Pot activist still in the joint

Volume 80, Number 40 | March 3 – 9, 2011
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown
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Pot activist still in the joint: ‘It was all medical marijuana’

By Lincoln Anderson

Dana Beal would rather be smoking a joint — but he’s in the joint.

Bleecker St. marijuana activist Beal continues to sit in jail in
Wisconsin after police arrested him and Lance Ramer of Omaha,
Nebraska, on Jan. 6 with an alleged 186 pounds of pot in a car that
Ramer was driving and in which Beal was a passenger.

Beal has been unable to make his $50,000 bail, though his lawyer has
been fighting to get the amount reduced. Bail bondsmen — who take a 10
percent payment to post bond — aren’t allowed in Wisconsin.

According to a source, Beal’s Wisconsin case probably won’t go to
trial until May. A leader of the Yippie movement and a pot activist
since the 1960’s, Beal also faces similar charges in a 2009 Nebraska
case, when he was arrested with 150 pounds of marijuana in a vehicle
he was riding in. That case could go to trial this month, the source
said.

Beal last year told this newspaper that the weed in the Nebraska
arrest was acquired in California, and that he was planning to deliver
it to medical marijuana buyers’ clubs in Michigan and New York City.

He currently reportedly faces up to seven-and-a-half years in jail.

In the meantime, as he passes the time imprisoned, Beal is, well,
being Beal. A passionate advocate of ibogaine — which he touts as a
miracle cure for heroin addiction — Beal reportedly has heard that the
son of the judge on his case might have a heroin problem, and if so,
could benefit from treatment with the African-plant-derived drug.

“He’s driving his lawyer crazy talking about ibogaine,” said Paul
DiRienzo, a former WBAI radio reporter and friend of Beal’s. “He
thinks ibogaine might be useful for the judge’s son if he’s on heroin
— now he can offer the judge’s son a cure for heroin. He would be
willing to do ibogaine with him,” as in monitor the man’s dosing with
the powerful drug.

Beal is also said to be giving advice to a man in a cell across from
him detoxing from dope.

DiRienzo noted the judge on the Wisconsin case, William Dyke, is “a
very conservative judge — he was the mayor of Madison in the ’60’s
when they were beating up protesters.” In 1976, Dyke was the
vice-presidential running mate of Lester Maddox, a staunch
segregationist, in his bid for the U.S. presidency.

DiRienzo spoke to this newspaper last week a few days after having had
a 20-mintue conversation with Beal and his lawyer, Bryon Walker. The
calls are expensive for Beal, and Aron Kay, a.k.a. “The Yippie Pie
Man,” has been raising money to pay for Beal’s daily phone calls and
other jailhouse expenses.

DiRienzo said the hope is that the authorities will just release Beal
and possibly only make him pay a fine. He said Walker will argue that,
at this point, Beal simply can’t be rehabilitated, prison’s purported
purpose.

“‘Why spend the time and money rehabilitating a 64-year-old pothead
who’s never going to change?’ That’s what the lawyer said to me,”
DiRienzo reported.

Beal, during the conversation, also complained that the guards aren’t
letting him take food back to his cell. DiRienzo said Beal has always
suffered from insomnia, and likes to eat small portions throughout the
night. Not being allowed to do so is worsening his insomnia, DiRienzo
said, plus, as a result, “he’s not getting roughage.”

DiRienzo said he couldn’t go into the case’s specifics.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “According to his lawyer, he’s innocent.”

“I’m not at liberty to talk about the case,” added Kay. “He’s being
victimized by neo-nazis who don’t like marijuana, in general.”

People who want to send money to Beal, can do it by PayPal, via
pieman@pieman.org, he said. There’s also a Facebook page, “Free Dana
Beal Free Ourselves,” with more information on how to send cash to
Beal. In addition to phone calls, the money allows Beal to pay for
juices, sweets and the like.

