cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Activists Give It Away at City Hall

Marijuana Activists Give It Away at City Hall
Posted by CN Staff on September 17, 2002 at 16:36:35 PT
SignOnSanDiego Wire Services
Source: Union Tribune
Medical marijuana activists gave away pot this afternoon outside San Diego City Hall, just like their counterparts in Santa Cruz. "A lot of what we're doing today is symbolic," said Steve McWilliams, who represents "Shelter from the Storm," a medical marijuana advocacy group. The group had a 3-foot-tall marijuana plant in a bucket, and a smaller plant on display. They gave out small bags containing half a gram to patients who had a form from a doctor stating that they have a medical marijuana need.
"We're acting lawfully," McWilliams said. "We're not hiding."He said he hopes the City Council will take notice and approve guidelines governing medical marijuana use. A council committee is due to look at those guidelines next month. Yolanda Therrien said she uses marijuana to relieve a variety of conditions, including premenstrual syndrome and stress from her divorce. She provided a form from a doctor, and was given a tiny zipper bag of pot. "There's so many benefits," she said. "It just provides an enormous amount of comfort to medically ill people, especially people with cancer."She said it wasn't especially difficult to obtain the doctor's note she provided -- once she found the name of a doctor who would prescribe pot. She said she had to provide documentation about her conditions during her doctor's appointment. Kelly Harvey, a member of Shelter from the Storm, said he had been taking conventional medicine for a sleeping disorder and stomach spasms. Then a doctor told him he "needed to smoke more cannabis," and be weaned off the other medication, he said. Now Harvey smokes one to two marijuana cigarettes a day, he said. Many of the others on hand for the giveaway brought their own pot to smoke outside City Hall. Some said they had notes from doctors in other states or were otherwise ineligible to receive the marijuana under Proposition 215 guidelines. McWilliams said the group was emboldened because of a similar event today in Santa Cruz, where city officials joined medical marijuana users at a pot giveaway. If Santa Cruz's elected officials "hadn't been so brave, I don't know if we would have been able to challenge our City Council," McWilliams said. "We are going to be in compliance with the law," McWilliams told the council this morning. "We are going to be providing marijuana to people who need it."Medical marijuana advocates say cannabis can help relieve pain and other symptoms for patients with AIDS, cancer and other conditions. The city of San Diego is working up guidelines for an identification card program to identify medical marijuana users in compliance with Proposition 215 in case they come in contact with San Diego police. Proposition 215, passed in 1996, allows patients with permission from a doctor to use marijuana for medical conditions. But the law has been problematic, as federal law makes no exception for medical uses. On Oct. 16, the City Council's Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee is expected to discuss the ID card program and other medical marijuana-related guidelines recommended by a task force. McWilliams previously was a member of the city's medical marijuana task force, but said he quit because the city was slow to enact its recommendations. He said he uses marijuana because of injuries he suffered in "automobile and motorcycle accidents." Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)Published: September 17, 2002Copyright: 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.Contact: letters uniontrib.comWebsite: http://www.uniontrib.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Americans for Safe Access http://www.safeaccessnow.org News Articles on WAMM Raidhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/valc.htmMedical Marijuana Protesters Again Rally http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14139.shtmlCrackdown On Med. Marijuana Spark Protestshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14138.shtmlWhen A Neighborhood Goes To Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14107.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by DdC on September 17, 2002 at 17:23:41 PT
1000's show up in Santa Cruz...
I just got word of this,but see you already have it.ś8)San Diego MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISTRIBUTION AT CITY HALLHi...I just received this from OCPDNSG...about San Diego distributing pot to patients.
Love, peace and health, Michelle :-)===Subject: shelter from the storm will distribute marijuanaATTENTION ALL MEDIA

PRESS RELEASE FROM SHELTER FROM THE STORM

REGARDING MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISTRIBUTION AT CITY HALL

N SUPPORT OF THE WO/MANS ALLIANCE FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN SANTA CRUZ, CA & Mike and Valerie Corral.On Tuesday, September 17,2002, members of SHELTER FROM THE STORM and other medical cannabis caregivers will distribute cannabis to qualified Proposition 215 patients at the San Diego City Hall Concourse from HIGH noon until 2:15pm. The action here on Tuesday is timed to coincide with similar events in Santa Cruz and around the state of California.California state law (The Compassionate Use Act of 1996) allows patients with a letter of physician recommendation to obtain medicinal marijuana from qualified primary caregivers.A San Diego city ordinance passed by the Council on February 12,2002, allows a qualified primary caregiver to provide cannabis for up to 12 patients. Proposed Medical Marijuana Task Force guidelines further define and protect caregivers from arrest and criminal sanction.SHELTER FROM THE STORM members will distribute marijuana to patients in accordance with the law and city regulation. Our intention is to promote understanding and implementation of the COMPASSIONATE USE ACT through honest and open action. Your coverage of the event will help the many thousands of interested viewers to find answers to this controversial subject. After all, The Truth Shall Set You Free.SHELTER FROM THE STORM'S STIR IT UP CANNABIS COFFEEHOUSE
4683 33RD STREET
SAN DIEGO, CA 92116
(619) 528-1850Driving Directions to San Diego City Hall: From the point where the 405 merges with I-5Merge on I-5 SOUTH To City of San Diego
Take the FRONT ST exit towards CIVIC CENTER
Continue on FRONT ST towards CIVIC CENTER
Turn Left on W C ST
Continue on C ST City Hall is at 202 "C" Street. Concourse??

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Comment #1 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on September 17, 2002 at 16:41:52 PT
<30 seconds on FoxNews
All I could glean from the Fox News coverage was two things - there was someone with a video camera from a major network covering the event, and it went off without the federales cracking heads. I wonder if the second thing had anything to do with the first?? Congratulations to everyone involved for standing up for their rights as human beings in the face of such brutal oppression.
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