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   . . . a weekly service for the media on news items related to marijuana
                                prohibition.
                              September 18,1997
 Backers of Washington Drug Reform Initiative Charge Opponents With Illegal
                            Use Of Federal Funds
          September 18, 1997, Olympia, WA:   Proponents of a Washington
initiative to reform state drug laws filed complaints with the Public
Disclosure Commission and state Ethics Board questioning whether Lieutenant
Governor Brad Owen was misusing federal funds to campaign against Initiative
685, "The Drug Medicalization and Prevention Act of 1997."  Owen, who
vocally admits he opposes I-685, alleges that his present $170,000
anti-marijuana effort is an outgrowth of ten years of anti-drug work and is
not an attempt to persuade voters to reject the initiative this fall.
          Tacoma physician Rob Killian, who filed the initiative this
spring, thinks otherwise.  "Ever since I filed this, I've had the [federal]
government running a campaign against me," he told The Seattle Times.
"They will break the law anyway they can to ensure there isn't another voice
in this war on drugs."
          A spokesman for Owen told reporters that the lieutenant governor's
staff is aware that current laws prohibit tax dollars from being used to
fund a political campaign.  However, Owen's advisor on the project -- whose
salary is paid with federal funds -- admits that past and present
initiatives need to be addressed by the office's current anti-marijuana
strategy.  "We do take on the drug-legitimizing movement," said program
manager Patrick Aaby.  Federal moneys also paid for multiple copies of
anti-marijuana handbooks and audiovisual material.  The handbook includes
detailed arguments against the use of marijuana as a medicine, a key
platform of the I-685 campaign.
          Allen St. Pierre, Deputy Director of The NORML Foundation, blasted
Owen's actions as a "naked attempt" to skirt around accepted law.  "It is a
clear violation of law to use taxpayer's dollars to influence a public
election," he said.  "These actions clearly jeopardize the democratic
process."
          Initiative 685 models itself after an Arizona drug-reform
initiative passed in November by 65 percent of the voters.  The initiative
makes the following changes in state drug laws:
          * Requires that any person who commits a violent crime under the
influence of drugs serve 100 percent of his or her sentence.
          * Permits doctors to recommend Schedule I controlled substances
such as marijuana to seriously and terminally ill patients.
          * Provides that persons convicted of non-violent drug possession
crimes successfully undergo court supervised drug treatment programs and
probation instead of being sentenced to prison.
          * Requires that nonviolent persons currently in prison for
personal possession or use of illegal drugs, and not serving a concurrent
sentence for another crime, or previously convicted under any habitual
criminal statute in any jurisdiction of the United States, be made eligible
for immediate parole and drug treatment, education, and community service.
          State voters will approve or reject the initiative on November 5.
          For more information, please contact either Madeline Johnson of
Citizens for Drug Policy Reform @ (206) 781-6795 or Dr. Rob Killian via
e-mail at: RKillian@aol.com.  Copies of the initiative are available from
NORML upon request or on the Internet at:
http://www.eventure.com/I685/index.html.
    Hawaiian Legislator Calls For Boycott Of Alabama Following Hemp Bust
          September 18, 1997, Honolulu, HI:   Hawaiian Legislator Cynthia
Thielen (R-Kailua) called for a statewide boycott of Alabama after learning
that state law enforcement officials arrested two shop owners for selling
products made from hemp fiber.
          "If the district attorney there in Birmingham is going to equate
hemp with marijuana..., then Alabama should be avoided like the plague,"
Thielen said.  Thielen is a staunch proponent of hemp's industrial uses and
sponsored legislation this spring to allow for the domestic cultivation of
the crop.
          "As an alternative material, there is nothing more versatile right
now," she said.
          Thielen sent a letter to Governor Fob James informing him that she
is encouraging hemp-related industries in Hawaii to avoid doing any business
in Alabama.  "This is a business development issue," she explained.
          Business owners Angela Guilford and her husband Jeff Russell were
charged with trafficking in marijuana after law enforcement raided her small
shop in July and seized hemp-based clothing, jewelry, and sterilized seeds.
  Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber said the charges are
justified because the state's trafficking statutes define marijuana
"anything that can be identified as coming from the plant."  Federal law
allows for the possession and importation of hemp fiber and products.
          "Some areas are a little looser about marijuana, and we're not,"
Barber said.
          When told about Rep. Theilen's comments and that she often dons
hemp clothing, Barber replied that "she'd have a problem" if she visited
Alabama.
          Guilford and Russell have a preliminary hearing scheduled for
September 23.
          For more information, please contact R. Keith Stroup, Esq. of
NORML @ (202) 483-5500.
      California Legislature To Wait Till Next Year Before Deciding On
                      Medical Marijuana Research Center
          September 18, 1997, Sacramento, CA:   The California Legislature
failed to act on legislation to establish a Medical Marijuana Research
Center at a campus of the University of California.  The bill, S.B. 535,
would have provided $1 million dollars for the first year of study and
recommend similar financing over the next two years.  The legislation will
now be held over until 1998.
          NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. called the outcome
disappointing.  "The Legislature's inaction ignores demands from the public
and scientific community to conduct unbiased research on the efficacy and
safety of medical marijuana," he said.  "This is a golden opportunity
missed."
          S.B. 535, introduced by Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara),
enjoys broad support from the medical and law enforcement community.
Backers of the research proposal include the American Cancer Society,
Attorney General Dan Lungren, the California Narcotics Officers Association,
the California Medical Association, and the California District Attorney's
Association.  California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer said he remains
hopeful that the Legislature will approve the bill next year.
          "Rigid scientific studies of medical marijuana are the only way to
resolve the current conflict between Prop. 215 and federal law," he said,
expressing dismay that such research is still not underway.  "It is a
remarkable testimony to the failure of our national drug policy leadership
that a year after [the] passage of Prop. 215, not a single research study of
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