While locked up in Wisconsin, Beal obviously won’t be able to organize
the Global Marijuana March (a.k.a. The Million Marijuana March) on
Sat., May 7, as he has done for years.

“We’re going to pull it together, one way or another,” assured Kay.
“Nothing will stop it.”

Another Yippie source said, “Someone in Portland is picking up the slack.”

The pot march occurs in cities around the world. Organizers for this
year’s New York event are reportedly seeking a permit to march from
Washington Square Park to Battery Park City.

If there’s an upside to his time in jail, Beal at least gets to watch
four TV news channels there, noted the Yippie source, adding, “That’s
more than he gets at 9 Bleecker St.” During the Super Bowl, Beal
reportedly was telling his prison mates to pipe down, oblivious to the
fact that the Packers’ playing in the game was an event of historic
proportions in Wisconsin.

Beal’s arrest was also big news at least in part of the “Badger
State,” in Iowa County, 10 miles outside Madison. According to a Jan.
14 article in the Dodgeville Chronicle (“Barneveld police make huge
drug bust”), on Jan. 6 a police officer stopped the vehicle Beal was
in because it had a broken taillight and some expired registration
plates. Initially, Police Officer Nick Zimpel was prepared to issue
just a warning, “perhaps a citation,” but he said, “I approached the
vehicle and could smell an odor of marijuana coming, and at that time,
I called for backup.” Ava, a K-9 police dog, was called in and, not
surprisingly, immediately “hit on the vehicle.” Officers subsequently
found a duffel bag with a “brick” of marijuana, with the whole haul of
pot having a street value of more than $750,000.

A follow-up Dodgeville Chronicle article on Jan. 21 (“Who really is
Irvin Dana Beal?”) stated, “Federal investigators are being careful
with what information is released [about Beal’s case]. They feel it
could compromise an investigation into a national drug ring which runs
from California to New York with multiple locations.”

However, to hear Beal tell it, while he does admittedly transport
cannabis cross-country, it’s marijuana for medical purposes. He calls
people like himself “angels” for bringing pot to those who need it,
and says it’s a crime to prosecute them for doing so.

Speaking last year, referring to his October 2009 Nebraska bust, Beal
told this newspaper, “I’m just really offended by these a—holes in
Nebraska saying it’s not all medical marijuana.” That is: that all the
pot in the car was going to be used for medical purposes.

He’s been a medical marijuana advocate for more than two decades. He
showed a New York newspaper article from the 1980’s, with a photo of
him walking down the street, with a satchel over his shoulder, on his
way to make a health-related reefer delivery.

Last July, Beal and medical marijuana advocates gathered on the City
Hall steps in Lower Manhattan for a press conference to condemn
comments made by Bridget Brennan, the New York special narcotics
prosecutor, against a perennially pending bill to legalize medical
marijuana here. Last year, advocates had hoped the bill finally had a
chance to pass.

Those at the rally included AIDS sufferers, who said pot restored
their appetites and kept them from wasting away; and a woman with M.S.
and another, a survivor of third-stage breast cancer, who said
marijuana eased the pain they felt from their afflictions and, in the
case, of the woman who had fought cancer, painful radiation
treatments.

Basically, Beal said, he supplied pot to medical marijuana buyers’
clubs, not only in New York, but also in other places, like Michigan.

“Three-and-a-half clubs [in New York] are connected to me,” he said.
Beal said he supplied the clubs twice weekly, at locations in
Manhattan and “the Village,” but didn’t want to get more specific.
“They’re based on Tupperware parties,” he said. “More than 400 people
in New York City are in some kind of [medical marijuana] club.”

At the press conference, he stated, “Medical marijuana is well
established here and won’t be affected if I go to jail — except it
might cost a little more. I was keeping the cost down.”

