NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF MARIJUANA LAWS

1001 Connecticut Ave., NW

Suite 1010

Washington, D.C. 20036

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. . . a weekly service for the media on news items related to Marijuana Prohibition, by Rob Kampia, Chapter Coordinator

July 28, 1994

- HOUSE/SENATE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE APPROVES RETROACTIVE "SAFETY VALVE"!

This morning, amid negotiations on the federal crime bill, the House/Senate conference committee approved the retroactive "safety valve" provision which is in the House version of the crime bill.

The "safety valve" would remove mandatory minimum penalties for minor drug law violators. Applying the "safety valve" retroactively could release between 1,600 and 4,000 nonviolent federal inmates, many of whom are marijuana law offenders.

Earlier this year the Justice Department released a report which found that 16,316 federal prisoners (21%) are nonviolent low-level drug offenders. (There are now approximately 90,000 prisoners in the entire federal prison system.)

The mandatory minimum penalties for federal marijuana law violators are as follows:

- 5-year mandatory minimum:

cultivation of 100 - 999 marijuana plants or seedlings

distribution of 100 - 999 kilograms of marijuana

- 10-year mandatory minimum:

cultivation of 1,000 or more plants or seedlings

distribution of 1,000 or more kilograms of marijuana

Under current law, an individual who is convicted on the federal level of growing 100 marijuana plants of any size (including seedlings) for personal use must receive a 5-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. If the crime bill is reported out of the conference committee, passes on the House and Senate floors, and is signed by President Clinton, many who are currently incarcerated will be eligible for early release-and those who are convicted of growing 100 plants will be sentenced under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (thereby being sentenced to as little as 3 years).

- CRIME BILL TO PROVIDE FOR FORMATION OF NATIONAL DRUG COMMISSION?

H.R. 3100, otherwise known as the "National Drug Policy Act of 1993," which was introduced on September 21, 1993, by U.S. Representative Don Edwards (D-California), is still alive with 21 co-sponsors.

Citing the failure of current federal drug control efforts, the bill provides for the formation of a national commission to recommend a new, comprehensive drug control policy.

Mr. Edwards has said he might introduce an amendment to the crime bill currently being discussed in a House/Senate conference committee that would provide for such a national commission. (Mr. Edwards is one of 19 conferees who are currently trying to reconcile the differences between the two versions of the crime bill.)

The list of U.S. representatives co-sponsoring H.R. 3100 is as follows:

Anthony Beilenson (D-CA)

Dan Hamburg (D-CA)

Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)

Howard Berman (D-CA)

Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Ronald Dellums (D-CA)

William Hughes (D-NJ)

Bernard Sanders (IND-VT)

Eliot Engel (D-NY)

William Jefferson (D-LA)

Robert Scott (D-VA)

Bob Filner (D-CA)

Harry Johnston (D-FL)

Pete Stark (D-CA)

Thomas Foglietta (D-PA)

Norman Mineta (D-CA)

Jolene Unsoeld (D-WA)

Barney Frank (D-MA)

Patsy Mink (D-HI)

Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)

NORML supports the passage of H.R. 3100 because such a commission is likely to recommend ending the War Against Marijuana Consumers. Every comprehensive, objective commission in the last 100 years has recommended that marijuana at least be decriminalized.

[To contact U.S. Representative Don Edwards, call 202-225-3072.]

- U.S. REPRESENTATIVE BARNEY FRANK "DISAPPOINTED" WITH CLINTON ADMINISTRATION In response to a letter from Dr. Philip Lee, Assistant Secretary for Health, which revealed that the Clinton administration will not be reopening a program that had allowed some patients to apply for medicinal marijuana, U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) wrote on July 18:

Dear Phil:

I received the copy of your letter in which you tell me that the administration apparently is sticking to the status quo regarding therapeutic marijuana. I am very disappointed. I do not mean to impute this to you personally, since I do not know who decided what. But I did want to put on the record my dismay that the administration is letting political prejudice win out over unrestricted science and personal autonomy. Barney Frank

Contrary to popular belief, many members of Congress oppose incarcerating sick people who use marijuana medicinally.

[To contact Dr. Philip Lee's office in the Department of Health and Human Services, call 202-690-7694. To contact U.S. Representative Barney Frank, call 202-225-5931.]

- RESULTS OF PARADE MAGAZINE POLL INDICATE AMERICANS FAVOR "LEGALIZATION"

The cover story of the June 12 issue of Parade magazine entitled "Should Marijuana Be Legal?" included questions that readers could call a 900 line to answer. The results of the questions have been tabulated and will be published in this Sunday's issue of Parade.

NORML has been alerted that more than 54,000 readers responded, which is the largest number of respondents in months. The results to the two questions related to "legalization" are:

- Should marijuana be legal and regulated like alcohol? More than 70% said "yes."

- Should marijuana be legal for medicine? More than 80% said "yes."

These results do not surprise NORML, as it seems reasonable that the majority of Americans believe that adults should not be sentenced to prison for consuming marijuana-especially as medicine. What is surprising, however, is that politicians consider the marijuana law-reform issue a hot potato.

These results are corroborated by another recent national survey. More than 8,000 readers responded to the survey that accompanied the April 8-10 cover story of USA Weekend about the "war on drugs." The results showed the following:

- Nonviolent drug abusers should receive:

DRUG TREATMENT 86%

PRISON TERM 14%

And on January 24, as part of its week-long series, "Violence in America," NBC News asked viewers to call its 900 line to vote for or against the "legalization of drugs" as a solution to the problem of violence. Over 80,000 people called in, with more than 52% favoring "legalization." NBC called the results "surprising," as did NORML, considering NBC lumped marijuana in with hard drugs.

- CONGRESS TO CONSIDER ENDING PROHIBITION OF RELIGIOUS PEYOTE USE--WHAT ABOUT MEDICINAL MARIJUANA USE?

Last month, The Dallas Morning News featured a lengthy story on the use of (and prohibition of) peyote in the United States. The parallels between the federal prohibition of religious peyote use and medicinal marijuana use are interesting:

- "What church members consider to be a holy medicine that has been used in religious ritual 10,000 years old is classified as a hallucinogen under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970." (Marijuana has been used medicinally for thousands of years and is classified in the most restrictive schedule of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.)

- "Native American Church members in 28 states, including Texas, can legally use peyote in ritual because these states have legislative or court-ordered exemptions for varying degrees of protection. Some states have simply adopted a drug enforcement code that exempts the church from the Controlled Substances Act." (Medicinal marijuana use is illegal in all 50 states.

There are only eight people in the country who currently have permission from the federal government to use marijuana as a medicine, and no new applicants are being approved.)

- "In the 22 other states, church members are subject to arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for practicing the peyote religion because no state law protects them." (In all 50 states, Americans are being arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated for using a medicine that is keeping them from going blind, suffering excruciating pain, or dying.)

- "Federal lawmakers are considering a bill that would legalize the sacramental use of peyote for American Indians in all 50 states-a move that would pull them from the grip of a 30-year drug war that they say has no connection to their beliefs."

When will federal lawmakers consider a bill that would allow people suffering from AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis to use marijuana medicinally?-- end --