Click. RED TAPE THWARTS LEGAL USE OF MARIJUANA IN HAWAII.
Click. U.S. government's efforts to hold U.S. corporations accountable for handling drug money that they obtain via the Black Market Peso Exchange has become "bogged down in legal murk.
Click. Honeymoon's Over: China Double-Crosses WTO.
Posted on: Saturday, October 7, 2000
Red tape
thwarts legal use of marijuana
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Maribeth Forrest served three years in prison for a drug violation, so she
wanted to make certain she followed the law for registering as a medical
marijuana patient.
A new Hawai'i law allows medical use of
marijuana, but there's no legal process through which doctors such as Gary
Greenly can prescribe it.
Jeff Widener € The Honolulu AdvertiserForrest asked her
doctor of six years, Gary Greenly, to fill out a form attesting that she would
benefit from medical marijuana because of chronic pain from a series of car
accidents. Greenly turned the form over to state narcotics authorities last
month, just as the medical marijuana provision mandated when it became law in
June.
Greenly and Forrest were surprised when the head of Hawaii narcotics enforcement
told them the form was invalid because it didnąt come from the state. Their
surprise turned to frustration when they were told that the state wonąt have
its own form until at least December, keeping medical marijuana out of reach for
patients who want to follow legal channels.
"Itąs just bureaucracy at its best," Greenly said. "The
appropriate state agency is bluntly stating that there are no forms out there
which are valid or legal. Until the paperwork gets resolved, unfortunately there
isnąt much recourse for a physician to prescribe marijuana for patientsą
usage." Forrest, a 50-year-old photographer, entertainment promoter and
former belly dancer, couldnąt hide her frustration.
"Iąve been waiting for medical marijuana to be approved for a long
time," she said. "If I wanted to smoke marijuana illegally, Iąd do it
and I wouldnąt wave a piece of paper signed by me in front of (narcotics
agents) saying, Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.ą Thatąs like waving a red flag
in front of a bull. This is ridiculous. This is stupid."
Even as voters in Colorado consider joining Hawaii and seven other states and
the District of Columbia in legalizing marijuana for medical use, critics say
that Hawaii's narcotics administrators continue to delay implementing the
law.
"The result is that it has a chilling effect," said Tom Mountain, who
has organized the Honolulu Medical Marijuana Patientsą Co-op and gave Forrest
her medical marijuana form, which is based on similar forms in other states.
Hawaii's procedures still must go before public hearings, said Keith Kamita,
administrator of the Department of Public Safetyąs Narcotics Enforcement
Division. Until everything is settled, Kamita said, no one can legally smoke
marijuana in Hawaii.
The delays havenąt helped the confusion and concern among Hawaii doctors.
"I donąt have much experience with this," said Dr. Jonathan Cho, a
cancer specialist. "I want to feel comfortable with the legal issues."
On Thursday, Kamita will appear for the first time before a group of doctors to
discuss the implications for them.
A federal judge in California ruled last month that federal officials cannot
remove the prescription licenses of doctors who endorse medical marijuana for
patients suffering from such things as AIDS and cancer. As is the case in
Hawaii, the California law does not override federal prohibitions against
doctors prescribing drugs such as marijuana.
"Iąm not giving them assurances," Kamita said. "This is still a
federal violation."
Dr. Don Purcell invited Kamita to appear before the Queenąs Physician Group
Foundation because Purcelląs patients have been asking about medical marijuana.
All Purcell can tell them is "itąs not available at this time and the
narcotics enforcement division is still working out the mechanism where it can
be recommended."
For Forrest, the delays "mean Iąm still in limbo."
She served time in two Hawaii prisons from 1990 to 1993 for trying to trade 8
ounces of cocaine for 12 pounds of marijuana, she said. Forrest said she needed
the marijuana because itąs the only thing that eases her pain for migraines and
a crushed hip.
"I did hard time once," she said. "The last thing I want to do is
get in trouble with the law again."
Original Message -----
From: "NewsHawk Inc." <hawknews@iname.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 7:35 AM
Subject: Honeymoon's
Over: China Double-Crosses WTO
What a laugh! Is this just TOO funny, or what?
Despite NewsHawk's endless haranguing and inveighing against further
caving to Red China during the blizzard of pro-China trade deals,
agreements, treaties, etc. tossed to the butchers of Beijing by every
country under the sun in the past year or so, Congress went ahead and
licked the butts of King Dubya Bush and King Klinton and approved the
China trade sellout here, too.