Beal said he likes to buy pot in California because it’s less
expensive, adding, “I prefer stuff that’s grown outdoors. I prefer
stuff that’s strong.” People with health needs need strong pot in
order to benefit from the maximum medical effect, he explained. Beal
noted he has to get the pot cross-country quickly, or it will start to
“self-combust,” due to the volatile oils in it.

Told this, Special Narcotics Prosecutor Brennan scoffed that it
sounded like “Cheech and Chong.” In an interview, Brennan charged that
medical marijuana users mainly covet “the big bang to the head” that
pot provides. Among other things, she said marijuana should first be
removed from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, allowing it
to be tested for medical properties by federal researchers, only after
which it could potentially be legalized for medical use.

At the end of the City Hall press conference last July, Beal asked
everyone to hold up their “Cannabis Patients Registry” cards — but no
one did.

“That was embarrassing — everybody forgot to bring their cards,” he said.

Later, he said he realized they were afraid to show their cards
because they were out of date. He prints them up and laminates them at
the Yippie Cafe, where he lives, at 9 Bleecker St. in Noho. The card’s
front includes the person’s photo, while the back lists his or her
medical condition and special needs.

As the Dodgeville Chronicle noted, Beal isn’t unknown in Wisconsin,
where he first appeared more than 40 years ago as a leader of Yippie
protests against the Vietnam War.

In fact, DiRienzo said, he met both Beal and Kay in Madison, which was
known for its radicalism — “more radical than Berkeley,” he noted.
While he was a student at Madison, DiRienzo said he met Beal during a
conference about the 1980’s, where Beal argued with the organizer and
took over the event. DiRienzo said he first made the acquaintance of
“The Yippie Pie Man” when Kay pied Madison’s mayor.

DiRienzo said, if he has to make a choice, Beal would prefer to serve
time in Wisconsin since it’s an “intellectual state,” whereas, in
Nebraska, “they don’t like New Yorkers.”

A month after the press conference, Beal stopped by this newspaper’s
office to introduce John Pylka, who was visiting from Washington, D.C.
Pylka is a member there of the Cannabis Patients Registry, a medical
marijuana buyers’ club, for which Beal said he supplied pot.

At one point, Pylka unfolded and held out a small Tibetan compassion
flag (actually, a series of small flags tied together on a string),
then said, “It takes a lot of guts to do this. We wouldn’t be doing
this if the federal government allowed this.”

“See,” Beal said later, as they were leaving through the door, “there
really is an East Coast medical marijuana network.”

DEA agents arrested Dimitri “Mobengo” Mugianis, a New York-based ibogaine therapy provider and two others yesterday in Seattle, Seattle Weekly has learned. Mugianis was recently the subject of a critically acclaimed documentary I’m Dangerous With Love, that details his work in the underground world of ibogaine, a potent — and illegal — hallucinogenic substance that is used to help drug users overcome their addictions.
Details about why, where and when exactly Mugianis was detained are still unavailable. However, a DEA spokeswoman confirms that Mugianis and two other people were, in fact, arrested sometime yesterday in Seattle and released early this afternoon.

Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the Western Washington U.S. Attorney’s office, says Mugianis and his two associates do not currently face charges but, “the matter is under review to determine whether an administrative or criminal resolution is most appropriate.”

Mugianis is a prominent figure in the ibogaine subculture. Ibogaine — the subject of a recent Village Voice Media feature story — has been used for decades by a handful of underground lay therapists as a means of treating drug addiction. Proponents of the illicit therapy say it eliminates opiate withdrawals and cravings almost overnight and jolts patients into changing their harmful behavior.

The substance is derived from the roots of an African shrub called Tabernathe iboga. Here’s how it was described in our feature last November:
Taken in sufficient quantity, the substance triggers a psychedelic experience that users say is more intense than LSD or psilocybin mushrooms. Practitioners of the Bwiti religion in the West African nation of Gabon use iboga root bark as a sacrament to induce visions in tribal ceremonies, similar to the way natives of South and Central America use ayahuasca and peyote…
…Ibogaine and iboga root bark are illegal in the United States but unregulated in many countries, including Canada and Mexico. [Clare] Wilkins, though, is hardly alone in her belief that iboga-based substances can be used as a legitimate treatment for drug addiction. Researchers at respected institutions have conducted experiments and ended up with hard evidence that the compound works — as long as you don’t mind the mindfuck.

