And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 01:52:56 -0500 >From: LISN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Organization: League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations of the Western Hemisphere >Subject: Update on Sacred Pipe Confiscation at Oklahoma Prison > >UPDATE >1/22/99 > >Case Pending: Prison's Simple Field Test Kit Results Not Accepted -- A >More Sophisticated Test Being Conducted With An Independent Lab > >Many thanks to all those who wrote on behalf of Gary Colbert to Warden >Steve Hargett at the Lexington Correctional Center in Oklahoma. The >letters, perhaps, helped to assure that the meeting was conducted in a >non-combative and respectful manner for which Colbert and Ben Carnes are >grateful. The outcome of the meeting and testing was, however, not in >Colbert's favor. This having been his first encounter with testing, >the outcome came as a surprise to Colbert because he had been more than >confident of a favorable result with the testing. > >According to several other Native American Spiritual Advisors, this >outcome was not altogether a surprise for those who have encountered the >same experience as Colbert and with the same unfavorable outcome because >of the simple field test kits commonly used by prisons to test for >drugs. The critical point here is that this simple field test kit is >discriminatory in nature because it is not sophisticated enough to >differentiate between nicotine and marijuana, two carbon based formulas >(clusters of alkaloids), and thus, to be able to isolate and >specifically identify one or the other. Therefore, when a sacred pipe >(Chanupa) is confiscated for testing, more often than not the prisons' >simple field test kits may produce false-positive results. > >Those spiritual advisors (as well as one inmate in a Michigan prison) >who have reported that their own sacred pipes have tested positive in a >prison's simple field test, have indicated that a much more >sophisticated analysis at an independent lab has, on each separate >occasion, produced a negative test result, refuting the prison test >results. Documentation is available to support these statements. > >It is the contention of several Native American Spiritual Advisors that >this particular anomaly -- the high potential for false-positive >results -- of simple test kit methods, has contributed to the increasing >practice of testing sacred pipes to provide prisons with a "valid" >reason to terminate the religious rights of Native American inmates. To >the many advisors or inmates who have experienced this outcome, it >appears to have become standard procedure throughout prison systems in >the U.S. and Canada. > >If individuals are not aware that alternative and more reliable >sophisticated testing is available, and the individuals are forced to >accept a prison's simple test results, the religious rights of Native >Americans will continue to be arbitrarily eroded. If the general public >is unaware of the increase in this discriminatory practice, the >diminishment of Native American religious rights may go unchecked. > >In this case, Gary Colbert is not accepting the positive test result of >the Lexington Correctional Center. Instead, he has arranged for a >sophisticated chemical spectrum analysis of his pipe at an independent >lab which specializes in drug testing. Based on the work load of the >lab, we have been informed that results could take from one to two >weeks. Once the results have been determined, another update will be >provided, along with documentation on the testing. Documentation from >other spiritual advisors who have encountered the same discriminatory >results will also be included in that update. >L.I.S.N. stands firmly in support of Gary Colbert. > >Please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for any questions, comments or >suggestions. > >For updates, visit http://www.lisn.net/religiousfreedom.htm#pipeupdate > >To receive organizational information, announcements and news: >Please send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send >a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- >To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
