From: Paul Stanford <[t--r--o] at [igc.apc.org]> Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs Date: 02 Jul 93 18:37 PDT Subject: Hemp News #10 The following wire stories are provided as a public service by Tree Free EcoPaper, makers of 50% hemp (cannabis) and 50% cereal straw paper. Tree Free EcoPaper is the world's only supplier of wholesale quantities of hemp paper. We offer an electronic catalog which you can recieve by dropping us an e-mail request. We'll send you our free samples and hemp paper catalog if you give us a postal address. You can call us toll-free at 1-800-775-0225 from the U.S. and Canada. Our phone number for calls outside the U.S. is 503-295-6705. Our headquarters is in Portland, Oregon and our paper is produced in Asia. Without further ado, please enjoy the news: WP 06/11 Traffickers Take On Salinas in Court Lawyers Tying Redistribution of Seized Lands in Legal Knots By Tod Robberson Washington Post Foreign Service HERMOSILLO, Mexico - Here in the arid desert of northwestern Mexico, drug lords are using legal courtroom tactics, and allegedly bribery as well, to thwart a popular program of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari to redistribute land confiscated in drug raids. Nearly 1,000 peasant families have benefited from the program, according to farm workers' organizations here. The drug traffickers are fighting the program in court, claiming their constitutional rights have been violated. If they succeed in their challenges, federal police may be ordered to drive off the new landholders, according to lawyers, law enforcement officials and members of Salinas's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). "It is almost certain that all of the judgments will go in favor of the narcotics traffickers," said Roberto Diaz Gallardo, head of a PRI-sponsored farm workers' organization. "The easiest solution for all would be for the government to pay for the land and let the campesinos stay." A high official in the state party concurred, saying the issue was damaging the president. Since taking office in 1989, Salinas has handed over to peasants an estimated 865,000 acres of land confiscated by federal police during raids on marijuana, cocaine and heroin trafficking operations throughout the country. Legal experts say Mexican law forbids the government to transfer title or permit third parties to use any property seized in a criminal action as long as the case is under court review. By repeatedly filing appeals, which can be tied up in the courts for years, lawyers for convicted drug traffickers are able to retain their property. The tactics being employed by Mexican drug lords, which allegedly include bribery of federal judges and other law enforcement personnel to obtain protection from prosecution, represent a formidable long-term challenge to Salinas's efforts to control narcotics trafficking, according to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials. Lawyers representing jailed drug cartel leader Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo have obtained court orders for the return of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of merchandise confiscated in connection with narcotics-trafficking activities. Felix Gallardo, who is awaiting sentencing for complicity in the 1985 torture-murder of U.S. drug enforcement agent Enrique Camarena, has been able to recover seized hotels, restaurants, ranches, executive airplanes and dozens of vehicles, a Mexican law enforcement official said. Other cartel leaders have had similar successes getting their property returned, the official said, acknowledging that some corrupt federal judges have helped speed the process. Salinas stated in a May 1989 speech announcing his confiscation program that "those who commit crimes against the well-being of Mexicans must know that we will use all the force of the state to fight them, and that the property they have acquired through illicit activity will be recovered as the patrimony of the Mexican people." During an April 1990 visit here in Sonora, an isolated desert region identified by U.S. drug enforcement agents as one of the primary smuggling points for drugs entering the United States, Salinas declared, "I pledge to you: the land of narcotics traffickers will be placed at the disposal of the peasants of Sonora." With that, the government encouraged the peasants to take over 130,000 acres of confiscated land, backed by a public pledge from Salinas to help them gain legal title. Now, almost all of that land is in legal limbo because of the traffickers' court challenges. "The government violated the rights of the alleged narcotics traffickers when it gave away their land to the peasants," said Jorge Pesqueira, a Hermosillo criminal law professor who has previously represented accused drug dealers. "Narcotics traffickers have constitutional rights, too." Salinas has acknowledged that traffickers may be winning the court battle over their confiscated land but says the government is trying to fight back. "The federal judiciary has the power to overturn the president's action," Hermosillo federal judge Rosa Martha Valenzuela said in an interview. "I think he was ill-informed by his aides" in handing over the land, she added. Valenzuela was arrested by federal police late last week in connection with a nationwide probe of local and federal judges suspected of providing judicial assistance to the nation's top drug cartels. She is now in jail in Mexico City, according to newspaper reports. In interviews, several peasants said they have been unable to obtain credit for farm supplies because banks will not accept their land as collateral, and now they face the prospect of going broke. Isidrio Leyva, who shares a 950-acre