cannabisnews.com: NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- May 22, 2003










  NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- May 22, 2003

Posted by CN Staff on May 22, 2003 at 18:02:03 PT
Press Release 
Source: NORML 

Bipartisan Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana Reintroduced In CongressMay 22, 2003 - Washington, DC, USA"States' Rights To Medical Marijuana Act" Grants Leeway To State Legislatures, Would End Bush Administration's Assault On Medical Marijuana Patients
Washington, DC: Republicans Ron Paul (TX) and Dana Rohrabacher (CA), along with Democrats Barney Frank (MA), Janice Schakowsky (IL) and 21 co-sponsors reintroduced legislation today in Congress that permits the use of medicinal marijuana by seriously ill patients.The "States' Rights to Medical Marijuana: bill reschedules marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II under federal law so that physicians may legally prescribe it in states that have legalized the medical use of marijuana under state law. It also permits state legislatures that wish to establish medical marijuana distribution systems the legal authority to do so.NORML's Keith Stroup calls the proposal a streamlined effort to provide medicinal marijuana to those who need it. "Historically, voters and state legislatures have been more receptive to this issue than the federal government. This legislation addresses this paradigm and effectively gets the federal government out of the way of those states that wish to regulate marijuana as a medicine." Since 1996, eight states Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have enacted laws allowing patients to possess and use marijuana medicinally under a doctor's supervision.Passage of the bill would halt federal prosecution of medicinal marijuana patients and their providers in states where the use of physician-approved pot is legal. Since the Bush Administration took office, federal drug enforcement officials have taken action against more than 35 medicinal marijuana patients, cooperatives and providers in California alone.The "States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act" is the second bill introduced in Congress this year addressing the medicinal marijuana issue. In April, Congressmen Sam Farr (D-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced H.R. 1717, the "Truth in Trials Act," which would allow medicinal marijuana patients and providers charged under federal law to introduce evidence at trial that their use of marijuana was for medicinal purposes and/or in accordance with state law. Currently, federal judges will not allow such evidence into testimony because Congress has never determined that marijuana has medical value.For more information, please contact: Keith Stroup, Executive Director of NORML, at (202) 483-5500 or visit: NORML's website at: http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=2204601&type=CODL: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5651CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtmlFirst Ever "Great American Bowl" Next Week NORML Benefit Concert Features Tenacious D, Particle, Bill Maher, Pauly Shore And MoreMay 22, 2003 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: NORML is proud to present the first ever "Great American Bowl" concert next Wednesday, May 28, at the historic Hollywood Palace Theater in Hollywood, California. This event will feature musical acts Tenacious D (featuring Jack Black), Dubcat (featuring members of Hepcat and the Long Beach Dub All Stars), Particle, Fieldy's Dreams (featuring Fieldy from Korn), Whitestarr, and host Bill Maher (host of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher and a member of NORML's Advisory Board). Special guests include Cypress Hill's B-Real, Pauly Shore, Jack Herer, High Times' Steve Bloom, and NORML's own Keith Stroup. Tickets are now available through Ticket Master by phone at: (213) 480-3232 or online at: http://www.ticketmaster.comTicket (and ordering) information is also available on NORML's website at: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5602NORML encourages its supporters in the greater Los Angeles area to join us for this star-studded benefit to stop the senseless persecution of responsible marijuana smokers.For more information or to purchase tickets for this event, please visit: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5608 or contact Kris Krane of NORML at (202) 483-5500.DL: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5654Maryland Medical Marijuana Defense Measure Becomes LawMay 22, 2003 - Annapolis, MD, USAAnnapolis, MD: Governor Robert Ehrlich (R) signed legislation into law today to allow medicinal marijuana patients to raise an "affirmative defense of medical necessity" at trial.Maryland's legislation does not legalize the use or cultivation of medical marijuana by qualified patients. Rather, the law requires the court to consider a patient's use of medical marijuana to be a mitigating factor in marijuana-related state prosecutions. If the patient successfully makes the case at trial that his or her use of marijuana is one of medical necessity, then the maximum penalty allowed by law would be a $100 fine. Existing Maryland law imposes a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1000 for marijuana possession, regardless of the circumstances.The Governor backed the measure despite heavy lobbying from the Bush Administration and Drug Czar John Walters who argued that the medical use of marijuana was "immoral" and a "cruel hoax."NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup praised the Governor's decision, noting, "Governor Ehrlich put the needs of patients before partisan politics. While we recognize that this measure falls short of similar medical marijuana laws in eight other states, it still represents a significant relaxation of existing law, and will offer needed legal protections for sick and dying Marylanders."For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or Keith Stroup of NORML at (202) 483-5500.DL: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5652Md. Gov. Signs Medical Marijuana Bill http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16358.shtmlEhrlich Lowers Fine for Medical Marijuana Users http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16357.shtmlLargest Australian State Okays Clinical Use Of MarijuanaMay 22, 2003 - Sydney, NS, AustraliaSydney, New South Wales: Australians suffering from chronic pain, multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases will have legal access to medicinal marijuana under a four year clinical trail to be run by the New South Wales (NSW) Health Department, state Premiere Bob Carr announced this week. Volunteers in the trial may receive either whole smoked marijuana or sublingual cannabis extracts, Carr said.A British pharmaceutical company expects to receive regulatory approval to market medicinal marijuana extracts later this year.Carr's announcement comes nearly three years after a state-appointed "Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes" recommended "controlled clinical trials" on the medical use of marijuana, and a moratorium on criminal sanctions for patients who used pot therapeutically."Medical evidence supported the proposition [that] marijuana ... can relieve the symptoms of suffering and we have an obligation wherever we can to minimize human pain and human distress," Carr said.Also backing the trials is the NSW branch of the Australian Medical Association, which supports legalizing "the currently prohibited drug in specific medical cases to alleviate patient suffering and facilitate research."Legislation to allow the trial is expected to be enacted by next year.For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or Allen St. Pierre of the NORML Foundation at (202) 483-8751.DL: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5653Australian State To Try Out Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16343.shtmlMarijuana To Be Trialled as Pain Drughttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16342.shtmlSource: NORML Foundation (DC)Published: May 22, 2003Copyright: 2003 NORML Contact: norml norml.org Website: http://www.norml.org/NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- May 15, 2003http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16306.shtmlNORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- May 8, 2003http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16229.shtmlNORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- May 1, 2003http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16139.shtml