“All drugs have side effects, but ibogaine is unique for the severity of its side effects,” says Dorit Ron, a neurology professor at the University of California-San Francisco. “I think ibogaine is a nasty drug. But if you can disassociate the side effects from the good effects, there is a mechanism of action in ibogaine that reduces relapse in humans.”

I interviewed Mugianis over the phone several times for the story, and he explained that he used ibogaine to overcome a heroin addiction. He was so taken by the experience that he eventually traveled to Gabon, where he was initiated into the Bwiti religion by shamans. Since then, Mugianis told me, he had performed more than 400 ritualistic ibogaine ceremonies on addicts, mostly in hotel rooms around New York city.
Mugianis transformation from junkie to shaman to underground drug therapist was chronicled by filmmaker Michel Negroponte, in his documentary “I’m Dangerous With Love.” Here’s a trailer for the film and an interview that Mugianis did with Seattle Weekly about his role in the project.

Reached by phone earlier this afternoon, Negroponte said he’d gotten wind of Mugianis’ arrest but was unsure of what exactly happened and why. He believes Mugianis was working with another ibogaine therapy provider based in Seattle and possibly performing ibogaine treatment at a hotel somewhere in the city.

“The information I’ve gotten so far has been a little fractured,” Negroponte said. “But I believe there is a woman [in Seattle] she’s also a therapist, she was planning to get involved with Dimitri and others and open a clinic in Costa Rica. This was all in the works the last several months. I believe [DEA] went in and took her her files and her stuff and arrested her yesterday.”

We’ve got a call out to Mugianis and we’ll have more details on this story when they become available.

Footnote:

We recently ran a feature story on ibogaine therapy so are following developments closely.

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2010-11-18/news/ibogaine-helps-addicts-heroin-meth-and-everything-in-betweenis-it-the-trip-that-does-the-trick/

A massage therapist who travelled to Africa to take part in a spiritual initiation ceremony died after consuming a “holy” root plant that was being used as part of the ritual, her inquest was told yesterday.

Laura Thornton (32), a renowned tennis and squash player of Whitestrand Park, Salthill, Co Galway, fell ill and died on January 2, 2010, after consuming iboga, a plant root — a “holy wood” — after travelling to Cameroon to take part in a a spiritual ritual involving a shaman, or traditional healer.

Following the inquest, her father, retired schoolteacher Kevin Thornton, spoke of his “lovely Laura” and said her family wanted to send out a strong warning about the great risk involved in taking iboga.

Her brother Ian Thornton told Dublin County Coroner’s Court that Laura was a massage therapist and was involved in healing and he believed she saw the initiation ceremony as part of her education in this area and the next step to developing her own spirituality.

Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty said iboga was a psychoactive drug used by pygmies to help them get in touch with their ancestors and the spirits.

“There is a type of religion practised in Gabon and Cam-eroon and the taking of the drug is a sacramental part of that religion. They use a shaman to perform the ceremony and the initiation involves the taking of a very large amount of this root,” Dr Geraghty said.

Kevin said that he understood that on a previous occasion she had a mild reaction to iboga while in Wales and had travelled to Cameroon to take part in this initiation ceremony in which the plant was eaten.

A French nurse who had attended the ritual later spent four days with the family and told how she tried to resuscitate Laura after she fell ill.

“There is no structured organisation around this thing. This is a heavy ceremony and there is a big risk if it (iboga) is not administered by somebody who is competent,” Mr Thornton said.

