cannabisnews.com: Oshkosh Legislator To Lead Push 










  Oshkosh Legislator To Lead Push 

Posted by CN Staff on August 05, 2004 at 09:23:00 PT
By Samara Kalk Derby  
Source: Capital Times 

Gary Storck of the local organization Is My Medicine Legal YET? says more than 80 percent of Wisconsin residents polled by Chamberlain Research Associates two years ago said they would support a state law allowing seriously or terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes if supported by their physician. Rep. Gregg Underheim, R-Oshkosh, chairman of the state Assembly's Public Health Committee, sponsored such a bill last session. The bill died but Underheim said this week he is interested in pursuing it again next session.
The initial bill was flawed, he said."First, it talked about letting doctors prescribe (marijuana) and I've discovered that is not something that is done in any other states. They recommend rather than prescribe and they advise rather than prescribe," he said.The thorny problem still is how to create access to medical marijuana."In other states you allow people to grow it themselves, and I was reluctant to take that step in Wisconsin. But if it's going to be available, we've got to create access for it."Underheim said he supports medical marijuana legislation because of a serious body of research that shows the medical benefit of cannibanoids, which are the active ingredients in marijuana. Some of the cannibanoids are intoxicating, some are not, he said.  The positive effects include quelling nausea, pain relief, appetite stimulus for AIDS patients, and benefits for people with multiple sclerosis, he said."There are a number of positive uses and I think it's reasonable to explore them," Underheim said.Source: Capital Times, The (WI)Author: Samara Kalk Derby, The Capital TimesPublished: August 5, 2004 Copyright: 2004 The Capital TimesContact: tctvoice madison.comWebsite: http://www.captimes.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Is My Medicine Legal Yet? http://www.immly.org/Medical Marijuana Advocates Praise Bill http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18409.shtmlPolitical Fears May Stymie Pot Legislation http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18079.shtml 

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Comment #4 posted by elfman_420 on August 05, 2004 at 13:17:04 PT

what's the best way to go about providing access?
"In other states you allow people to grow it themselves, and I was reluctant to take that step in Wisconsin. But if it's going to be available, we've got to create access for it."If "they" provide access for it, they will have hundreds of plants on their hands. Watchout for the feds on this one..If individuals grow it, at what point can, or would, the feds step in? I don't believe they would (or can?) step-in in the case of 1 or a few plants, have they? Do they have a minimum?
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Comment #2 posted by CorvallisEric on August 05, 2004 at 12:08:36 PT

PS to comment 1
The Arizona stuff is on page A-11 (screen page 33) of the MPP report.A lot of journalists seem to be unaware of the Arizona problem and continue to list it among the states with "medical marijuana laws." Arizona's drug-reform history is very convoluted and shows the difficulty of doing anything in a "conservative" state.
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Comment #1 posted by CorvallisEric on August 05, 2004 at 11:56:00 PT

Please get it right
The initial bill was flawed, he said. --- "First, it talked about letting doctors prescribe (marijuana) and I've discovered that is not something that is done in any other states. They recommend rather than prescribe and they advise rather than prescribe," he said.I hate to sound like an old crank, but I don't understand how this kind of mistake (prescribing instead of recommending) can be made long after Arizona's botched initiative.Anyone unfamiliar with the Arizona problem can read the new (July 19, 2004) MPP state-by-state medical marijuana report. It's a 2.4 megabyte PDF file of 137 pages obviously intended more for printing than screen reading. See http://mpp.org/releases/nr071904.html to download. On Arizona Props. 200 and 300:Current Law: Similar to other state medical marijuana initiatives, but uses the word “prescribe” rather than “recommend.” Because of this narrow language, patients do 
not have legal protection. Prescriptive authority is controlled by the federal government, which does not permit marijuana prescriptions. Therefore, a valid prescription cannot be obtained.
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