ranch with 30 other peasants, expressed fears that drug traffickers could force them off their land at any time, either by court order or by the threat of violence. At a farm near Leyva's, attorneys representing reputed drug dealers have ordered two dozen peasants to vacate, even though the land was confiscated by the government with hundreds of acres of marijuana growing on it. The original owners reportedly are now trying to sell the property to third parties. Enrique Carrera Vega, head of the Central Workers' Union of Sonora, said that in 1990, 60 armed men presumably sent by narcotics traffickers entered a government-confiscated ranch, attacked peasants living there and burned their houses. Local PRI officials and leaders of peasant farm organizations warn that a harsh political backlash is brewing - not against the drug traffickers but against Salinas. UPma 06/10 1831 Anti-drug programs needed in high schools, research... Anti-drug programs needed in high schools, researchers say By TERRI VERMEULEN SANTA MONICA, Calif. (UPI) -- A study released Thursday shows that children soon forget the lessons learned in anti-drug programs when they enter high school, where they need continuing reinforcement and "boosters." The study of 3,500 junior high and high school students was conducted over 10 years by researchers with the RAND Corp., a Santa Monica think tank. It found the lessons taught by anti-drug programs are often forgotten in high school, where the programs stop. The study said "teenagers need continued and strong reinforcement to resist drugs" and recommended anti-drug programs for high school. "It's probably naive to expect that the lessons students learn during junior high are going to protect them in the high school setting, " lead researcher Phyllis Ellickson said. "We have to provide boosters." The study found that positive impacts of lessons on cigarette and marijuana use had disappeared by the time students reached the ninth grade. The study, which appears in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health, found that the anti-drug programs reduced cigarette and marijuana use by junior high school students. The study concluded that 11 50-minute anti-drug lessons substantially helped seventh and eighth graders develop the motivation and skills to resist peer pressure to smoke cigarettes or marijuana. They said the lessons had little effect on alcohol consumption. "The value of drug prevention would be greatly enhanced if we could maintain those benefits after the transition to high school," the report's authors said. "Making the effort to do so becomes even more important when we consider the difficulty of achieving and sustaining behavior change once a habit has set in. Very few adults are able to quit smoking on the first try." The study, called Project ALERT, monitored students passing through 30 California and Oregon schools with anti-drug programs. UPwe 06/10 0922 Pot smokers run risk of illness, injury, study shows SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- Daily marijuana smokers who abstain from tobacco run a higher risk of illness and injury than non-users, researchers reported Wednesday. In an article published in the Western Journal of Medicine, scientists noted this was the first study to compare the medical records of heavy pot users who did not indulge in tobacco with those of people who smoked neither. The study of 900 subjects found those who used marijuana frequently suffered a 19 percent greater risk of respiratory illnesses, such as colds, flus and sore throats than non-smokers. In addition the pot group stood a 32 percent greater chance for injuries and 9 percent higher odds for non-respiratory disease, the study showed. "Daily marijuana smoking appears to be associated with respiratory conditions even among persons who never smoked tobacco," the authors wrote. "Frequent marijuana use also appears to be intimately linked to alcohol consumption as a risk factor for injuries and other non- respiratory medical care." The researchers surveyed 452 heavy marijuana users who did not smoke tobacco and 450 people who inhaled neither. All were patients at Kaiser Permanente's Oakland or San Francisco medical centers between 1979 and 1985. The groups were matched by age, race, gender and socioeconomic status. "To assess the health risks of heavy marijuana smoking, we excluded persons who also smoked tobacco," said study co-author Michael Polen of the Kaiser-Permanente Centers of Health Research in Portland, Ore. "We did this to get a clearer view of the problem." One odd finding, he said, was that those who smoked marijuana for more than 10 years reported fewer respiratory illnesses. "It may be long-term marijuana smokers are 'survivors' of a selection process in which people prone to respiratory illnesses were more likely to quit smoking," Polen said. Nevertheless, marijuana users of more than 15 years were twice as likely to sustain injuries as non-smokers, possibly because the pot smokers consumed more alcohol, the researchers said. APn 06/15 0852 Lebanon-Narcotics Copyright, 1993. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By RIMA SALAMEH Associated Press Writer DEIR AL-AHMAR, Lebanon (AP) -- Hundreds of acres of marijuana and opium fields in the Bekaa Valley, a major narcotics-growing region, have been destroyed in a government crackdown, security sources said today. The fields, which produced about 5 tons of heroin and 700-800 tons of hashish a year, were plowed under by the growers themselves after the government gave them until dawn today to do so or face military action. The security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that by daybreak 90 percent of the narcotics crop in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa in eastern Lebanon had been eradicated in a campaign that began May 10. The damage to Lebanon's narcotics trade, worth an estimated $500 million a year, is part of the campaign by Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's Syrian-backed government to stamp out corruption and crime that flourished during the 1975-90 civil war. Reporters visiting areas around Baalbek and the neighboring Hermel and Deir al-Ahmar regions today saw vast tracts of bulldozed marijuana and opium fields along a 35-mile stretch of Lebanon's eastern border with Syria. Marijuana is the base for hashish, and heroin is made from opium poppies. The security sources said they expected the remaining 10 percent of the narcotics-growing fields to be bulldozed by growers soon. Syrian and Lebanese soldiers patrolled the region today verifying the destruction of the fields. The sources said the Syrians had arrested more than 40 narcotics smugglers and hashish growers. Eleven of the men were taken to Damascus, the Syrian capital, and executed, the sources said. Sixteen illegal ports, used by smugglers since the war broke out, have been blown up in northern Lebanon and several makeshift bridges along contraband trails on both sides of the 250-mile Lebanon-Syria border have been dynamited. UPce 06/15 0900 Hyde proposes changes in property seizure law WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., says law enforcement agencies have used asset forfeiture laws to seize the property of innocent victims. The veteran Republican Congressman Monday introduced legislation to reform property seizure laws that have been increasingly used by police agencies to since the 1980s to confiscate ill-gotten goods of drug traffickers. "The federal government confiscates hundreds of millions of dollars a year in cash intended for drug buys and the sale of cars, boats and homes used by drug traffickers in their business dealings," Hyde said. "This money is being plowed back into law enforcement, something I find wholly proper." However, Hyde cited several cases in which property seizure laws have been used against innocent people. In one case, Jacksonville University professor Craig Klein's new $24,000 sailboat was damaged beyond repair during a search by U.S. Customs Agents. The boat's engine was chopped up with a fire ax, its fuel tank ruptured, 30 holes were drilled in the hull and the boat finally was sold for scrap. In another incident, the federal government tried to seize the farm of Delmar Puryear after police found five marijuana plants growing on the property. A juey acquitted the retiree on state criminal charges, but federal prosecutorsrefused to drop efforts to seize his 37-acre farm until he agreed to pay $12,500. "One the darker side, some of our civil asset seizure laws are being used in terribly unjust ways and depriving innocent citizens of their property withnothing that can be called due process," Hyde said. "We cannot continue to unjustly take assets from property owners unlucky enough to be caught up in civil forfeiture proceedings." Hyde's Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act is endorsed by the American Civil Liberities Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. ------ NEW YORK (AP) -- The Kindergarten Cop enjoys changing diapers, the Terminator cries at movies, the Last Action Hero admits he's inhaled. What other surprises could Arnold Schwarzenegger have in store? Just that he doesn't care whether his next baby, due in October, is his third daughter or first son. "Before I got my first child I did want to have a boy," Schwarzenegger told US magazine for its July issue. "But with the joy I have with my two daughters, now it's irrelevant." Schwarzenegger, 45, says changing diapers is fun. "All of a sudden all those things that normally gross you out, they don't gross you out at all," he said. Schwarzenegger also said he sometimes cries at movies, including "Field of Dreams" and "Malcolm X." And yes, he has smoked marijuana but never very much. "I mean, you can't go stoned to the gym, because it won't work." APn 06/15 0033 Ginsburg-Writings Copyright, 1993. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By The Associated Press Some of Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legal views, both on and off the bench at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia: Court of Appeals ruling on June 20, 1989, in Carl Eric Olsen vs. Drug Enforcement Administration: Olsen, a priest of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, sought federal approval for church members to use marijuana as a religious sacrament. The court of appeals ruled against Olsen in an opinion written by Ginsburg. "We hold that the First Amendment's free exercise of religion guarantee does not require the requested exception, and that petitioner (Olsen) was not denied equal protection-establishment clause rights by the government's refusal to accommodate his church's sacramental use of marijuana. "We conclude that the DEA cannot accommodate Olsen's religious use of marijuana without unduly burdening or disrupting enforcement of the federal marijuana laws." ------ Court of Appeals decision on Jan. 8, 1993, in U.S. vs. Cornell Foster: In an opinion written by Ginsburg, the court reversed Foster's conviction of possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell. The court said the trial judge erred in limiting defense questioning of a police officer. "Suppose the defense had had the opportunity to probe (the police officer) further and to highlight the fact that ... (the officer had given) no explanation why Foster, the alleged drug dealer caught moments after making sales, had very little cash in his possession. Whatever else was in the record, could a rational trier of fact be left with a reasonable doubt whether Foster was in truth one of the drug dealers (the officer) observed? We cannot answer that question, definitely `no."' ------ APn 06/14 0043 Smuggler Appointed Copyright, 1993. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By DAVID SHARP Associated Press Writer PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- A drug smuggler who masterminded shipments of 11 tons of marijuana will have plenty to show for himself when he wraps up his five-year sentence, which requires him to care for dying AIDS patients. Living in the comfort of his home -- instead of a federal prison with his co-conspirators -- Harvey Prager started a family, attended the Maine Law School and earned himself a coveted clerkship to the Maine Supreme Court. Many Mainers say Prager has had it too easy. Worse yet, critics say the care for Prager's dying wards was substandard. "I think he got off pretty easy," says Joanne Miller, a nurse who contends Prager did as little work as possible while she was briefly assigned to his home. "Crime pays in his case." Prager, 46, who pleaded guilty in 1988, has refused to comment until he completes his sentence in October. His appointment as $27,000-a-year law clerk to the state Supreme Court begins next year, upon completion of his third year of law school. Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood called Prager's appointment "an insult to the people of Maine and to the memory of every police officer who has lost his or her life in an effort to curb the flow of drugs into this country." The public outrage prompted the current Legislature to introduce a last-minute bill to keep convicted felons sentenced to a year or more in prison from being admitted to the bar. State Rep. Judith Foss, R-Yarmouth, said it was ironic that the Legislature sets no moral standards for lawyers, while state laws establish strict standards for other licensed professionals. Some care-givers and advocates for people with AIDS are angry about Prager's sentence. Ms. Miller said Prager sometimes left AIDS patients alone and forgot to give them medicine. On several occasions, she said, she found Prager's wards lying in their own waste because he hadn't bothered to check on them. Paul Roderick, an AIDS patient who went to live with Prager in 1989, spoke bitterly of conditions at Prager's home on a videotape made shortly before he died that year. "This boy is very discouraged with his life. He hasn't got a decent place to live," a gaunt Roderick says on the tape. "I only have two months to live and I'll be damned if I'm going to live in Harvey Prager's basement." But Prager also has staunch supporters, who say his compassion was heartwarming, his commitment steadfast. "I have nothing but good things to say about Harvey," said Mary Loving, a registered nurse who worked at Prager's house in 1990. "I just feel, as much as I hate the use of illegal drugs, that he had a trial and is carrying out his sentence." Ms. Loving said the basement room used by AIDS patients at Prager's first home was dark, but that Prager rented a new house and fixed up the first floor. She says he was a tireless worker and a jokester who made his wards smile. "I think he'd be a great nurse," Ms. Loving said. "It's too bad that he didn't study to be a doctor instead of a lawyer." Prager's attorney, Julian Sweet, said Prager sometimes worked 80-hour weeks and personally cleaned up his wards' blood and body wastes. Prager seemed an unlikely drug dealer. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Bowdoin College, a private liberal arts school in Brunswick. He attended Harvard graduate school but dropped out. After refurbishing a boat with friends, he found there was big money to be made by transporting marijuana. Prager was considered the brains behind several drug shipments from Colombia. He had more than $1 million in assets worldwide when a federal indictment turned him into a fugitive. He was arrested in 1987 in London, where he had met his future wife, a French woman. Prager lobbied for his unusual punishment, saying that treating AIDS patients in his home might be more difficult than jail. U.S. District Judge Gene Carter approved Prager's punishment but sentenced his co-conspirators -- George Moran and James E. Henry -- to prison terms of eight and nine years, respectively. Dr. Owen Pickus, an AIDS specialist, endorsed Prager's quest for an alternative sentence in 1988. Now he questions Prager's sincerity. He said Prager has been living the good life with trips to Paris, membership in the city's most expensive health club and enough free time to raise a daughter, now 3 years old, and attend law school. The doctor says those activities aren't consistent with the around-the-clock care needed for his wards. "I feel like Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. I created this monster," Pickus said of his endorsement. "And I feel that the monster should be killed even if he takes Dr. Frankenstein down with him." UPma 06/16 1412 Seven arrested in pot bust PHILADELPHIA (UPI) -- Six Philadelphia area men were rounded up Wednesday for allegedly trafficking more than one ton of marijuana, said a spokeswoman with the Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA spokeswoman Mary Vaira said a seventh suspect was arrested while in custody on other charges. A federal grand jury in May handed down an 11-count indictment charging 13 men, including two employees of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, with conspiracy to distribute and possession to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. There are 2.2 pounds per kilogram and Vaira said one pound of marijuana has