."

Knowing it well themselves, fear is a prime component of the zealots'
arsenal, be they bonafide true believers or motivated by money, jobs or the
joy of sheer jack-boot power. You see it in their scared, rabbity eyes,
clutching at composure on TV, certainly not least in the
figurehead-in-chief struggling to recite his assigned shibboleths.

Concern for medical marijuana's short-term future was the gathering's
palpable undercurrent. That concern mixed with frustration over its often
unworkable present. As John Sajo, head of Oregon's Voter Power, said
flat-out that medical marijuana had failed in his state. Then, of course,
there's still the majority of the country where medical cannabis enjoys no
legal protection.

But, to cite two of many examples, as Maher's cutting speech and local
attorney Tony Serra's erudite theatrics indicated, defiance also cascaded
round the hall-and laughter. Noel Coward said it well in Private Lives:
"All the futile moralists who try to make life unbearable. Laugh at
them.... Laugh at everything, all their sacred shibboleths."

The Washington, DC-based NORML crew flew west on the wings of their recent
PR coup at New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg's expense. Last summer, Bloomberg
the candidate-striving to be a regular Joe despite his billions-had cracked
to a reporter asking about using pot: "You bet I did, and I enjoyed it." No
temporizing, no blaming youthful "experimentation," just a flat-out,
past-tense embrace. The press had a field day, and big posters of the mayor
graced the conference stage. But NORML maintained that Bloomberg outed
himself, its Executive Director Keith Stroup, declaring, "We weren't
playing 'gotcha' with the Mayor." As Drug Policy Alliance Director Ethan
Nadelmann observed, "If we had a billion dollars to spend on advertising,
we wouldn't need to embarrass a potential ally."

Though it's a mite tough to tell how much of substance is heard over the
tittering at the mayor's expense, NORML is hoping for its money's worth of
political debate on the 52,000 marijuana arrests a year in New York under
the Giuliani administration. For his part, freighted now with the
hypocritical weight of office, Bloomberg said after the NORML ad hit that
such levels of enforcement will continue.

Justifiably a bit gleeful at all the salutary attention, Stroup said the
fact that Bloomberg "could concede the obvious, that he enjoyed it-it's
fun!-is new territory for a politician." In fact, this as of now $500,000
ad campaign voiced one of the conference's main themes. If it won't cost
you a job, or your kids, and you got the guts, then stand up on your hind
feet and tell the world: Damn straight you inhale, and you know why?
Because pot can make music and food and sex and maybe even sitting and
picking at your toes just a bit better. Plus it helps you cope with being
the only animal that knows it's going to die.

Confronting the naked power unleashed by all levels of government,
attendees conjured ways to beckon the public under their tent. Noting that
everything in America is about marketing and image, Maher applauded the
Bloomberg ad as a "fantastic start" in winning the hearts and minds of the
American people. A late November Zogby poll was much cited. It found
that-post 9/11-only a third of voters nationwide support "arresting and
jailing nonviolent marijuana smokers," while three-fifths oppose doing so.
And two-thirds of the public oppose "the use of federal law enforcement
agencies to close patient cooperatives" that operate legally under state
law; only one in four voters support it.

Patient advocate Dr. Tod Mikuriya (who estimated his legal fees have
averaged $25,000 annually in recent years) calls it "toxic federalism." One
manifestation is the expected federal court ruling on medical marijuana's
Achilles' heel: distribution. NORML board chairman Steve Dillon pointed out
that DEA chief Asa Hutchinson, confidentially flying blind in the face of
reams of evidence, recently declared that cannabis offers no medical benefit.

On Day Two, 4/19, federal judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District of
California, heard arguments in the Justice Department's attack on the
Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. The case sent back to Breyer by the
Supreme Court for a ruling on OCBC's distribution rights, many observers
agreed that his questions seemed to pave the way for granting an injunction
against OCBC and other California clubs.

