News Archives: June 1998

• Three hot initiatives may be headed to ballot June 30, 1998 - Associated Press
  OLYMPIA (AP) -- An 11th-hour push for voter signatures may propel several hot issues to Washin
• Push For Medical Use of Pot in Jeopardy
  June 30, 1998 - Las Vegas Sun
  CARSON CITY -- The future of an initiative petition to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes is in doubt.
• Medical pot effort plagued by feuds
  June 27, 1998 - The Olympian
  SEATTLE -- The co-sponsor of an initiative that would legalize medicinal marijuana has withdrawn her support for the measure.
• Hemp Store Avoids Shutdown
  June 25, 1998 - Victoria Times-Colonist
  Marijuana defender Ian Hunter hung a new business licence in the Sacred Herb Wednesday - neatly side-stepping an attempt by the police to shut him down.
• Law Change Lifts Hemp Firms' Hopes
  June 23, 1998 - The Mercury
  TASMANIA'S fledgling hemp industry is poised to flourish when the Federal Government relaxes stringent laws on hemp oil production today.
• Pro-Marijuana Campaigner Appeals Against Conviction
  June 22, 1998 - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
  In north Queensland, one of Australia's most seasoned pro-marijuana campaigners returns to court today, to clear his name on charges of distributing "dangerous literature".
• Simi Police Return Marijuana Plants To Patient
  June 20, 1998 - Los Angeles Times
  SIMI VALLEY -- It was a rare day for the Simi Valley police--giving back pot plants they earlier seized from the backyard of a man arrested on suspicion of felony cultivation.
• State Association Opposes Use Of Medical Marijuana
  June 18, 1998 - Las Vegas Review-Journal
  CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Medical Association opposes the use of marijuana for medical reasons until there is scientific evidence it helps patients.
• McCaffrey Warns Senate Committee of Legalization
  June 18, 1998 - New York Times
  WASHINGTON, June 17 -- The White House's top drug policy official today accused critics of the nation's zero-tolerance drug laws of pursuing an agenda to legalize drugs from marijuana to heroin and cocaine.
• Marijuana Tip Line
  June 17, 1998 - San Diego Union Tribune
  SAN DIEGO -- A Marijuana Tip Line has been set up for citizens to report suspected marijuana cultivation or trafficking in San Diego County.
• Advocates Of Medical Marijuana File Petition Signatures On Deadline
  June 16, 1998 - Las Vegas Sun
  CARSON CITY, Nev. - Advocates of a plan to authorize marijuana for medical treatment in Nevada met a Tuesday deadline for securing a spot on the November ballot.
• Man Battling To Sell Pot As Medicine Found Guilty
  June 15, 1998 - Canadian Press
  CALGARY (CP) -- A Saskatchewan man crusading for marijuana to be legalized for medicinal uses was found guilty Tuesday of possession of the drug for the purpose of trafficking.
• Relax Marijuana Laws: Federal Study
  June 14, 1998 - Ottawa Citizen
  The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse says existing criminal penalties against marijuana smokers have done little to enhance public health and safety, while placing a heavy burden on police and the justice system.
• If Initiative Drive Succeeds, Nevada May Emerge As Drug-War Battleground
  June 14, 1998 - Las Vegas Review-Journal
  If the drive to force a medical-marijuana initiative onto Nevada's November ballot succeeds, and if voters approve it, don't expect the Las Vegas Valley's caliche to spawn thickets of autumn cannabis. And don't bogart your breath awaiting the ribbon-cutting for the Fremont Street Reefer-Buyers Club. This is Nevada, where constitutional amendments must meet with voter approval in two consecutive elections.
• Dope fans air their enthusiasm
  June 14, 1998 - Vancouver Province
  While Vancouver's mayor and police chief attended a nearby drug conference, protesters smoked pot outside the Vancouver Art Gallery yesterday. Led by green-haired David Malmo-Levine, advocates of legalizeing pot attending a "smoke-in/hemp rally/love in" eagerly lit up dope handed to them. "It's good to smoke majijuana on the inside of the crowd, not the outside - and if you see someone being arrested and you don't think they should be, give them a hug and don't let go," Malmo-Levine told a crowd of of more than 100. The advice was unnecessary, since no police arrived.
