Medical Marijuana Patients' News & Views

Note: Ethan Nadelmann is Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

The Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (also called the "RAVE Act"), which was attached to the AMBER Alert bill, passed both the House and Senate late yesterday (April 10).

The RAVE Act threatens free speech and musical expression while placing at risk any hotel/motel owner, concert promoter, event organizer, nightclub owner or arena/stadium owner for the drug violations of third parties real or alleged even if the event promoter and/or property owner made a good-faith effort to keep their event drug-free. It applies not just to electronic-music parties, but to any type of public gathering, including theatrical productions, rock concerts, DJ nights at local bars, and potentially even political rallies. It gives heightened powers and discretion to prosecutors, who may use it to target events they personally don't like such as Hip-Hop events or gay and lesbian fundraisers.

Sadly, the RAVE Act was added to the AMBER Alert bill conference report at the very last minute by Senator Biden (D-DE), its original sponsor. The AMBER Alert bill creates a system for responding to child abduction. It has nothing to do with drug policy. The RAVE Act had not passed even a single committee in the House or Senate this year. One senator's pet issue made a mockery of the Democratic process becoming law without any public hearing or opportunity for input whatsoever.

You should be aware that your letters and faxes clearly had an effect. (FYI you sent Congress 13,000 faxes this week alone!!) For example, the word "rave" was removed from the version of the bill that passed. Eliminating such blatant discrimination is a victory for our continued freedom of speech. Also, the original bill suggested that prosecutors should view the sale of water and the presence of glowsticks or massage oil as evidence of drug use. These ludicrous "findings" were completely removed thanks to you.

President Bush will sign this child abduction bill, which means the RAVE Act will become law as well. We will be working with the legislators who opposed this provision - such as Senators Durbin, Kennedy and Leahy and Representatives Conyers and Scott for its repeal. In the meantime, however, it is up to all of us to be the watchdogs of its enforcement.

Attorney General John Ashcroft will have to make decisions about its enforcement priority among the many public safety issues the Department of Justice handles. He must be held responsible when he implements this scheme. We want him to know that he is not free to shut down our dance clubs, our festivals and our freedoms. We will be watching the activities of law enforcement and prosecutors, and we will act when our rights are violated. You can help us by faxing Attorney General Ashcroft.

We thank our many partners in this effort for your hard work: EM:DEF, ROAR, Buzzlife Productions, Davey D., electronic dance and music organizations throughout the U.S., club owners, hotel organizations, beverage and licensing groups, the ACLU and many, many others. But most of all, I want to say thank you personally to our members and supporters.

You truly deserve credit for reacting so quickly and so forcefully. It has really been amazing. When Bill McColl, our Director of National Affairs, told me about this issue last June he said that he thought the RAVE Act would pass in about two weeks. You proved us wrong. It took 10 months, a change in control of the Senate, backroom maneuverings and substantial changes to the bill. I'm proud of the hard work of our members, friends and our coalition. Rest assured we will continue to work together to mobilize opposition and advocate to fix this dangerous law.

San Francisco, CA: United States District Judge Charles Breyer has decided to grant the Justice Department's request for a permanent injunction prohibiting three northern California medicinal marijuana dispensaries from distributing the drug to patients. Attorneys for the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, one of six dispensaries initially named in the Justice Department's original 1998 civil suit to shut down the clubs, plan to appeal Breyer's decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge Breyer determined that, "in the absence of an injunction, the defendants are likely to resume distributing marijuana in violation of the Controlled Substances Act." Breyer further found: "Given the amount of marijuana distributed by the clubs, the potential prison time faced by the individual defendants under the United States Sentencing Guidelines is significant. Furthermore, the fact that the defendants were distributing marijuana to seriously ill patients is not a defense" under federal law.

"In light of the serious penalties faced by the individual defendants in a criminal proceeding and the unavailability of a medical necessity defense, the Court concludes in its discretion that civil enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act in the circumstances of these related cases is appropriate," Breyer concluded.

Since October, federal law enforcement officials have busted prominent medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Sacramento. It is expected that Breyer's decision will spawn additional raids by federal officials.

NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup called the ruling expected, but unfortunate. "By targeting these dispensaries, the federal government is forcing seriously ill Californians to obtain their medicine on the street from the black market," he said. "While the government's actions may result in driving the use of medicinal marijuana underground, they will do nothing to stop the use of medical cannabis by those who require it and have a legal right to it under state law."

Stroup added that Breyer's decision does not in any way invalidate California's Proposition 215, which legalizes the use, cultivation and possession of marijuana by qualified patients.

