cannabisnews.com: Governor Reiterates Opposition To Med Marijuana Governor Reiterates Opposition To Med Marijuana Posted by CN Staff on May 06, 2004 at 13:54:05 PT By Tim McCaHill, Associated Press Writer Source: Associated Press Montpelier, Vt. -- Gov. James Douglas repeated his concerns about medical marijuana on Thursday, one day after a House committee approved a bill that would exempt patients with certain illnesses from arrest for using the drug. The governor said the bill passed by the House Health and Welfare Committee was better because it was more "contained" than an earlier version approved last year by the Senate. But Douglas stopped short of saying whether he'd sign the bill if it passes both chambers and ends up on his desk. "Let's see what the legislative process brings," Douglas told reporters at his weekly press conference. The revised bill is more restrictive than the Senate-passed version, permitting only patients with cancer, AIDS, HIV or multiple sclerosis whose symptoms haven't responded to other kinds of treatment to grow a limited amount of marijuana inside a "secure indoor facility." Patients and their caregivers would also have to apply and register for the program with the Department of Public Safety. Chief among the governor's concerns about the measure is that federal law considers marijuana an illegal substance, something he said could put the state at loggerheads with the U.S. government. "There's a collision between federal and state law if something is enacted by the General Assembly," Douglas said. Endorsing the medical marijuana bill would also send a "mixed message" to Vermont's youth, he said, adding that the measure runs counter to the lessons he has brought to the state's school children about staying drug- and alcohol-free. The governor did acknowledge the support for the medical marijuana bill. "There's a lot of interest in it, and a lot of folks across Vermont seem to support it," Douglas said. Douglas also told reporters about his testimony Wednesday in front of a federal task force on drug reimportation in Washington. He said he urged the task force to recommend that states be allowed to import low-cost prescription drugs from Canada. Douglas has been reluctant to flout federal law, which doesn't explicitly permit drugs made in the U.S. to be sold in Canada then reimported at a reduced cost, and he made clear that he'll wait until Congress makes the system legal. "What I want to do is get the law of the United States changed," he said. Douglas' Democratic opponent in the race for governor, Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle, criticized Douglas for being "tepid" on the issue of drug reimportation. "The state could provide some leadership, and some relief" to Vermonters dealing with the rising cost of prescription drugs, Clavelle said in an interview Thursday. Burlington has an agreement with a Canadian company that allows city employees to buy prescription drugs from that country by mail order. The mayor also was critical of Douglas' stance on medical marijuana. "It's been interesting to watch the governor wring his hands over this issue," said Clavelle, whose constituents in March voted overwhelmingly to support the legalization of marijuana for medical use. Source: Associated Press Author: Tim McCaHill, Associated Press WriterPublished: May 6, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Associated Press Related Articles & Web Sites:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Transcript: Hearing On Medical Marijuanahttp://freedomtoexhale.com/hearing.htmMMJ Law Heads To Vermont House for Votehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18808.shtmlHouse May Tighten Rules on Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18651.shtmlMedical Pot Law Opposed by Douglas http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15583.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #19 posted by potpal on May 07, 2004 at 09:31:13 PT news link Noticed that there the 'submit' option is gone? Been out of the loop...http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/336/florida.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by FoM on May 07, 2004 at 08:35:40 PT Just A Note I think a bad storm is rolling in so I need to get off line. I haven't found any news to post so far but I will post news as soon as I find some and the storm passes. Have a great weekend everyone! [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by FoM on May 07, 2004 at 08:30:56 PT Long Haired Freaky People Need not apply!So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why! [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by Dankhank on May 07, 2004 at 08:03:00 PT Signs ....... Sign, Sign everywhere a sign Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind Do this, Don't do that, can't you read the sign?"Five Man Electrical Band"If you think you own everything as a citizen and taxpayer, try sticking a "free the weed sign," or any sign, on the lawn of your local Federal Building ..... Resist [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by afterburner on May 07, 2004 at 06:31:40 PT no trespassin' "As I was walkin', I saw a sign there, And that sign said no trespassin', But on the other side, It didn't say nothin! Now that side was made for you and me!"