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Comment #10 posted by FoM on May 22, 2003 at 22:29:15 PT

Virgil
I just read in one of the lists I receive that they have denied a person a liver transplant because of Cannabis. I believe it was the VA. That means that people that need a liver transplant and gets stabilized because of Cannabis use won't be able to use any or they won't receive a liver when they need one. It's hard to take when you know that a group of people in charge of our destiny in many respects hate so much that they would rather let sick people die even if their was a chance at a new life if a liver was received. That happened to an old friend of ours. He wasn't going to be able to get his liver transplant because he tested positive for Cannabis. If he hadn't been free from Cannabis the next time they tested him he wouldn't have gotten it. He told the Doctor his life was better using Cannabis. He wasn't always feeling sick. They didn't care.
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Comment #9 posted by Virgil on May 22, 2003 at 22:08:24 PT

Canada is blowing in the wind
I do not see how any Supreme Court Justice could defend cannabis prohibition under the Charter of Rights. The Senate Report did not call for the removal of all criminal records for cannabis for nothing. It is as close as they could come to saying "We were wrong."The forces of freedom meet the great Imperialists and the Imperialist snarls. Excuse me, your lies are showing. Uncle Sam does Pinocio with a nose that has grown for 65 years. Dam Sam, quit lying. You look like a mass murderer. The tone of things to come will be different. How will Canada ever rechain Cannabis? It is too cold and dark too often and cannabis is too good an activity to give up. Freedom is for cannabis and the wind will just be blowing smoke.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on May 22, 2003 at 21:43:21 PT

Virgil
It is a good newsletter. How we are acting about the medical marijuana bill being sign by the Governor must make our friends from the Great Wise North think we might be a little whacky. I hope they don't. I know they don't. This is reality for us down here and it is the flip side of the way things are in Canada.I liked this from the article I posted last night called 
Hellfire: Morals Shaped AmericaDuring a conversation, an Australian told an American: “We were the lucky ones. We got the criminals, and you got the Puritans.”This story is passed around as a joke, but it conveys a clear message: Today’s Aussies, descended from England’s deported convicts, are a bawdy, happy-go-lucky, live-and-let-live people — while American society has been shaped by centuries of moralizing and taboos. 

