A NON PROFIT LEGAL, RESEARCH, AND EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION
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                        Internet http://www.norml.org
   . . . a weekly service for the media on news items related to marijuana
                                prohibition.
                              August 21, 1997
         Netherlands Hospital To Begin Research On Medical Marijuana
                           And Multiple Sclerosis
          August 21, 1997, Rotterdam, the Netherlands:  The academic
hospital of the University of Groningen in Rotterdam will begin researching
the therapeutic value of marijuana on patients suffering from spastic
disorders, according to an August 19 article in De Volkskrant, a popular
Amsterdam newspaper.
          Fifteen patients suffering from multiple sclerosis will
participate in the research study to determine how effectively marijuana
decreases muscle spasms.  The medical-ethical commission of the hospital
approved the experiments earlier this week.
          "When marijuana shows to be of therapeutic value, we should work
with great dedication to develop it further," said research professor Dr. J.
de Keyzer.  Keyzer will head the Groningen study.
          There exists clinical and historical evidence that marijuana is
effective in treating a variety of spastic conditions such as multiple
sclerosis, paraplegia, epilepsy, and quadriplegia.  A number of animal
studies and a handful of carefully controlled human studies have supported
marijuana's ability to suppress convulsions.  A summary of these findings
was reported by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine in
1982.  Many of these studies specifically indicate cannabidiol (CBD), a
non-psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, to be a potent anti-convulsant.
According to the United States government's premiere marijuana expert, Dr.
Mahmoud ElSohly of the Marijuana Project at the University of Mississippi,
"CBD [cannabidiol] is famous for [its] anti-convulsant activity."
          Recently, results of a study published in Volume 38 of European
Neurology demonstrated that more than 70 percent of multiple sclerosis
patients surveyed perceived that using marijuana reduced their spasticity.
Researchers concluded: "The ... results clearly indicate ... a high level of
improvement after cannabis for the general categories of pain, spasticity,
and tremor.  These results are consistent with those obtained in [previous]
clinical trials.  ... The present study, taken together with the content of
previous reports, strongly suggests that cannabis may significantly relieve
certain symptoms of MS, particularly spasticity and pain."
          For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or
Allen St. Pierre of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.  Copies of the
study in European Neurology are available from The NORML Foundation upon
request.
 California Jury Deadlocks Over Whether Marin County Doctor Qualified Under
                               Proposition 215
          August 21, 1997, San Rafael, CA:  The first jury instructed to
consider California's medical marijuana law as an affirmative defense
deadlocked yesterday on whether to convict a Marin County man for growing
marijuana he allegedly used to treat chronic back pain.
          Law enforcement officials arrested Dr. Alan Ager last September
for growing 135 small marijuana plants.  Ager's lawyer, NORML Legal
Committee member Lawrence Lichter, claimed his client smoked marijuana
frequently to reduce back pain suffered in a 1978 car accident.  Before the
trial, Marin County Superior Court Judge Vernon Smith ruled that the jury
could consider Proposition 215 retroactively as an affirmative defense in
the case.
          The jury decided 10 to 2 in favor of conviction after eight hours
of deliberation.  Judge Smith declared a mistrial after deciding that the
two holdouts could not be swayed.  Deputy District Attorney Teresa Leon has
until September 3 to decide whether she will retry the case.
          NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. called the result a
positive step for medical marijuana patients.  "Courts and juries in
California appear to be interpreting Proposition 215 in accordance with the
spirit of the voters," he said.  "When there exists a gray area in the law,
they are giving sick people the benefit of the doubt."
          Nancy Bernard, one of the two jurors who voted to acquit, told The
San Francisco Chronicle that she believed there was sufficient evidence that
Ager grew marijuana under the guidelines of Proposition 215.  "I didn't
think there was enough information for me to say he didn't use marijuana for
medical reasons," she said.  "He has back pain.  He had a doctor's
recommendation.  Who's to say what's too much?"
          Ager's marijuana was supported in court by his sister, Dr. Phyllis
Ager.  Ms. Ager had previously conducted studies on the effects of marijuana
on cancer patients, and testified that inhaled marijuana held therapeutic
benefits unavailable in oral THC capsules.
          Alan Ager currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Marin
Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a non-profit Cannabis Buyers' Club.
          For more information, please contact either Keith Stroup, Esq. of
NORML @ (202) 483-5500 or Lynette Shaw of the Marin Alliance for Medical
Marijuana @ (415) 256-9328.
    Prison Beating Caught On Video The Result Of War On Marijuana Smokers
          August 21, 1997, Jefferson City, MO:  The war on marijuana smokers
played a role in the videotaped September 18, 1996, beating of Missouri
prisoners by Texas deputies, charged NORML Chairman Dan Viets, Esq.
          The taped incident, which surfaced earlier this week, shows
deputies donned in riot gear and at least one private guard kicking crawling
inmates, allowing a dog to bite an inmate, and using a stun gun.  Jail
officials said that suspicion of marijuana smoking among inmates prompted
the show of force.
          Viets, a Columbia, Missouri attorney and member of NORML's Legal
Committee, called the incident "shocking," and charged that state policies
cracking down on non-violent drug offenders were partly to blame.  "Missouri
jails are operating well over 100 percent capacity and forcing state inmates
to be housed in other states like Texas," said Viets.  "This overcrowding is
because 80 percent of inmates entering the Missouri Department of
Corrections are non-violent offenders, many of them convicted on marijuana
charges."  Viets added that he personally had clients serving time in Texas
jails for marijuana violations at the time of the videotaped incident.
          "Have suspected marijuana users been demonized to the point where
we allow them to be beaten, stunned, and bitten?" Viets asked in reference
to the deputies' explanation for the assault.
          The emergence of the videotaped led Missouri to terminate its $6
million contract to house inmates in the Brazoria Texas County Detention
Center.
          For more information, please contact Attorney Dan Viets @ (573)
443-6866.
                                    -END-
  MORE THAN 10 MILLION MARIJUANA ARRESTS SINCE 1965 . . . ANOTHER EVERY 54
                                  SECONDS!
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