October 25, 2001

Britain Announces Plan to Abolish Arrests For Marijuana Possession

Pot to Be Reclassified by Spring, Declares Top Government Official

London, England: Possession of marijuana will no longer be an arrestable
offense, Britain's Home Secretary David Blunkett announced Tuesday, in a
move marking the first major relaxation of England's pot laws in 30
years. Under the new national policy, marijuana will be reclassified as
a "Class C" or "soft" drug, putting it in the same category as
anti-depressants and steroids.
"In spite of our focus on hard drugs, the majority of police time is
currently spent handling cannabis offenses," Blunkett said, noting that
nearly 7 out every 10 British drug arrests are pot-related. "It is time
for an honest and common sense approach focusing effectively on drugs
that cause the most harm. Given this background, and the very clear
difference between cannabis and 'Class A' drugs [such as heroin and
cocaine,] I want to ... reclassify cannabis from 'Class B' to 'Class
C.'"
Although possession of "Class C" drugs technically carries a two-year
maximum prison term, only offenses punishable by at least five years
imprisonment are arrestable in England. Therefore, pot smokers will
unlikely face any serious legal consequences other than a verbal warning
or a court summons if they are caught will small amounts of pot.
"[Police] will still have plenty of powers to stop people but possession
of cannabis won't be one of them," a Home Office spokesman told The
Guardian newspaper.
NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup praised Blunkett's decision,
calling the UK's impending policy de-facto decriminalization. "By
eliminating the threat of arrest and jail for responsible adult
marijuana smokers, police and criminal justice resources can be focused
on more serious and violent crimes," Stroup said.
England's pot-law change will not be enacted legislatively, but instead
by an executive order, the BBC reported. The new law will likely take
effect early next year.
This week's announcement by the Home Office is the latest in a series of
drug policy reforms occurring throughout Europe. Earlier this year,
governments in Belgium, Luxembourg and Portugal decriminalized the use
and possession of marijuana.
In contrast, the US FBI revealed Monday that a record 734,498 Americans
were arrested for marijuana violations last year.
"The United States is quickly becoming isolated regarding the way in
which we choose to target and vilify marijuana smokers," said Stroup.
"American elected officials would be well advised to heed the lessons
learned by their European counterparts, and recognize that a rational
and just marijuana policy is one based upon decriminalizing responsible
adult use."
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup or Paul
Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500.

Seized California Medi-Pot Patients' Files Won't Be Returned, Federal
Judge Rules

Sacramento, CA: Nearly 5,000 patient and legal records seized by federal
drug agents in an early-October raid on the offices of the California
Medical Research Center (CMRC) in El Dorado County will remain in police
hands, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. US Magistrate Gregory G. Hollows
rejected a motion filed by J. David Nick, an attorney for the defendants
- club proprietors Dr. Marion Fry and her husband, attorney Dale Schafer
- arguing that the files were protected by attorney/client privilege and
should be returned.
"[Schafer] affirmatively told his purported clients from the inception
of their meeting that he was not their attorney," Judge Hollows
concluded.
Hollows did stipulate that the individual patients' medical records must
remained sealed, but that government officials could access other files
for the purpose of establishing evidence that a crime has been
committed.
This month's raid of the CMRC marked the first time federal agents have
targeted a state medical marijuana facility since voters legalized the
possession and cultivation of the drug in 1996, and came only weeks
after newly-appointed DEA Director Asa Hutchinson announced that no use
of medical marijuana would be tolerated by federal officials.
"By all indications, this bust appears to be the first wave of an
impending federal crackdown on medical marijuana support groups," said
NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup of NORML at
(202) 483-5500 or California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer at (415)
563-5858.

NORML Takes to the Airwaves...The National NORMLcast

Washington, DC: The NORML Foundation debuted its new radio talk-show,
the National NORMLcast, this week on WTAN AM 1340 in Tampa, Florida. The
half-hour broadcast, which will air weekly on Wednesday afternoons from
1:05 PM to 1:35 PM Eastern Standard Time, may be heard live locally on
WTAN and worldwide on the Web at http://www.norml.org.
The NORMLcast features marijuana-related news and interviews with the
movement's "movers and shakers," including NORML and NORML Foundation
board members and staff, and is hosted by Tampa radio personality Glenn
Klein, host of WTAN's "Glenn Klein Show." Listeners who wish to
participate live on the show may call the NORMLcast toll-free at:
800-263-8559.
"The National NORMLcast represents a new and exciting way for supporters
of marijuana-law reform to better educate themselves, friends and family
about the marijuana-related news and events often overlooked by the
mainstream media," explained the show's inaugural guest Allen St.
Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation.
NORML encourages everyone interested in marijuana-law reform to listen
next week and take part in the show. For more information, please visit
NORML's website.

