Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 21:58:27 -0400
From: Dana Beal
Subject: MMM 2004 #47: Capetown, Darwin, Dunedin, Frankfurt, Ft. Smith,
Lethbridge, Los Angeles, Ogden, Portland, Roanoke, San Francisco,
Stockholm, Traverse City Make 68 Cities on the Global Marijuana March May
7, 2005!

Important: get your city on the list for the Global Marijuana March, May 7, 2005!

So far we have confirmed 68 cities:

Albany

Athens

Asheville

Auckland

Bergen

Boone

Boulder

Burlington

Capetown

Christchurch

Cincinnati

Colorado Springs

Columbia

Darwin

Des Moines

Detroit

Dover

Dublin

Dunedin

East Lansing

Eugene

Fayetteville

Frankfurt

Ft. Smith

Hatchita

Houston

Kansas City

Kristiansand

Lethbridge

Lexington

Los Angeles

Missoula

Montreal

Moscow

Newark

New Paltz

New York

Nimbin

Ogden

Oslo

Paris

Peoria

Philadelphia

Phoenix

Portland

Prague

Raleigh

Rapid City

Reno

Richmond

Roanoke

San Francisco

Sarasota

Spokane

Stavanger

St. Louis

Stockholm

Tampa

Thunder Bay

Toronto

Traverse City

Tromsoe

Trondheim

Tucson

Upper Lake

Vancouver

Washington, D.C.

Wilmington

There is also some international MMM networking going on at
this CannabisCulture.com message forum:

http://www.cannabisculture.com/forums/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=current

-------------------------

*****!!!Global Marijuana March--May 7, 2004:  Updates,  Reports!!!*****

From: graab419@...

Dear Dana,
     I am corresponding with you in regard to my city participating in MMM
2005.  Our Details are as follows

J-Day 2005
Dunedin, New Zealand

The Octagon - High Noon to 4:20

We will definitely be participating (you may remember us as the guys who

hotboxed our police station the last two years in a row) so please include
us on the poster.  If you have any questions or comments, you can direct
correspondence to this e-mail address.  On another note, I saw your name
credited as the author of a book entitled Secret Histories of Chicago (or
something similar).  Can you tell me what is the content of this book and
where I can get a copy.  Thanks so much for all the global activism you
have catalysed over the past few years, it has been very invigorating for
many of us, and we would not have had the guts to do it without the global
solidarity.  Let me know if you need any more information and about the
book if you have time.  Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Abe Gray
--------

From: garywmeyerhoff@...

Yes - Darwin will be in for 2005

The Network Against Prohibition will work with the
local community to organise the event, although we are
not sure what we will be doing yet - we will talk
about it and keep you informed.

NAP's contact details are:

Network Against Prohibition
2 Stretton Street, Parap, Northern Territory 0820,
Australia

Postal address:
PO Box 701, Parap, Northern Territory 0804, Australia

Phone:
From overseas: 61 8 8942 0570
Within Australia (08) 8942 0570

Email: napnt@...

Web addresses:

Main NAP site
http://www.napnt.org

NAPNT email list

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/napnt

Do you have anyone in Sydney and Melbourne organising
events. If you don't let me know and I will talk to
some people down there - and any other capital cities

in Australia for that matter.

In the next fortnight we will start to mirror some of
the MMM pages on http://www.napnt.org - do you
recommend any particular pages to mirror?

Regards

Gary Meyerhoff and NAP crew

-----------------

From: goathorn@...

HIGH Dana,

Thanx for all your support and organising - I don't
feel so alone in the world

Every year the MMM kinda breaks my bank, this year it
did so quite successfully, I hope that I will be flush
again by MMM time next year..

Tee hee I like the idea of getting as many countries
as possible to revoke the international laws - and
I'll put as many feelers as I can out to see what we
can organise in Africa (a continent with many
countriesŠ) yet I'm kinda broke - so we'll see how
successful I can be.

I am going to tentatively put in my name for MMM 2005
for Cape Town South Africa.

