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... a weekly service for the media on news items related to Marijuana Prohibition.

October 12, 1995

Alaska Court Rules Roadside Marijuana Search To Be Illegal

September 27, 1995, Anchorage, AK: In a ruling that could cast doubt

upon the legality of many roadside searches, Alaska District Court Judge

William Fuld has dismissed charges against a man who was arrested after a

state trooper reportedly smelled marijuana and then demanded that the

defendant "hand it over." In the court's view, the officer's phrase: "hand it

over" was not a choice, but a demand to search the defendant's vehicle.

Therefore, the court ruled that the roadside search was improper because no

valid consent was ever given by the defendant.

"The trooper was in uniform and the defendant testified that he felt he

had to respond to the officer's command," summarized Fuld in his court

opinion. "The demand to 'hand it over' admitted to by the trooper was an

illegal search of the defendant. While the trooper smelled marijuana, he had

no right to search the passenger. ...

... The state argues that there was a valid consent to a search. I don't

think so. No choice was offered [to the defendant.]"

For more information on this decision, please contact Don Hart of the

National Lawyers Guild @ (907) 376-2232 or Len Karpinski of Anchorage NORML @

(907) 248-HEMP.

California Activists File Medical Marijuana Initiative For 1996 State Ballot

September 29, 1995, Sacramento, CA: A coalition of AIDS activists, cancer

survivors, seniors, nurses, and medical experts have filed a medical marijuana

initiative with the California Attorney General's Office. The initiative was

filed in response to Governor Pete Wilson's expected veto of bill AB 1529.

(This legislation would provide for the controlled compassionate use of

marijuana for those individuals diagnosed by a physician to be suffering from

the diseases of AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis.) Wilson

previously vetoed similar bills in both 1993 and 1994.

The initiative maintains that those patients who possess a valid doctor's

recommendation should be allowed to use marijuana as a therapeutic without

fear or risk of criminal prosecution. The initiative also allows citizens to

cultivate their own marijuana for personal use and encourages state and

federal government to establish a program that will provide for a safe and

affordable method of distribution. This coalition has 150 days to collect

600,000 signatures.

Marijuana activist and head of Californians for Compassionate Use, Dennis

Peron, will be directing the initiative drive. "If Governor Wilson had not

vetoed, two years in a row, two separate medical marijuana bills--one that

would have allowed doctors to prescribe, and one to allow patients not be

prosecuted for personal use of marijuana--this would not be necessary," he

stated.

For more information on the California medical marijuana initiative,

please contact Dennis Peron of Californians for Compassionate Use @ (415)

621-3986.

10th Circuit Appeals Court Rules Warrantless Use Of Heat Sensing Equipment

To Be Unconstitutional

October 4, 1995, Denver, CO: The following is an excerpt from a Reuters

news brief:

It is unconstitutional for police and drug enforcement

agents to scan homes with heat-sensing equipment to detect

criminal activity without a warrant, the federal appeals

court in Denver ruled Wednesday.

The decision came in a case which law enforcement

officers in Wyoming obtained a search warrant, and later a

conviction, after using a thermal imager to gather evidence

that marijuana was being grown in a home.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases

from a six state region [Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New

Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma], ruled 3-0 that police must

obtain a search warrant before using such equipment.

"We reject the government's contention that its

technical wizardry should free it from the restraints

mandated by the Fourth Amendment," the court said. It noted

that the government denies thermal imagers intrude upon

privacy.

The court said four federal appeals courts in other

circuits have ruled the opposite way, that warrants are not

needed before police use thermal imagers.

For more information about the use of thermal imaging, please contact Allen

St. Pierre @ NORML.

New York Times Editorial Lashes Out At The Drug War

October 7, 1995, New York, NY: Citing statistics from a recently released

Sentencing Project report, The New York Times denounced the "War on Drugs" in

a Saturday editorial.

Noting that current data indicates that one in three black men between

the ages of 20 and 29 are involved somewhere in the criminal justice system

(either prison, pre-trial detention, on probation or on parole), the Op-ed

argues that the "War on Drugs" is rounding up a "disproportionate" number of

black Americans. In support of this notion, the editorial noted that "during

the early 1990's, at a time when African-Americans accounted for only 13

percent of monthly drug users, African-Americans were involved in 35 percent

of the arrests for drug possession, 55 percent of the convictions and 74

percent of the prison sentences.

Although the editorial never spoke out in favor of legalization, it did

assert that America "need[s] to rethink both drug and punishment policies."

These latest figures, the Times concluded, "should set off alarm bells from

the White House to city halls--and help reverse the notion that we can

incarcerate our way out of fundamental social problems.

For more information or to receive a copy of the Sentencing Project's

latest report, please contact Mark Mauer of the Sentencing Project @ (202)

628-0871.

County Sheriff, Undercover Agents Threaten Sandusky County NORML

With Indictments

September 30, 1995, Fremont, OH: A September 22 weekend rally put

on by the Sandusky County Chapter of NORML has stirred up more than just

controversy following an announcement by Sheriff David Gangwer that he had

undercover agents infiltrate the event.

"I am disappointed with the actions of this sheriff," said Sandusky

County NORML Chapter President, Tomas Salazar. "This is a direct attack on

NORML and we are being targeted for our beliefs. This is a violation of our

Constitutional right to assemble."

Gangwer claims that the information and evidence gathered by his agents

will eventually be turned over to the Sandusky County Prosecutor and state

officials. The evidence could warrant the need for a special grand jury to

seek criminal indictments against NORML, he added. Gangwer would not discuss

what charges were being considered.

"At the very least we hope the information we gathered will prevent this

from ever happening in this county or in this state again," he said.

Don't bet on it, claims Salazar, who is already preparing to organize

another Harvest Festival next year. "I can't see anything that they can

charge NORML with," he contends. "NORML has always acted responsibly in all

of their events...and I expect there will be no indictments. This is

harassment." Salazar added that organizers required all attendees to sign a

release affirming that they would not engage in any illegal activities during

the course of the festival. The release also required attendees to indicate

that they were not an undercover law enforcement official.

"We have a right to socialize and that's what we did," Salazar concluded.

"We never expected the big brouhaha that was made out of it."

For more information, please contact Tomas Salazar of Sandusky County

NORML @ (419) 334-9310.

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