2000- A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF MARIJUANA PROHIBITION

"One of the problems that the marijuana reform movement consistently faces
is that everyone wants to talk about what marijuana does, but no one ever
wants to look at what marijuana prohibition does. Marijuana never kicks
down your door in the middle of the night. Marijuana never locks up sick
and dying people, does not suppress medical research, does not peek in
bedroom windows. Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the
prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm
to far more people than marijuana ever could." –Richard Cowan

From Buckley Writes On McWilliams And Kubby Cases; Great Ending, If I May
Say So http://www.marijuananews.com/buckley_writes_on_mcwilliams_and.htm

Estimated U.S. deaths in year 2000 attributed to: tobacco: 430,000;
alcohol: 125,000; prescription drugs: 100,000; aspirin: 2,000; marijuana: 0

Number of Americans arrested since 1970 on marijuana-related charges: over
13 million

January 12, 2000- Los Angeles, CA (AP)- The San Diego Tribune reports: The
family of a millionaire shot to death at his Malibu ranch during a
controversial 1992 drug raid that turned up no drugs will get $5 million
under a tentative agreement with the county and federal government. Donald
P. Scott's survivors contended authorities staged the 1992 raid to seize
the secluded $5 million 200-acre ranch under drug forfeiture laws.

Scott, 61, was shot to death by a Los Angeles deputy when he emerged from
his bedroom armed with a pistol, still sleepy and slightly drunk. The
shooting was held to be justifiable since Deputy Gary Spencer was in fear
for his life. But Ventura County District Attorney Michael Bradbury
investigated the raid and concluded Spencer used false information to
secure a warrant to search the ranch for marijuana plants. "There was no
marijuana on that place," Bradbury said. "Clearly one of the primary
purposes was a land grab by the (Los Angeles County) Sheriff's Department."
Officials deny those charges, but said they agreed to settle a civil rights
lawsuit filed by Scott's family because they feared jurors would not
believe government agents.

The plaintiffs - Scott's wife Frances, four children and his estate – will
split the proceeds in a formula yet to be determined. Lawyer Johnnie L.
Cochran Jr. said his client, Mrs. Scott, who saw her husband killed and
later lost her home to a fire, now lives in "a teepee" on the property and
is trying to hold off government claims to seize it for unpaid taxes.

January 18- Atlanta, GA (AP) – Louis E. Covar Jr., 51, a quadriplegic,
paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident on July 4, 1967, who says
he uses marijuana to relieve the pain from muscle spasms in his neck, is
sentenced to seven years in prison after being accused of selling marijuana
out of his home. Judge J. Carlisle Overstreet sent Covar to prison after
investigators found about 1¼ ounces of marijuana in his home. "We feel
strongly he was selling out of his house," Richmond County DA Danny Craig
said. Covar denied the charges, insisting the small amount was for his
personal medicinal use.

According to the Department of Corrections, the special care Covar will
need will cost $258.33 a day- or more than $660,000 if he serves his full
seven years. A typical prisoner costs taxpayers $47.63 per day.

February 9- Arizona- Deborah Lynn Quinn, 39, born with no arms or legs, is
sentenced to one year in an Arizona prison for marijuana possession,
violating probation on a previous drug offense- attempted sale of 4 grams
of marijuana to a police informant for $20. Quinn will require around the
clock care for feeding, bathing, and hygiene.

Terry L. Stewart, Arizona Corrections Director, expressed his frustration:
"I simply cannot understand how a judge can sentence a disabled woman to
prison who presents absolutely no escape risk, no physical danger to the
public, and who will be an extremely difficult and expensive person to care
for ($345/day), without exploring any alternative sentence measures such as
intensive probation."

February 15- The United States' prison and jail population surpasses two
million people. Prisons are one of the fastest-growing expenses of
government, costing about $100,000 to build a single prison cell and about
$24,000 per year for each prisoner. 1.3 million US inmates are currently
serving time for "non-violent offenses." One-quarter of the world's
prisoners are now incarcerated in the "land of the free."

February 17- Vancouver, WA- George Ives is a 40 year-old disabled veteran,
suffering from strokes, high blood pressure, and degenerative disc disease.
His wife Georgia suffers from grand mal seizures. Neither of them has any
criminal history. On February 17th, Clark/Scamania County Drug Task Force,
acting on an anonymous tip, raided their home, breaking down the front door
and holding them at gunpoint. Agents found a total of 70 marijuana plants
in a grow operation that George claimed was for personal medicinal use.
Because the only doctor available to them is a federal VA doctor, the Ives'
were unable to obtain the state required medical note of referral, as
federally paid physicians refuse to participate in I-692, Washington
State's medical marijuana initiative, for fear of federal reprisal.