--This Land is Your Land (by Woody Guthrie) http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/thisland.htm [Adjust your volume. Sound is quite loud.]'For me personally, Woody is my hero of heroes and the only person on earth that I will go to my grave regretting that I never met. When I invoked his name in "Christmas in Washington," I meant it. Clinton was being re-elected in a landslide and I had voted for him and I wasn't sure why and I needed something to hang on to, someone to say something. I needed, well...a hero.' --Woody Guthrie by Steve Earle http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030721&s=earle [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by kaptinemo on May 07, 2004 at 04:22:30 PT: He may well have had a stroke or seizure Report - Bush Suffered A Past 'Seizure' http://www.rense.com/general52/bsei.htmThis is no lauging matter at all. If he truly is incapable, then Cheney is, as the article makes clear, the *de facto* President.Not that is seems to make much difference anyway... [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by BGreen on May 06, 2004 at 21:36:41 PT A Defective Robot w/ Blinking and Speaking Prob's "We are appalled. That is not America. We are appalled. That is not America. We are appalled. That is not America."Torture and death *IS* BUSHS' version of America and I am APPALLED!The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by FoM on May 06, 2004 at 21:04:58 PT Sam He is ah ah. He is ah ah. I want to help him find words to speak. Today I thought he was having a stroke or something during his apology. I really did. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by Sam Adams on May 06, 2004 at 20:26:27 PT cannabis as bellwether I've said this before, cannabis is merely the canary in the coalmine - an indicator of larger societal problems. False pride indeed. Also, a total lack of leadership. Forget marijuana, what kind of role model is this? "Let's see what the legislative process brings," Douglas told reporters at his weekly press conference.Is this how leaders are supposed to act? Working his whole life to reach the pinnacle of Vermont political power, and he's going to "see what the legislative process brings?"I think that's why this election and the last one had people voting strictly along party lines - there is absolutely ZERO appeal by the 2 candidates. Gore and Bush. Bush and Kerry. Democrats voted for Reagan in massive numbers because he was a compelling leader. He exuded leadership. (I disagree with many of his positions, but I can totally respect his leadership ability - mainly acting on strong personal convictions).Virgil you're totally right - we've got a friggin' dunce for a president! He can't even form sentences! Isn't anyone else insulted by that? What kind of system do we have that yields this result? [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Virgil on May 06, 2004 at 17:41:51 PT Time stands still for no man The governor would be wise to abandon support for the War for prohibition. On my side of the War we call it the War against prohibition, so I will use the term my people use instead of the forked tongue prohibitionist that cannot even use the word prohibition. They even call the War for Prohibition the twisted term, War on Drugs. They can't even define what the word drugs means here. They used to go around clucking, "Just say no." But time is marching on and the world is in revolt against the imperialism, aggression, lies of the American terrorist that call people that oppose American hedgemony and control of the world terrorist. Now that the government of the people has been overthrown and a more perfect union is not relevant the fascists want to make it a death penalty for anyone that opposes federal policy that results in a death. Now I do not know what the specifics of this death penalty are but it sounds like when a federal plant shoots someone in a protest everyone can be executed. Anyway, the way it seems to me is that if you oppose the fascists that want ot sell THC for $800,000 a pound and collect sales tax to you would be opposing a federal policy of the treasonists. So if you want to make a better country or world, the Nazis want to kill you because that is comletely unrelevant in their world where money is to evaporate up and misery trickle down.But people are stupid. You would think that when a pResident cannot even talk they would know something is wrong. But not yet. The hate radio stations that speak of a mythological liberal media are doing us a favor in our War Against Prohibition or W.A.P., not to be confused with a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant that believes in a lot of different mythologies. Now hear in the WAP camp we call it a controlled media. You will be hearing the word controlled media more and more often as the dumbasses that go around hating a media they call liberal are going to be called dumbasses and they will be corrected to teach them that we have a controlled media.I think that as the soldiers develop in the WAP we will see thoughts and minutae cut off and the dreaded word of prohibition will come up. We will hear some demonizing of laughing grass and we will turn the subject to the evils of prohibition. Laughing grass defends itself as an unalienable right that include parts of the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to pursue happiness. It sure is hard to defend prohibition. The controlled media has been complicit in the survival of Cannabis Prohibition without even using the word prohibition.Now tell me your definition of drugs and why alcohol and tobacco are ignored? Can you define medicine? Now tell me how you defend prohibition before I educate you with some reality.Somebody better tell that treasonous Kerry, there will be be plenty of people to bring it on in this War Against Prohibition that he treasonously defends. Kerry and Busch both are treasonist. Kerry is only taller and can talk in complete sentences if you can stand to listen to him bore on. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by afterburner on May 06, 2004 at 17:28:52 PT Yes, BTW, It's the United *States* of America I remember seeing a sign at the Post Office saying, "US Government property - No Trespassing" and thinking, government of the people, by the people, for the people: this post office belongs to us."This land is your land, this land is my land, From California to the New York Island, From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters, This land was made for you and me!" --Woody Guthrie http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3448/thisl1.