---------------------------------------------------------------- Maine Group Seeks Vote on Gay Marriage PORTLAND, ME -- The group behind a 1995 ballot measure that would have restricted gay rights in Maine now says it has enough signatures to put a proposal before the Legislature to ban same-sex marriages, the Portland Post Herald reports. Concerned Maine Families said that it will submit petitions and 62,157 signatures to the secretary of state today. That's about 11,000 more than the number required for a citizens' initiative to go before lawmakers, according to the Herald. But Patricia Peard, the president of the ACLU of Maine, told the Herald that it may not be as simple as a change of wording. States ''don't dishonor each others' marriages,'' said Peard, who is also a family law specialist at the firm of Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer and Nelson. Marriage laws already vary greatly from state to state, yet marriages are recognized everywhere, she said. Peard likened the situation to state laws in the South which for generations banned interracial marriages. Eventually, those laws were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, she said. ''Gay people live together now in what amounts to same-sex marriages, and I haven't seen heterosexual marriages falling apart,'' she said. Gov. Angus King said he won't make a decision on whether he would veto or support the Concerned Maine Families' proposal before it reaches his desk. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Child Support Lapses Could Lead To Loss of Licenses in North Carolina DURHAM, NC -- Local officials here will start enforcing a recently passed state law that allows drivers' licenses to be taken from those who are more than 90 days behind in child support payments, the Herald Sun reports. Professional licenses -- such as those with which people from lawyers to beauticians to house movers do business -- also can be revoked under the new law. The machinery for revoking professional and drivers' licenses is different, however. While professional certificates may be yanked without court action, it will take the nod of a District Court judge for someone's driving permit to be taken away. Some defense lawyers have begun blasting the new law as unfair and perhaps even unconstitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina stands guardedly behind this point of view, the Herald Sun said. "I think it is very suspect constitutionally," lawyer Tom Loflin of Durham told the paper. "What is the nexus between a driver's license or a professional license and the assumed evil that this law is aimed at?" Loflin asked. "Of course, it's an evil not to support one's child. But what is the nexus between driving safely and supporting one's child? There is none. "It makes no rational or reasonable sense to me," Loflin added. "To me, it borders on being arbitrary and capricious. It offends the Constitution. Why do we allow other people to drive who do things we don't like? What about drug sellers? You have to fashion a remedy that fits the offense -- not punish people in all kinds of ways that don't make sense." Deborah Ross, executive director and legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina, told the Herald Sun that there are "serious legal questions" wrapped up in the new law. But Ross conceded that drivers' licenses -- unlike some professional licenses -- are subject to relatively easy seizure because high courts have declared they are not "property." Still, Ross agreed with Loflin that the new law is "constitutionally suspect." But she added, "I don't know if it will be facially unconstitutional, or if it will just be unconstitutional in selected cases. I don't think it's a clear-cut, slam-dunk thing." ---------------------------------------------------------------- Los Angeles Tops in Telephone Taps LOS ANGELES -- Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles County are among the nation's leaders for tapping telephone lines, the Associated Press reports. According to statistics released by the FBI, investigators from local, state and federal agencies operating within the county placed an historical high of 1,080 taps on phones between Jan. 1, 1993 and March 1, 1995. By contrast, AP said, there were 452 wiretaps placed in Dade County Florida, which includes Miami, during the period and 252 in Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago. The report did not say what types of investigations were involved, or why the number of taps was higher in some areas than others. Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, told the AP that she was "shocked" that Los Angeles County would have such a high rate of electronic surveillance. "I can't understand why we would be more surveyed than any other place,'' Ripston said. "I don't think Los Angeles is any hotbed of crime or any illegal activities of any type or people planning subversive activities.'' ---------------------------------------------------------------- Baby Boomers 'Just Say No' To Prosecuting Doctors Over Medical Marijuana As the debate over the medical uses of marijuana continues across the country, members of USA Today's "Baby Boomer Panel" sounded off on the subject recently. With very few exceptions, panelists said doctors should be able to recommend marijuana to relieve pain and to treat medical conditions. Panelist Sarah Hartstein, a pediatric nurse, said early in her career she saw teens hospitalized with terminal cancer benefit from using marijuana to control nausea from chemotherapy. "It was years ago and may have been experimental," she said. "Nobody said anything. The patients seemed to think it was helpful." Another panelist, Steve May, said the issue has been given impetus by the AIDS crisis. "More than 150 of my friends have died from AIDS. I am strongly in favor of the medical use of marijuana to help those patients with the disease and their reactions to its treatment," he said. But doctors now face criminal penalties if they attempt to ease their patients' symptoms by prescribing marijuana. Last week, a group of physicians and patients represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and others filed a class action suit in federal court in San Francisco, seeking an injunction blocking federal officials from taking any punitive action against physicians who simply recommend the medical use of marijuana to their patients. The lawsuit is a direct response to the Clinton administration's December 30 announcement of its plan to fight implementation of Proposition 215 by threatening doctors with a range of punishment if they are found to be --- --- timEd 1.10+ * Origin: LibertyBBS, Austin,Tx [512]462-1776 (1:382/804) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 173 NORML Ref: E1T00002 Date: 01/23/97 From: TERRY LIBERTY-PARKER Time: 10:26am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: 2 ACLU News 01-22-97: Internet, Same-Sex10:26:2401/23/97 recommending medical marijuana to their patients. The defendants named in the suit are the key federal officials involved in drafting and implementing the Clinton administration strategy. Proposition 215 altered California law by creating a new exemption for a specific group of people -- seriously ill patients who are using marijuana on the "recommendation or approval" of a physician. If an arrested patient is to be exonerated, he or she must prove that a physician advised that marijuana was medically appropriate for that patient. At a news conference announcing the suit, Jo Daly, a former police commissioner of San Francisco and a patient who uses marijuana medically, said, "The federal government is trying to intimidate the doctors who treat me for cancer. Marijuana literally saved my life by stopping the horrible vomiting caused by my chemotherapy. Bureaucrats like Barry McCaffrey want to get in between me and my doctors and make me another victim of their drug policies. This began as a war on drugs, now it's become a war on doctors." The ACLU's lawsuit contends that the Administration's plan to prosecute From: ACLU Newsfeed Owner doctors who prescribe marijuana for pateints with illnesses like cancer and AIDS intrudes on the dcotor-patient relationship in violation of the First Amendment. "The lawsuit doesn't deal with whether marijuana is efficacious as a medicine or not whether people should be smoking it or taking it," said Dr. Marcus A. Conant, in an interview with the New York Times. Conant, an AIDS specialist in San Francisco, is the lead plaintiff in the case. "The suit is all about freedom of speech." In response to the ongoing controversy, the Clinton Administration recently ordered an 18-month study of clinical, medical and scientific evidence on the medical use of marijuana. USA Today's Baby Boomer panel approved the initiative. "Why can't we stop all our bitching and moaning, spend some money and figure out what the medical uses really are?" asked William Paprota of Overland Park, Kansas. "Why can't we explore it a little bit?" ---------------------------------------------------------------- ONLINE RESOURCES FROM THE ACLU NATIONAL OFFICE ---------------------------------------------------------------- ACLU Freedom Network Web Page: http://www.aclu.org. America Online users should check out our live chats, auditorium events, *very* active message boards, and complete news on civil liberties, at keyword ACLU. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ACLU Newsfeed American Civil Liberties Union National Office 132 West 43rd Street New York, New York 10036 To subscribe to the ACLU Newsfeed, send a message to majordomo@aclu.org with "subscribe News" in the body of the message. To terminate your subscription, send a message to majordomo@aclu.org with "unsubscribe News" in the body of the message. For general information about the ACLU, write to info@aclu.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to the news --- --- timEd 1.10+ * Origin: LibertyBBS, Austin,Tx [512]462-1776 (1:382/804) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 173 NORML Ref: E1T00003 Date: 01/22/97 From: JESSE MARBLE Time: 02:25pm \/To: RICH WOODS (Read 0 times) Subj: Elkhorn Document Hello, Rich. Would you repost the document (:{ I didn't take the opportunity to copy it. Thank you. J.Marble -- --- GEcho 1.11+ * Origin: Synergy Systems - portland.or - fidonet - (1:105/66.9)