a street value of at least $1,200. Vaira said the other suspects were still at large, although two or three suspects were expected to surrender to federal authorities Thursday. Those arrested were SEPTA workers Dennis Foster, 36, of Mt. Laurel, N.J. and James Felder, 41, of Franklinville, N.J.; and Michael Madison, 32; James Riordan, 34; Anthony Moses, 26, all of Philadelphia; and Kenneth Spector, 27, of Holland, Bucks County. Frank Geist, 41, of Philadelphia was already in custody. If convicted, the men face a minimun mandatory sentence of 10 years, plus fines. UPn 06/15 2149 Drug agents find two tons of marijuana in cargo of ... Drug agents find two tons of marijuana in cargo of frozen spinach McALLEN, Texas (UPI) -- U.S. Customs agents in the Rio Grande Valley said Tuesday they discovered a 4,100-pound cache of marijuana concealed in a cargo of frozen spinach when they searched a tractor trailer. Vince Klink, resident agent in charge of the McAllen Customs office, said three men had been under surveillance for several days. Agents stopped the truck after the suspects were observed consolidating their cargo containers in the McAllen area. After the truck was stopped, agents arrested Aurelio Garcia, Jr., a 29-year-old U.S. citizen and Alfredo Gutierrez-Hernandez, 30, and Miguelo Sosa-Badillo, 26, both Mexican nationals. Klink said that along with the two tons of marijuana, agents also seized $17,000 from one of the suspects, and the spinach, valued at $30, 000. He estimated the marijuana's street value at $800 per pound. A search warrant executed Tuesday at the warehouse where the truck was loaded resulted in the seizure of an additional 2,700 pounds of marijuana in the cold storage area of the warehouse. The suspects were held for arraignment before a federal magistrate. APn 06/15 1526 Drug Seizures Copyright, 1993. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By LARRY MARGASAK Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Customs agents in Florida searched a professor's new $24,000 sailboat for drugs. In seven hours, they found nothing but damaged the boat so thoroughly, it had to be sold for scrap. A disabled Kentucky retiree was acquitted on state charges after police found 500 marijuana plants on his farm, but he was forced to pay the federal government $12,500 to get his confiscated property back. Conservative Rep. Henry J. Hyde cited these examples Tuesday, as he proposed restrictions on government seizure of property in suspected drug cases. In doing so, he teamed up with the liberal American Civil Liberties Union. The Illinois Republican told a news conference that money and other property is being taken "in terribly unjust ways" under civil law -- often from those never charged with drug crimes. He introduced legislation to curtail this method of pursuing drug profits and obtaining money for use by law enforcement agencies. Under current law, authorities only need to show "probable cause" that property was used illegally in order to seize it. The owner must then prove his or her innocence to get it back. ACLU President Nadine Strossen joined Hyde at the news conference to back his bill. But she also called civil forfeiture unconstitutional and proposed its abolition, because the burden of proof is on the defendant. Hyde, who would not endorse abolition, said his bill would: --Require the government to prove by clear and convincing evidence that an asset was purchased with the profits of crime or was used in committing a crime. --Provide a lawyer for those who can't afford one but want to challenge a civil forfeiture. Currently there is no right to appointed counsel in these cases. --Abolish the requirement that a property owner post bond to contest a seizure. --Clarify that lack of consent to illegal activity is a valid defense to forfeiture. "Nothing less than the sanctity of private property is at stake here," Hyde said. "This is unjust; this is abusive, and it must be addressed." Hyde said he might have a tough time selling fellow conservatives on the need for the legislation, since the money from seizures goes into a fund used for law enforcement which had $531 million in deposits last year. But Strossen said no one can accuse Hyde, a strong backer of anti-drug measures, of being soft on crime. Strossen said civil forfeiture, used since 1984, "has become a nightmare for thousands of ordinary, law-abiding citizens" who are subject to "Draconian property deprivations." Also backing the legislation was Nancy Hollander, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She said authorities have focused their forfeitures on "minor participants and innocent people, not big drug dealers." Hollander said that forfeiture revenues "have assumed an indispensable role in law enforcement budgets, creating a situation in which seizure targets are sometimes selected by the bounty available to the enforcement agency ...." UPwe 06/17 1510 Madera County rewarded for big pot bust SACRAMENTO, Calif. (UPI) -- U.S. Attorney Robert Twiss announced Thursday the federal government had given the Madera County Sheriff's Department $42,583 for its role in a major marijuana bust. Twiss said the money came from the sale of property seized after a Sheriff's Department narcotics team uncovered a marijuana cultivation operation in Oakhurst Aug. 18, 1990. The bust netted 118 marijuana plants and pieces of property belonging to Edward and Robert Guidi, who were sentenced to 180 days of house arrest, community service and felony probation. Edward Guidi was also ordered to pay the government $40,000 to keep his property while his brother's property was sold at auction. UPce 06/21 1833 Thirty arrested in alleged drug ring MADISON, Wis. (UPI) -- Thirty people have been arrested