CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Drug Panel’s Views Denied Publication

Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp has refused to publish the recommendations of a state advisory commission which has recommended that California legalize marijuana and consider decriminalization of other drugs. The San Francisco Examiner disclosed that Van de Kamp’s office refused to pay for the printing of the Research Advisory Panel’s recommendations. The panel, appointed by state agencies and the governor, found that anti-drug laws have been “manifestly unsuccessful in that we are now using more and a greater variety of drugs, legal and illegal.” Created by the Legislature in 1969 to study drug abuse and possible remedies, the panel recommended that the Legislature legalize cultivation of marijuana for personal use, consider decriminalizing other drugs on an individual basis and legalize possession of hypodermic needles. Assistant Atty. Gen. John Sugiyama accused the panel of basing its recommendations on “personal views.” Dr. Frederick H. Meyers, the panel’s vice chairman, said he would use his money to print the banned recommendations, and called Van de Kamp’s reaction “hysterical.” Meyers, a professor of pharmacology at UC San Francisco, has served on the panel since its inception.