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[Courtesy of DPA] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 28, 2008 CONTACT: Jennifer Kern, DPA (415) 373-7694 or Zeina Salam, ACLU (904) 391-1884 White House Pushes Controversial Student Drug Testing Agenda at Summit in Jacksonville on January 29 Largest Study, Leading Associations Call Random, Suspicionless Drug Testing Harmful and Ineffective Concerned Citizens to Provide Educators with Missing Information; Experts Available for Interviews Jacksonville, FL — The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is conducting a series of regional summits designed to convince local educators to start drug testing students -- randomly and without cause. This policy is unsupported by the available science and opposed by leading experts in adolescent health. The third summit of 2008 takes place on Tuesday, January 29th in Jacksonville at the Jacksonville Marriott, 4670 Salisbury Road at 8:30 a.m. The Drug Policy Alliance and American Civil Liberties Union are providing attendees with copies of the booklet Making Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators Are Saying No, which presents research showing that such testing is ineffective and provides resources for effective alternatives. Studies have found that suspicionless drug testing is ineffective in deterring student drug use. The first large-scale national study on student drug testing, which was published by researchers at the University of Michigan in 2003, found no difference in rates of student drug use between schools that have drug testing programs and those that do not. A two-year randomized experimental trial published last November in the Journal of Adolescent Health concluded random drug testing targeting student athletes did not reliably reduce past month drug use and, in fact, produced attitudinal changes among students that indicate new risk factors for future substance use. “Drug testing breaks down relationships of trust,” said Jennifer Kern, Drug Testing Fails Our Youth Campaign Coordinator at the Drug Policy Alliance. “All credible research on substance abuse prevention points to eliminating, rather than creating, sources of alienation and conflict between young people, their parents and schools.” A group of concerned citizens will also attend to provide educators with important information missing from the summit, such as the objections of the National Education Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals and the National Association of Social Workers to testing. These organizations believe random testing programs erect counter-productive obstacles to student participation in extracurricular activities, marginalize at-risk students and make open communication more difficult. A December 2007 policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Abuse and Council of School Health reaffirmed their opposition to student drug testing, holding: “Physicians should not support drug testing in schools … [because] it has not yet been established that drug testing does not cause harm.” Schools in Florida have so far rejected the policy. In November 2006 the Citrus County School Board turned down a $317,000 federal drug testing grant, as board members were not convinced that testing would discourage drug use. Members felt subjecting students to drug testing was a misuse of authority and objected that the grant made them test subjects as part of a federal study of student drug testing. The following month the Hernando County School Board rejected a federal drug testing grant of at least $183,289. “Subjecting students to unsubstantiated searches makes a mockery of the values taught in our nation’s classrooms, undermining respect for the Constitution among its future caretakers,” said Zeina Salam, ACLU of Florida Northeast Regional Staff Attorney. “Random drug testing must not become a rite of passage for America’s youth.” Making Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators are Saying No can be found online at www.safety1st.org. An excerpt from the booklet is included below: Comprehensive, rigorous and respected research shows there are many reasons why random student drug testing is not good policy: - Drug testing is not effective in deterring drug use among young people; - Drug testing is expensive, taking away scarce dollars from other, more effective programs that keep young people out of trouble with drugs; - Drug testing can be legally risky, exposing schools to potentially costly litigation; - Drug testing may drive students away from extracurricular activities, which are a proven means of helping students stay out of trouble with drugs; - Drug testing can undermine trust between students and teachers, and between parents and children; - Drug testing can result in false positives, leading to the punishment of innocent students; - Drug testing does not effectively identify students who have serious problems with drugs; and - Drug testing may lead to unintended consequences, such as students using drugs (like alcohol) that are more dangerous but less detectable by a drug test.