Although this is my email address listed with you - It
has been seriously spammed - from NigeriansŠ. Bwa har
har harŠ.

So for future reference please use these contact
details.

Andre du Plessis
PO Box 1049
Greenpoint
8051
South Africa

Cell +27 (0)82-375-3310

Email: Africannabis@...
I'm trying to avoid spam on this one.

I will keep Goathorn@... going for now.

The other name Martin and reference details please
could you remove them (they are old and no longer
involved or active)

I know that cannabis will be legal in my lifetime! And
till then I will make my best efforts to continue with
the peaceful protests.

Please add me to your list for MMM 2005 - I will not
be able to sleep happy if there isn't at least ONE
city in Africa joining the international movement.

Thanx
&ré

-------

From: jonas.levin@...

Hello Dana, thanks for the reminder!

Yes, we are going to make a demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden this year too. Sat May 7th. At the moment we haven't decided route, time or venue. I'll send that and programme to you later.

What confuses me are the fact that there are two different names "Million Marijuana March" and "Global Marijuana March". Which is the right one?

Regards,

/Jonas

PS. Address info are still correct.

Stockholm: info@... Svenska NORMAL http://www.normal.nu  [Mr
Jonas Levin Adress: Runiusgatan 4, S-112 55 Stockholm, Sweden, Home
phone: +46-8-604 62 78 GSM cell: +46-70-424 25 72 e-mail:

jonas.levin@...]

----------------

From: hanfroquer@...

Hello =)

we will participate again and we are going to organize a forum in Frankfurt!

Frankfurt: (49) 160-447 12 68 sokratis@... Sokratis
Zacharopoulos, Offenbacherstr. 42, 63165 Mühlheim,

http://www.hanf-initiative.de ICQ# 175055178

Nothing has changed!

For the MMM 2004 Andre Duplessi (Cape Town, Soputh Africa) tried to

organize a live connection by phone. We were prepared unfortunatly
they had some technical problems....   so ity didnt work out.
Since I liked this idea  very much, we will do it this time using
w-lan and the internet  with webcams and videobeamers!

I've read Athens in the Cities list.
Right now i am writing this mail in an internet cafe in greece. I was
talking to some of the greek legalize activists. Right now there is no
active group in greece, so i wonder how Athens came on the list. Are
there any underground legalizers not known by anybody?
Please sent me the contacts! I am in greece right now , until next
friday and I want to talk to them!

greetings

sokratis

-----------

From: cindieo@...

Portland, Maine sponsored by MaineLy NORML contact info: MaineLyNORML @yahoo.com, 57 McKay Rd Norway, Maine 04268

------

From: no1zever@...

Dana, Add Roanoke as usual. peace and solidarity, marty

---------------------

From: pcornwell@...

 Dear reformists, activists, humanitarians.  We would like to invite speakers, activists, patriots, patients, artists, commonfolk, and all the rest to attend our annual event in Atlanta's premier park for a day of revolution and a politik potnic picnic.  Many views presented.   Please pass on this information to your closest allies.   Thank you for all your support.   Paul Cornwell // Atlanta CAMP

October 17, 2004  -  Join POT PRIDE WEEK in ATLANTA!

                                      Atlanta - GOP Lobby "Buds -B-Q 2" - Benefit
                                   Georgians Opposed to Prohibition - $10 Donation
                                   Speakers - Music - Food - Pot Poker - Information
                                           'Smoked' Barbeque, meats & munchies!
                                    International Artist Guild - Info - # 404-522-2267
                                          845 Memorial Drive, Atlanta, Ga.  30316
                                                       http://www.goplobby.org
___________________________________________________________

October 23, 2004  -  The 11th Annual Great Atlanta Pot Festival

Political Rally & Festival:  2 pm - 10 pm
Event Site Link:  http://www.worldcamp.org
Location:  Piedmont Park:  10th Street & Monroe Drive - Atlanta, Georgia

This one day educational event is free, although a $5.00 donation
is requested.  Features reform activists, speakers, pro-cannabis reform

organizations, information, music, art, food & drink, good time!

