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 Medical Marijuana News
Medical Marijuana News
 
News Clips From the Past
December 21, 1996 C-SPAN - Drug Czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey - discusses 
pcoming
escalation of US Drug War
While voters in America just say no to the US Drug War, the undemocratic
government drug war apparatusprepares new draconian methods to defy the
electorate in America.The drug czar is preparing to announce a new aggressive
zero-tolerance campaign to "win the drug war".
On a morning call-in interview show on C-SPAN President Clinton's Drug Czar 
Gen.
McCaffrey began to reveal the federal government's new military, national 
guard,
and law enforcement policy changes to undo Prop 215 and Prop 200 medical
marijuana initiatives recently approved by large majorities of voters.
Gen.McCaffrey stated that "in any war, you mobilize against the enemy. In the
Drug War, the enemy is our children." The general went on to state that 
"science
and statistics show that if a child does not use drugs between the ages of 7 
and
21 then they will not use drugs as adults."
The "key to final victory" in the drug war as defined by the President's new
policy is targeting the next generation of American children. The 
onstruction
of new juvenile jail facilities and prisons is being accelerated, new laws
making it easier to prosecute children as adults are also being proposed. If 

single generation of drug users can be effectively isolated from the general
population then victory can be achieved.
Before being appointed drug czar, Gen. McCaffrey served as
[http://www.us.net/cip/0701cau.htm] commander of US Military forces in 
entral
America. During his tenure the [http://myhouse.com/pub/bigjohn/Slvador2.html]
Central American "death squads" were organized consisting of former and 
ctive
duty law enforcement and military personnel.These private-for-hire death 
squads
are paid to seek out children living in the sewers and streets and 
eliminate"
them.A general who is silent about death squads in his area of operations is 