• High Priest Of Pot Loses His Licence
  June 14, 1998 - Vancouver Province
  VICTORIA - The city's biggest marijuana advocate has lost his business licence. City council voted 6-3 to pull Ian Hunter's licence for his downtown store, The Sacred Herb.
• Cannabis Farm Has Been Established
  June 11, 1998 - Associated Press
  LONDON (AP) -- Britain's first government-sanctioned cannabis farm has been established to grow marijuana for medical research purposes, the company running it said today.
• Red Tape Smothering Hemp Crop
  June 11, 1998 - Globe and Mail
  When people talk about hemp, they sound euphoric, even if the distant relative of marijuana can't make anyone high. "This is unbelievable. The response has been absolutely amazing." Says Les Patterson of Vancouver's Bowen Island Brewing, describing the company's new ale brewed with hemp rather than hops. Ruth Shamai says: "Hemp makes beautiful fabric: strong like linen and it drapes like cotton and it resists ultraviolet rays." Her Toronto company, The Natural Order, wants to make cosmetics and fabric from Canadian hemp.
• A NORML Contest Gets A Treatment
  June 11, 1998 - The Mountain Eagle
  When Walter F. Wouk, president of the Schoharie County Chapter of NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), began submitting ads to local newspapers and shopper's guides announcing a high school essay contest on the theme, "How does the war on marijuana threaten America's constitutional democracy?" his intent was to call attention to the U.S. Constitution.
• Bail Reinstated for Cancer Patient in Marijuana Case
  June 11, 1998 - Los Angeles Times
  Actor Woody Harrelson will not have to forfeit the $500,000 bond he posted for a cancer patient facing criminal charges for growing more than 4,000 marijuana plants.
• Mendocino Shifts Stance On Pot Grant
  June 10, 1998 - The Press Democrat
  UKIAH - Bowing to state pressure, Mendocino County supervisors voted Tuesday to drop controversial wording from an application in order to get the county's yearly $250,000 grant for anti-pot efforts.
• Council Split on Handling Prop. 215
  June 10, 1998 - Sacramento Bee
  Sacramento city officials want to help part the haze surrounding the state's controversial medicinal marijuana law, Proposition 215.
• Coalition Fights Legal Pot
  June 09, 1998 - Detroit News
  The Troy Community Coalition, in collaboration with several groups, has launched a pre-emptive strike against the legalization of marijuana and other drugs in Michigan.
• Clinton Upstaged
  June 09, 1998 - NZ Herald
  NEW YORK --The White House has objected to a television advertisement in which a voice imitating President Clinton says the nation's anti-drug policies have failed.
• War on Drugs Called More Harm Than Good
  June 09, 1998 - New York Times
  UNITED NATIONS -- A drug reform institute financed by the billionaire philanthropist George Soros has amassed signatures of hundreds of prominent people around the world on a letter asserting that the global war on drugs is causing more harm than drug abuse itself.
• UN Opens War On Drugs
  June 09, 1998 - NZ Herald
  NEW YORK- Leaders of the world's major drug-producing and drug-consuming nations open a three-day conference today to endorse ways to combat trafficking, curb demand and strengthen global cooperation in the fight against drugs.
• Clinton Unveils $2 Billion Blitz Against Drugs
  June 09, 1998 - Chicago Tribune
  UNITED NATIONS -- In the war on drugs, it's usually poppy-growing peasants, machine-gun-toting drug lords and money-laundering bankers who get most of the heat.
• Pot-Free Pot Promotion Wins Committee's Approval
  June 09, 1998 - The Record
  You can talk about marijuana on city property -- just don't smoke it.
• Rural Counties Crucial To Initiative Petitions
  June 08, 1998 - Las Vegas Sun
  CARSON CITY -- Rural counties hold the key to whether Nevadans will vote this November on such controversial issues as union dues for political purposes and marijuana for medical treatment.
• Washington Democrats Endorse Medical Marijuana Initiative
  June 06, 1998 - Hemp.Net News Reports
  Yakima, WA - At the 1998 Washington State Democratic Convention held today in Yakima, Democrats approved a resolution to support Initiative 692, the Washington State Medical Marijuana Initiative. Over 650 delegates from around the state, gathered to vote on issues central to the Democratic Platform.
• Jury Clears Man Who Used Cannabis As Pain Killer
  June 06, 1998 - The Guardian
  A man who smoked four cannabis joints a day to relieve pain caused by a broken back vowed yesterday to continue rolling them after a jury cleared him of drugs charges brought following a police raid on his home.
• Teacher Who Promoted Hemp Sues District That Fired Her
  June 05, 1998 - Lexington Herald-Leader
  A fired Shelby County teacher who promoted legalizing industrial hemp to her fifth-grade students filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against the school system and her former bosses.
• Marijuana Substitute Combats Nerve Gas
  June 05, 1998 - Scripps Howard News Service
  JERUSALEM -- The best available protection against nerve gas attack comes from an Israeli-made synthetic equivalent of marijuana, U.S. military experiments have shown.
• Marijuana Charge for Gilligan Actor
  June 04, 1998 - Associated Press
  PRINCETON, W.Va. -- Bob Denver, who played the title character on ``Gilligan's Island,'' was arrested Thursday after a package of marijuana was delivered to his home.
• They're Darn Tasty but You Won't Catch a Buzz Off Hempburgers
  June 04, 1998 - Associated Press
  FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Rick Paul says the only thrill you'll get from his hemp muffins and burgers is from the taste.
• Judge Urges Truce in War on Drugs
  June 04, 1998 - Rocky Mountain News
  A Denver federal judge wants the government to give free drugs to drug abusers and stop prosecuting them as criminals.
• Pot User Pleads Not Guilty
  June 04, 1998 - Los Angeles Daily News
  VENTURA -- A 62-year-old Simi Valley man who notified police he was growing marijuana for his own medical use pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a cultivation charge and plans to use Proposition 215 for his defense.
• Lungren Sued Over Prop 215 Enforcement 
  June 04, 1998 - San Francisco Chronicle
  Two Bay Area attorneys have filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Dan Lungren charging him with thwarting implementation of Proposition 215, the 1996 medical marijuana initiative that allows ill state residents to consume and cultivate pot.
• Panel Ponders Approach To `War On Drugs'
  June 03, 1998 - The Salt Lake Tribune
  Two of Utah's top prosecutors, a federal judge and three attorneys agree that it may be time to temper the so-called ``war on drugs.''
• Scholars Urge U.N. to Review Drug War
  June 03, 1998 - Sanford Report
  At least 10 Stanford or Hoover scholars are among a group of prominent Americans signing an open letter to the United Nations secretary general urging him to initiate a critical review of the international drug war when the General Assembly holds a special session on drugs June 8-10 in New York.
• Pair Face Court Date For Cannabis Club Work
  June 03, 1998 - Orange County Register
  Two San Diego County men were ordered Tuesday to face trial on felony drug charges in connection with a cannabis club they were operating, ostensibly to provide marijuana for medicinal purposes.
• Marijuana Not Banned Substance for Commonwealth Games Tests
  June 03, 1998 - Associated Press
  VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Athletes competing at this year's Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur will not be stripped of their medals if they test positive for marijuana.
• Cannabis Day Pot Protest Fizzles After Organizer Arrested
  June 02, 1998 - Toronto Star
  ORILLIA - Police tried to douse a plan to turn Canada Day into Cannabis Day by arresting the organizer before the smoke-out began.
• Patient May Sue Police For Pot Arrest
  June 02, 1998 - Los Angeles Times
  SIMI VALLEY -- The latest test of California's medical marijuana law is shaping up in Simi Valley, where a man arrested last month for cultivating more than a dozen pot plants said he will sue police for violating his rights as a patient.
• Two initiatives on track, others in trouble
  June 01, 1998 - Associated Press
  Olympia, WA -- A measure that would allow sick people to smoke marijuana appears headed for the fall ballot as does a proposal to raise the minimum wage. But other citizen initiatives are struggling.
• Medical Use Of Pot Legal In Colorado Until 1995
  June 01, 1998 - Rocky Mountain News
  Even before it has won a spot on the November ballot, organized groups are clashing over a proposal to allow marijuana use for people with serious illnesses.