This year's speakers:   Dana Beal (Cures Not Wars, MMM, NYC), Alan Begner (Attorney, 1st Amendment), Mona Bennet (Atlanta Harm Reduction), Walker Chandler (Attorney, Author), Dave Clark (Criminal Attorney, Green Party Candidate, GA.), Paul Cornwell (Atlanta/National CAMP), Rick Day (NORML, Legislative Director LPGa), Roland A. Duby (Comedian), Fat Freddy (Cannabis Activist), Nan Garrett (GOP Lobby, Green Party Candidate for Governor GA. 2002)), Gatewood Galbraith (Kentucky's Finest Cannabis Activist, Author), Al Herman (Green Party Congressional Candidate 2002), Ms. Nancy Lord (2000 VP Candidate for the Libertarian Party), Loretta Nall (Alabama Marijuana Party), Guy Pujol (Atlanta Aids Initiative) and many others!

SATURDAY SHOW STARTS @ 2pm til 10pm.   This event has a rain date of Sunday October 24th.
INFORMATION # 404-522-2267 (CAMP)  or e-mail us:  info@...

Presented by The Coalition for the Abolition of Marijuana Prohibition - CAMP

   *Sponsored by Georgians Opposed to Prohibition - The GOP LOBBY!

---------

From: tampahempcouncil@...

Greetings, from planet Florida.
Yes!!! We will also show our solidarity in Tampa for the global march for cannabis emancipation.

The local  members & supporters of FL.CAN, Tampabay-can, TampaHempCouncil, and others, will be marching Sat. May 7th 2005, in front of Tampa's D.E.A. office. Begining at high noon, and ending at

4:20. The address of this terrorist group, (the DEA) is:  4950 West Kennedy Boulevard. See you there!!! ******My contact info. is: tampahempcouncil@...  **ph.# 813-334-4414 (ph. Sat.'s & Sun.'s only please)   Peace,... and be safe out there.

---------------------

From: fiddlefoot420@...

Dana,

Yes, please list Traverse City once again for the MMM in 2005. The contact info remains the same.

Peace&Gratitude,

Melody

--------

From: Ozrkmtnhemp@...

i would love to participate.  contact info is the same.  i will have a better website in a few weeks.  it's under construction now.  it is www.ozarkmountainhemp.com .  it will take a few months to work out details, but count me in.  thank you.
mondria

---------

From: happy04202003@...

The phone number is disconnected, the new number is 801-393-2735.  If we are doing our own printing again, we will need it awfully early this year in time to make enough.  Ours will be on Saturday again on 25th and Washington.

--------

From: thehopefulcanadian@...

Hello Dana,

Yes, of course we are planning festivities for this upcoming May.
We are very excited, and want to have not only the rally, but an actual festival in downtown Lethbridge, with performers, vendors, etc...

We are looking ahead, and were actually discussing this event last night.

We hope all is well with you, and as always, wish you much love and peace.

Love and Hope, Sarah & Dustin

---------------

From: SisterHemp@...

O.K. DANA...
 
You know to EXPECT - Los Angeles, right?
 

Nigritian Kief Society
Kwanzaa People of Color
Crecent Alliance Self Help for Sickle Cell
Americans for Safe Access - L.A.
wbritt420@...
sistersomayah@...
sisterhemp@...
rmdavisx@...

akilekk@...
 ---------------
 

From: freemansullivan@...

San Francisco is on...

Ps,

Clark

********************

*****BUSHWHACKED!!*****

***********************

3 Years Later, Al Qaeda More Dangerous
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092704A.shtml

 Col. Mike Turner | 'Staying the Course' Isn't an Option

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092704V.shtml

Jonathan Schell | Why We Must Leave Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092404E.shtml

Iraqi City on Edge of Chaos
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092904A.shtml

Holocaust Survivors Sue Bush Family over Nazi Link
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092604A.shtml

From: ptpeet@...