Though Breyer seemed uninterested, OCBC argues that the federal government
can't ban intrastate medical use in California, plus that three of the
first 10 Amendments provide for patients' due process rights and that
"sovereignty in this matter is specifically accorded to individuals and the
states," according to California NORML.
Jeff Jones, OCBC's director and fellow defendant, told HT that whatever
Breyer rules, appeals will probably tie up the case for the balance of the
Bush Administration. A negative ruling, Jones figured, does afford the DEA
"a blank check to roll out against the California clubs." There's little to
stop them, Jones said, since "Ashcroft and Hutchinson are not afraid of the
media." But they are afraid of what Jones, a "young Republican," indicates
about the future.

Injunctions, of course, invariably lead to law enforcement intervention to
justify all that cool cop gear, all those neat
health-care-and-pensions-jobs. And the public can rest easier with cancer
patients prevented from keeping their food down. Dale Gieringer, Director
of California NORML, told the conference that most patients either can't
grow their own medicine or are afraid to. And while 20-25,000 patients in
California are supplied by the clubs, of the 51 identified patient groups
in California, only half provide any marijuana. The clubs do provide a
model of distribution that works-no selling to minors, no selling on the
street. The public sees they're like any other business, which authority
figures like Hutchinson find so disturbing, he said. "The clubs are an
important step in the socialization of drug use, and that's what they're
afraid of," Gieringer added. "We're in a real showdown, the final battle in
the war on drugs, an epic battle involving the courts, Congress and the
presidential election."

Pointing to the nationwide fierce struggle over control of the House of
Representatives, Wayne Justmann, director of the SF Patients Cooperative,
told HT, "Do they want to roll the dice in an election year with the House
up for grabs?" Despite a political cost he intends to help extract, as
mentioned, he believes cease-and-desist injunctions will be served on the
50 clubs that operate openly in California. Should Breyer rule negatively,
Justmann declared that any jurisdictions that have issued ID cards have
also assumed the obligation to set up grows and dispensaries. "We're going
to have to challenge the City and County of San Francisco to respond. We
appreciate the moral support from politicians on the steps of City Hall,
but where will patients go to get cannabis? Prop. 215 says the state must
set up programs. If you can get a card from the health department, you need
a site to get your medicine."

Gieringer assumes that anywhere from a half-dozen to as many as 35
California clubs and their caregivers will be served with an injunction or
even raided within a week to a month after Breyer's ruling. To that end, he
said the DEA has been focusing on tracing clones going in and out of the
clubs. "It's about the manufacturing," he said. Law enforcement has also
been tailing people home from the clubs, Gieringer charged. "There have
been multiple, credible reports of people being tailed as far as fifty
miles to their homes," he said. He also knows of at least two unpublicized
arrests of "smallish patient grows."

Prominent SF attorney Bill Panzer believes the Feds have obtained evidence
against all the Bay Area clubs, in many cases infiltrating them with tales
of migraine headaches. Panzer thinks the government will raid six-10 of the
largest clubs and the others will close voluntarily. Another observer
anticipates around ten raids.

Robert Raich, who represents OCBC, knows of one raid where he believes
agents followed a patient home from a club and hauled off the princely
amount of one plant and one ounce of medicine.

Jones, who at age 14 watched his cancer and chemo-stricken father waste
away to 100 pounds before dying, assumes that a "cold-hearted" government
will eventually drive patients to protest in the streets. Reform
philanthropist John Gilmore told HT that thousands of patients will be
forced to act, "So new clubs will occur, but not necessarily with the same
people."

DEA actions occur without cooperation from one of the reform movement's
main bulwarks, radical former defense attorney and current mayoral
candidate and San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan. From a long
line of radicals, and arrested sixteen times for political protest as a law
student during the 1960s, in a half-hour opening address, Hallinan said "my
background is wrapped up in marijuana." He traced that back to 1966, "an
exciting, dangerous time" when possession of "one seed" was a felony that
sent thousands to prison. He told war stories of what he termed the
"greatest defense bar" in the country, one that wouldn't tolerate
repression or unfairness. Hallinan himself helped the ex-manager of the
Kingston Trio escape a bust for 600 pounds of pot with the claim that it
was essential to his religious beliefs. As the prosecutor said, "That's a
lot of religion." But the defense brought in Tommy Smothers and Alan Watts,
among others, to discuss mysticism. (Watts' son, Richard Watts, executive
director of the Sixth Street Harm Reduction Center, was one of four
medicine providers arrested in February.) And the judge took it from the
jury and administered "a slap on the wrist."

