10/14/95
News Release -- from the Drug Policy Foundation
CONTACT: Dave Fratello or Rob Stewart
Oct. 19 through Oct. 21: (310) 576-3175
HUNDREDS GATHER TO QUESTION DRUG WAR IN SANTA MONICA,
Special events include:
George Bushnell will help open the conference on Thursday, October 19, by discussing his views on drug policy reform and the law. Before beginning his one-year term as president of the American Bar Association in 1994, Bushnell attracted national attention by declaring that drug prohibition should be ended for the same reasons that alcohol Prohibition was ended in 1933.
Dr. Ambros Uchtenhagen of the University of Zurich will speak Thursday afternoon about the three-year Swiss heroin maintenance experiment, which he directs and which U.S. officials have so far ignored. The maintenance program is an attempt to stabilize addicts' lives and their habits. Dr. Uchtenhagen will provide a detailed description of the experiment and outline the lessons for U.S. drug policies.
As surgeon general, Dr. Elders sparked a national controversy and brought official censure upon herself by simply suggesting that drug legalization might be worth studying as a means of reducing drug-trade-related crime. Dr. Elders will hold a press conference Friday morning before delivering her keynote address at that day's luncheon. After the speech, DPF will give her its top award for her work in promoting public health measures and for her courage in advocating a more open debate on drug policy reform.
A morning plenary session on Saturday, October 21, will look at the war on lawyers who have become the subjects of overzealous drug prosecutions. San Francisco trial attorney Patrick Hallinan will discuss his recent acquittal on questionable drug conspiracy charges, which were brought by a U.S. attorney in Reno and a convicted drug offender whom Hallinan had represented.
The conference concludes Saturday evening at the foundation's annual awards banquet. The banquet marks the eighth year that DPF has honored outstanding reformers. The 1995 awardees are:
Joycelyn Elders, M.D.*
former U.S. Surgeon General
for Outstanding Achievement in Drug Policy Reform
Catherine Crier
ABC News
for Achievement in Journalism
Patrick Hallinan, Esq.
for Achievement in Law
Dan Waldorf, Ph.D.
Institute for Scientific Research
for Achievement in Scholarship
Dennis Peron
Cannabis Buyers' Club, San Francisco
and
Edith Springer
New York PEER AIDS Education Network
for Achievement in Citizen Action
Rob H. Hessing
Police Chief of Rotterdam, Netherlands
for Achievement in Law Enforcement and Control
Ernest Drucker, Ph.D.
Montefiore Medical Center, New York City
for Achievement in Medicine and Treatment
For more information, call Dave Fratello or Rob Stewart at the DPF press
office within Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel at (310) 576-3175 from Wednesday,
Oct. 18, through Saturday, Oct. 21. After Oct. 23, call (202) 537-5005.
* Dr. Elders' award will be presented during Friday's luncheon.
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