>I can see why you were scared.  They would scare me too.<


In lots and lots and lots of regards, Sara is totally correct in that the US
treats all incoming foreigners now as potential terrorists no matter if it's
justified in the slightest or not. (I may be overstating the case, but I
don't think so.) Now it turns out that Sara isn't alone in fearing travel
in(to) the US. We ourselves have more and more to fear from the nanny state
traveling inSIDE the US.
(So, I post the following excerpts, even though they are pretty off topic
here- the first is about our own domestic travel troubles, and then those
for foreigner visitors to the US.)
----

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/9737763.htm?1c

snip-

I draw the line at letting the folks in Washington, D.C., know what I eat.
Not only is it none of their business: The chances are huge that whatever it
tells them will be used wrongly.
This is no idle dessert banter. The Transportation Security Administration
announced Wednesday that it would require every domestic airline to turn

over records of passengers they carried in June. The idea is to test a new
system to identify suspected terrorists.
The records include name, address, telephone number, the names of others
traveling in the same party, the method of payment, and yes -- meal
preference.
Order a low-salt kosher meal on the flight from San Jose to Atlanta last
June? Drink a daiquiri on the way to Los Angeles? Get ready for those facts
to find a permanent home in Attorney General John Ashcroft's cookie jar.
Never mind that this sounds suspiciously like a failed government project,
called CAPPS 2, which would have identified not only potential ``no fly''
terrorists but people wanted on warrants for violent crime.
Never mind that these are the kind of passenger records that caused a hue
and cry a couple of years ago when Delta Air Lines voluntarily shared them
with the government.
Nope, it's now official policy: The government is demanding the records. The
airlines are turning them over. And the rest of us have to take it, much
like we have to content ourselves with a granola bar on certain flights.
The shame of it is that it isn't going to get us any closer to the
terrorists.
snip-
----
http://immigration.about.com/library/weekly/aa042602a.htm
snip-
Let's look at some of the most important legislative and policy changes that
are underway or already realized. Some were a direct result of post-9/11
concerns, while others have simply been influenced by them:
New policy for foreign students and visitors: some seven months after 9/11,
the INS issued a new rule pertaining to foreign students who want to study
in the U.S., to travelers who visit for either pleasure or business, and to
persons ordered deported. Effective upon publication in the Federal
Register, the proposal calls for:
-Students to have a confirmation of acceptance from a U.S. school before
they enter the country. Students to no longer be allowed to apply to a
school if they're already in the U.S., and instead must return to their home
countries to do so.
-Tourists and business travelers to be limited to a 30 day stay in the U.S.,
or to the amount of time definitively required to complete their trip. The
maximum extended stay to go from one year to six months with extensions
given only under very specific, limited conditions.
-Persons ordered deported or removed from the U.S. to surrender within 30
days or forfeit all rights to appeal and asylum.


245(i), which allows certain illegal aliens to adjust their status to that
of permanent resident if they had a sponsor, was temporarily revived last
year and an extension seemed likely this year. Congress passed the border
security bill which included this amendment, but the Senate recently removed
the amendment and the prospects don't look good, though the details are not
final as of this writing. (This was incorrectly referred to as amnesty by
some politicians and media. Amnesty refers to a blanket pardon of illegal
immigrant status.*)


Border Security Plan for U.S.-Mexico: on his recent trip to Mexico and other
Latin-American countries, President Bush announced his new border security
plan that would expedite traffic and goods and weed out terrorists, drug
dealers and so-called coyotes, immigrant smugglers. For people crossing the
border daily to go to work, this can be a hassle. Similar actions have been
taken at the American-Canadian border, where the number of Border Patrol
agents has been increased and National Guard troops have been dispatched for
support. One major aspect of border control includes national guards along
the border.


Police in Florida were given the right to detain people for immigration
violations. In the past, only federal agents could do so. Florida was set as
the "test" state, with plans for other states to follow its lead.