“It was a ritual act for therapeutical and spiritual purposes. It was supposed to be a catalyst for her own evolution and she hoped to carry whatever benefits from it and pass them on to her clients.”

Consultant pathologist Dr Muna Sabah, who carried out a post-mortem, found that the most likely cause of death was cardiac arrest associated with the consumption of iboga.

She said ingestion of the plant was part of the culture in Africa and was used as a stimulant to combat hunger and thirst and also for healing.

Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, Dr Geraghty said Laura had died from cardiac arrest associated with iboga.

“It would also appear people are using this plant in Ireland, England and elsewhere and they should be aware of the dangers involved.”

Afterwards, Kevin warned of the dangers of taking iboga and said that it was being used “under the radar” in Ireland.

“It is unregulated and uncontrolled and the family and friends of Laura would wish through this inquest to send out a strong warning of the great risk involved in the use of iboga. We would not wish anyone else to die unnecessarily like our lovely Laura.”

Iboga: ‘visionary root’ taken during rituals

Iboga, described as the “visionary root” of Africa, is a perennial rainforest shrub that originated in the Congo Basin and was spread to Cameroon and Gabon by Pygmies and Bantu natives.

Also referred to as the “holy wood”, bark from from the plant root is chewed for pharmacological or ritualistic purposes and can stimulate the central nervous system and induce visions.

It is used by visionary healers called shamans for therapeutic and spiritual purposes.

Outside Africa, a derivative of the plant, ibogaine, is used to treat opiate addition like heroin but iboga is illegal in several western countries.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/republic-of-ireland/massage-therapist-died-after-eating-plant-root-during-spiritual-ceremony-15066190.html#ixzz1DHxlkusB

Extract:

“The Committee was provided with a table of data which attempted to state what is known regarding ibogaine related fatalities in the public domain. The figures suggest that the number of deaths due to methadone, the most controlled substance, were a little higher that those associated with ibogaine, which is unregulated.

The most frequently reported use for ibogaine is for the reduction or elimination of addiction to opiates. Ibogaine is reported to alleviate the symptoms of opiate withdrawal. It has also been suggested that ibogaine may be useful in treating dependence to other substances such as alcohol, methamphetamine and nicotine.

Given its use for the therapeutic purpose of managing/treating addiction and the need for this treatment to be under supervision, Medsafe believed that there was a case for classifying ibogaine and its metabolite noribogaine as prescription medicines. This would not necessarily restrict the medical use in a therapeutic environment but would limit attempts at self treatment and prevent its development for recreational use as a “party pill”, even though the documented experience of using it is usually not that pleasant.

Medsafe had also sought opinion from a psychiatrist who is proposing to conduct a clinical study utilising ibogaine. He was of the opinion that although its appeal as a recreational drug is low, he shared concerns that use in an ad hoc fashion as a self medication for drug addiction could occur following the media interest in the product and that this could be dangerous. The psychiatrist was supportive of classification of ibogaine as a prescription medicine.

Due to the potential for therapeutic use of the product, the safety profile and the potential for misuse, Medsafe suggested that the substance ibogaine and its metabolite noribogaine met the criteria for classification under the Medicines Act 1981. This would provide ability to control the import and supply of ibogaine, its metabolite or any products containing each or both of the substances.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/us/17lotsof.html?hpw

Forum debates use of Ibogaine
By Ellie Constantine on Mon, 7 Sep 2009
News: Dunedin

The idea of an Ibogaine treatment facility in New Zealand has been debated at a forum in Dunedin.

The Ibogaine Community Forum, held at the University of Otago on Saturday, attracted about 30 people who listened to a range of speakers involved in drug addiction treatment and the use of Ibogaine.

Two of the speakers came from the United States and South Africa respectively.

Tanea Paterson arranged the forum to drive discussion on how the drug, derived from an African plant, could become an official option for addiction treatment.