in an investigation of what Attorney General James Doyle calls a major cocaine and marijuana trafficking ring. Doyle said a two and a half year investigation involving several law enforcement agencies has shown drugs coming into central Wisconsin and the Fox Valley in monthly shipments from Mexico. Doyle said 40 ounces of very high quality cocaine worth $113,400 and 104 pounds of marijuana worth $400,000 has been seized, along with 10 vehicles, $40,000 in cash and numerous weapons. Seventeen of the 30 were arrested over the weekend, including people from Texas and Wisconsin. Doyle said more arrests are likely. "A major pipeline for drugs into central Wisconsin and the Fox Valley has been smashed," Doyle said in a press release. UPwe 06/18 1715 Agents net 1,935 pot plants, $37,300 in cash LAYTONVILLE, Calif. (UPI) -- Mendocino County officials said Friday they have busted a major marijuana growing operation, confiscating 1,935 pot plants and $37,300 in cash and arresting two suspects. Sgt. Ray Caudillo, spokesman for the county Marijuana Eradication Team, said raids were undertaken Thursday in Laytonville, Willits and Santa Rosa. At one Laytonville site, the agents discovered a home that had been converted into a large nursey. The building was full of marijuana plants ranging from 4 to 20 inches tall. "The cabin had been completely converted to grow nothing but dope," Caudillo said. "It was everywhere -- upstairs and downstairs." Along with the currency, the agents also confiscated electrical growing lights, tools and a vehicle, all worth about $78,000. Arrested were Bruce Linder, 45, and Joseph Rodriguez, 32, both of Laytonville. A third suspect was arrested, but later released. ------ "In Canada, they have a new prime minister, she's a woman. This is interesting. She has posed nude. She's smoked marijuana. She's called the Madonna of Canadian politics. I can't wait to see that first summit with Bill Clinton, huh? That is gonna be some party." ------ APn 06/22 1833 National Briefs Copyright, 1993. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. CINCINNATI (AP) -- A man convicted of drug and bombing charges told a federal appeals court Tuesday that he is being denied timely parole because he once claimed to have sold marijuana to former Vice President Dan Quayle. Brett Kimberlin asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to free him from a prison in Memphis, Tenn., arguing that the U.S. Parole Commission was vindictive in keeping him locked up a year longer than he expected. In 1980, Kimberlin began a 51-year sentence for drug conspiracy and eight bombings in Indiana that prosecutors said were to divert attention from his illicit schemes. A man's leg was torn away when one of the bombs exploded. Kimberlin's first parole hearing in July 1988 won him a release set for February this year. Then, just before the presidential election in November 1988, Kimberlin claimed he sold pot to Quayle in the 1970s. Quayle denied it. Right after the election, Kimberlin's release date was postponed until 1998, but was later rolled back to February 1994. Kimberlin "is straining to find some evidence of vindictiveness," said Richard Preston, a lawyer for the parole commission. ------ RTw 06/22 0755 TROOPS DESTROY CANNABIS FIELDS IN EASTERN LEBANON BTIDEE, Lebanon, June 22, Reuter - Lebanese police said on Tuesday troops had destroyed about half the 2,500 acres (1,000 hectares) of cannabis growing in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley in the past two weeks. Bekka police chief Brigadier Fawzi Sema'an told reporters the joint Syrian-Lebanese drive to wipe out the growing of drugs in Lebanon would continue "until the last plant is eradicated." "We will not allow the cultivation of any kind of narcotic crops from now on," said Sema'an, adding that Lebanese troops and police and Syrian soldiers would plough the fields under. Troops and police on Tuesday ploughed under fields of cannabis, from which hashish and marijuana are derived, around Btidee village in the in Deir al-Ahmar area of the Bekaa valley. Officers said they would move on to the remote Hermel region to the northeast of Btidee later on Tuesday. Sema'an said villagers would be punished if they were found growing drugs. Villagers in the Bekaa Valley, a lawless region during much of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, have appealed to the government in Beirut to help find a crop to replace lucrative narcotics. Western diplomats say it will be virtually impossible to stamp out drugs cultivation in the Bekaa Valley by force as growers can still plant in areas rarely visited by authorities. Lebanese and Syrian troops cracked down on the smuggling of goods, food and cigarettes from eastern Lebanon to Syria last month. Diplomatic sources said the sweep continued in Syria this month. REUTER HHH PWS JA APn 06/23 1532 Drug Use Copyright, 1993. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By CHRISTOPHER CONNELL Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Illegal drug use is off sharply among American teen-agers and adults with one glaring exception: those 35 and older. Those were the key findings from an annual survey on drug abuse released Wednesday by federal health officials. Some 11.4 million Americans age 12 or older were classified as current users of illegal drugs in 1992, down 11 percent from almost 13 million drug users a year earlier. That means they had used drugs in the month before the survey. The number has been declining steadily since 1979, when the same survey indicated that 24 million Americans had used illicit drugs. Adults 35 and older -- including the baby boomers who grew up in the permissive 1960s -- are bucking the trend. Use of drugs in that age group is the same now as it was back in 1979. The older adults now comprise 23 percent of illegal drug users, compared to just 10 percent in 1979. The number of current cocaine users plummeted 31 percent from 1.9 million in 1991 to 1.3 million in 1992. