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 didn¹t come from the state. Their surprise turned to frustration when they were told that the state won¹t have its own form until at least December, keeping medical marijuana out of reach for patients who want to follow legal channels.
"It¹s 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 isn¹t much recourse for a physician to prescribe marijuana for patients¹ usage." Forrest, a 50-year-old photographer, entertainment promoter and former belly dancer, couldn¹t hide her frustration.
"I¹ve been waiting for medical marijuana to be approved for a long time," she said. "If I wanted to smoke marijuana illegally, I¹d do it and I wouldn¹t wave a piece of paper signed by me in front of (narcotics agents) saying, Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.¹ That¹s 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 Patients¹ 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 Safety¹s Narcotics Enforcement Division. Until everything is settled, Kamita said, no one can legally smoke marijuana in Hawaii.
The delays haven¹t helped the confusion and concern among Hawaii doctors.
"I don¹t 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.
"I¹m not giving them assurances," Kamita said. "This is still a federal violation."
Dr. Don Purcell invited Kamita to appear before the Queen¹s Physician Group Foundation because Purcell¹s patients have been asking about medical marijuana.
All Purcell can tell them is "it¹s 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 I¹m 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 it¹s 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." <
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: <
To: <
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.)