She was impressed with the interesting ideas at the forum but knew her goal of setting up a treatment clinic to administer it came down to clinical trials being carried out and the drug gaining official status.

Senior lecturer in the University of Otago department of psychological medicine and director of the Community Alcohol and Drug Service, Dr Gavin Cape, took part and said a research interest group was being formed to look at “therapeutic agents to help people who have addiction problems”.

He believed Ibogaine was a “promising therapeutic agent” but stressed “it remains unofficial because there is a lot of debate about it”.

Many people swore by its effectiveness and a strong support group had established around it but “it would take a long time before it became official” as controlled trials to test it further were required.

“What we are trying to do is really discover, along a scientific paradigm, if Ibogaine is as useful as some people say it is.”

The research group may look at starting clinical trials but nothing had been decided, he said.

Ibogaine was not illegal in New Zealand but was prohibited in the United States due to its hallucinogenic properties.

Ms Paterson said the drug not only assisted in the physical symptoms of withdrawal but the mental side as well as it allowed users to reflect on their issues.

She emphasised the drug would have little interest from recreational users because it did not offer an enjoyable experience.

Addict wants drug ‘mainstreamed’
By Sarah Harvey on Sat, 5 Sep 2009
News: Dunedin

For Tanea Paterson, the drug Ibogaine changed her from a drug addict to someone able to live her life.

Now she wants others to be able to get the drug.

Ibogaine, used for centuries by West Africans for rite-of-passage ceremonies and for its healing properties, is not illegal in New Zealand but is only administered by underground healers.

Ms Paterson, and many others worldwide, want the drug used to help people recover from addiction.

Due to its hallucinogenic properties, it is prohibited in the United States and a handful of other countries, but Canada and Mexico allow Ibogaine treatment clinics to operate.

Ms Paterson has organised a forum, to be held today at the University of Otago, where speakers from throughout the world will gather to discuss how the drug can become “mainstream”.

Participants include international heavyweights such as the founder of Cures Not Wars, in New York, Dana Beal, and the director of the Minds Alive International Treatment Centre in Durban, South Africa, Dr Anwa Jeewa.

Dr Gavin Cape, the director of the Community Alcohol and Drug Service, in Dunedin will also attend.

Ms Paterson has battled with drugs for more than a decade. When she was 17, she was involved in a serious car crash which left her dealing with chronic pain.

She was at the time a hairdressing apprentice and began to self-medicate by injecting morphine to deal with the pain.

It quickly became a habit – she contracted Hepatitis C from the needles she was using and watched as her life slowly unravelled.

She tried, and failed, to come off the drug naturally so, at 23, ended up on the methadone programme.

Methadone helped her escape from the drug scene but it also came with social stigma and restrictions.

“Life on methadone is not living – it is just existing. It was really hard to see a future, I couldn’t get excited about anything. You lose your purpose.”

After seven years she tried to withdraw from methadone, but failed.

Then, three and a-half years ago, a friend told her about Ibogaine.

“I had pretty much hit crisis point. I was severely depressed and I couldn’t see a way out.”

At first she did not believe what it was claimed the drug could do, so she spent months researching Ibogaine before deciding to undergo treatment in Australia.

She spent 10 days in Australia, where she was constantly monitored and given nutritious food and the drug.

The treatment was exhausting and not a “magic bullet”, but when she returned to New Zealand, 80% of her withdrawal symptoms had gone.

She no longer needed methadone and could start to live a normal life.

A counsellor said Ms Paterson went from experiencing severe fatigue, depression, anxiety and self-hate to recovering her physical energy and getting over fatigue, which allowed her body to heal.

Since then, she had enrolled in a polytechnic health course and helped others by taking them through the course in their homes.

She dreamed of setting up a treatment centre in New Zealand.

“I think there [are] a lot more people out there who deserve help,” she said.

The Ibogaine Community Forum is on at the University of Otago Burns 2 lecture theatre from 10am-6pm today. It is open to the public.