As Hallinan said, "I knew marijuana was not the simple drug its opponents
depicted it as, that it was many things to many people." He added, "There
is no question in my mind that for some people marijuana is an essential
part of their religious experience."

Hallinan spoke of his work, while still a city Supervisor, with Dennis
Peron back in 1991 to craft a deal with the chief of police and Mayor Frank
Jordan to ensure that "if it was clearly a medical situation, the police
officer could turn his back and walk away."  He got a huge ovation telling
of going to Sonoma County to testify for Ken Hayes, "a wonderful marijuana
activist," who was being prosecuted for 880 plants. Hallinan testified that
Hayes was a "legitimate care giver in San Francisco, supplying those with
AIDS and cancer and the dying." It took a mere six hours for the jury to
acquit. With Hallinan backing his opponent, the Sonoma County DA was
defeated last November.

Another keynote speaker was introduced by Keith Stroup as "our drug czar."
Drug Policy Alliance director Ethan Nadelmann was a bit more subdued than
I've previously seen him. The ratiocination was present as usual, but he
seemed miffed to now be confronting the "banality" of the troika of
Ashcroft, Hutchinson and Drug Czar John Walters, who he termed "William
Bennett's Mini-Me". Citing candidate Bush's campaign promise on states'
rights, Nadelmann declared that Bush "doesn't seem to know what he's
saying." The reform movement seized on Bush's promise, and we all know
what's happened since. "They throw a few million dollars at treatment, but
then pile on the interdiction," Nadelmann complained, declaring Walters
most comfortable with treatment occurring within a prison or church setting.

Noting that marijuana is the drug warriors' "great bugbear," Nadelmann
cited the public's wide approval for medical pot and pointed to the
political hay to be made when "the Birchers of the drug war" go to "the
stupidest place imaginable."

As to the government's "insidious" linking of drugs and terrorism,
Nadelmann quipped: "Bin Laden was into marijuana-I didn't catch that." He
wondered about tee shirts reading: "Support the war on terrorism-Grow your
own."

The nation's 10 or 20 million convictions for petty drug offenses,
Nadelmann said, are manifestation of the "totalitarian, dark side of
America." At the street level, a big part of enforcement is sheer
bureaucratic gaming. He reported that a high-level New York cop told him,
it's all about meeting his quota, and "the easiest busts are marijuana
arrests." That's one reason New York's marijuana arrests leaped to 52,000 a
year (up from 2,000) when Giuliani started massaging statistics at the
precinct level. Showing high arrest figures, the police source told
Nadelmann, serves to cover his butt when something goes wrong. And
something always goes wrong. Meanwhile, a recent Daily News poll indicated
that New Yorkers are more concerned with car alarms and other noise;
marijuana didn't even make the Top 10 list of concerns.

The Drug Policy Alliance will soon be opening an office in New Jersey,
whose drug policy, Nadelmann said, is akin to civil rights-era Mississippi
on race. With the nation's highest proportion of new inmates incarcerated
for drugs, plus its status as the only state without access to clean, legal
syringes despite its third-highest pediatric AIDS rate, it's ripe for
attention. And while marijuana is a pivotal issue, he said it moves on a
"parallel track" with sentencing reform and other attempts to ameliorate
prohibition's "New Jim Crowism."

Exhortations to come out of the closet aside, attendees, especially high
school students, were warned they might be ripped from it involuntarily
thanks in part to the Supreme Court. Kevin Zeese of Common Sense for Drug
Policy said that drug testing is the next big battleground, especially for
kids. The federal government's repression of patients notwithstanding, he
believes the drug reform movement, long back on its heels, is on the
offensive for the first time in years. This momentum is grounded, said
Zeeze, "in the integrity of our bodies and the right to control our
consciousness."