For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup at (202) 483-5500 or NORML Foundation Legal Director Donna Shea at (202) 483-8751. Full text of Judge Breyer's order is available online at:

BOB EDWARDS, host:
The Canadian government is preparing to relax its laws on marijuana. Those caught in possession of small amounts of the drug will get a fine instead of the jail term and a criminal record. The legislation also will toughen penalties for marijuana growers. Washington is concerned the move could result in larger shipments of marijuana into the United States and is threatening to tighten border security. Mike Fox reports from Ottawa.

MIKE FOX reporting:
Prime Minister Jean Chretien has long sought a change in the marijuana legislation and, in an address to a Liberal party fund-raiser, made it clear he was prepared for some heat over the issue.

Prime Minister JEAN CHRETIEN (Canada):
We are not afraid to take controversial issues. It is the right thing to do, to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

(Soundbite of applause)

Prime Min. CHRETIEN: Don't start to smoke right away.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Prime Min. CHRETIEN: We're not legalizing it.

FOX:
The move, in part, follows public opinion. Polls show that more than two-thirds of Canadians surveyed support the change. But the courts are also forcing the government to take action. A provincial judge ruled the laws had to change because they're making medical marijuana users suffer. However, the Bush administration is concerned that the softer laws could prompt another rise in the volume of Canadian marijuana shipments coming into the United States. Last year nearly 20,000 pounds of marijuana was seized at the Canadian border, a tenfold increase in five years. US drug czar John Walters says border security might need to be tightened.

Mr. JOHN WALTERS (US Drug Czar):
Their domestic policies are their business, except when their domestic policies produce harm to Americans, and then it's our business. And we've been engaged in some pretty frank discussions, and I don't think the Canadians are where we'd like them to be as a good neighbor here.

FOX:
The dispute over marijuana highlights the strained relations between the neighbors. Canada refused to support Bush in his war against Iraq or take part in his 'coalition of the willing.' Bush gave an indication of his displeasure earlier this month when he postponed a long-planned trip to Ottawa to visit Mr. Chretien. Professor Chris Manfredi teaches politics at Montreal's McGill University and says the issue underscores the differences between Canada's liberal government and the conservatives in Washington.

Professor CHRIS MANFREDI (McGill University, Montreal):
I think obviously the Canadians' stand on decriminalization of marijuana cuts right across the grain of the American administration's position on this issue. It's not a new issue. It's not something that's being pushed by current events. But I think it's just another irritant that's exacerbated by the contrast between the Canadian and American administrations at the moment.

FOX:
Perhaps in an effort to lessen the irritant, Canada's justice minister, Martin Cauchon, traveled to Washington on Tuesday to discuss the new legislation with Attorney General John Ashcroft. Cauchon says the current law is enforced unevenly, and the new legislation will result in a more consistent approach to users of the drug. It will also recommend tougher sentences for growers and traffickers.

Mr. MARTIN CAUCHON (Justice Minister, Canada):
Is there a way to be more efficient in terms of enforcement? Is there a way as well to be more efficient in terms of fighting organized crime and drug trafficking and cultivation? Yes, there are ways, and it's exactly what we're doing at the present time. And I know perfectly that the United States' side, when they look at what I would like to do exactly, I'm sure that they understand that it's about being more effective and more efficient.

FOX:
Canada's Parliament is expected to pass the new marijuana legislation before the session ends next month. For NPR News, I'm Mike Fox in Ottawa.

EDWARDS (Annoucing):The time is 29 minutes past the hour.

BACKGROUND -

Quebec City, Quebec: U.S. Drug Czar John Walters announced yesterday that the U.S. government strongly disagrees with Canada's plans to liberalize its laws regarding the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana. Walters made his remarks while speaking at the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, Inc.'s 64th Annual Meeting in Quebec City.

Last May, the Canadian Senate's Special Committee on Illegal Drugs published a preliminary report concluding that marijuana is a relatively harmless drug that has little impact on public safety. The committee is expected to recommend decriminalizing pot later this year.

Walters implied that such a decision could "certainly become a problem" for the U.S. government if it leads to an increase in marijuana trafficking. The Czar had previously threatened trade sanctions against Canada if Parliament relaxed the country's pot laws, according to Canadian press reports.

"The United States has a history of exporting its failed drug policies throughout the globe, and using strong-arm tactics to ensure that other nations do not depart from those policies," said Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation.

Earlier this year, Canadian Health Minister Anne McLellan announced that U.S. officials had sabotaged Canada's federal medicinal marijuana distribution program by denying Health Canada access to the U.S. government's supply of research-quality seeds. Health Canada legalized the possession, use and cultivation of medicinal cannabis by qualified patients last July. Walters and U.S. federal drug policy reject any use of marijuana as a medicine.