*Amnesty for illegal Mexicans: this issue was seriously discussed between
President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox last September, before
9/11. Amnesty offers forgiveness to certain groups of illegal immigrants,
allowing them to adjust status to that of permanent resident, without

penalty. The most recent amnesty was to be for Mexicans, which did spark
some anger among other immigrants groups. Also discussed were certain
working visa programs for unskilled Mexican workers. Unfortunately for the
many illegal Mexicans in this country, this issue has been put on the
backburner, overshadowed by the 9/11 events and replaced with the
above-mentioned talks about heightened border security. Many Mexicans are
angry, and blame Islamic extremists for their troubles.


International tracking systems using means of identification such as
national i.d. cards and even fingerprints are being recommended and
reviewed. In the future, it may be impossible to fake your identity or your
immigration status.


The visa waiver program allows nationals from some countries to enter the
U.S. for a limited time without having to obtain a visa. Due to a illegal
immigration problems, Argentina was removed from participation. Other
countries may also be excluded. Though not directly related to 9/11, a
general crack down may have influenced the decision.


Automatic revalidation for some third country nationals was canceled. For
years, persons in legal visitor status to the U.S. could visit Canada,
Mexico or approved adjacent islands for up to 30 days and then return to the
U.S. using their existing I-94. Now, persons from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya,
Sudan, North Korea and Cuba may not be automatically revalidated. Nor can
those who apply for a new visa while abroad. The latter may cause problems
for many innocent people who apply for a change of status and simply want to
cross the border to pick it up, rather than having to return home to a
distant and expensive-to-get-to land.


No more J-visa waiver for physicians: Foreign students who come to the U.S.
for medical training are required to go back to their home countries for 2
years before they can return to the U.S. The J waiver program for physicians
made it possible for them to stay if they would agree to work in medically
underserved areas, obtain such an offer and got appropriate government
sponsorship. The plug was pulled on this program in February, 2002. Although
this affects a very small niche of immigrants, the timing is suspicious and
its impact could be devastating for areas with a shortage of medical
treatment, and for the physicians aspiring to immigrate.


Perhaps the biggest change yet is the dismantling of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service. Yes, the INS as we knew it for many years, is no
more. First, the House Judiciary Committee voted 32-2 to recommend a bill
that would put an end to the INS. The bill proposed that the 69 year old
agency be replaced with a new Agency for Immigration Affairs under the
Department of Justice, headed by an Associate Attorney General for
Immigration Affairs. Two new bureaus would be established: The new Bureau of
Immigration Services and Adjudications would take over all immigration
applications/processing and status/record keeping functions. The Bureau of
Immigration Enforcement would handle control and prosecution of immigration
violations and legal matters. The bill also provides for funding, better
organization and means for handling refugee emergencies. It was passed by a
405-9 vote by the House of Representatives on 04/25/02.

Tying the changes together
The nationwide effort to gain more control over immigration includes
heightened border security, new restrictions on certain visa categories and
on visitors, and the abolishment of the INS. For people entering the U.S. it
means more scrutiny with more questions being asked about their motives to
come here. Stricter controls of passengers and their luggage on airports are
already in place, and will probably be part of air travel for a long time.
Big-brother-like scenarios may become a reality.
snip-
-----

Peace and love,
Preston Peet

"Madness is not enlightenment, but the search for enlightenment is often
mistaken for madness"
Richard Davenport-Hines

ptpeet@...
Editor http://www.drugwar.com
Editor "Under the Influence- the Disinformation Guide to Drugs" (Out Oct.

2004)
Cont. High Times mag/.com
Cont. Editor http://www.disinfo.com
Columnist New York Waste
Etc.

-------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------

Join the Kerry Marijuana Decrim Thread:

 http://forum.johnkerry.com/index.php?showtopic=61002&st=210

DdC

DEA's Failed Battle To Ban Hemp Food is Over By David Kravets
Source: Associated Press September 27, 2004

 San Francisco -- Three years after the Bush administration tried to ban food products made with hemp, the government surrendered that front in the war on drugs, attorneys for the hemp industry said Monday.