Yet the recently signed federal education bill provides funds for school
drug testing. Given the hostile nature of the Supreme Court's questioning
(including comments on "druggie schools") of the ACLU's Graham Boyd arguing
a school drug-test case before it, Zeese expects the court to uphold
testing for students participating in all extracurricular activities-even
the nerds in the Chemistry Club who face no athletic danger and are role
models for nobody.

Zeese wasn't the first speaker to note the absurdity here: after-school
activities are a prime way of keeping kids from taking drugs. But it meshes
with the clever trend since the late 1970s of going after the individuals
with the least rights: prisoners, military personnel and now students. He
noted that in the mid-'80s, the Supreme Court upheld the "special needs"
test for federal workers in safety-sensitive positions, voiding the Fourth
Amendment's probable cause requirement.

Zeese said private sector testing is plateauing and actually now declining,
not least because new hires in sophisticated fields might take up to two
years to add to the bottom line. Government-in part to prop up what Dr.
John Morgan of the CUNY Medical School and NORML Foundation chairman terms
a $2.5 billion a year industry-seems more than willing to pick up the
slack. The Supreme Court is poised to buffalo the nation with a strategy
of, in effect, declaring adolescence itself a "special needs" situation.
Zeese figured that "kids coming up will have been trained to urinate on
demand; some sheep will acquiesce " But he also hoped that "other kids will
do urine drops in the hallways." There's a move afoot in some states to
test teenagers before they get their first driver's license. The ground
broken with this weak link prepares the way for testing anyone renewing his
or her license.

Indicating that two-tiered testing is essential for accuracy, but that it's
not required in the private sector, Dr. Morgan cited some 30,000 tests
performed daily for that $2.5 billion a year.

Nadelmann admitted the movement has yet to conjure the "natural defense"
against the slippery slope of drug testing, a slope the "Supreme Court is
greasing up and down the line." Noting that Bush's deputy solicitor general
has advocated testing every child in America, he admitted the lack of a
"short-term, tangible, nuts and bolts response." And Nadelmann bemoaned
"the tens of thousands of jobs victimized-a huge number."

Tongue presumably in cheek, Norm Kent told HT that Office Depot, which
proudly proclaims it tests its employees, should move to testing its
customers instead and refusing to take money from anyone who fails. Others
advocated that everyone everywhere turn in a dirty test all the time.

Common Sense for a Drug Policy's research director Doug McVay told HT it's
"humiliating and embarrassing, pissing on demand. It doesn't stop anything,
it's symbolic." The juggernaut of testing will produce a radical backlash
he predicted, adding, "The drug warriors are helping us build the reform
movement."

The bottom line is workers kept ever fearful for their jobs are less
willing to risk calling a pee test down on their heads by asking for more
money or messing with a union.

Cultivation specialist Ed Rosenthal gave a brief, moving speech. Arrested
in February, Rosenthal faces federal charges for cultivating more than 100
plants, which carry a sentence of five to 40 years. Though he "didn't
volunteer" for his role, the issues are clear, he maintained. Possessed of
the technical expertise to help patients, he just couldn't commit the "sin
of omission-where you knew you could and should help, and yet you didn't."
After decrying what he termed the deaths of scores of people killed by cops
enforcing marijuana laws, Rosenthal advised his listeners to follow the
money. "They felonize and terrorize marijuana users, and then they live off
that." He observed, "There's no popular anti-marijuana movement-it's all
being paid for." As to his upcoming trial, he said his co-defendants are
being pressured to turn state's evidence. About his case, he said, "There
are no extenuating circumstances, no guns, no money laundering, indeed no
money, no other drugs." Rosenthal remains confident, given the 60-80
percent support locally for medical marijuana. He asserted, "I look forward
to being with you this time next year to tell you how we won this case."
It's a case he figures will cost well over $500,000.