February 23- The Hawaii Medical Association comes out formally against the
pending state medical marijuana initiative. Heidi Singh, director of
legislative and government affairs for the Hawaii Medical Association, said
more studies should be done on medical marijuana, and that "physicians
cannot in good faith recommend a drug therapy without clinical evidence to
back it up."

February 28- Madrid, Spain (UPI) The chemical in marijuana that produces a
"high" shows promise as a weapon against deadly brain tumors, say Spanish
researchers in early research. In the study on rats a research team from
Complutense University and Autonoma University in Madrid found that one of
marijuana's active ingredients, THC, killed tumor cells in advanced cases
of glioma, a quick-killing cancer for which there is currently no effective
treatment. Spanish scientists found that THC pumped into the tumors cleared
the cancer in more than a third of the test rats. The drug also prolonged
the life of another third by up to 40 days but was ineffective in the rest.
The cancer did not come back in any of the survivors. Researchers are not
sure why, but Guzman's team says THC caused a buildup of a fat molecule
called ceramide, which provoked a death spiral in the cancer cells.

March 13- Britain- (AP) Marijuana-like compounds ease tremors in mice with
a condition similar to Multiple Sclerosis, researchers say in a study
published in the British journal Nature, that appears to corroborate
patients who say pot helps them deal with the disease. "This lends credence
to the anecdotal reports that some people with MS have said that cannabis
can help control these distressing symptoms," said Lorna Layward, one of
the study's authors. Layward heads the research arm of the Multiple
Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

March 13- Mondovi, WI- Jacki Rickert is 49, wheelchair-bound, and weighs 90
pounds. "Though I've seen her as low as 76," her daughter, Tammy, who lives
in Middleton, said Tuesday. Jacki Rickert suffers from Ehlers-Danlos
syndrome and reflexive sympathetic dystrophy, bone and muscle illnesses
that keep her in constant pain and often unable to eat. She smokes
marijuana to ease her pain and allow her to eat. Rickert was the last
patient to miss being accepted into the federal government's Investigative
New Drug program that presently distributes a tin of 300 pre-rolled
marijuana cigarettes to eight legally-protected American citizens each month.

Mondovi police raided Rickert's home at 3:30am on March 13th, seized a
small amount of marijuana, and searched her home until 10am. Rickert's
daughter, Tammy, claims the police raid has left her mother a wreck. "She's
tiny, frail," Tammy said. "She's not out to hurt anybody. She's trying to
maintain some semblance of a quality of life. The marijuana, which the
government pretty much told her she could use, helps a little. This whole
thing is unbelievable."

March 16- New York City- An unarmed black security guard, Patrick
Dorismond, waiting for a cab with his friend Kevin Kaiser, is shot dead by
undercover New York City police officers conducting a marijuana
"buy-and-bust." Two plainclothes detectives approached Dorismond asking if
he would sell them "some weed." Dorismond rebuffed the men, a scuffle
ensued, and a third officer, Anthony Vasquez, rushed in, pulled out his
revolver and fired a single bullet into Dorismond's chest. No drugs or
other contraband were found on Dorismond's body. The shooting was the third
time in 13 months plainclothes New York City police officers shot and
killed an unarmed black man.

April 1- Canada's premier national newspaper, The National Post,
editorializes in favor of legalizing marijuana: "Marijuana legalization has
long been the subject of academic debate. The time has come to turn
conjecture into law. Canada's police, judges and prosecutors have better
things to do with their time than track down those who produce and consume
a substance no more dangerous than alcohol and tobacco. We should begin the
decriminalization of marijuana by immediately reducing the punishments that
can be imposed for its possession to modest fines- and start thinking about
how to regulate its use."

April 12- California- The Santa Cruz City Council unanimously approves an
ordinance making the city the first in the nation to legalize the
production and sale of medical marijuana without a doctor's prescription,
as long as it is sold at cost or given away.

April 25- Despite the formal opposition of the Hawaiian Catholic Church,
the Hawaii State Senate passes medical marijuana legislation, joining
California, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Alaska, Arizona, and the District of
Columbia in shielding medical marijuana patients from criminal prosecution.

May 6- One hundred cities around the world participate in the Millennium
Marijuana March, calling for the legalization of marijuana for adult
personal use. 1,000 people march in New York City, with 312, nearly
one-third, arrested by the march's end. Under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, New
York City marijuana arrests have increased from 720 in 1992, to 59,945 in
2000.

