NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF
MARIJUANA LAWS
1001 CONNECTICUT AVENUE NW
SUITE 1010
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036
TEL 202-483-5500 * FAX 202-483-0057
E-MAIL natlnorml@aol.com
Internet http://www.norml.org/
... a weekly service for the media on news items related to Marijuana Prohibition.
October 3, 1996
Political Cartoonist Supports Proposition 215, Angers State Attorney General
October 3, 1996, San Francisco, CA:
California State Attorney General Dan Lungren thinks that the
nationally syndicated comic-strip Doonesbury is going to
pot, and he isn't amused.
Lungren is upset over this week's series of Doonesbury cartoons
focusing on the police raid on the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers
Club and promoting Proposition 215, a state ballot initiative to prevent
the state prosecution of patients who use marijuana for a
documented medical need. Lungren was responsible for
ordering the August 4 raid on the club and is one of the chief opponents
of Proposition 215. He has asked Universal Press Syndicate,
which distributes the cartoon, to either pull this week's strips
or include a disclaimer saying the cartoon is inaccurate. UPS
is doing neither.
"This week's Doonesbury strips clearly advance the
wink-and-nod attitude toward drug use that is most responsible
for the addition of thousands of American kids to the drugged and
at risk roster," argued Lungren in a letter to the San
Francisco Chronicle.
Cannabis Buyers' Club Founder Dennis Peron countered that Lungren
was advocating censorship. "Instead of attacking
characters in a cartoon, why doesn't he meet me in a
debate?" he asked.
"This week's Doonesbury strips are bringing national
exposure to a situation in dire need of widespread attention and
reform," said NORML Deputy Director Allen St.
Pierre. "National polls indicate that Americans
delineate between marijuana use for recreational purposes and medical
needs and strongly support the latter. If Doonesbury can
help further the debate, then it's a positive step."
Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau has refused to comment
specifically on Lungren's attacks, but did weigh in on the issue
of marijuana prohibition in the September 16 issue of Time
Magazine.
"Before we can get any traction on controlling pot, ... the
generation that popularized the stuff has got to finally come
clean about what made it so alluring in the first place -- and
then square that with current marijuana policy," Trudeau
wrote. "A good start might be for every middle-aged public
official in America to take the following oath.
"... I concede that I once did not view marijuana as
dangerous. ... It was only after my appetite for
recreational drugs had abated, and I produced children whom I did
not believe capable of 'handling' marijuana as responsibly as I
had, that I came to oppose decriminalization. I acknowledge
that it was this fear, and not new medical evidence, that caused
me to subsequently support mandatory sentencing for other
people's children caught emulating the actions of my generation."
Doonesbury runs in 1,400 newspapers.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre of NORML
@ (202) 483-5500. For more information on Proposition 215,
please contact Dave Fratello of Californians for Medical Rights @
(310) 394-2952.
Supreme Court To Rule On Drug Testing Of Political Candidates
October 1, 1996, Washington, D.C.:
The Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of a Georgia
law mandating candidates to pass a drug test before qualifying to
run for elected state office.
The law is being challenged by attorney and former Libertarian
candidate for Lieutenant Governor Walker Chandler. Chandler
is appealing a 2-1 decision issued this past January by the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the law. Chandler said
that the 11 page dissent in that case made his challenge
appealing to the High Court.
"I do not believe that the suspicionless search in these
circumstances serves any special governmental need beyond the
normal need for law enforcement, and, if it did, I believe that
the candidates' privacy interests outweigh the governmental
interests," opined dissenting Circuit Judge Rosemary
Barkett, raising questions about the U.S. Constitution's Fourth
Amendment guarantee to be free from unreasonable search and
seizure. "We are not merely dealing with the denial of
a job opportunity, but with the denial of the opportunity to
participate in our democratic form of government."
Barkett's dissent also called into question apparent First
Amendment violations posed by the controversial law.
"The majority maintains that the government's purpose [in
passing this legislation] is not suppression of free
expression. Yet, it supports it by citing the importance of ensuring
that elected officials are 'persons appreciative of the perils of
drug use' and 'sympathetic to drug interdiction efforts.'
Establishing a certain ideology as a 'qualification' for holding
public office appears to be a content-based restriction on free
expression."
In taking the case, the Supreme Court will also determine how far
the government may go in requiring people to submit to drug tests
where there is no particular suspicion of individual wrongdoing,
reports the Washington Post.
NORML's Amicus Curiae Committee will file an amicus brief
in the case.
The Georgia law does not apply to congressional candidates, whose
qualifications are prescribed by the U.S. Constitution and
Congress itself.
For more information, please contact Attorney Walker Chandler
@ (800) 560-3882. For more information about drug testing,
please contact Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of NORML
@ (202) 483-5500 or visit NORML's homepage
at: http://www.norml.org/
Ohio High School Cracks Down On Hemp
October 3, 1996, Eastlake, OH:
Students at North High School in Eastlake Ohio who wear jewelry
made out of hemp fiber will be sent to the principle's office and
have their parents notified, according to a new policy enacted by
school officials this past Tuesday.
Critics of the policy argue that the new rule inhibits freedom of
expression and amounts to nothing more than harassment.
"It's extremism on the [anti-drug] issue," said
Northcoast NORML chapter president John Hartman, who announced
that he would provide hemp clothing and twine to interested
students. "Is the intention to pick out students and
harass them or attempt to enforce their drug-free school policy?
Either way, [it's] persecuting them for wearing [legal] hemp
jewelry."
According to principle George Spinner, a proponent of the policy,
hemp jewelry symbolizes "sympathy" toward marijuana, a
view that he believes to be unacceptable in a school
environment. "The truth is, they are wearing it
because of the relationship of hemp and marijuana."
Spinner noted that the jewelry will not be confiscated, but
admits that officials are asking students not to wear it.
"By their own admission, school officials are trying to
suppress a political statement about our government's policies
toward marijuana and industrial hemp," said NORML
Deputy Director Allen St. Pierre. "This harassment
clearly infringes upon a student's constitutional guarantee of freedom
of expression."
Several students have approached Northcoast NORML to complain
about the new policy and some have begun to hand out fliers
challenging the rule. Over 1,500 students attend the
school.
For more information, please contact John Hartman of
Northcoast NORML @ (216) 521-9333. E-mail may be addressed
to: NCNorml@aol.com
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