Last year, U.S. government officials similarly threatened to withhold foreign aid from Jamaica if that country moved forward with a Parliamentary recommendation to decriminalize marijuana.

SACRAMENTO - Decrying last week's conviction of a Chico medical marijuana dispenser, dozens of activists protested outside the state Department of Justice's headquarters Monday, calling on government to keep its hands off their medicine.

On Thursday, a jury of eight women and four men found Bryan James Epis guilty of federal charges of conspiring to grow more than 1,000 marijuana plants near a Chico school, for which the Chicoan now faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.

Epis, who plans to appeal the decision, is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 26. In the meantime he remains in custody.

Intensifying tensions between the federal government and local advocates who point to a 1996 voter-approved state law that allows the use of medically necessary marijuana, protesters Monday said they will continue pressuring state authorities to challenge the federal law that prohibits the use of cannabis for any purpose.

"This man's only crime is obeying California law, and his motive was to reduce suffering of sick people," said Aundre Speciale of Americans for Safe Access, a grass-roots group of medical marijuana supporters.

"What we want to know is what will Gov. Gray Davis and Attorney General Bill Lockyer do to protect patients and to secure Bryan Epis' freedom," Speciale continued.

Epis, who says he uses marijuana for neck pain resulting from a near-fatal traffic crash, argued outside the courtroom he had the right to dispense marijuana to seriously ill patients under provisions of California's Compassionate Use Act.

U.S. District Court Judge Frank C. Damrell, however, forbid Epis' attorney, the famous barrister J. Tony Serra, to use a medical marijuana defense to justify Epis' conduct of illegal cultivation, noting a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision which ruled such a defense is not valid.

Don Duncan, a medical marijuana user who joined the protest from Berkeley, said Epis' conviction is largely the consequence of an uninformed jury, which was not allowed to consider the compassionate circumstances surrounding the case.

"Had the jurors known that this was a medical marijuana case they would have acquitted," Duncan said. "The jury had no idea that the crime that they voted to convict on has a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence."

Members of the Butte Alliance for Medical Marijuana said the case has had a chilling effect on north state medical marijuana users.

"We have all gone to jail at some time for growing our own since Bryan's arrest," said Mike Rogers, now of Live Oak, who faced cultivating charges after being arrested in Cohasset in 1999. He was acquitted in Butte County Superior Court two years later after he presented a medical marijuana defense.

Added Dinah Coffman, director of BAMM: "This has had a ripple effect. Now I have to try to grow my own medicine, and I have people trying to break into my yard to get it."

The case against Epis, which is the first federal prosecution involving a cannabis buyers' club, endured a string of procedural challenges, including dismissal of the first jury pool after the potential panel was tainted by pro-medical marijuana protesters dispensing leaflets outside Sacramento's federal court building.

When it comes to drugs, the White House is singing loud and clear: Blame Canada. But many Americans are singing a different tune: Praise Canada.

As the Bush administration tries to bully you into submission on drug-policy matters, please keep the following in mind.

First, everything under way and under consideration in Canada is well-grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, as well as taxpayers' interests. Every independent commission to examine marijuana policy, from Australia to the United States, has concluded that punitive prohibitions do more harm than good.

The medicinal value of marijuana is beyond dispute. As well, safer injection sites ( such as Vancouver's ) have proven effective in reducing drug overdoses, infections, risky injection practices and public nuisance. The White House may not like what you're doing, but you've got the evidence on your side.

Second, Canada's drug policy initiatives may be progressive by North American standards, but not by those of the advanced industrialized world. Switzerland is poised to leapfrog the Dutch cannabis policy and establish a legal regulatory system. Belgium just decriminalized marijuana. ( Jamaica plans to as well, but like you, faces U.S. intimidation. ) Dozens of safer injection sites now operate successfully in Western Europe and Australia. It's the United States, not Canada, that's out of step.

Third, there's no evidence that the drug policy reforms under way in Canada increase drug abuse. The best U.S. study of marijuana decriminalization ( by a Canadian scholar, Eric Single ) found no difference in use rates between the 11 states that decriminalized marijuana during the 1970s and others that did not. Ditto for needle exchange, heroin maintenance and safer injection sites.

Fourth, the principal impact of drug policies is not on levels of drug use but on death, disease, crime and the criminal justice system. By and large, the more punitive the approach, the greater the harms that result. Thus, the United States represents 5 per cent of the world's population and 25 per cent of the world's prison population. Almost half a million people are locked up for violating a drug law ( more than all of Western Europe locks up for everything ). This brutal incarceration rate is part and parcel of U.S. drug policy. Canadians, beware.

