SAVE OLD MAIN

Tomorrow is election day in lovely downtown Noho. There aren't any real contests in my ward although Mayor Higgins actually has an opponent, a young kid from town who mounted a lackluster campaign. I can't even remember his name at the moment but I'll vote for him anyway to validate the fact that he at least took the time to get his name on the ballot. It might push him into the 5% range. Mary Clare is a shoe-in.

The big question is the citizen initiative on Hospital Hill. Should we double the size of the project and should they save the old main building? It's not an easy one to answer. My heart is with those who would save that piece of history but I've been swayed by an article I read about a former patient who was released and later went on to work there as a patient advocate. Her recollections were chilling.

I used to walk those grounds a lot in years past. The place is an arboretum. There are a lot of rare species on those acres and a small orchard of vintage apple trees. Old Main stood guard over the village that ringed it below. There was a gorgeous ruined fountain at the verge of the precipice, opposite the imposing portico at the entrance. I used to collect the bittersweet that wound around its columns in the fall. Alas, in these ensuing years it succumbed to the elements and crashed to ruins.

I never lingered long near that fortress. It didn't feel malevolent exactly but it radiated an energy that was not positive. Now hearing that those who knew it best, hold no sentiment for it's corridors, I'm going to vote to let it go. I'm thinking the greatest tribute to the history of those forced to live in those halls would be to tear it down. As my dear friend Karen Thatcher said, "Too many tortured souls".

They should build affordable housing on the site for the local population that is being priced out of the town. It would be a better way to make penance for those who suffered on that ground. As far as doubling the size of the project, I'm going to vote no on that as well. It feels too much like back door politics to me. There hasn't been nearly enough public information on this expansion at all.

Meanwhile I'm ticking off the items on my list and still agonizing over the breakout sessions on my countdown to the DP Alliance conference. I've pinned down one so far. I see my old pal Jeremy Bigwood, along with Mama Coca and Fabio, will be speaking about the current scene in Latin America. I'm regretfully forgoing Law Enforcement Against the Drug War for it.

---

ON THE GROUND

Speaking of the Drug War, it's still going on and as it appears I will not get through my inbox in this lifetime, we're going off the top again.

First is this interesting look at a study our government supressed back in 1974, proving marijuana is effectively a cure for certain types of cancer. Findings that were subsequently upheld by researchers in Madrid in February of 2000 who had destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.

What really rankles is the amount of tax dollars our government spent in the following years to try to prove this plant is harmful.

---

There's this small victory reported in today's Lawyers Weekly USA.

A Virginia Pain Doctor Wins Some Acquittals.

The Associated Press

Federal prosecutors failed to win a single conviction Friday against a pain specialist accused of illegally prescribing medication, including the powerful narcotic OxyContin, that contributed to the deaths of seven patients.

After a seven-week trial and more than a week of deliberations, a jury found Dr. Cecil Byron Knox III innocent of some of the 69 charges against him but was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining counts, prompting Judge Samuel Wilson to declare a mistrial.

U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said his office will retry Knox and two others on the remaining counts, including contributing to patients' deaths or serious bodily injury.

It's true some patients died, but they were dying anyway. Medicine is not a cure for death, and while I don't know much about the case, it sounds to me like this doctor was simply standing up to the DEA's political agenda by prescribing medically responsible and humane levels of pain medication.

Bravo to the jury that refused to convict on most of the counts.

---

On a lighter note, from the LIA Fax Bulletin:

28/10/2003

SWITZERLAND (Bellinzona)
CRIME
NEUE ZUERCHER ZEITUNG

The authorities, having clamped down on overly-free cannabis markets, had stored great quantities of confiscated stuff in a military warehouse. An enterprising "commando" broke in with a blow-torch and carried off the whole lot.

I don't know, that one made me laugh. If you haven't signed their international appeal to the UN for drug policy reform, please do. There are still too few signatures on that petition from our side of the pond.

---

SIGN ME UP

I made a vow not to subscribe for any more newsletters until I gained control of my inbox but for the second time this week, my resolve dissolved and I signed onto the Crimquips. Last word goes to B. Crimmins with this apropos quote from the current issue.

Rush Limbaugh: Talent on loan from Oxycontin!

You notice the DEA is not prosecuting his doctor?

---