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Planet News

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Parent Issue
Day
1
Month
November
Year
1974
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Planet News

 Mellow YelIow Remembered

The former Deputy Director of the government's Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs reports the "mellow yellow" craze of the mid-1960s sent dozens of government chemists scurrying to their laboratories.

As John Finlator tells it: "There was a story that came out of the Haight-Ashbury, that there were certain procedures by which you could process banana peels - dry them and smoke them and get a beautiful high."

He continues: "The story was carried by the underground press. One magazine printed the process. AP and UPI picked up the story, and people thought there was something to this banana story."

What did drug officials do? Finlator told High Times magazine: "We didn't know what the hell was going on. So we bought 30 pounds of bananas, took them into our laboratories and cooked them and scraped them and smoked them and did everything else the underground press told us to do."

He says: "We really worked on the thing, and after about three months we found that it was a real put-on. It was a beautiful put-on," Finlator adds.

--ZODIAC

Brazil will get the next largest amount in foreign aid, $70 million, most of which will be for military purposes.

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The so-called "natural cereals" being sold by the giant breakfast cereal manufacturers contain up to five times the amount of sugar as cornflakes, and are up to four times as expensive per unit of protein.

One of the five largest brands, General Mills' "Nature Valley," Kellog's "Country Morning," Pet's "Heartland," and Quaker Oat's "100% Natural Cereal" contain at least 20% sugar.

Colgate-Palmolive's "Alpen" has a sugar content of 13% and no more protein per serving than corn flakes, but it is three to four times as expensive.

* * * * *

Bad news for tuna fans.

Consumers Reports says canned tuna fish is commonly contaminated with rodent hairs, pieces of feather and insect parts.

The magazine tested 52 brands of tuna from 16 major distributors, and says it found filth in at least one sample from all three distributors. --LNS

* * * * *

A decline in the retail price of heroin to a 12-month low and an increase in its purity to a 24-month high indicate the drug's availability is on the upswing again, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration Report.

defendant prosecution.

Mark Fleury, Larry Johns, Colin Wesaw and Reginald Dodge were arrested on April 27, 1973 while running guns and medical supplies into Wounded Kneww.

The convictions come despite discrepancies in testimony by federal officers, lost evidence and other indications of government misconduct. They were handed down by Judge Warren Urbom in Lincoln, Nebraska October 17th, after a non-jury trial.

All other convictions the government has so far secured against the American Indian Movement members stem from protests in Custer, South Dakota following the fatal stabbing of 20-year old Wesley Bad Heart Bull. The most notorious is the conviction of Wesley's mother, Sarah Bad Heart Bull, for "conspiracy to commit riot with arson" although she was sitting in a jail cell at the peak of the protest.

Sarah was denied appeal bond and given twenty-four hours to arrange care for her six children before being committed

According to Lang, the decriminalization bill is modeled after the recommendations of Canada's Ledain Commission. The Ledain Commission, a government appointed study group, recommended three years ago that simple pot offenses be treated only with civil fines - with no jail sentences or criminal sanctions attached.

The new bill as drafted by the Justice Ministry - while treating simple possession as a minor offense - would continue to impose criminal penalties against mari-