The Justice Department, these attorneys say, will not challenge a federal appeals court ruling that overturned the ban - a victory for more than 200 companies that make such things as energy bars, waffles, milk-free cheese and veggie burgers with the plant that contains only trace amounts of THC, the key ingredient in marijuana.

Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread19555.shtml

IDB

 Today, 08:56 PM
 

Events Next Week for Rescheduling Marijuana as Medicine

****Please circulate to your lists*** *

*Hello everyone,*

*We?re getting very excited about the upcoming rally to reschedule marijuana and October 5th is approaching fast!!!! We?ve set up some regional organizing meetings and we have a convergence space for DC. Below we've listed all of the meetings, events and transportation info that we have so far. This list will get updated regularly between now and October. If you're organizing in your state and your contact info is not listed below, please contact **Stacey@... <mailto:Stacey@...>** or call 510-486-8083 ASAP!
*

*Thanks!*

* *

*Oct 2-3: Patient convergence: We have a community center to use all weekend Oct 2 and 3 to make art, meet with each other, and do trainings. Come early and help create exciting visuals to express ourselves, and build a stronger medical marijuana community! (Flemming Center, *1426 *9th st. NW and P st. *Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center and Shaw/Howard University are the closest Metro stops.*)*

* *

*Oct 4: morning, Press conference at Nationl Press Club of medical
professionals calling for rescheduling, announcing next day action, and
ASA petition submission.*

*Oct 4: evening, town hall meeting of all patients' unions and
participants. Time/location TBA*

*Oct 5: 10am Rally at HHS *200 Independence Avenue, SW**

*Regional planning meetings with Stacey and Steph:*

Philadelphia, PA 9/20/04 7:30pm Last Drop Coffee Shop (in the basement)
13th and Pine (we will be joining the PhillyNORML chapter meeting)
contact: nik@...

Wakefield, RI 9/21/04 8pm 12 Ocean Ave. (residence) contact: Micah
micah@... <mailto:micah@...> 401-829-0904

Washington, DC 9/21/04 7pm DPA office 925 15th St. NW, 2nd Floor
(closest metro stop is McPherson Square, we're above the Chevy Chase
bank) contact: Steph steph@...
<mailto:steph@...>

***More cities to be announced***

*_LOGISTICS:_*

*Accommodation: We recommend Hostelling International
http://www.hiwashingtondc.org/ *1009 11th Street N.W. Washington, D.C.
20001 (202) 737-2333 (We?re researching group rates, if you want to
hostel, contact us first.)

Or

Best Western Downtown/Capitol Hill
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-386461-bes..._capitol_hill-i
724 Third St Washington, DC 20001 202-842-4466

*Transportation: Buses will be leaving from the following cities-*

*New York, NY (10/04/04 early am-10/05/04 night) contact: Sasha
sjetton@... <mailto:sjetton@...> or 212-665-2257*

*Philadelphia, PA (10/04/04 early am-10/05/04 night) contact:
Stacey@... <mailto:Stacey@...>*

*Providence, RI (10/04/04 noon-10/05/04 night) contact: Micah
micah@... <mailto:micah@...> or 401-829-0904*

Carpools:

Oakland, MD 21550, Morgan Town, WV, SW Penn and Eastern MD (10/04/04
noon-10/05/04 night) contact Curtis sovranoro@... or 301-387-7833

Jacksonville, FL and southern GA (10/04/04 early am- 10/06/04 am)
contact Randy RRCINJAX@... <mailto:RRCINJAX@...> 904-743-0996 * *

****If you?d like to organize a bus or carpool from your region, contact
Stacey@... <mailto:Stacey@...> ASAP!*

*Scholarships: If you need assistance with your travel expenses, please
send a paragraph about yourself with the following info: *

*a) **City you?re coming from*

* **Exactly how much it will cost you to get to DC*

*c) **A little about yourself and your condition or why attending this

demo is important to you *

****!!!IBOGAINE TREATMENT NOW $1500 IN HOLLAND--CALL SARA, 0113134-624-1770 !!!****

From: Vigilius Haufniensis
To: drugwar@...

