NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF MARIJUANA LAWS
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Internet http://www.norml.org
   
   . . . a weekly service for the media on news items related to Marijuana
                                Prohibition.
                              January 23, 1997
     Massachusetts Introduces Regulations To Legalize Medical Marijuana
      Boston, Massachusetts, January 22, 1997:  The Massachusetts
Department of Health issued regulations to create an affirmative medical
defense for patients who use marijuana for a legitimate medical need.  The
regulations were mandated by the passage of a law last summer (H. 2170) that
reinvigorates the state marijuana therapeutic research program and provides
a prima facie defense for individuals who are certified by the state to use
marijuana to treat glaucoma, asthma, or the nausea associated with
chemotherapy.
      According to State Public Health Commissioner David Mulligan, a three
doctor panel appointed by the state will screen individual patients'
applications for certification.  Certified patients will be shielded from
criminal penalties, even if they obtain marijuana through illicit channels,
Mulligan said.  State physicians will not be allowed to prescribe marijuana
to their patients under the new law.
      "We're trying to get certificates into the hands of people who meet
the medical criteria," said Mulligan.  "Who is going to prosecute someone
who has a certificate saying they have a medical condition that requires
[marijuana?]"
      The new law also mandates the Department of Health to develop a
blueprint for a state-run medical marijuana research project, which would be
submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval.  During the
late 1970s and early 1980s, at least six states implemented research
programs allowing seriously ill patients to obtain marijuana as a medicine
from the state board of health.
      "The feds keep telling us verbally -- they have never put it in
writing -- that they would supply [marijuana] for a well-designed clinical
trial," said Nancy Ridley, assistant health commissioner.  "We're going to
be sending another batch of letters to the federal government to try to get
them to be more specific about what it would take to access their supply.
It would be absolutely wrong not to try."
      NORML Legal Committee member Michael Cutler, Esq., sees the proposals
as a step in the right direction, but criticized the state's failure to
include a "catch-all" provision for terminal illness as well as language
granting "sufficient confidentiality" for patients and doctors.  He also
expressed concern that patients would need to be certified by a state-panel
of physicians rather than by their own personal doctor.  Cutler, who helped
to draft the original legislation, expects the legislature to hold public
hearings on the issue as early as next month.
      For more information, please contact attorney Michael Cutler @ (617)
439-4990.  For a state by state breakdown of medical marijuana laws, please
contact Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of NORML @ (202) 483-5500.
        Oklahoma Man Sentenced to 93 Years For Cultivating Marijuana
      January 17, 1997, Tulsa, Oklahoma:  An Oklahoma jury sentenced a
Tulsa man to 93 years in jail for cultivating marijuana in a 25-square-foot
underground shelter.  The man was also ordered to pay $62,000 in fines.
      Jurors found William Joseph Foster, 38, guilty of four marijuana
felonies and one misdemeanor despite testimony that he was growing marijuana
for personal use to alleviate the pain of rheumatoid arthritis.
      "William Foster was growing and using marijuana for pain management,"
explained Michael Pearson of Oklahoma NORML, who noted that a medical
marijuana necessity defense is not accepted by Oklahoma law.  "Mr. Foster
has utilized prescription drugs which he has found to be not as effective
and/or to produce undesirable side effects.
      Prosecutors claimed that there existed little medical evidence to
support Foster's claim and accused him of maintaining a sophisticated
marijuana growing system capable of producing over 2,500 marijuana
cigarettes.  Testimony from expert witness Ed Rosenthal, a writer-researcher
specializing in marijuana and it's cultivation, denied this claim.
      Rosenthal said that Foster's basement growing area would have only
yielded 12 and one-half ounces of smokable marijuana.  "What we have here is
... simple possession of marijuana," maintained Foster's attorney, Stuart W.
Southerland, Esq.
      Jurors rejected this assertion, however, and sentenced Foster to
serve 70 years in jail for cultivation of marijuana.  He also received a
two-year sentence for possessing marijuana with intent to distribute, a
20-year term for possessing marijuana in the presence of a child who lived
in the home, and a one-year sentence for failing to obtain a drug stamp.
Foster is planning on appealing the verdict.
      "This decision was a case of overkill," summarized Pearson.  "When
Oklahoma looks at 'truth in sentencing,' this will definitely be a case that
will stand out.  Justice in Oklahoma just doesn't exist any more.
      For more information, please contact Michael Pearson of Oklahoma
NORML @ (405) 840-4367 or Attorney Stuart W. Southerland @ (918) 744-5448.
           Vermont Study Demonstrates Strong Support For Domestic
                              Hemp Production
      January 16, 1997, Montpelier, Vermont:  More than 75 percent of
Vermont residents say that farmers should be allowed to grow industrial hemp
as a cash crop, according to the results of a University of Vermont survey.
      The survey, entitled "Alternative Agricultural Strategies in Vermont:
The Case of Industrial Hemp," was part of a study commissioned by the state
legislature last year to determine the viability of hemp production in
Vermont.  Of the 770 Vermonters who were contacted in the telephone survey,
402 responded.
      The survey's key findings are as follows:
   * 77 percent of respondents said they supported changing the laws so
     farmers could grow hemp in Vermont.
   * 72 percent said that legalizing hemp would not hurt the effectiveness
     of drug education efforts.
   * 63 percent said that allowing domestic hemp cultivation would not
     inevitably lead to the legalization of marijuana.
   * 55 percent said they would substitute all of their purchase of cotton
     jeans with clothing made from hemp if they were of equal market price.
      Often described as "marijuana's misunderstood cousin," industrial
hemp is from the same species that produces marijuana.  Unlike marijuana,
however, industrial hemp has only minute amounts of delta-9
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient that gives marijuana
its medical and euphoric properties.  Industrial hemp is currently grown
legally through much of Europe, Asia, and parts of Canada to produce a
variety of products such as textiles, paper, composites, paints, cosmetics,
and animal feed.
      "This survey indicates what the rapidly growing U.S. hemp market is
already telling us," said NORML Deputy Director Allen St. Pierre.
"Americans want hemp products and they want their farmers to be a part of
this prospering economic industry."
      Last year, Vermont was among four states that introduced legislation
to allow for domestic hemp cultivation.  NORML expects at least twice as
many states to introduce similar legislation this year.  Presently, both
Missouri and Virginia have industrial hemp measures pending before the state
legislature.
      For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre or Paul
Armentano of NORML @ (202) 483-5500.  For information regarding the Virginia
hemp bill, please contact Eric Steenstra of Ecolution @ (703) 207-9001.  For
information regarding the Missouri hemp bill, please contact Dan Viets of
Missouri NORML @ (314) 443-6866. Copies of NORML's position paper: "Can
America Afford Not To Grow This Plant?" are available upon request.
                                    -END-
  MORE THAN 10 MILLION MARIJUANA ARRESTS SINCE 1965 . . . ANOTHER EVERY 54
                                  SECONDS!
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