May 11- The West Virginia Supreme Court, voting 4-1, deny a "medical
necessity" defense to Donna Jean Poling, a Multiple Sclerosis patient in
the terminal stages of her illness, who was arrested for growing marijuana
in her home. Poling claimed that marijuana kept her symptom-free for three
years preceding her 1998 arrest, after which her condition worsened
dramatically.

June 9- Human Rights Watch releases a study finding that Illinois is the
worst state for racial disparity among jailed drug offenders. Illinois'
black men are 57 times more likely than white men to be sent to prison on
drug charges, and blacks comprise 90 percent of all prison admissions in
Illinois for drug charges- the highest percentage in the country. Though
federal studies show that white drug users outnumber black drug users
5-to-1, blacks make up about 62 percent of prisoners incarcerated on drug
charges, compared with 36 percent of whites.

June 14- Los Angeles, CA- Bestselling author, cancer and AIDS patient, and
medical marijuana activist Peter McWilliams dies in his home. McWilliams,
barred by a federal court order from using marijuana to counteract the
extreme nausea caused by his AIDS drugs, was found choked to death on
vomit, slumped on his bathroom floor. His federal prosecutors say they were
"saddened by his death."

McWilliams bestselling books included: How to Heal Depression; Getting Over
the Loss of a Love; Life 101; and, Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do: The
Absurdity of Consensual Crimes In a Free Society. See The Murder of Peter
McWilliams -- An Indictment, Not an Obituary – by Richard Cowan

July 31- Ontario, Canada- Ontario's top court today ruled unanimously (3-0)
that Canada's law making marijuana possession a crime is unconstitutional,
because it does not take into account the needs of Canadian medical
marijuana patients. The judges allowed the current law to remain in effect
for another 12 months, to permit Parliament to rewrite it. However, if the
Canadian federal government fails to set up a medical marijuana
distribution program by July 31, 2001, there will be no marijuana laws in
Canada. The decision came in the case of Terry Parker, an epileptic who had
been denied a federal medical marijuana exemption. Mr. Parker has been
hospitalized over 100 times for injuries sustained during seizures.

August 4- The USA Today reports: The Department of Justice on Thursday
pledged to continue resisting California's voter-approved medical marijuana
law, arguing the government has the right to penalize doctors who recommend
cannabis by revoking their licenses to dispense medication. DOJ lawyer
Joseph W. Lobue stated the federal government does not recognize
California's Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which protects medical
marijuana patients from arrest. "It doesn't matter what California says,"
Lobue said.

August 16– Los Angeles, CA- The American Medical Marijuana Association
reports: Medical marijuana patient, grower, and author of How to Grow
Medical Marijuana, Todd McCormick, confined to federal prison while
appealing his case, is sent to solitary confinement. According to his
mother, Ann McCormick, Todd went to the medical office and requested the
synthetic form of marijuana, MarinolÔ , produced by Unimed Pharmaceuticals,
that he had been taking prior to his incarceration. One day after Todd
requested the Schedule 3, easily-prescribed drug, the feds ordered he be
drug tested. When the results came back positive for marijuana, Todd was
placed in solitary confinement."The pain in his neck and back has been
unbearable lately," said his worried mother. "Todd has a spinal fusion- the
top five vertebrae were fused when he was two-years-old. A tumor had
completely eaten the 2nd vertebrae and the old fusion is now literally
carving grooves in the base of his skull, prompting severe headaches as
well. His left hip stopped growing when he was 9, a result of radiation
treatments for childhood cancer. He has severe scoliosis, nerve damage in
his upper back, shoulders and neck and severe muscle spasms in his lower
back. He has received no medical treatment since January," said Mrs. McCormick.

August 20- Seattle, WA- An estimated crowd of 100,000 people gather at
Myrtle Edwards Park for Hempfest 2000, calling for the legalization of
marijuana for personal and medical use, as well as legalization of hemp for
environmentally-sustainable industrial uses. The event is the largest of
its kind in the world, with no arrests reported.

August 25- Pine Ridge Reservation, SD- A dozen heavily-armed DEA agents
staged a pre-dawn raid on the Ogalala Sioux nation, chopping down and
hauling away 2 acres of industrial hemp (approx. 400,000 plants). Though a
number of Sioux stood in the fields claiming responsibility for the crop,
no arrests were made. The Pine Ridge Reservation is one of the poorest
communities in America, with 80% unemployment. The hemp crop, planted on
April 29 and scheduled to be harvested within days, was to provide jobs and
cellulostic building materials for a hemp-concrete housing project on
tribal land.