Cc: elite_sociopath@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 2:50 PM

Subject: [DrugWar] Psychedelic drugs to get FDA OK?


Persistent scientists believe ecstasy, psilocybin can help people
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,65025,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

Psychedelic drugs are inching their way slowly but surely toward
prescription status in the United States, thanks to a group of persistent
scientists who believe drugs like ecstasy and psilocybin can help people
with terminal cancer, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic
stress disorder, to name just a few.

The Heffter Research Institute, the Multidisciplinary Association for
Psychedelic Studies and others have managed to persuade the Food and Drug
Administration to approve a handful of clinical trials using psychedelics.
The movement seems to be gaining ground in recent years. Since 2001, the
FDA and the Drug Enforcement Administration have given the go-ahead to
three clinical trials testing psychedelics on symptomatic patients, and
several more are on deck.

Doctors who saw their patients benefit from psychedelic drugs back when
they were legal are dedicated to jumping through bureaucratic hoops and
diminishing the drugs' party stigma to get psychedelics in patients' hands,
and brains.

"I'm interested in the treatment being available to people who need it, and
doing it aboveboard and publishing good results," said George Greer,
founder of the Heffter Research Institute, http://www.heffter.org/ a
scientific organization that organizes and funds trials involving
psychedelics.

At first blush, it seems like an uphill battle more challenging than the
one medical-marijuana advocates have been facing. MDMA has been vilified by
the National Institute on Drug Abuse http://www.nida.nih.gov/ and in news
stories, making it seem unlikely that federal agencies will ever allow the
legal use of psychedelics.

But it might actually be easier to get psychedelics through the approval
process than marijuana, according to Rick Doblin, founder and president of
MAPS. http://www.maps.org/  The roadblock with marijuana has centered on
supply. A government-controlled crop in Mississippi is the only marijuana
the government will allow in clinical trials. But the supply of
psychedelics is decentralized, and the researchers have control of much of
it.

Doblin's persistence and know-how -- he has a doctorate in public policy
from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/ -- led to the launch of the first FDA-approved
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,62506,00.html clinical trial
testing MDMA as a therapy (in this case for post-traumatic stress disorder)
since the drug became illegal.

And now it looks like Doblin's alma mater may be close to launching the
first psychedelic research that Harvard has allowed on its campus in almost
40 years. Two weeks ago, Dr. John Halpern, an associate director of the
substance-abuse research program at Harvard's McLean Hospital, presented
his proposal for testing MDMA as a treatment for anxiety in terminal cancer
patients to an institutional review board -- a body of scientists,
ethicists and community members -- which approves and keeps tabs on studies.

"It feels like we're getting close to opening the door to psychedelic
research at Harvard, which has been shut since 1965, so these are exciting
times," Doblin said.

Halpern is also working with Bob Wold, a 51-year-old construction firm
owner who suffered from debilitating cluster headaches,

http://www.ion.ucl.ac.uk/~headache/cluster.html which are rare but brutal,
until four years ago when he tried psilocybin to treat them. Wold had never
used psychedelic drugs recreationally, and he was concerned and skeptical
about using an illegal substance. But he was in the midst of choosing
between three surgeries for his cluster headaches, each of which would have
cost about $35,000. One involved a gamma knife to cut into his brain; the
other two required holes drilled in his skull. Given those options,
psilocybin didn't seem so radical.

"(The psilocybin) broke my cycle" of headaches, Wold said. "There is

nothing on the market now, and there never has been, that will actually
break a cycle."

Achieving relief from his nightmarish pain spurred Wold to start a
movement. He now runs clusterbusters.com, where he communicates with about
200 other cluster-headache victims who have tried psilocybin to relieve
their pain. Wold has collected reams of data in the form of questionnaires,
which Halpern can present to Harvard's institutional review board.

Studies http://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_history.shtml
starting as early as the '30s that showed positive results treating cluster
and migraine headaches with psilocybin and LSD helped Wold decide to try a
psychedelic. The studies also showed success with other disorders including
depression, alcoholism
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7441/713 and addiction to
other drugs like heroin.