November 1, 2001

DEA Wages War on California's Medical Pot Clubs

NORML Brands Feds' Actions: "Solution in Search of a Problem"

Washington, DC: Last week's raid by federal agents on the Los Angeles
Cannabis Resource Center (LACRC) - southern California's largest and
most well-respected medical marijuana dispensary, and the second such
raid of a state buyers' cooperative in less than a month - make it
apparent that the federal government is deliberately targeting medicinal
marijuana support groups and needlessly punishing their seriously ill
clients, NORML's National Director R. Keith Stroup announced today.
"The federal crackdown on California's medical marijuana growers and
distributors, including most recently the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource
Center, is a solution in search of a problem," Stroup said. "These clubs
play a necessary and positive role in their community: providing
medicine in a safe and regulated environment, and present no threat to
public safety or health. They operate with the full knowledge and
support of the public - who voted overwhelmingly to legalize the use of
medical pot in 1996 - as well as with backing from local law enforcement
and government. In fact, it seems that the only people opposed to these
operations are federal bureaucrats in Washington, most specifically new
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Director Asa Hutchinson."
In August, Hutchinson announced that the federal government would not
tolerate any use of marijuana, including its use by patients in states
that have legalized it.
The L.A. bust comes shortly after federal agents raided the offices of
the California Medical Research Center in Cool, California, northeast of
Sacramento, seizing 32 plants and approximately 5,000 medical records
from club members. Thirty federal drug enforcement agents participated
in Friday's raid of the LACRC, which served some 960 patients, most of
who suffer from AIDS or cancer. Law enforcement seized all of the
cooperative's patient records, computers and medicine, but did not make
any arrests.
Also in October, DEA agents raided a medical marijuana farm outside of
Los Angeles that grew cannabis for the LACRC.
US Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden told the New York Times
that the federal government will "aggressive[ly]" impose federal
marijuana prohibitions in California, adding that the government does
not differentiate between medical marijuana and other illegal drugs.
"The recent enforcement is indicative that we have not lost our
priorities in other areas since September 11," she said.
Local officials, meanwhile, have denounced the government's strong-arm
tactics. "Federal and law enforcement authorities have no business
interfering with the doctor-patient relationship," said California
Medical Association spokesman Peter Warren. "It's especially shocking in
this time of national crisis that federal agents are out there tossing
doctor's offices."
California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer echoed his sentiments,
calling the DEA raids a "disgraceful and shocking abuse of government
power in flagrant disregard of public health, welfare and the interests
of the community. At this time of national crisis, it is shameful that
the administration has chosen to wage war on medical marijuana."
Ironically, the feds' latest bust comes only days after Great Britain's
Home Office announced plans to nationally decriminalize the recreational
use of marijuana, and less than two weeks after the Dutch Cabinet
approved legislation that would allow pharmacies to fill
government-subsidized medical marijuana prescriptions. "While the rest
of the world moves steadily into the 21st century, the Bush
administration is dragging its knuckles and America back into the Dark
Ages," said Scott Imler, president of the LACRC, who added that his club
presently remains open, but is no longer distributing medicinal pot to
its members.
For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup, NORML
Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or Dale Gieringer, California
NORML Coordinator, at (415) 563-5858.

Scholarly Press to Publish Peer-Reviewed Journal on Industrial Hemp

Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press will begin publication of the Journal of
Industrial Hemp (JIH) in the spring of 2002. The new bi-annual
publication will serve as the official journal of the Industrial Hemp
Association (IHA), and will document the latest peer-reviewed research
on the production and processing of industrial hemp.
Hemp is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa L. that
contains minimal (less than 1%) amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC),
the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. It is a tall, slender
fibrous plant similar to flax or kenaf, various parts of which may be
utilized in the making of textiles, paper, paints, clothing, plastics,
cosmetics, foodstuffs, insulation, animal feed, and other products.
Haworth Press publishes over 180 scholarly journals, including the
Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, edited by Montana neurologist Ethan
Russo.
For more information on the Journal of Industrial Hemp, please visit the
Haworth Press website at: http://www.haworthpressinc.com. For more
information on hemp, please visit NORML's newly updated industrial hemp
section on the Web at: http://www.norml.org/hemp/index.shtml.

Texas NORML Launches Radio Show

Dallas, TX: This Sunday will mark the premiere of the "Club Cannabis"
radio show, hosted by Texas NORML coordinator Rick Day. The one-hour
broadcast will air weekly on Sunday evenings from 7 to 8 PM central time
on KTRA 1190 AM in Dallas. The show will also be broadcast live on the
Internet at: http://www.endthedrugwar.org.
NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup will appear on Sunday's
inaugural show.
For more information, please contact Rick Day at: clubcannabis@aol.com.