good choice for leading a domestic program of cultural cleansing. Gen Barry
McCaffery cannot be trusted by the American public to speak out against the
abuses that his forces are inflicting on innocent Americans. The "cultural
cleansing" aspects of the US War on Drugs are now being revealed by recent 
EA
publicationsthat call for drug legalizers to be treated as criminals and
advocating the use of other "extra-constitutional"methods.
The drug czar is personally leading a new attack on doctors who advise 
patients
in California and Arizona to use legal natural medicine from the cannabis 
plant.
It will be interesting to see the drug warriors target affluent doctors, a
segment of US society that actually has the funds to defend themselves in 
court
and in the political arena. One would assume this foolish effort by the drug
czar will soon be abandoned when he reminded that it is better to stick with
targeting the poor and the helpless instead.
November 4, 1996 - Business Week - Pg. 199
A Brain Shield From--Well, Marijuana
The first drug to curtail the spread of brain damage resulting from strokes 
and
head or spinal cord injuries has entered clinical tests at six hospitals in
Israel. Its key ingredient is dexanabinol, a synthetic molecule based on the
active agent in marijuana. Dexanabinol was discovered six years ago by 
aphael
Mechoullam, a researcher at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and developed by 
the
Rehovot (Israel) research arm of Pharmos Corp.in Alachua, Fla.
Dexanabinol has two novel properties: It can cross the so-called blood-brain
barrier that prevents foreign molecules from entering the brain. And once in,
the drug appears to halt the brain-cell deterioration that follows a blow to 
the
head or a stroke. In four years of animal testing, the drug produced
"outstanding" results, says Michael Schickler, vice-president of Pharmos' 
Israel
operations. Pharmos expects clinical tests to be completed by the end of 
997.
If it works, dexanabinol could hit the market by 2000.
September 25, 1996 - The Daily Show - Actress Clea Lewis stated -
"Marijuana should be legal one day a month, especially when you have bad
cramps."
September 16, 1996 - More Medical Marijuana Raids in California After Drug
Czar's Visit!
L.A. SHERIFF CRACKS DOWN ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA "CRIME"
West Hollywood Cannabis Buyers' Club Raided
Epileptic Faces Charges in Santa Rosa
Sept. 16 -West Hollywood, Cal: County sheriffs raided the Los Angeles 
annabis
Buyers' Club for medical marijuana patients today. Four club employees,
including two cancer patients and an AIDS patient, were arrested for 
possession
of marijuana with intent to sell.
The raid is thought to have been planned by the Los Angeles Sheriff's 
Department
and Attorney General Dan Lungren behind the backs of West Hollywood city
officials, who were reportedly outraged by the raid. West Hollywood is one of
several California communities to have adopted a resolution urging police to
refrain from medical marijuana arrests.
Meanwhile, in Sonoma County, epileptic Alan Martinez was scheduled to go to
court tomorrow on charges of felony marijuana cultivation (Santa Rosa 
uperior
Court, Room 13, Sept. 17, 8:30 A.M.). Martinez, 42, who uses marijuana to
control severe epileptic seizures, was arrested for growing 6 marijuana
seedlings following a complaint from a neighbor. Martinez is expected to 
pursue
a medical marijuana defense.
"This marks a new low in the war on pot," commented California NORML 
coordinator
Dale Gieringer, "Our marijuana laws are clearly bankrupt when they let law
enforcement authorities run amok arresting people for providing medicine to 
the
sick. The time has come to change the laws to protect Californians' right to
medicine."
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.apc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114
August 4, 1996 - Cannabis Buyers' Club" (CBC) in San Francisco Raided by 
Police
The San Francisco Cannabis Buyers' Club, which provides medical marijuana to
about 10,000 patients, and five other smaller clubs in San Francisco, were
raided at 7:30 this morning (Sunday August 4). Reportedly, sixteen people 
ere
taken into custody. This raid comes as the campaign for Prop. 215, the
California Medical Marijuana Initiative, and the opposition to Prop. 215, 
ave
begun to move into gear.
We have just learned that protests in San Francisco in support of the Buyers'
Club are planned for: 1) this evening (Sunday 8/4), at 5:00pm, meeting at 
18th &
Castro, and walking to Market St. (the whole street is blocked off, and the
media is there in force); 2) tomorrow (Monday 8/5) at noon, at the State
Building on McAllister & Van Ness; and 3) tomorrow at the State Courthouse at
850 Bryant St. at 1:30pm. If you are in the Bay Area, or can get there, 
lease
go to protest this human rights violation and misuse of the criminal justice
system for political purposes. And please call Gov. Pete Wilson at (916)
445-2841 and Attorney General Dan Lungren at (916) 448-3853 (campaign office) 
or
(916) 445-9555 (Justice Dept.) to express your outrage.
August 4, 1996 - Californians for Medical Rights - Yes on 215
Buyers' Club Bust Underscores Need for Prop. 215
SANTA MONICA, August 4 -- Reacting to news this morning that the "Cannabis
Buyers' Club" (CBC) in San Francisco has been raided by police, Californians 
for
Medical Rights, the Yeson Prop. 215 campaign, issued the following
statement:"The Cannabis Buyers' Club, one of the many groups in California
supporting Prop. 215, has suffered a serious blow this morning.For some, the 
San
Francisco CBC was a beacon of hope."
"Our hearts go out to the 10,000 seriously and terminally ill people served 
y
the CBC. These patients were willing to risk arrest to use a medicine that
reduced their pain and suffering.Many of them will now be deprived of that
medicine, which their doctors agreed was beneficial."
"The arrests this morning underscore the need for passage of Prop. 215 this
November. The seriously and terminally ill people of California who find 
medical
benefits from marijuana are not criminals. Prop. 215 will make that fact
explicit under state law."
"Surely the dozens of police officers who participated in this morning's 
arrests
can be better employed chasing hard criminals, even on a Sunday morning."
###
Californians for Medical Rights (CMR) -- YES ON 215 is a non-partisan,
non-affiliated committee formed in 1996. CMR's focus is on protecting the 
legal
rights of doctors and patients who find marijuana useful in medical 
reatment.
CMR was instrumental in gathering sufficient signatures to place Prop.215 on 
the
ballot -- over 775,000 were turned over to county registrars on April 24.
CONTACT: Dave Fratello at (310) 394-2952
125 Sixth Street #202, Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 394-2952 Fax: (310) 451-7494
July 20, 1996 - MARY'S BROWNIES 'MAGIC' - Carey Goldberg, The New York Times
        San Francisco -- If marijuana is        legalized and "magic brownie"
mixes ever appear        on the shelves of America's supermarkets, there will 
be
       one obvious candidate to become the Betty Crocker, the        Mrs. 
Field,
the Sara Lee, of cannabis baking.
        Her name, as almost any San Franciscan can tell you, is        
rownie
Mary. Her real names is Mary Rathbun. But her        famous brownies, her 
great
kindness to AIDS patients and        her repeated arrests have made her such 