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by kaptinemo on May 06, 2004 at 16:54:05 PT: Look South and West, Governor Specifically at Hawai'i and Maryland, for their legislatures did indeed pass their MMJ laws...and the Feds haven't done diddley. The Feds know what kind of an explosion they'd get if they tried to make good on their threats against the sovereign States to withhold monies for repair of roads.First off, in case many didn't know, those are FEDERAL interstate highways. Their original purpose was to act as conduits for MILITARY CONVOY VEHICLES. Don't believe me? Look it up yourself. Here, I'll ake it easy for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Highway_SystemSo, it's the FED'S responsibility to maintain them, not the States'.As to local roads, well, here we *do* get into some trouble. But only because of the nature of the taxation system itself. It no longer is 'apportioned' according to State population but is (unConstitutionally) withdrawn from every wage earner. A demand by the various States for a return to the Constitutional process of apportionment would allow for those States that have a greater population base and a concimitantly larger need for road maintenence to take care of their citizen's requirements. And it would incidentally reduce the tax burdens of those citizens residing in less populous States with lesser requirements.I repeat: the Feds face massive opposition from all the States should they try this gambit of with-holding funds. The States are already strapped financially and have not received an iota of sustenence from the Feds. They are accustoming themselves with making do with substantially less...and their citizens are now questioning what they ever needed such Fed interference in their local affairs for if they are receiving nothing in return.The Feds would do well to remember that this is *truly* the voice of the people manifesting itself, in their legislatures, as they were originally intended to function, and behave accordingly. After all, that *is* what democracy is all about, isn't it? [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on May 06, 2004 at 16:28:20 PT Sam and Everyone I appreciate all of you very much. I don't just appreciate all of you but I'm proud of all of you too. These are hard times. Usually I have music on but these last few days I have kept the news on. What we've seen and heard has torn us all apart. We want to change a very outdated and unjust law over a plant and millions and millions of tax payers money ( that's us ) have been thrown away trying to eliminate a God Given Plant from this earth. By us I mean every organization and individual that has worked hard for change. Our leaders have a great deal of false pride. Pride comes before a fall. Are we the only ones that understand? [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by BGreen on May 06, 2004 at 16:27:35 PT The Multi-Billion Dollar Alcohol Industry DOESN'T send a mixed message to kids?Endorsing the medical marijuana bill would also send a "mixed message" to Vermont's youth, he said, adding that the measure runs counter to the lessons he has brought to the state's school children about staying drug- and alcohol-free.WHAT?Booze ads everywhere, on billboards, TV, race cars, but MEDICINE FOR SICK PEOPLE will confuse the kids?These people are unbelievable liars.The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Sam Adams on May 06, 2004 at 16:07:51 PT He's got no balls Coward!!Sorry, I couldn't help myself. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by dongenero on May 06, 2004 at 15:08:19 PT then just get out of the way Hopefully the voters will just route this ding-a-ling out of office in the next election. Oh, and if he really wanted to change the federal laws on this stuff, he'd realize it's only going to happen from the bottom up. The voters are speaking, now I think they just need to pick up a big stick. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by RasAric on May 06, 2004 at 14:57:46 PT Mixed message to the kids?....here we go again This guy needs to stop playing God and remember that he is a public servant. I suppose that tylenol 3 must be telling our kids that opium is good for recreational use.Wait, on second thoughts, I have an idea... Any drug that has a remote possibility of being used recreationally should be criminalized and no one should be allowed to use it, and stiff criminal penalties should be imposed if they do. After all, those aids, MS, and glaucoma patients are just trying to make it legal for all those other hippies. They need to just suck it up, and learn to deal with the pain. Right Governor Douglas? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by afterburner on May 06, 2004 at 14:48:30 PT Get Real, Gov. James Douglas 'Endorsing the medical marijuana bill would also send a "mixed message" to Vermont's youth, [Vt. Gov. James Douglas] said, adding that the measure runs counter to the lessons he has brought to the state's school children about staying drug- and alcohol-free.' OK, so it is no longer acceptable for Americans to get ill and to then need medicine or "drugs" in the slurious language of government-enforced health care? God bless the youth and may they be gifted with good health all their lives, but if illness strikes, let us not treat them as criminals or sinners. Do you have no pharmacies, AKA "drug stores" in your state, Governor Douglas? How will Vermont ever be drug-free unless you close them all down, and then the hospitals? So much for a compassionate society, the Geneva Conventions, and respect for our elders. "Where is the love?" [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 06, 2004 at 14:04:15 PT When Will They Stop Fighting What The People Want? What does medical marijuana use hurt? How many people would it help? Why isn't the Governor worrying about a serious issue instead of fretting over a plant? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment