THE GALAMBOS RULING

In July, 1997 --the first summer after the passage of California's medical
marijuana initiative-- Robert Galambos, then 32, was busted by Calaveras
County sheriff's deputies and charged by the DA with cultivation of 382
marijuana plants and possession for sale. He had more than six pounds of
processed mj on hand, too. Galambos claimed to be growing for and
supplying the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Co-op (although the only product he'd
ever brought to the OCBC, according to Jeff Jones, had been rejected for
mold). When Galambos was tried in March '99, Tony Serra argued that his
client believed that growing for a club was lawful under Prop 215. Galambos
also claimed to be a medical marijuana user who has suffered headaches
since fracturing his skull in a car wreck in the late '80s; but he didn't
obtain a doctor's recommendation until after he was busted.

Galambos had been working towards a degree in child development at Columbia
College. A teacher who attended his trial told the Modesto Bee that
Galambos was 'one of her best students, and had been doing exemplary work
with pre-schoolers as part of his training. 'He is thoughtful,
considerate, sensitive and intelligent,' she said. 'We need more people
like him going into child development, and if he couldn't be a teacher it
would be a tremendous loss to society."

Despite Serra's eloquence --it was about Galambos that he said 'you can't
in essence legalize milk and outlaw the cow'-- the jury voted 'guilty' on
the cultivation charge.

They deadlocked on possession-for-sale after a full day of
deliberations. In exchange for the DA not retrying him on
possession-for-sale, Galambos pled guilty to possession of more than an
ounce. In June '99 he was sentenced to five years probation (nine months
in jail). He has been free on bail pending appeal, which was handled by
Bill Panzer of Oakland.

On Dec. 26 the Third Appellate District court upheld Galambos's conviction.
"The ballot materials make clear that the proposition was narrowly drafted
to avoid the creation of loopholes for drug dealers," wrote Justice Daniel
Kolkey, referring to ballot arguments written by Bill Zimmerman --the
respectable 'professional campaign manager' who had usurped Dennis Peron's
leadership.

Galambos is expected to appeal to the state Supreme Court, which earlier
this year reversed a Third District decision in the Mower case. 'This is a
disingenuous ruling,' according to Panzer, 'It says that the only defenses
are for possession and cultivation, there's nothing else implied and if
they [the drafters of 215] wanted anything else [legalized] they would have
included it. But if you take that to its logical conclusion, the caregiver
is not allowed to hand marijuana to the patient, because that's
distribution. You can't even say that growing it yourself is a legal
alternative because where do you get the seeds from? Distributing seeds is
the same thing as distributing budS The Trippet ruling said there is a
limited exception for transportation. The appeals court cited Trippet but
contradicted TrippetS I argued that if the electorate meant for patients to
have access to this medicine, there has to be a legal way to get it to them
or you're encouraging illegal conduct, which is against public policy. You
can't say 'We want this medicine to exist but the only supply has to be
from illegal sources."

Add Buried Stories Of '02

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported in mid-October that
cancer rates have been rising since 1987, and that the NCI and the American
Cancer Society had created a 'false impression of a recent decline in
cancer incidence.' Both institutions have now revised their websites to
reflect the grimmer reality. The authors reviewed data from 1981 to 1998
to assess the impact of late reporting of cancer cases to NCI by the10
registries that collect data from hospitals, clinics, and doctors.

They determined that only 88% to 97% of cancer cases (varying with the type
of cancer) were reported within the requisite19-month window. By factoring
in the cases that were reported belatedly, the authors generated new data.
For example: the incidence of lung cancer in women, believed to be flat,
has been rising 1.2% a year since 1996. The incidence of colorectal cancer
in white women has been rising 2.8% annually since 1996 (rather than
0.9%). Melanoma rates in white males, thought to be declining slightly,
have been rising 4.1% a year since 1981! The incidence of prostate cancer
in white males has been rising 2.2% a year. For white men in 1998, the
prostate cancer rate was 12% higher than initially reported (and it was14%
higher for black men). Only Sharon Begley of the Wall St. Journal picked
up on this story.

She got a mealy-mouthed comment from Ahmedin Jemal, director of the
American Cancer Society's surveillance program: 'This tells us something we
didn't know about whether our intervention and prevention programs are
working.' It tells us they aren't...

Even the revised numbers should be taken with a grain of garlic powder.
Epidemiologists sometimes employ arcane algebra to transform rough or
incomplete data into ostensibly precise data. In the present instance, the
NCI registries ascertain the number of cancer cases from only 14% of the
doctors and healthcare facilities nationwide. They then assume that their
sample is representative of the other 86% to within a minuscule margin of
error.

Radiologists pushing 'full-body' CT scans provided a lucrative source of ad
revenue for our great metropolitan newspapers in '02. Coincidentally,
almost none of the papers publicized a UC San Diego study showing that the
scans --advertised to promote peace-of-mind-- often heighten anxiety by
revealing small abnormalities that would be dealt with by the body's own
defense systems, and exposing patients to costly follow-up procedures of no
practical value.

A team led by Giovanna Casola, MD, looked at 1,192 patents who were scanned
at private, for-profit centers.

Benign abnormalities requiring additional scans or tests were found in 46%
of them. Only one percent --were found to have life-threatening
malignancies or aortic aneurysms. Casola now intends to determine how many
in that group were actually helped by the scans (which expose the body to
damaging radiation and cost $800 to $1,000). 'It's one thing if you catch
something early that you can do something about,' she says, 'but how much
have you helped a patient by finding inoperable liver or pancreatic cancer?'

Casola reported her findings Dec. 3 at the annual meeting of the
Radiological Society of North America. The RSNA literally downplayed the
story by making it the second part of a press release headed 'Full-body
Screening CT Gains Popularity Though Some Experts Urge Caution.' The lead
item --of far less significance to the general public-- described the
so-called research of Max Rosen, MD, medical director of BeWell Body Scan
in Boston (and an assistant prof at Harvard Medical School), Telemarketers
directed by Rosen 'conducted 450 random telephone interviews to determine
the needs and demands for full-body scanning services,' according to the
RSNA release.

Rosen is quoted thus: 'Initially, the people participating in the survey
did not know much about full-body CT scanning. However, 82% were
interested after an explanation.' In other words, Rosen was conducting
what pollsters call a 'push-pull' survey, in which the so-called
'explanation' is scripted to maximize the client's desired result. The
real function of Rosen's survey was not to 'determine the needs' for CT
scans but to promote the demand. It was telemarketing in the name of research.

Rosen is quoted further: 'Nearly 3 in 4 (75%) --sic-- thought the chance to
go over their images with a radiologist was highly valuableS Radiological
images now can be used in creative, proactive ways. Patients are riveted by
the images of their own bodies.

Radiologists can use these images to help people change their behaviors
- --from smoking cessation to weight-loss counseling.' Rosen leaves unspoken
the reality that Casola documents: the main thing that scanners convince
patients to do is order additional scans.

Radiology as a specialty tends to attract medical students seeking careers
that don't involve contact with flesh-and-blood patients.

Rosen advises colleagues getting into the scanning biz to brush up their
people skills, i.e., salesmanship. 'According to Dr. Rosen,' the RSNA
press release concludes, 'full-body CT scanning could change the role of
radiologists within the medical community and with patients. 'If
radiologists are going to get involved in screening and talking to
patients, then we have a responsibility to provide patients with
information that they can understand. We have an obligation to explain what
is important for follow-upS"

Harvard Medical School also graces the resume of Dr. Douglas Jacobs,
creator of National Depression Screening DayS As Richard Nixon once asked
Robert Haldemann, 'What is it about those guys from Harvard Med School, Bob?'

Drug Czar Blues

The drug czar's daddy was high in the CIA
Taught Johnny how to read other people's mail
And mislead and cover up and pray

Drug czar told the ad man create a campaign
I wanna see marijuana and Muhammed Atta on the same plane

Say it's ten times stronger than their daddy's weed
Say it's ten times stronger than the pot that used to be
But sir that means they don't inhale as much
Don't get technical with me

I hear they're counting these ads
Towards your community service.

More kids getting treated for pot than cocaine or smack
More kids in treatment for pot than cocaine or smack
They may be court-ordered but
You gotta pick your facts

Drug Czar preaching to the old and young
From the Taliban to the Televangelist
It's just a trip of the tongue