Fifth, don't underestimate the extremism of the Bush administration on drug policy. The medical marijuana issue is most revealing. Almost 80 per cent of Americans believe marijuana should be legally available as a medicine, when recommended by a doctor. Every state ballot initiative on the issue has won. Now even state legislatures are approving medical marijuana. The U.S. Institute of Medicine says marijuana has medicinal value. Yet the Bush administration disagrees -- and also says needle exchange doesn't reduce HIV/AIDS, notwithstanding the scientific studies and consensus that it does.

This isn't the first time the U.S. government has tried to bludgeon Canada into adopting backward U.S. policies. In the 1920s, it tried to compel Canada to help enforce U.S. alcohol prohibition. Canada resisted -- as you had the century before, when you rejected U.S. demands for the return of fugitive slaves. Think of the war on drugs as America's addiction. Canada's obligation, as friend and neighbour, is to speak to power.

Keith Hellawell, the former "drugs tsar" today announced his resignation as a part-time Government adviser in a protest at the Home Secretary's plans for the biggest shake-up in drugs policy for 30 years.

Mr Hellawell led a backlash against David Blunkett's move which will include the downgrading of cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug. The change will put cannabis in the same group as steroids and anti-depressants, effectively decriminalising the drug as possession of small amounts would no longer be an arrestable offence.

Police would be limited to handing out penalty tickets to users, and it would mean the controversial cannabis experiment in Brixton, South London, will be extended across Britain.

Mr Hellawell, side-lined last year as drugs tsar but retained as a part-time adviser, said he had written to Mr Blunkett to inform him of his resignation, but had so far had no response.

Criticising the drugs law shake-up, he said: "It's moving further towards decriminalisation than any other country in the world. "I have resigned over this issue and over the issue of spin."

A spokesman for the Home Secretary hit back at Mr Hellawell's criticism, claiming his stance on cannabis appeared to have changed since a meeting last year.

"Keith Hellawell said to the Home Secretary in a meeting last autumn that he was fully supportive of the Home Secretary's proposal to reclassify cannabis," said the spokesman.

"This was a meeting before the Home Secretary made his announcement to the Home Affairs Select Committee ( revealing he planned to reclassify the drug ).

"He tendered his resignation last month to take effect in August but the Home Office kept this private at his request."

Former minister Kate Hoey also predicted today that the Government may live to regret the decriminalisation of cannabis.

The Labour MP, whose Vauxhall constituency is covered by the Metropolitan Police's "softly, softly" cannabis experiment, said the long-term effects of the drug were not known and rolling out the stance across the country would hit the most deprived areas.

Ms Hoey told GMTV: "There are more drug dealers than ever, cannabis much more widely available. There is a mixed message being sent out.

"On the one hand we're trying to say drugs are bad and at the same time cannabis is being seen as something that is just there, that people are smoking."

The former minister at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport warned that dealers would target areas already suffering high levels of deprivation, with young people being picked out.

She also attacked the cannabis experiment in Brixton where those found in possession of the drug are warned by police rather than being arrested, with the aim to divert policing to more serious crime such as tackling hard drugs like heroin and crack cocaine.

Ms Hoey said in effect only 1.8 officers had been freed for other work because of the softer drugs policy.

There has been confusion over when the changes expected to be announced by Mr Blunkett would come into force. Mr Blunkett is able to downgrade the drug by an "order in council", a Parliamentary procedure which can take effect immediately, although MPs have 40 days in which they can seek to nullify it.

The Department for Education and Skills is known to be preparing guidance for teachers on the reclassification of cannabis, which suggests ministers want the change in place by Parliament's summer recess.

But Mr Blunkett was also expected to announce that police will retain the power to arrest cannabis users in certain "aggravated" cases, such as when the drug is smoked outside schools. Such a move would require legislation which would take up to a year to become law.

The Home Secretary was expected to counter allegations that he is going "soft on drugs" by announcing that maximum sentences for dealers of Class C drugs will be increased from five years to at least 10.

However, opponents in the Conservative Party have pointed out this would still be less than the 14-year maximum currently available for cannabis dealers. There have been suggestions that Mr Blunkett was considering raising the sentence for Class C dealing even further, possibly to match the 14-year tariff, to undermine Conservative criticisms.

Today's package was also expected to place a new emphasis on drug treatment and reducing the harm drug users cause themselves, but would rule out separate proposals to downgrade Ecstasy from Class A to Class B.

The Tories launched an attack on Mr Blunkett's drugs policy by condemning the Brixton cannabis experiment as "disastrous". Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, and shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin visited local residents in the South London district who claim the Metropolitan Police's "softly, softly" stance on the drug has made drug dealing rampant on their streets.

Mr Duncan Smith urged the Home Secretary to abandon his plans as it was "handing drug policy over to the criminals".

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