[Courtesy of Berkeley Patients Group] Friends, Tomorrow night (1/29/08), the Berkeley City Council will be considering a very important resolution. Co-sponsored by Kriss Worthington and Darryl Moore, this item would: 1. declare Berkeley a "sanctuary city" for medical cannabis in the event that the DEA raids any of our dispensaries, 2. call on the Berkeley Police Department, the County District Attorney, the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, and the State Attorney General not to cooperate with the DEA in its efforts to undermine state and local medical cannabis laws, 3. urge Governor Schwarzenegger to publicly stand with the more than 200,000 medical cannabis patients in the state and to let Congress and the Bush Administration know that DEA interference is uncalled for and will be resisted by local and state government, and 4. encourage the City to plan for continued safe access in Berkeley in the event of a DEA raid on one or more of our dispensaries. See the draft text at: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee/agendaindex.htm Click on the pdf for the 1/22 meeting, and look for Item 22. ASA and others have worked extensively with Councilmembers Moore and Worthington, and with many other supportive city staff, to craft this resolution, and we expect the full support of the Council, the City Manager and the City Attorney tomorrow night. Obviously this is a VERY important moment for medical cannabis patients, and I want to encourage you to attend tomorrow's City Council meeting if at all possible. We plan to have a rally at 6:45 p.m., before the Council meeting, on the steps of Old City Hall. Wear your ASA shirt, sport a medical marijuana pin, and let's fill the hall with supporters to celebrate the moment--and thank our Berkeley elected officials for taking this significant step to defend patients' rights! City Council Meeting - 1/29/2008 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Be well, Becky DeKeuster Community Liaison Berkeley Patients Group 2747 San Pablo Ave. Berkeley, CA 94702 510-540-6013 ext. 0

[Courtesy of vflog.com] Call CBS4-Denver at 303-830-6464! CBS4-Denver has been attacking medicinal marijuana patients and their caregivers in Colorado. The last person to be the focus of a CBS4 medicinal cannabis "investigation" (Ken Gorman) ended up murdered less than a week after the story aired. Now they are trying it again by attacking a disabled veteran. These attacks have to stop. This Thursday (Jan. 31), CBS4 is scheduled to air an "investigation" of Kevin Dickes, former Marine and disabled Gulf War veteran. Dickes was prescribed cannabis for a war injury and has a valid Medical Marijuana Registry identification card issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. In 2000, Colorado voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that allows patients to legally use cannabis as medicine with their physician's approval. Dickes was arrested in Aurora in March 2007. He was charged with felony cultivation and faced 6 years in prison. Because he was a registered patient, all charges against Dickes were eventually dropped. Colorado law says that police shall return the cannabis "unharmed", so Aurora police were forced to return his medicine to him. The CBS4 "investigation" scheduled to air this Thursday allegedly shows a former Marine who served with Dickes in the Gulf War who says Dickes' injury was not caused in the Gulf War. The fact that Dickes was injured is not in question. In the promotion for the CBS4 story, it clearly shows the 36-inch scar on Dicke's leg. Apparently, all that is in question is the cause of that injury. Dickes has provided medical records to CBS4 proving he was injured in the Marines, but CBS4 is still airing the story. Read the letter from Dickes' attorney, Robert Corry, here: http://www.vflog.com/action/dickes.corry.let.html This is a blatant attack on a law-abiding citizen for using a plant he grew himself to ease his pain. The cause of his injury is none of CBS4's business! This is an invasion of medical privacy. This sensational story is designed only to boost ratings at the expense of a disabled veteran. Kevin Dickes has already suffered with his arrest, prosecution and destruction of his medicine. This "investigation" serves no purpose other than to attack Dickes' and make him suffer more for his use of a legal medicine. All citizens should be outraged! In Feb. 2007, CBS4's Rick Sallinger aired a story about medical marijuana caregiver, Ken Gorman. Less than a week later, that caregiver was found brutally murdered in his home. Denver police have made no arrests and have no suspects in the case. See the story that aired one week before Ken was murdered: http://cbs4denver.com/investigates/Denver.Colorado.medical.2.556420.html. See the story about Ken's death: http://cbs4denver.com/local/Ken.Gorman.Murder.2.556598.html "I don't want to end up dead in my own home like Ken Gorman because of Rick Sallinger," Dickes says. What's next for Rick Sallinger? Will he start investigating all Gulf War veterans and their private medical histories? Is he going to continue to attack other medicinal cannabis patients just to boost his ratings? Why doesn't he do an investigation of Ken Gorman's murder and find out why the Denver Police refuse to investigate this case? Please call CBS4 to protest this attack on sick patients. Ask them not to air the story on Thursday: CBS4-Denver 303-830-6464 [email protected] If CBS4-Denver does not pull the story, there will be a protest at their offices (1044 Lincoln Street) at 3pm on Thursday (1/31). Please check this website for updates before you go http://www.vflog.com Bringing the 1st Amendment into the 21st Century...