November 8, 2001

Cognitive Performance Unaffected After Marijuana Smoking

Pot "Has No Effect on Accuracy," Study Reveals

New York, NY: Marijuana smoking has virtually no effect on complex
cognitive task performance - including reaction time, memory and mental
calculation - in experienced users, according to the findings of a
Columbia University study published in this month's issue of
Neuropsychopharmacology.
  "Although marijuana significantly increased the number of premature
responses and the time participants required to complete several tasks,
it had no effect on accuracy on measures of cognitive flexibility,
mental calculation, and reasoning," researchers concluded. "The
relatively few accuracy impairments observed is congruent with several
other studies investigating acute marijuana effects on psychomotor and
simple cognitive performance. Moreover, the present data expands these
findings by showing that more complex cognitive performance is only
minimally affected following acute marijuana smoking."
  Eighteen subjects participated in the three-session outpatient study.
During each session, participants completed a battery of baseline
computerized cognitive tasks in various domains, including reaction
time, attention, memory, visuospatial processing, reasoning, flexibility
and mental calculation. Subjects were then administered marijuana
cigarettes ranging from zero to 3.9 percent THC in a double-blind
fashion before completing another series of cognitive tests 20 minutes later.
  Researchers found subjects' accuracy on the tests was unaltered
following their use of marijuana. "In summary, ... the finding that
accuracy was unaffected by smoked marijuana indicates that heavy, daily
marijuana smokers will not fulfill the DSM-IV [Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition] criterion for
marijuana intoxication that requires impairment of complex cognitive
functioning," authors concluded.
  The study's findings follow those of a Harvard study published last
month in the Archives of General Psychiatry determining that long-term
marijuana smokers who abstain from the drug for one week or more perform
identically on cognition tests as nonusers. A previous study on
marijuana and cognition by researchers at John Hopkins University in
Baltimore found "no significant differences in cognitive decline between
heavy users, light users, and nonusers of cannabis" over a 15-year
period in a cohort of 1,318 subjects.
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano or Allen St. Pierre
of The NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751.

Canadian Parliament Ponders Decriminalizing Marijuana

MP Says Majority of Politicians Favor Bill to Stop Arresting Pot Smokers

Ottawa, Ontario: The sponsor of a federal bill to decriminalize cannabis
announced Wednesday that a majority of MPs back the plan, which received
its first debate by the House of Commons yesterday.
  "For far too long, police and court resources have been wasted arresting
and prosecuting people possessing small amounts of pot," said MP Keith
  Martin (Alliance Party), sponsor of bill C-344, which seeks to replace
criminal pot penalties with a civil fine. "While our resources are
squandered in this futile effort, the House of Commons has been quiet
and has refused to untie the hands of police so they can go after the
real criminals."
Martin, a former corrections officer and emergency room physician, said
that two-thirds of MPs have expressed support for C-344. He told House
members that under his proposal: "A person found in possession of
marijuana would receive a fine of $200, $500 or $1,000 [Canadian]
depending on whether it was their first, second or third offense. They
would not go into the court system. They would not receive a criminal
conviction and therefore they would not have a criminal record."
  Several Canadian police and health organizations, including the Canadian
Association of Chiefs of Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the
Canadian Medical Association and the Council of Churches, support
relaxing the country's marijuana laws. In addition, 76 percent of
Canadians agree that marijuana possession should not be a criminal offense.
  The House of Commons could vote on Martin's proposal as early as next year.
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup or Paul Armentano of
NORML at (202) 483-5500.

Half of Senate Judiciary Democrats Rejects Walters as Drug Czar

Washington, DC: Five Senate Judiciary Democrats - including Senate
Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy (VT) and Joe Biden (DE), who chairs the
Subcommittee on Drugs and Crime - voted today against the confirmation
of John P. Walters as US Drug Czar. Nevertheless, The Judiciary
Committee approved Walters' nomination by a vote of 14 to 5.
  The Senate is expected to decide on Walters' nomination next week.
  Despite the Judiciary's approval of Walters, NORML's Keith Stroup called
the Democrats' resistance heartening. "We are encouraged by the fact
that five prominent Democratic senators voted to reject Walters'
nomination," he said. "While we expect the Senate will eventually
confirm him, it appears the long overdue debate on drug policy is
finally underway in Congress. Further, this vote puts Walters and other
drug war hawks on notice that such views will no longer go unchallenged
in Congress."
  Democrats Richard Durbin (IL), Edward Kennedy (MA) and Charles Schumer
(NY) also opposed Walters, who has been the subject of resounding
criticism from human rights and civil liberties groups, including the
NAACP, for his support of mandatory minimum sentencing and failure to
acknowledge the role of race in drug enforcement and sentencing.
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup or Paul Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500.