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Comment #7 posted by Virgil on May 22, 2003 at 21:05:52 PT

It is a good newsletter
hempcity entries can be edited for 24 hours unless they change it and they do not spellcheck. Yes, it is a good thing to communicate with the world and tell them our story and listen to theirs.Cannabis Prohibition is over. No more cannabis prohibition for me. It is a hoax that needs disiminating and it needs to carry jury nullification with it. The government speaks of education and the last thing they want is that. It's all a lie. There is no such thing as legal cannabis prohibition. They crossed the Constitional line on October 1, 1937 and have never been beaten back. It is because no one has said there is no legal cannabis prohibition. It is all across the line. Cannabis belongs to the people. The government ignored the Constitution and said you need stamps for that medicine and we won't have them for 65 years, There is no legal cannabis prohibition. It is a hoax forced on ignorant population. The criminals say cannabis is illegal. Put me on a jury and I will say differently. Ask me if I am sincere in regarding them as criminals. You're goddamn right.Leave No Child Behind. Good grief. 
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on May 22, 2003 at 20:42:20 PT

Virgil
That is absolutely great! I hope they like it because I sure do! 
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Comment #5 posted by Virgil on May 22, 2003 at 20:26:51 PT

FoM, here is our chance.
This NORML letter does a great job of summarizing the US test. Now here you have an organization that has long sought free Cannabis for Everyone, they compile a newsletter, and they want help finding it eyeballs. Once I put this up at hempcity, no telling where it will go. Here we see NORML running the informational blockade. If it is a row boat, row. It is 11:04. I will copy and paste and send greetings and leave my card.It is 11:20 and here is my introduction of FoM at HempCity- http://www.hempcity.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=558#558 - along with the the NORML newsletter.
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on May 22, 2003 at 20:04:58 PT

And for Your entertainment pleasure: Ho De Do.
Moroccan hashish journey http://www.hempbc.com/articles/2860.htmlOn the trail of Double Zero, deep in the heart of the Rif.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on May 22, 2003 at 19:12:28 PT

mayan counts 10 with Maryjane.
"AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ME, NV, OR, WA + MD = 10 states with medical marijuana laws...10 states & counting!"=-=
NORML = "eight states Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have enacted laws..." (with Maryjane signing on today).And the winner is mayan with the correct answer of 10 states, taking Us into the double digit age.And yes, this small measure, in Maryland, does not really allow to Us to call it Maryjane, yet.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on May 22, 2003 at 18:37:13 PT

Virgil
Please do put the best story up at Hempcity. It doesn't take long to know what the people want to read. You have to wait and see and listen to what folks say. That's how I'm learning when I pick between different articles during the day. We are a society of always being overloaded. I try to bring that down a peg so we can learn to focus on what will make a difference. I know certain types of articles aren't read as much as others. I don't check much anymore but I feel that I'm posting what people really need to know and miss alot of other good news but this site can only handle so much news or it becomes bogged down I think. 
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Comment #1 posted by Virgil on May 22, 2003 at 18:28:09 PT

The best job is no job
A lesson in polarized opimism. I think I shut some people up over at free republic. When you say hoax and lies and start attacking there is no defense for cannabis prohibition/hoax. When you talk Constitution people take it seriously as well as a swollen and over-the-line federal takeover. I would say hoax and cannabis prohibition are words that people need to macro. The three-letter word to macro is Schedule One Lie and the four-letter word to macro is "It is all a lie.We have to learn to recite the lies and there stories. I wish I could tell you the story of how Alaska legalized cannabis and the feds haavy handed them back to prohibition and the revisionist said that there was this big increase in use, even more than Ritilan has in any five year period since 1985 and have it set for the current reality in conglomerate media.FoM, my feeling is that I should put the best story of the day up at hempcity. Or maybe the best 5 of the week. There is not any stream much of news. Doesn't cannabis.com have an automated Cnews section. Anyway, I want the presence of Cnews links so the world might know what we really think of our real and underfunded reality.If I had time I would hold a chat in paltalk and i am sure as broadband and cameras are more enshrined many of us will meet by camera in Paltalk and the like. If I maintained a website and 4 other ifs, I would take yesterdays news and comments and make it a little paper downloadabe say as a PDF file, with Cnews hyperlinks that utilized the whole page of an8.5 x 11 paper so it might be circulated in an office. Here is yesterday's news and comments from Cnews. School is out kids. Practice your copy and paste and use that Frontpage once in a whil and goddammit make a front page of Cnews for the coffee table before work so that they may talk of the truth while we learn the story of their lies.Well. At least I don't have to read guages. All gauges read zero.
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