The conference's highlight was a speech by Politically Incorrect's Bill
Maher on 4/20.  Stroup introduced him as "a one-man life-line to Todd
McCormick." After an ovation, a droll and polished Maher said, "You're very
kind, and very stoned." He, on the other hand, was very serious. He
observed that "the problem with this drug is complacency. It's not too hard
to get, it's too easy." An ineffective government lulls smokers into
complacency despite the hundreds of thousands of arrests. And then he
launched into a small, controlled tirade about McCormick's imprisonment.

He celebrated, then rejected the pot community's tolerance and
understanding, calling for anger and intolerance. Sick and tired of hiding,
he said, "How about zero tolerance for the ridiculous notion that sobriety
is the time-tested route to mind expansion?"

Maher then reminded us that fighting prohibition is not akin to fighting
terrorism: "You can't win just by putting a flag on your car." He took hope
from the fact that if George Bush during the campaign could convince voters
he was a reformer and a Washington outsider, then the public can be
convinced of anything.

Voter Power's John Sajo was less than pleased with raising no money in San
Francisco to help pass an amendment that would "expand and clarify"
Oregon's 1998 medical marijuana bill. Sajo told HT that the movement's big
funders and "hired gunslinger" political consultants have made it clear
they've moved on from medical marijuana ballot measures. This despite the
fact that implementation of Prop 215 in California, he told me, is little
more than a "box of rough rocks." In his speech to the conference, he said
the law in Oregon plain doesn't work. Sure it was great to win an election,
but there's been four years of suffering since. With doctors so unwilling
to sign patients' applications, most patients can't meet Oregon's
qualifying requirements-only 2000 have done so. What's more, sick and dying
people are expected to grow their own medicine. Finally, even qualified
patients are still getting arrested and convicted due to snafus in applying
the law.

So Oregonians are trying to qualify for the ballot and then pass a second
initiative that will create state Department of Health dispensaries for
registered patients, which is favored by four-fifths of Oregon's voters.
These will distribute free medicine to the indigent; boost the currently
small amounts patients can grow and possess; allow caregivers to be
compensated; and lower the patient's application fee.

Figuring the time to pass the hat is when people are fired up by the
presentations and in a check-writing mood, Sajo decried the fact that
fund-raising for his fix-it amendment wasn't on NORML's agenda. Believing
he needs to raise between $50,000 and $150,000 more than he has to both
qualify for and win the election, Sajo is currently limping along raising
some $25,000 a month.

In response, Stroup told HT that lots of attendees are already stretched
thin by the hotel and travel costs of attending the conference. Feeling
that overt fund-raising might lessen the level of discourse-and pointing
out that NORML loses around $25 per attendee-Stroup said, "I wouldn't want
people to get the impression we're here to make money off them."

Following the event, the voterpower.org site noted that its "requests for
funding went unmet" at the pre-conference NORML board meeting. Citing its
modest projected war chest, Voter Power complained that "much of the NORML
board meeting involved mutual congratulations" for the Bloomberg ad. The
site opined that the ad will serve to embarrass and antagonize Bloomberg,
and that NORML hasn't articulated how the ads will help it achieve its
goals, its follow-up efforts or how activists can build on them.

A panel examining Richard Nixon's "marihuana" commission, the now
30-year-old Shafer report, afforded a sad historical perspective. Entitled,
"Marihuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding," the report called for
decriminalization of personal use amounts. And, said former NORML director
Gordon Brownwell, that was back in the era when a single joint might lead
to a life sentence in Texas and up to ten years in California.

The commission was mandated by Congress in the Comprehensive Drug Abuse
Prevention and Control Act of 1970, charged with advising lawmakers on how
to schedule pot for enforcement. Formed a year later, it delivered its
report in early 1972 much to Nixon's disgust though he had appointed most
of the members

The commission's decrim conclusion was particularly tough on Nixon given
that its Executive Director, Michael R. Sonnenreich, had, as a senior
attorney with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (the DEA's
predecessor), played a key role writing the 1970 Act. Still the law of the
land, it ruled marijuana a Schedule I drug along with LSD and heroin. A
source close to Sonnenreich told HT that, pending medical study and
evaluation, Sonnenreich assumed pot would drop from Schedule I and probably
even Schedule II upon proof of its medical utility. A catalyst for the
damning Schedule I designation, he assumed his contingent handiwork would
be rectified by Congress once the doctors weighed in. Though numerous
medical authorities have endorsed pot's medical utility, one of the Act's
fathers has not spoken out publicly to denounce a law built on a now
eviscerated foundation. And we're all shocked to learn that there's
gambling in Casablanca.