The Heffter institute's Greer saw firsthand the effects of MDMA
http://www.maps.org/mdma/index.html#history on his patients in the early
'80s. He synthesized his own MDMA (it was first synthesized by Merck in
1912) along with Alexander Shulgin,
http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/shulgin/shulginbio.htm who became a cult
figure for psychedelic enthusiasts. In 1986, Greer and his wife, Requa
Tolbert, a clinical nurse, published the first and what is still the
largest body of data on the therapeutic effects of ecstasy.

Greer hoped eventually to discover the mechanism of MDMA, which stands for
3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine, and get it approved as a
prescription drug for certain ailments. But starting in 1985, the tone of
psychedelic research changed. Ecstasy had become a popular street drug, and
the DEA declared MDMA a schedule 1
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html drug, the highest level of
illegal drug in the United States. Anyone caught using or distributing
ecstasy, including doctors, would face fines and jail time, and Greer
stopped prescribing it for his patients.

"The government was funding a lot of research about abuse of psychedelic
drugs," Greer said, "but no one was funding research to use them to
understand how the brain works or to treat people with psychological or
medical problems."

Another reason progress has been slow is because NIDA-funded studies
performed by Dr. George Ricaurte and Dr. Una McCann found that MDMA had ill
effects on the brain. A 2002 study was particularly worrisome because it
showed that ecstasy caused Parkinson's-like brain damage. But a year later,
the researchers retracted
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60328,00.html the study because
they discovered they had accidentally used methamphetamine instead of
ecstasy.

In the wake of these controversial results, psilocybin, the active
ingredient in "magic mushrooms," seemed more acceptable to the FDA and DEA.
Dr. Charles Grob, head of adolescent and child psychiatry at the
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, tried for almost a decade to get the go-ahead
to perform a study using MDMA to treat anxiety in terminal cancer patients.
He got permission in the early '90s to use the drug in a safety study on
healthy volunteers, the results of which were published in Behavioral Brain
Research in 1996, and the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in 1999.

But what he really wanted was to work with a patient population. When after
several years http://www.maps.org/research/mdma/mdmaucla.html neither the
FDA nor the DEA went for the idea, he changed his proposal.

"By the late '90s felt it felt hopeless to work with MDMA because it had

gotten such a negative reputation, so we revamped the study to work with
psilocybin," Grob said. "In 2003, it was accepted."

Due to the strict guidelines for the study, however, only two patients out
of the 12 necessary to complete the trial have participated in the study,
and another is lined up.

Dr. Francisco Moreno at the University of Arizona has administered
psilocybin to eight obsessive-compulsive disorder patients. His study,
which began in 2001, was the first FDA-approved clinical trial involving a
psychedelic in 30 years. He presented positive results at a recent

scientific meeting, and is in the process of publishing his data in a
medical journal.

"I'm very optimistic for the future," Grob said. "I think these compounds
have tremendous untapped potential to be utilized within medicine and
psychology. I think they need to be demystified, and safety parameters need
to be established and studied. But with good controls, I think they can be
used safely and effectively."

Related Stories
DEA Accedes to Ecstasy Test Mar. 02, 2004
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,62506,00.html?tw=wn_story_related
Why Ecstasy Researcher Is Smiling Sep. 12, 2003
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,60389,00.html?tw=wn_story_related
Ecstasy Study Botched, Retracted Sep. 05, 2003
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,60328,00.html?tw=wn_story_related
Getting the FDA Hooked on Ecstasy Dec. 10, 2001
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,48547,00.html?tw=wn_story_related
Lucy In the Sky, With Therapists Nov. 09, 2000

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,39796,00.html?tw=wn_story_related

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348 MMM cities worldwide since 1999!
 

MMM. All cities 1999 to date. Million Marijuana March. Global Cannabis Liberation in May. Worldwide since 1999. Cannabis events on the first Saturday in May, or that weekend, or thereabouts. Marches, meetings, rallies, raves, concerts, festivals, etc..

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