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September 15, 1994 - NORML ANNOUNCES A NEW BOARD OF DIRECTORS

On September 11, the Board of Directors of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) voted to dissolve itself and appoint three prominent Americans to head up a new and revitalized NORML Board.

The new Board consists of two internationally renowned physicians-Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School, author of Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine (Yale Press), and Dr. John Morgan of City University of New York Medical School, author of the Merck Manual's section on "Drugs of Abuse"-and Ms. Anne Druyan, Secretary of the Federation of American Scientists, author and co-author of several books including Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and Comet, which was on the New York Times Best Seller list. Ms. Druyan also co-wrote the television series Cosmos.

Grinspoon, Morgan, and Druyan will begin at once recruiting other

distinguished persons to complete the new Board. Commenting on the changes in NORML's Board, NORML's National Director Richard Cowan said that he believes "this will elevate NORML and the issue of Marijuana Prohibition to a new level of seriousness in the public discourse. One of the greatest frustrations x is that too often people who completely agree with us just do not take the issue seriously. Having a Board of this stature will radically change this."

- PARALYZED OLYMPIAN'S MEDICINAL MARIJUANA SEIZED BY POLICE

On September 14, acting on an anonymous tip that Neary Lagoon resident Scott Hager was an armed and dangerous drug dealer, Santa Cruz police pushed their way into the 33-year-old quadriplegic's apartment and seized four mature marijuana plants.

Hager, a wheelchair athlete and Para-Olympic Bronze Medalist, uses marijuana to control the violent muscle spasms associated with the paralysis caused by a 1982 swimming accident.

At noon on Friday, September 16, at the County Courthouse in Santa Cruz, California, Hager will file a "class action" lawsuit against stateand local law-enforcement officials to prevent them from taking his or anyone else's medicinal marijuana in the future.

The police were called back to Hager's home the day after the raid when neighbors reported moaning and crying coming from Hager's apartment. When police arrived they found Hager in severe physical distress-sweating profusely, bucking with spasms, and bleeding from his catheter. When Hager told police that their colleagues had taken his medicine the night before, the officers assured Hager that they would not hassle him if he went out to buy marijuana on the streets.

"When you have an in-dwelling catheter and your bladder is spasmodic, you bleed," Hager said. "This is not about smoking for psychic transcendence or gratification. It's about physical functioning. It's about staying alive." [For more information on this medicinal marijuana case, please contact Scott Imler of the Santa Cruz Citizens for Medical Marijuana at 408-429-8819.]

- ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION SEEKS "SANITY IN THE WAR ON DRUGS"

On September 2, the Atlanta Journal Constitution's lead editorial entitled "Sanity in the War on Drugs" stated in part:

"It is now clear that the nation's much ballyhooed "war on drugs" has been a dismal failure, a waste of precious taxpayer dollars. Instead of reducing violent crime, this desperate "war" has led the nation to squander the talents of countless men and women by incarcerating them for petty, nonviolent crimes. America now imprisons a higher percentage of its population than any other industrialized nation."

- NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE PUBLISHES A FAVORABLE REVIEW OF MARIHUANA, THE FORBIDDEN MEDICINE

On September 15, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) became one of the few publications to review Harvard Medical School's Dr. Lester Grinspoon & James B. Bakalar's Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine (Yale Press).

The reviewer, Robert M. Swift, M.D., Ph.D., of Brown University Medical School, heaped praise for Grinspoon and co-author Bakalar's scholarly analysis of the legal, social, and medical quandary presented by the blanket prohibition of marijuana as a therapeutic agent.

Dr. Swift's review stated that the book was "easy to read" and that "Grinspoon presents cogent and convincing arguments for the legalization of marijuana and its pharmacologically active components." Dr. Swift further observed that "There is no doubt that the psychoactive components of marijuana have therapeutic properties. The authors present concise summary of the therapeutic uses of marijuana."

The NEJM review concluded by declaring, "whether or not one personally supports the decriminalization or legalization of marijuana, this book provides an excellent overview of the subject from a medical perspective."

As stated in prior NORML press releases: to date, no major newspaper or commercial publication has reviewed Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine. This book is going to be increasingly important as the issue of medical access to marijuana will not go away.

- BOSTON GLOBE CALL-IN POLL ON MEDICINAL MARIJUANA CALLED "LARGE AND LOPSIDED"; 97% OF THE RESPONDENTS VOTED YES FOR MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

On September 15, The Boston Globe released the results of a telephone call-in poll that it described as being as large-and as lopsided-as any poll they have ever run. The Globe stated that "more than 1300 readers called in to share their opinion. 1282 said they favor legalizing marijuana for medicinal use. Only 38 called to register opposition to such a step." The Globe further stated, "The vast majority in favor spoke of a humanitarian imperative to relieve suffering among those afflicted with painful disease." (emphasis added)

[This poll and the Globe's comments underscore the immediate need for federal legislation that would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana to their patients. NORML and the Emergency Coalition for Medical Cannabis (ECMC) will conduct a nationwide protest of the Clinton Administration's denial of a safe and inexpensive therapeutic agent to millions of sick and dying patients. For more information on the November 15, 1994, nationwide protest for medicinal marijuana, please contact Allen St. Pierre at NORML, 202-483-5500.]

- MAN ARRESTED FOR MARIJUANA LEAF INSIGNIA FILES A FEDERAL LAWSUIT

On August 26, according to the Quad-City Times, "East Moline resident James Musgrow, 31, was arrested Jan. 14 after going to the Davenport police department to get help finding his mother's car, which he believed was stolen. He was wearing a black cap with a green marijuana leaf insignia on it and a matching black t-shirt.

"His federal lawsuit says Davenport police Sgt. Dave Holden saw the shirt and hat and asked him to leave or be arrested. Musgrow responded that he had a right to be in the police station. Sgt. Holden arrested Musgrow for trespassing. Once Musgrow was placed in the city jail he was accidentally sprayed with mace by officers trying to subdue his drunken cellmate, the suit alleges".

About two months later a Scott County magistrate judge dismissed the trespassing charge, stating in part that "the police officer's actions were clearly an infringement upon the defendant's First Amendment right of freedom of expression. The defendant had done nothing wrong. The police officer acted arbitrarily and without good cause." Musgrow is seeking $1 million for civil rights violation, assault, false arrest, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution. City attorney Mary Thee told the Quad-City Times that Sgt. Holden and other city officials are immune from civil liability due to their positions.-- end --