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which conducted the survey, said that was down from a peak of 5.8 million in 1985. Occasional cocaine use -- less than once a month -- was down by 900,000, to 3.4 million. But the number of frequent users -- at least weekly -- stood unchanged at 640,000. Marijuana remains the illegal drug of choice, used by 78 percent of those who tried illegal drugs in 1992. An estimated 98 million Americans drank alcohol in the month before the survey; 10 million were defined as heavy drinkers -- five or more drinks on five or more days in the past 30 days. The survey also indicated that 54 million Americans, or 26 percent of the population, were cigarette smokers. Some 7.5 million used smokeless tobacco. Other statistics: --Six percent of 12-to-17-year-olds were current users of illegal drugs; 13 percent of 18-to-25-year-olds and 10 percent of 26-to-34-year-olds used drugs. --Most illegal drug users were white (8.7 million or 76 percent); 14 percent were black (1.6 million); 8 percent were Hispanic (900,000). --More men than women used illicit drugs: 7.1 percent versus 4.1 percent. --Almost 21 percent of unemployed 18-to-34-year-olds were illegal drug users, nearly double the rate for those with jobs. The survey was based on in-person interviews of 28,832 people who were promised confidentiality. UPsw 06/23 1230 Court rules DPS roadblock unconstitutional AUSTIN, Texas (UPI) -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday that a Department of Public Safety roadblock -- where troopers randomly checked motorists' driver's licence and insurance -- was unconstitutional. The ruling came on a motion by Juan Enrique Sanchez to suppress evidence in a drug case obtained by four DPS troopers at a roadblock on U.S. Highway 59 near Victoria on the morning of April 30, 1987. According to the evidence, Sanchez was stopped along with all other northbound traffic at the roadblock, where DPS troopers were checking driver's licenses and proof of insurance. After brief questioning, the officers discovered more the 50 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of Sanchez's car. Sanchez, who was indicted on charges of unlawful possession of marijuana, filed a motion to suppress the evidence on grounds that it was "the fruit of an allegedly illegal search." A trial court granted the motion, ruling that the checkpoint stop was not authorized by law and was, therefore, illegal. However, the 13th Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi reversed the ruling. The appeals court said that such roadblocks were not prohibited by state law and were reasonable under the Fourth Amendment right against unwarranted search and seizure. In its ruling Wednesday, the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the Corpus Christi court, saying it erred in concluding that the stop was reasonable. The court said the DPS troopers set up the roadblock on their own initiative without following standardized guidelines and without the authorization or guidance of a superior officer. The court also noted that the state offered no evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of the roadblock in identifying violators, as required by the U.S. Supreme Court in similar cases. The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of law enforcement roadblocks in random checks for drunken drivers, but the Court of Criminal Appeals said the DPS roadblock did not meet the Supreme Court's test. UPma 06/23 1010 Lawyer says parole board broke its own rules CINCINNATI (UPI) -- A lawyer for a prisoner who claimed to have sold marijuana to former Vice President Dan Quayle in the early 1970s says the federal parole commission violated its own rules in the prisoner's case. The case was argued before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. Rene Todd, arguing on behalf of Brett Kimberlin, now an inmate at a federal prison in Memphis, Tenn., said Kimberlin, among other things, was being detained because of his Quayle allegations. Kimberlin was sentenced to 51 1/2 years for bombings, a drug conspiracy, impersonating a federal officer and other crimes in the 1970s. A parole examiner recommended releasing Kimberlin in February 1993 but the U.S. Parole Commission decided Kimberlin had to stay in prison until February 1998. That ruling was successfully challenged and he became eligible for immediate parole, and the commission decided to release Kimberlin in February 1994. Richard Preston, the government attorney, said Todd was "straining" to find an issue and in the sole allusion to the Quayle allegations, said there was no evidence of vindictiveness. Regardless of how quickly the court rules on the appeal, it may not make much difference as he is to be released to a halfway house in August, and freed in February. RTw 06/25 0618 EC TO AID LEBANON IN DRUGS CRACKDOWN BEIRUT, June 25, Reuter - The European Community promised on Friday to aid Lebanon in its campaign to stamp out drugs growing and trafficking which flourished during 15 years of civil war. Interior Minister Beshara Merhej told reporters after talks with European Community representatives that all illegal crops, mainly cannabis, were being destroyed by troops and police. "All these crops are either destroyed or in the course of destruction...We are trying our best now to go all over the places and destroy whatever is found of illicit crops there." Merhej said his talks with the ambassadors of Britain, France, Spain, Germany and Belgium