September 9- Santa Fe, NM- Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader
joins New Mexico's Republican Governor Gary Johnson in criticizing the
nation's war on drugs, calling for the legalization of marijuana and reform
of what Nader calls "self-defeating and antiquated" drug laws. "Addiction,
no matter what kind of addiction, should not be criminalized," Nader said
at a news conference with Johnson in Santa Fe. "It's got to be subjected to
health programs and caring programs, because they work." Rehabilitating
drug addicts gives a far better payoff than "criminalizing and militarizing
the situation," he said. "Study after study has shown that, and yet somehow
it doesn't get through to federal policy."

October 16- U.S. Drug "Czar" Barry McCaffrey announces his resignation,
effective January 6, 2001. (ed note: As of this writing, President-elect
Bush has not appointed a new drug "czar" although Augusto Pinochet and
Slobodan Milosevic are looking for work.)

October 16- The FBI releases its 1999 Uniform Crime Report. There were a
record total of 704,812 U.S. marijuana arrests in 1999, or one every 45
seconds. Of those arrests: 620,541 (88%) were for simple marijuana
possession. 84,271 (12%) were for sales/cultivation. During the Clinton
Administration, there have been a record total of 4,175,357 marijuana
arrests, a record for any U.S. presidency.

November 7- Election Day- Voters across the United States pass sweeping
drug law reform initiatives. In California, despite united opposition from
Governor Gray Davis, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, Senator Dianne
Feinstein, statewide police associations and prison guard unions, citizens
vote 61-39 to pass Proposition 36, diverting non-violent drug offenders
into treatment rather than prison for first and second offenses. Proponents
claim the move will save the state $150 million annually, and cancel the
need for a new state prison. Mendocino County, CA, voters approve Measure G
by a 58-42 margin, decriminalizing personal use and growth of up to 25
marijuana plants.

Nevadans vote 65-35 to pass Question 9 allowing qualifying patients to
possess marijuana for medicinal purposes. In response, a self-appointed
task force of state healthcare officials, the Nevada Medical Marijuana
Initiative Work Group, move to limit use of the drug to research studies,
adding months if not years to approval time. Said Louis Ling, general
counsel for the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy and part of the work group,
"No matter what system gets passed, it's going to be a good long time
before medical marijuana is available."

By a 53-47 margin, Colorado voters pass Amendment 20, allowing qualifying
patients to possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana and grow up to 6 plants.
Tom Strickland, U.S. attorney for Colorado, in a statement released on the
afternoon of November 7th, said that his office would continue to
"aggressively enforce federal drug laws, including the prohibition of
marijuana, regardless of the passage of this ballot initiative."

Utahns, by a margin of 69-31, pass Initiative B, denying government
agencies the right to seize property from individuals before they are
convicted of a crime. Salt Lake County District Attorney Dave Yocom
responded "Obviously we're going to re-think this and decide whether or not
to work to get (the initiative) repealed during the next legislative session."

Oregonians pass a similar property seizure reform initiative, Measure 3-
the Oregon Property Protection Act- by a margin of 66-34. Measure 3 diverts
drug forfeiture proceeds from police treasuries into drug treatment programs.

November 27- In the case "U.S. v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative,
00-151," the U.S. Supreme Court takes on the issue of whether "medical
necessity" is an acceptable defense to the federal law that makes marijuana
distribution a crime. A decision is expected by June 2001.

December 6- Brussels, Belgium- The Liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt
and the Brussels coalition of Liberals, Socialists and Greens, vote to end
marijuana prohibition. As of January 1, 2001, Belgium, joining Holland in
embracing tolerance, will "exempt from punishment possession, consumption
and trade of up to five grams hashish or marijuana." Belgium is the host
country and seat of the European Union.

December 6- In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine released today,
President Bill Clinton was asked if he thought "people should go to jail
for using or even selling small amounts of marijuana?" Clinton replied "I
think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some
places, and should be." Clinton added, "We really need a reexamination of
our entire policy on imprisonment… a lot of people are in prison because
they have drug problems or alcohol problems and too many of them are
getting out- particularly out of state systems- without treatment, without
education, without skills, without serious efforts at job placement."

(MarijuanaNews note: For more on the Drug War in 2000 See 2000 in Review -
What MAP's Readers Were Reading The Most
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1950/a08.html )