November 15, 2001

Hundreds Flock to First-Ever British "Cannabis Café"

Police Turn a Blind Eye to UK Smoking Establishment

Stockton, United Kingdom: England's first and only Amsterdam-style
marijuana coffee shop is drawing approximately 500 patrons per day,
reports Britain's Guardian Unlimited Observer newspaper. The Dutch
Experience café, which allows recreational and medicinal marijuana users
to openly consume pot on the premises, has steadily grown in popularity
since its September 15 opening while simultaneously attracting only
minor attention from police.
 "The success of the Dutch Experience is further evidence of the sweeping
support for marijuana-law reform among the British public, politicians
and law enforcement," said NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St.
Pierre. In October, British Home Secretary David Blunkett announced that
marijuana would be reclassified so that its possession would no longer
be an arrestable offense. Britain's Police Foundation endorsed the
enactment of similar Parliamentary changes last year.
 Despite a pair of initial police raids, the Dutch Experience has
operated uninterrupted since September 22. Co-owner Colin Davies, a
patient and long-time medical marijuana activist, says that the club
intends to raise funds from recreational users to provide medical pot to
patients free of charge.
 Stockport city council leader Fred Ridley told the Observer that they
have had no public complaints about the café, which operates from 10
a.m. to 10 p.m. In addition, local MEP (Member of European Parliament)
Chris Davies (Liberal-Democrat Party) actively supports the venture. "I
applaud it," said Davies, who has visited the club twice. "It seems [to
be] an excellent way of meeting people's desire to try things other than
alcohol without leading them on to harder things."
 Additional cafés may soon be opening in the cities of Worthing, Taunton
and Brixton, the newspaper said.
 A similar café, the HC Marijuana Users Teahouse of Canada, recently
opened without incident in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Teahouse
allows patients licensed by Health Canada to consume pot openly, but
does not sell or distribute cannabis on the premises. The Canadian
government legalized the use and possession of medical marijuana for
qualified patients this summer.
 For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Foundation
Executive Director, at (202) 483-8751. Further information on the Dutch
Experience is available online at: http://www.dutchexperience.org.

Judge in CMRC Case Grants Feds Access to All Medi-Pot Patient Files

Sacramento, CA: A federal judge ruled Tuesday that all of the estimated
6,000 patient and client files seized from the offices of the California
Medical Research Center (CMRC) shall remain in the hands of federal
prosecutors. Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr., overruled a magistrate's
order that allowed the government access to some of the files only after
an independent, court-appointed "special master" had reviewed them for
relevance to an ongoing criminal investigation. J. David Nick, attorney
for the facility's proprietors - attorney Dale Schafer and physician
Marion "Molly" Fry - will appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit Court
of Appeals.
 Federal agents raided the offices of the CMRC in El Dorado County on
September 28, seizing 32 marijuana plants, computers and thousands of
medical records from the center's members. Fry, a medical marijuana
patient, and her husband were not arrested in the raid and have yet to
be formally charged with a crime.
For more information, please call Donna Shea, NORML Foundation Legal
Director, at (202) 483-8751.

Key West Legal Seminar Registration Still Available

Washington, DC: NORML is still accepting registrations for this year's
NORML Legal Committee Seminar in Key West, Florida. This year's event
will take place Thursday, November 29 through Saturday, December 1 at
the Pier House Resort and Caribbean Spa.
 NORML's annual seminar - now in its 16th year - features nationally
recognized criminal defense attorneys and is fully accredited in every
state that requires continuing legal education (CLE) for attorneys. The
program runs each day from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., leaving ample time in
the afternoon for sunbathing, relaxing or exploring the community of Key
West. This year's festivities include a sunset reception on Thursday
evening and a special NORML benefit banquet at Mangoes restaurant on
Saturday evening.
 For more details, or to register online, please visit NORML's website
at: http://www.norml.org/calendar/keywest2001.shtml or contact Kris
Krane at (202) 483-5500.

Abstracts Available From International Medical Marijuana Conference

Cologne, Germany: The International Association for Cannabis as Medicine
(IACM) is making abstracts available from their first-ever IACM
Conference on Cannabis and Cannabinoids in Berlin, Germany. Presenters
at the event included UC San Francisco AIDS researcher Donald Abrams,
Marijuana Medical Handbook co-author Tod Mikuriya, International
Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) founder Richard Musty and several
others.
 The IACM is offering a 38-page volume of abstracts (in English only) for
$10 (US) or 20 marks (Germany). Abstracts will also be reprinted in an
upcoming issue of the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics. An online
version of the Journal's charter issue is now available online at:
http://www.cannabis-med.org/english/home.htm.
 For more information, please visit the IACM's website at:
http://www.cannabis-med.org.

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