Mss 81-9 (1 box, .3 linear ft.) contains clippings on the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, or Shafer Commission and two bound volumes with the Report of the Committee Appointed by Governor April 1, 1925 for the Purpose of Investigating the Use of Marihuana and the Report of the Investigation in Texas (housed in Special Collections Rare Book room)

Addendum (a) (boxes 2-38) consists of public service files (almost exclusively relating to drug issues); professional activities files (relating mainly to drugs and the insanity defense); University of Virginia files, primarily related the University of Virginia Law School, general correspondence and related files.

The public service papers relate to Bonnie's work with the federal government, including the Shafer Commission and his mission to Western Europe. The professional activities group includes a great deal of material on marijuana decriminalization. In addition there is information on other medical and legal experts in the drug field, organizations, and journals and publications containing Bonnie's own work on the drug issue (including his two books on marijuana). Bonnie's general correspondence (10 folders, 1968-1984), speeches, testimony on the drug issue, files of cases handled by Bonnie on appeal, and records of private consultations.

Addendum (b) (box 39) contains miscellaneous papers relating to Bonnie's work with a task force organized to study alcohol and drug abuse at the University of Virginia, 1986-1987.

Addendum (c) (boxes 40-42) includes assorted papers on alcohol and drug law, psychiatry, the Graduate Program for Judges, and the University of Virginia, as well as general correspondence for 1985-1986.

This addition to the Bonnie papers, comprise 23 boxes (10 linear ft.) . The bulk of the collection consists of files dated 1972 to 1990 dealing with the death penalty -- case files of eight death row inmates (four of whom were represented by Bonnie), and professional papers concerning the issue of mental competency.

The case files consist mainly of records and briefs, but also include background material and correspondence. Most notable are those materials, such as psychiatric evaluations and clinical interviews, which pertain to the issue of mental competency.

Bonnie's professional papers also include scholarly articles and transcripts of speeches dealing with this topic. Researchers must have Professor Bonnie's permission for access to the death row case files.

Also of note in these papers are files dealing with Bonnie's 1989 visit to the Soviet Union as a member of a delegation investigating psychiatric abuses in that country. These files contain the delegation's official report, travel accounts, interviews with Soviet psychiatric patients and translations of various Soviet laws and regulations. Researchers whose interest is human rights in the Soviet Union will find these files useful for they contain primary source material on the role of the Soviet psychiatric profession in suppressing dissent.

The two major groups of documents concern the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), chaired by Richard Bonnie from 1979-1985, and the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The SHRC files document work to protect the rights of the mentally ill in Virginia's public institutions, and the APA files, the position of that organization relating to the rights of individuals, especially the mentally ill. Researchers must obtain Bonnie's permission to see the confidential SHRC files. Other files concern work that Bonnie did for the American Bar Association, the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy (ILPPP), Medicine in the Public Interest (MIPI), and the Virginia Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (VDMHMR). In general, all relate to mental health issues. In addition there are files documenting the Browning Hoffman Symposium sponsored by the Institute of Law Psychiatry and Public Policy. Finally there are faculty appointments files restricted to researchers having access permission from the Dean's Office.

The bulk of these files concern the 1990 death penalty appeal of Joe Giarratano including the clemency petition documents to Governor Douglas M. Wilder, as well as psychiatric evaluations, tests and studies, review of the facts, letters of support for Giarratano, and correspondence with him. Researchers must have Richard Bonnie's permission for access to the Giarratano files. This addition also contains some files concerning the 1990 Soviet Psychiatry Project.

These addendum (19 boxes, 7.6 linear feet) was donated to the Law Library in 1993. The documents include Law School files, restricted to researchers, as well as unrestricted files for other Law School and University committees. In addition are papers of the American Psychiatric Association [APA], the State Human Rights Committee [SHRC], the Virginia Bar Association [VBA], the Virginia Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation [VDMHMR], and the Marihuana Project as well as some other miscellaneous files.

This addition to Professor Bonnie's papers contains a large group of documents from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) related to the report on the Nicotine Study regarding the prevention of tobacco use by children and youths. There are also a Additional death row files, including Joe Giarratano's (restricted), and other professional matters are part of this addition.

This addendum to Prof. Bonnie's file contains professional files relalted to the Law School, the Institute of Medicine, and Virginia Bar Association files related to criminal law and on the mental disabled.

Professional files that capture Professor Bonnie's continued work with the IOM, APA, the University of Virginia and the Law School.

Professional files on issues concerning the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, the Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry, and the Institute of Medicine that relate to earlier accessions of Bonnie's papers. In addition there is more recent correspondence with Svetlana Polubinskaya.

This small addition contains correspondence, one file related to the disposition of records of the 1989 mission to the Soviet Union and USA v. Rusell Eugene Weston, Jr.

Working professional files mainly of American Psychiatry Association Council, elder abuse and neglect files, and client files.

Professional files related to APA Files, committee files and some Russian documents pertaining mental health law and protection for the disabled.

The Atkins v. Virginia Files pertained Prof. Bonnie's work on the special sub-committee of the Virginia State Crime Commission to revise the issues of the Supreme Court Case: Atkins v. Virginia, and to assemble a Clinical Advisory Group (CAG) to assist the sub-committee in August of 2002.

These files complement previous documents related to his work in mental health law internationally and in the United States. The majority of the files pertain documents from the GIP [Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry] work on former Soviet republics and the Network of Reformers in Psychiatry files. We also received miscellaneous professional files, clients files [restricted], correspondence files, and University of Virginia and Law School Files and the Commission on Mental Health Reform in Virginia.

In October 2006, Chief Justice Leroy Hassell of the Virginia Supreme Court established the Commission for Mental Health Law Reform in the state of Virginia. Richard Bonnie, the Harrison Foundation Professor of Medicine and Law at the University of Virginia Law School was selected by Chief Justice Hassell to chair the commission. The Commission is funded by the Virginia Supreme Court and is supported through research initiatives from the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services. Beginning in 2001 and predating the establishment of the Commission, Professor Richard Bonnie began work with the MacArthur Research Network on issues related to and funding for mental health law reform. During the years 2001-2005, Bonnie became a key figure in Chief Justice Hassell's plans to establish a commission for mental health law reform in the state of Virginia. Once the Commission was established in 2006, between 2006-2008 it consisted of five task forces designed to address key problems in mental health law in the state of Virginia, including: access to services, empowerment and self-determination, involuntary civil commitment, special needs of children and adolescents, and the relation between mental health and criminal justice systems. In addition to these task forces, a working group on health privacy and civil commitment was established in 2007. In 2008, the General Assembly of the state of Virginia enacted a reform for the commitment laws, and three additional task forces were created to ensure implementation, to deal with advance directive issues, and to attend to future commitment reforms. The following archive includes meeting notes, textual research, correspondence, presentations, conference materials, empirical studies, and legislative bill tracking undertaken by these task forces and working groups, all under the supervision of Professor Richard Bonnie. The archive also contains papers and correspondence predating the establishment of the Commission but related to its founding. In addition to the official correspondence and other materials collected here, the archive also contains the personal notes and data collected by Bonnie between the years 2001-2010.