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MARIJUANA LAWS
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... a weekly service for the media on news items related to Marijuana Prohibition.
September 21, 1995
California Legislature "Just Says No" To Unpopular Marijuana Law
September 15, 1995, Sacramento, CA:
California Governor and possible Presidential nominee Pete Wilson
suffered a major defeat when the Republican controlled California
Assembly rejected his last ditch effort to renew the state's
"Smoke a Joint, Lose Your License" law. The controversial
legislation requires that the state impose a six-month drivers
license suspension upon conviction of any drug offense,
regardless of whether the offense is driving related. The
law will expire on the 2nd of December.
Looming heavy over the head of the California Assembly's decision
to dissolve the "Smoke a Joint" legislation is the
issue of federal mandates. Because Wilson initially pushed
for the license suspension law by co-sponsoring a 1990 federal
mandate requiring the state to either enact the legislation or
pass an "opt-out" resolution explicitly rejecting the
policy, California now stands at risk of losing nearly $100
million in federal highway aid. Ironically, in recent
years, Wilson has been an outspoken proponent against the
legitimacy of federal mandates.
For more information, please contact Dale Gieringer of
California NORML @ (415) 563-5858.
Meanwhile, Governor Pete Wilson Expects To
Veto Medical Marijuana Bill
For Third Consecutive Year
September 12, 1995, Sacramento, CA:
For the third time in as many years, the California State
Assembly has voted in favor of a bill that would allow for the
medical use of marijuana by the sick and terminally ill.
However, sources close to the governor claim that Wilson will
once again veto the proposed legislation.
The bill, AB 1529, would provide for the controlled compassionate
use of marijuana for those individuals diagnosed by a physician
to be suffering from the diseases of AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and
multiple sclerosis. In addition, this revised version of
the bill is worded in such a way so that it expressly avoids
conflicting with current federal policies prohibiting use of the
drug. (Wilson cited these policies as the basis for last
year's veto.) Despite the revision, however, a spokesman
for Wilson told the San Diego Union Tribune that the
governor "hates" the bill. AB 1529 is supported by
both the California Nurses Association and the California Senior
Legislature.
In response to claims that Wilson will veto the measure, the
bill's author, Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-San Jose), has
blasted the governor as being more concerned with politics than with
human suffering. "In a free society, people who are
ill shouldn't be made criminals to alleviate their pain,"
said Vasconcellos. "Wilson is engaging in politics of
pain. That's pathetic."
For more information on bill AB 1529, please contact Dale
Gieringer of California NORML @ (415) 563-5858 or contact Dennis
Peron of Californians for Compassionate Use @ (415)
864-1961. In the coming months, the CCU intends to collect
the 600,000 signatures necessary to place this measure on the
1996 statewide ballot. This initiative is set to be filed
with the Attorney General's Office for title and summary on
Friday, September 29.
New York Times Runs Feature On Todd McCormick Bust
September 17, 1995, Bryan, 0H: The New
York Times featured a major story on the case of medical
marijuana user Todd McCormick in the national edition of this
week's Sunday paper. The Times is the second nationally
syndicated paper to publicize McCormick's legal battle since his arrest
on July 18. USA Today referred to McCormick in an August 21
editorial supporting the use of medicinal marijuana.
McCormick was arrested this past July when Ohio State Patrolmen
discovered in excess of thirty pounds of marijuana in his
van. He is currently free on bail and staying with Don
Wirtshafter at the Ohio Hempery since having his bail dropped at
a September 7 bail reduction bearing. McCormick maintains
that the cannabis found in his vehicle, all of which was visibly
marked "for medicinal use only," was intended to be
used to establish a Compassionate Use Club in Rhode Island and
was not meant for sale. He is charged with four felony drug
counts.
When asked to comment on the McCormick case, John A. Mutter,
president of the 3000 member American Judge's Association, told
the New York Times that: "It strikes me as being incongruous
that a doctor can prescribe for the well being of his patients
narcotic drugs like morphine that are habit forming, but they
can't prescribe marijuana."
For more information on Todd McCormick, please contact either NORML
or the Todd McCormick Alliance @ (619) 582-7303 or (619) 582-7330
(fax).
Meanwhile, Landmark State Decision Could
Spell Victory
For McCormick's Upcoming Trial
September 10, 1995, Columbus, OH:
Civil liberty and personal privacy proponents achieved a major
victory last week when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled to severely
limit the rights of police to question citizens or search their
property after misdemeanor roadside traffic stops. Northcoast
NORML President John Hartman applauded the court's ruling.
"People in the cannabis community will be driving a little
easier [now] in the state of Ohio," he said.
In a 4-3 decision, the court struck down the drug arrest of a man
whose car was searched following a routine traffic stop.
The court maintained that the evidence seized during the search was
invalid because the search itself was in violation of the Fourth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. According to the AP,
"The court said that although the driver gave his consent,
the search was improper because the deputy never told the driver
[that] he was free to go after the traffic stop and before the
drug search began." The law states that police cannot
automatically search a car based upon a traffic misdemeanor.
Defense attorney Harry R. Reinhart praised the ruling. He
explained that hundreds of innocent Ohio motorists are stopped
each year by police and intimidated into having their automobiles searched
because law enforcement officials purposely neglect to inform
citizens of their legal right to say no.
One can only wait and see what potential ramifications this
decision may have on Todd McCormick's upcoming trial.
McCormick had his van searched after Ohio State Patrolmen pulled him
over "because the curtains in [his] van were
closed." McCormick maintains that he did not give
police permission to search his vehicle.
For more information on the Ohio State Supreme Court ruling,
please contact John Hartman of Northcoast NORML @ (216) 521-WEED
or William Saks of the Cleveland ACLU @ (216) 781-6277. For
more information on your legal rights as a motorist please contact NORML
to acquire a copy of NORML's Citizens' Guide
To Marijuana Laws. The report is available for $2.00.
Update: Richard Martinez Set Free!
September 18, 1995, Tucson, AZ: The
plight of medical marijuana user Richard Martinez looks to have
finally come to an end. Martinez was released from jail at
12 pm on September 18 and the charges against him have been
dismissed under rule 11 for incompetence. Martinez suffered
for over four months in Arizona jails while the state conducted
tests to determine whether he was mentally competent to stand
trial. He was shot through the right eye in 1991 and now
has brain damage. Martinez was charged with drug possession
when local authorities discovered that he was using marijuana in
place of his prescribed medication, Marinol.
Martinez is once again being tended to by his
neuro-rehabilitation nurse and legal guardian, Connie Theis.
For more information about Richard Martinez and/or the
formation of Tucson NORML, please contact Connie Theis @ (602)
790-1595.
NIDA To Hold International Drug Abuse Conference In Texas
September 14, 1995, Houston, TX: In
accordance with its recent anti-marijuana campaign, NIDA will be
holding a special session on marijuana's supposed effects on the
brain as part of an international drug abuse conference taking
place in Houston, TX on September 22 and 23. The workshops
will touch on such subjects as marijuana's possible cognitive and
behavioral effects and will features such speakers as Dr. Merle
G. Paule of the National Center for Toxicological Research and
Dr. Billy R. Martin. Dr. Martin recently surprised many
when he announced that "average THC [potency] has not
changed" in over a decade while speaking at NIDA's first
ever Conference on Marijuana Use.
Activists from Houston NORML are planning to attend the event.
The two day conference will be held at the Sheraton Astrodome
Hotel Heritage Center, in Houston Texas.
COMING NEXT TUESDAY!!
HEMPILATION: THE NORML BENEFIT COMPILATION CD!!!
-END-
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