It was said by arch-traitors Dubya and Willie that the deal was essential
to help bring China out of the Stone Age (in which tens of millions of
people are just slaughtered every once on a while for
ideological "exercise") and into the modern "community" of
nations and the "free" (help, I'm dying of laughter!) world.
Well, I guess our life IS probably a bit less horrendous than that of
folks in Red China...
Anyway, it was ALSO said by treasonous whores Bush and Slick that Congress
MUST approve the deal, because it was all part of a BIGGER deal involving
the WTO which we (WE? As in, YOU and ME?!) has already agreed to; so
Congress HAD to ratify the trade pact.
Your basic lying, bamboozling, arm-twisting, steamrollering kind of approach.
And now? It turns out China -- BIG surprise -- is reneging on all kinds of
promised trade concessions on THEIR part towards other countries, which
WTO and U.S. negotiators had believed were already signed, sealed and
delivered.
The bigwigs in OUR country are now discovering the joys of dealing with
cheating, lying, back-stabbing murderous cut-throat gangsters and
arch-criminals just like them!
As we said, the honeymoon's over.
NewsHawk® Inc.
±±±±±±±±±±±±±±±
WIRE:10/11/2000 09:41:00 ET
U.S. trade negotiator to try to keep China from
backtracking on WTO
BEIJING (AP) _ The United States" top trade negotiator headed for
Beijing on Wednesday to urge China to stick to concessions Washington
thought it had already won for Chinese entry to the World Trade
Organization. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky set out on the
hastily arranged trip shortly after President Clinton signed into law a
bill giving China permanent low-tariff access to the American market _ a
measure based on market-opening commitments Beijing made to enter WTO.
China appeared to back away from some promises last month, stalling final
negotiations on its WTO membership. The delay virtually ended Beijing's
chances of joining world trade"s rule-setting body before year"s
end. Barshefsky hoped to gauge Chinese leaders" commitment in
meetings Thursday. In a positive sign, Premier Zhu Rongji was clearing
time to see Barshefsky before he and foreign trade minister Shi Guangsheng
leave on a five-day visit to Japan, diplomats said. On paper, agreements
made in November with the United States and in May with the European Union
promise a sea-change in the way China does business with the world.
Tariffs on imports will fall to an average of 9 percent by 2005, from
about 25 percent. Foreign companies will be able to sell goods directly to
the Chinese and provide banking and telecommunications services for the
first time. Premier Zhu and President Jiang Zemin have pushed for WTO
membership, seeing it as a useful prod to make long-protected state
industries competitive and a way to secure vital export markets. But
China"s balking so close to the finish further exposed internal Chinese
political divisions over WTO. Politicians and bureaucrats overseeing
economic planning and lethargic state industries have resisted changes,
fearing more competitive global trade will swamp factories and farms and
compound simmering unrest. Clinton, speaking Tuesday at the White House
with Barshefsky behind him, said more work needed to be done on China's
WTO membership. But once in, Clinton said, "China will open its markets
to American products from wheat to cars to consulting services, and our
companies will be far more able to sell goods without moving facilities or
investments there."
_________________________________________________________________
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----- Original Message -----
From: <alertlist@moneyalundering.com
To: <alert@moneylaundering.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 7:11 AM
Subject: Money Laundering Alert- On Line Special Alert, October 11, 2000
Attention Money
Laundering Alert- On Line Subscribers:
A front-page article in the October 10 edition of the New York Times reveals
that the U.S. government's efforts to hold U.S. corporations accountable for
handling drug money that they obtain via the Black Market Peso Exchange has
become "bogged down in legal murk." The Times says a
meeting held in July by the U.S. Justice Department that included
representatives from Hewlett-Packard, Ford Motor Company, and Whirlpool fell
apart as the corporations revealed the many layers of intricate financial
transactions that separate them from the money launderers that
use the BMPE. The article quotes an unidentified "industry representative
familiar with the meeting" that said: "The Justice and Treasury
Departments realized that they were trying to identify drug money that had
morphed, been transformed, in layers of transactions involving
distributors, authorized dealers, financing arrangements with unregulated
money lenders called 'factors' and the other realities of commercial
life."
More information about this article, including the complete article and a diagram of the BMPE scheme, is available at: http://www.moneylaundering.com/news.htm
Money Laundering Alert has reported on the government's efforts to prevent money
laundering involving the BMPE for several years. If you would like to view
a collection of past MLA articles on the BMPE it is available on our free
web site at:
http://www.moneylaundering.com/BMPE/bmpearticlemenu.htmand
(Hint: If this link gets split apart with your email program you can make sure
that all of the URL shows up in your browser address line by cutting and
pasting it directly into your browser.)