Oddly enough, declassified Oval Office tapes of Nixon and former
Pennsylvania governor Raymond Shafer's conversation quote Nixon as saying,
"To take somebody that's smoked some of this stuff, put him into a jail
with a bunch of hardened criminals ... that's absurd." Shafer agreed and
Nixon added, "There must be different ways than jail." Truth from power
aside, marijuana arrests rose from 292,000 in 1972 to 735,000 in 2000,
according to the FBI. Nixon also told Shafer he wanted "a report that is
totally oblivious to some obvious differences between marijuana and other
drugs, other dangerous drugs, there are differences."

More Nixonian truth: "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference what we say
about drugs, if people want them, they think it's all proper, they're going
to use them, they're going to find ways to get it."

A last Nixonian gem: "A person does not drink to get drunk.... A person
drinks to have fun." Whereas with pot, Nixon opined, "You want to get a
charge, and float, and this and that and the other thing." Personally, I
wish staunch marijuana opponent Nixon had offered more insight on "the
other thing," but unfortunately the transcript indicates: "34-second
portion withdrawn as personal."

A couple of historical footnotes: Raymond Shafer was denied a promised
federal judgeship for helping to produce an honest report. And Michael
Aldrich entertained listeners with the tale of Allen Ginsberg-cleaned up
and unrecognizable in a pork pie hat-joining him in his testimony before
the commission.

Finally, why in the world did they hold the party at Tony Serra's law firm?
Studio Z, the nightclub NORML, Cannabis Action Network and HIGH TIMES had
rented out for a multi-room party starting with several bands that
afternoon was just too compromised. There'd been a shooting at the club the
week before and an Ecstasy bust the night before. When Studio Z told CAN's
Debby Goldsberry that a raid by the state liquor license authorities was
likely-leading to trouble since smoking of any sort is forbidden in
California bars, she decided to pull the plug. She told HT that patients
needed to medicate at a 12-hour event. She didn't blame the club, saying
they we're victimized too since the authorities "just don't want to see
people dance." Though CAN desperately needs the money, some 800 of its
ticket buyers, at $22 a pop, were turned away.

That afternoon, Stroup had told me no way in hell he was letting the
government keep NORML from celebrating the conference. Afterwards, he said
about impromptu party at Serra's office, "Although it was far too crowded,
it was a wonderfully weird San Francisco party." He thanked Goldsberry for
pulling it off on only a couple of hours notice "under extremely difficult
circumstances." Personally, I hate to think of the mayhem that would have
ensued if it'd been hundreds of boozers crammed into that office for hours
on end.

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Cited: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
http://www.norml.org/

Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative http://www.rxcbc.org/

Cannabis Action Network http://www.cannabisaction.net/

Voter Power http://www.voterpower.org/

Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org/

Common Sense for Drug Policy http://www.csdp.org/
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/ http://www.narcoterror.org/

ACLU http://www.aclu.org/issues/drugpolicy/hmdrugpolicy.html

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Related: Conference Reports, Pictures, and Video files

NORML Conference Report: Ready to Take It to a Higher Level
http://drcnet.org/wol/234.html#normlconference

NORML Conference Highlights
http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2002/ds02.n248.html#sec5

NORML's photos of the conference http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5254

Conference photos taken by MAPsters http://www.drugsense.org/pix/norml2002/

NORML's video files of the conference
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5282

[Note: If we have missed any conference photos or audio/video files on the
web please send a note to rlake@mapinc.org ]
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

 
 


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web:     http://www.crrh.org/

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