From: LVNORML420@aol.com (unknown)
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: NORML Weekly Press Release
Date: Mon, 01 Nov
Sorry this one is late. Just got back from vacation (Flagstaff,AZ.).
NORML Weekly Press Release
1001 Connecticut Ave., NW
Ste. 710
Washington, DC 20036
202-483-8751 (p)
202-483-0057 (f)
www.norml.org
foundation@norml.org
October 28, 1999
NORML Foundation Files FOIA With Five Federal Agencies
On Anti-Marijuana Fungus
Oct. 28, 1999, Washington, DC: The NORML Foundation has filed a Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) request with five U.S. Government agencies in
an attempt to retrieve all information pertaining to the study and use of
the cannabis killing fungus, Fusarium Oxysporum.
FOIA requests were sent this week to The United States Department of
Agriculture, Drug Enforcement Agency, Environmental Protection Agency,
U.S. State Department and the U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey's Office.
NORML Foundation requested a copy of "all records pertaining to the use
of Fusarium Oxysporum as a pathogen to the Cannabis species of plant."
The fungus was developed at Montana State University at Bozeman in
conjunction with a private company. In August, Montana NORML filed a
civil rights lawsuit against the university seeking to receive all
documents about the fungus possessed by the researchers. Florida state
drug czar Jim McDonough has also expressed interest in using the fungus
despite claims the fungus could be harmful to the environment. Reform
activists in Florida have filed similar FOIA requests with their state
agencies.
"We hope to obtain enough information to prove that the government is
funding field experiments with the fungus," said Tom Dean, Esq., NORML
Foundation Litigation Director. "These tests present a very real threat
to the environment and to legal agricultural crops."
"There is no such thing as a 'controlled' field test of a microscopic
fungus," he continued. "Once the Genie is out of the bottle there is no
going back."
For more information, please contact Tom Dean, Esq., NORML Foundation
Litigation Director.
Mainers To Vote On Medical Marijuana On Tuesday
Oct. 28, 1999, Augusta, ME: Maine voters will be deciding next Tuesday
on ballot Question 2, which would allow patients to possess and use
marijuana medically.
Question 2 asks voters, "Do you want to allow patients with specific
illnesses to grow and use small amounts of marijuana for treatment, as
long as such use is approved by a doctor?" Question 2 would protect
patients who have been diagnosed by a physician as suffering from:
persistent nausea, vomiting, wasting syndrome or loss of appetite as a
result of AIDS or chemotherapy for cancer, glaucoma, and seizures
associated with a chronic, debilitating disease, such as multiple
sclerosis.
Recent polls show 70 percent of Maine residents support Question 2.
There is presently no active organized opposition. The Maine Medical
Association does not support the proposal, but Mainers for Medical
Rights, the group organizing Question 2 efforts, have over 175 health
care professionals who support medical marijuana and they are using some
of the MMA's dissenters in a television ad campaign.
The first commercial shows a Maine doctor in an office as he states, "If
you're undergoing cancer chemotherapy, severe nausea and vomiting are
common side effects and they often fail to respond to available
medications. Fortunately there is a medicine that can help. It's
marijuana." The second commercial features a nurse who cares for patients
in the last stages of cancer. She states, "Marijuana could ease the
suffering of some of them. I know it works, but today it's against the
law."
For more information, please contact Mainers for Medical Rights at (310)
394-2952.
Federal Government Asks Appeals Court To Reconsider Medical Marijuana
Ruling
October 28, 1999, San Francisco, CA: The U.S. Justice Department is
asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision
to permit the distribution of marijuana to patients who can demonstrate a
medical necessity.
In September, the appeals court ruled in favor of the Oakland Cannabis
Buyers' Cooperative (OCBC) when they asked U.S. District Court Judge
Charles Breyer to reconsider his injunction against the OCBC and consider
"the criteria for a medical necessity exemption."
Robert Raich, Esq., attorney for the OCBC, called the government's
latest maneuver "yet another hurdle to jump over."
"This shows that the Clinton Administration is out of touch with the
voters of California, the political establishment of California and the
medical establishment of California," Raich said. "The State Attorney
General asked U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to not request
reconsideration in this case."
For more information, please contact Robert Raich, Esq., attorney for
the OCBC at (510) 338-0700 or Tom Dean, NORML Foundation Litigation
Director at (202) 483-8751.
California Attorney General Reports Over 250,000 Marijuana Plants Seized
This Year
October 28,1999, Arcadia, CA: State Attorney General Bill Lockyer
announced yesterday that the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting
has seized over 250,000 marijuana plants. Lockyer said the plants' value
is close to $1 billion.
The number of plants seized almost doubled last year's total. This year
also saw California's largest single haul when agents raided a grower in
southern California with 48,000 plants.
"Growing marijuana is a non-violent offense and should not be a high
priority for California authorities," said Keith Stroup, NORML Executive
Director. "This is an enormous waste of law enforcement resources that
should be focused on violent and serious crime."
For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive
Director at (202) 483-5500 or Dale Gieringer, State Coordinator for
California NORML at (415) 563-5858.
-End-
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