public figure        in San Francisco that no last names were needed when the 
  
    city officially declared Aug. 25, 1992, to be Brownie        Mary Day.
        Brownie Mary phote by G.Daurer
For about 15 years, Rathbun, who now is almost 74, has been donating 'magic
brownies' and unadulterated cookies to dying patients and volunteering in the
AIDS ward of San Francisco General Hospital, winning acclaim in the city that
has suffered intensely from the epidemic.
But these days, the battle she has waged -- to legalize the use of marijuana 
for
patients suffering from AIDS, cancer and other ailments such glaucoma, whose
symptoms are said to be alleviated by the drug -- has taken on special 
urgency.
Two processes have converged. In a statewide referendum in November, voters
appear likely to approve a measure legalizing the "compassionate use" of
marijuana. And Brownie Mary's own health has been failing.
"I say to her every day, I say, Mary, you've got to live," said Dennis Peron,
probably San Francisco's most prominent marijuana advocate and Rathbun's
longtime comrade-in-arms. "She had given up three months ago -- she said she 
was
going to Michigan to see Dr. Kevorkian, because she was just in so much pain,
and I said, 'Mary, you can't go see Kevorkian until November.'"
That argument carries weight with Rathbun, who suffers from arthritis and 
other
ailments that kept her laid up and unable to bake at all this year.
Although the ailments she admits to are not terminal, she is in constant pain
and her failing health has melted away the comfortable grandmotherly 
lumpness
she used to have.
Rathbun, whose source of income is Social Security checks -- the marijuana is
donated by growers -- says she indeed does want to see the medical use of
marijuana legalized before she dies, for those she calls her "kids," the
hundreds, if not thousands, of AIDS patients she has helped.
"I think I might live to see it, I really do," she said, adding that if
California does approve the ballot measure as pollsters predict, Gov. Pete
Wilson, who has vetoed similar proposals by the legislature, "will wet his
pants, he really will."
If being ornery helps, Rathbun will surely make it. Although much of her fame
stems from the outrageous picture of the police arresting a sweet little old
lady for baking brownies to help sick people, no one could be further from a
milquetoast.
When she was 13 and growing up in Minneapolis, Rathbun said, she turned on a 
nun
who caned her and got in a few good licks herself.
That was the end of Catholic school and of living at home; she took an 
apartment
and went to work in the afternoons, beginning a waitressing career of more 
than
50 years. She remains an atheist to this day.
She came out to San Francisco during World War II with some friends, was 
married
for a while and had a daughter who died in an automobile accident at 22. 
Friends
say the loss of her daughter may have helped spur Rathbun later on to take on 
so
many AIDS patients, adopting dozens of "kids" to replace the one she lost.
Rathbun says, however, that she always has volunteered, that it comes 
naturally.
A pot smoker for decades, she samples her own wares, typically eating half a
brownie in the morning and the other half in the afternoon.
Without her own sweet medicine, she says, she never could do so much walking 
on
her two artificial knees.
She began baking large quantities of pot brownies in the 1970s, offering them
for sale, long before she started her charitable baking.
Her first arrest came in 1980, when police raided the little home bakery that
was turning out as many as 50 dozen brownies a day, she said, and the second 

couple of years later when she was walking down the street with some brownies
meant for a friend with cancer.
After the third arrest in 1992, her fame really took off, and she still, to 
her
own bemusement, is asked to do interviews for European TV and photo shoots. 
The
demand among AIDS patients for her free brownies grew so great she pulled 
names
from a cookie jar to see who would get them.
Rathbun is willing, though not eager, to talk. What she will not do under any
circumstances is reveal the secret recipe for her brownies, except to say 
hat
the trick is to figure out your recipe and follow it precisely.
She and Peron put out a cookbook in 1993. "Brownie Mary's Marijuana Cookbook 
and
Dennis Peron's Recipe for Social Change" that includes potlaced recipes for
black bean soup, chip dip, spaghetti sauce and chestnut stuffing -- but no
brownies.
"When and if they legalize it, I'll sell my brownie recipe to Betty Crocker 
r
Duncan Hines," she said, "and take the profits and buy an old Victorian for 
y
kids with AIDS."
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