would produce results. "They will go on with their programme to help Lebanon fight this social disease," said Merhej, adding that EC aid to end drugs production would be channelled through U.N. agencies. Merhej said the government was now focusing on introducing alternative crops in cooperation with the U.N. and Europe. In the last three weeks Syrian and Lebanese forces have destroyed hundreds of acres (hectares) of cannabis in the Bekaa Valley, a lawless region during much of the 1975-90 civil war. Authorities arrested six villagers in eastern Lebanon on Wednesday for failing to destroy their cannabis crops. Hashish and marijuana are derived from cannabis. Official sources said senior officers with the international police organisation Interpol were currently visiting Beirut to increase coordination to counter drugs trafficking from Lebanon. They were expected to visit the Bekaa Valley to check on the eradication campaign. REUTER NL PWS JP UPce 06/28 0943 Mixed reaction to evidence ruling PONTIAC, Mich. (UPI) -- A ruling by an Oakland County judge that some evidence may be used against criminal defendants even if it is obtained through a legally defective search warrant is drawing mixed reviews. If the ruling by Oakland Circuit Judge Hilda Gage is affirmed on appeal, it wouls mark the first time Michigan has drawn an exception to the "exclusionary rule" that attempts to deter police misconduct by excluding from trials illegally obtained evidence. In her ruling, which was finalized last week, Gage said the exclusionary rule should not apply when police rely in "good faith" on a search warrant that later turns out to be invalid. She said the rule "was designed to deter police misconduct rather than to punish the errors of judges and magistrates." Patrick Shannon, president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, called the decision a "common sense" interpretation of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. However, defense lawyers said the ruling would force courts to make a difficult distinction between invalid searches that are willful and those that are the result of an honest mistake. "Conservative judges will grab onto this and find a reason to deny individuals their Fourth Amendment rights," said Richard Lustig, who represented the defendant before Gage. The case involved a motorist who was stopped in January 1992 for a loud muffler. Following a search of the man's car, to which he consented, South Lyon police found marijuana and other drugs in the vehicle and then obtained a warrant to search his apartment, where more drugs were found. UPwe 06/30 1910 Drug dogs don't violate Fourth Amendment SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- A federal appeals court ruled unanimously Wednesday that a sniff by a dog trained to detect narcotics was not an illegal search prohibited by the Fourth Amendment. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of three marijuana smugglers who were caught by federal drug agents who used the dog to find nearly two tons of marijuana in a Southern California warehouse. Ronald L. Lingenfelter, Gary Marolf and Lawrence Morgan appealed their drug smuggling convictions on the grounds that the dog's sniff, which the agents used to obtain a warrant to search the Costa Mesa, Calif., warehouse, was itself a warrantless search. They also contended that the dog sniff was not sufficient evidence to support a search warrant, and that agents should not have seized their boat where another 1,000 pounds of marijuana was found. But the appeals court said the dog sniff did not implicate the Fourth Amendment prohibition against illegal searches because the dog could only detect contraband, for which there is no right of privacy. The sniff could support a search warrant if the dog was reliable, the court said, which was attested to by law enforcement personnel. The court also said agents acted properly in seizing Marolf's boat without a warrant since the boat could have been moved out of the area. RTw 06/30 1139 EX-MISS WORLD ARRESTED FOR DRUGS POSSESSION JOHANNESBURG, June 30, Reuter - Former Miss World Anneline Kriel was arrested at her Johannesburg home on Wednesday for possession of marijuana, police said. They said Kriel was detained with her husband Philip Tucker. REUTER FER JP RTw 06/30 0917 AMSTERDAM HASH CAFES ASKED TO STOP SALES AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Reuter - Dutch health authorities said Wednesday they have asked Amsterdam's "coffee shops" that sell hashish cakes to take them off the menu because eating the drug has highly unpredictable results. The request followed an incident when three middle-aged Britons on a business trip were taken to hospital with paranoid psychosis having unwittingly consumed a cake laced with hashish after a visit to a diamond factory, a health authority spokesman said. "Imagine -- it's like drinking alcohol without knowing you're doing it or ever having drunk it before," said Dirk van der Woude of Amsterdam. "If you smoke, the effect is immediate but when you eat it, there's a delay and you can't control how much you are taking in." Though illegal, certain drugs for personal consumption are tolerated in the Netherlands. Many Amsterdam cafes offer cannabis either to be smoked or eaten in "special" cakes, but they are not allowed to advertise their wares. This can often confuse the uninitiated, city health authorities said. Cannabis sativa is the hemp plant whose leaves and flowers are used to make marijuana and hashish. The officials are also preparing leaflets to warn tourists of the hazards of the so-called space-cakes and to help them distinguish between those coffee shops that sell drugs and those that sell coffee and unspiked cakes. REUTER