cannabisnews.com: Council Should Let Supreme Court Decide MMJ Issue





Council Should Let Supreme Court Decide MMJ Issue
Posted by CN Staff on March 06, 2005 at 22:12:45 PT
Editorial
Source: Modesto Bee
We think the Modesto City Council should let the Supreme Court of the United States handle this one.A minor uproar is developing among some people in the city about the unbelievably quiet opening of a store that sells medicinal marijuana. Yes, dope is being sold openly and, presumably, legally right off McHenry Avenue.
First, we don't think this is cause for undue alarm. Most of the people of President Bush's generation and younger are familiar with the effects of marijuana through their own experimentation (inhaling or not) or through the use of someone they know.Seventy years ago, many people thought smoking "reefer" led straight to heroin addiction and horrifying criminal acts. Few people still hold those beliefs.Many people use marijuana to get high — which remains against the law. Some also misuse prescription drugs for the same reason. But the people who buy marijuana from stores such as the one that opened on McHenry are actually sick. That's why California voters overwhelmingly supported (56 percent to 44 percent) Proposition 215 to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in 1996 — nearly a decade ago.Modesto was more conservative than the rest of the state, but even in the city the vote was extremely close — 16,950 against legalization for medicinal use and 16,354 for it.Passing Proposition 215 was the humane thing to do. It meant those suffering from the blinding effects of glaucoma or the nausea and loss of appetite common to chemotherapy treatment could obtain the one drug that helps them. All they needed was a prescription.Unfortunately, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft didn't agree.Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/mmjissue.htmSource: Modesto Bee, The (CA)Published: March 6, 2005Copyright: 2005 The Modesto BeeContact: letters modbee.comWebsite: http://www.modbee.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Angel Raich v. Ashcroft Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/raich.htm Resolve Issues on Medical Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20329.shtmlCouncil Blocks Marijuana Dispensaryhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20321.shtmlI Really Consider Cannabis My Miraclehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20078.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on March 10, 2005 at 08:37:36 PT
Related Article from The Modesto Bee
City Council Not Just Blowing Smoke Over Marijuana Sales, Use By Jeff Jardine, Bee Local Columnist March 10, 2005Considering their knee-jerk reactions last week, Modesto's City Council members seemed awfully, well, mellow Tuesday by the time they formally addressed the issue of medicinal marijuana shops in town.Medicinal pot, when recommended by licensed physicians, is legal in California. Local municipalities can license or ban the shops where it is sold. When one opened in Modesto recently, it caught the council by surprise and immediately became an agenda item for Tuesday's meeting. From the initial comments, it appeared that the council might immediately vote to ban that kinds of shop.But by the time the session came to order, cooler heads prevailed. By placing a 45-day ban on any new pot shops, the city bought itself some time to research its legal options. Also, by taking a low-key, noncombative approach, council members are on the record as not being predisposed in their opinions about pot shops. And the council didn't forbid them outright. It just imposed a cooling-off period, for the record.In essence, the city gave Modesto's lone shop a 45-day monopoly of the medicinal marijuana market — no different, really, than what it gives Comcast in the cable TV venue.The council listened to those who claim marijuana eases their pain in a way no other narcotic can, and that the Modesto store now saves them a trip to the Bay Area to purchase their pot. And the Internet is loaded with Web pages from people or groups advocating the legalization of marijuana, whether it be for medicinal use or for pleasure.There also are a couple of Web sites from law enforcement agencies opposing legalized marijuana in any form.Since the initial story about the pot shop appeared March 1, I've gotten a couple of calls from elderly readers who said they suffer from arthritis and other ailments. They discovered that smoking a joint eases their pain more effectively than the pill version prescribed by doctors.Both said they would never have used marijuana under any other circumstances, and neither of them even called me "dude."Dr. Robert Levy, a cancer specialist in Modesto, said medical marijuana probably does more to help sufferers' moods than ease their pain. But he doesn't recommend it for his patients because he said there are more effective pain relievers — including Marinol, a pill that has the same THC chemical derivative found in marijuana and eases nausea.Physicians can't legally prescribe marijuana as they do other medications, Levy said. They can only write a note stating that they believe smoking pot might help a patient."That way, we can't be held (legally) responsible," he said.Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.modbee.com/columnists/jardine/story/10100068p-10925652c.html
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on March 09, 2005 at 08:10:48 PT
45-Day Ban on New Pot Stores
Modesto City Council declares existing medical marijuana facility exempt from emergency ordinance. 
 
 
  By Todd Milbourn, Bee Staff WriterMarch 9, 2005An emergency ordinance approved Tuesday night prohibits new medical marijuana stores in Modesto for 45 days — but does not affect a pot store that's operating in a strip mall on McHenry Avenue.At a hearing that featured impassioned pleas from patients who use marijuana, council members voted 6-0 in favor of the temporary ban, saying it would give them time to figure out how to best regulate such stores."Our concern is not about the medical use of mari-juana," Councilman Brad Hawn said, "but the potential issues around that."Patients still will be able to get their marijuana prescriptions filled at the California Healthcare Collective, which moved to the strip mall last week after several months of quiet operation in a McHenry Avenue store closer to downtown.California voters, by approving Proposition 215 in 1996, gave people the right to secure prescription marijuana to alleviate pain.No council member challenged that right. Instead, council members said they wanted to find the best way to handle marijuana stores in the community."I don't want one next to a park, next to a church, next to a school," Councilman Garrad Marsh said.After the hearing, several opponents of the ban said they were disappointed with the council's action but felt it was something they could live with.Laura Bell of Modesto said she's fine with the city regulating, policing and taxing such stores. "But when you're making these decisions, just don't think of these people as all teens hanging out on the corner. Think about that grandmother lying in bed who needs it to cope," she said.Robert Blanchard of Ceres, who suffered a neck injury and uses a wheelchair, said the availability of legal pot in Modesto keeps him and others from having to drive to the Bay Area for their prescriptions. Blanchard said he receives more relief from smoking marijuana than popping an array of pills."These pills rot my stomach," Blanchard said. "Not taking them means I might live longer."Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.modbee.com/local/story/10094129p-10920109c.html
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on March 07, 2005 at 16:40:46 PT
mayan
I know you don't care but I really try to be fair. That's just my nature. Thanks again!
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Comment #4 posted by mayan on March 07, 2005 at 16:25:44 PT
FoM
It's up to you if you ever want to put me as the newshawk. It doesn't matter if I get credit or not. I post the links simply to share information and I don't get an ego boost about it. 
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on March 07, 2005 at 10:51:30 PT
Pot Shots: The Cannabinoid Messenger
March 7, 2005By Fred GardnerIn recent years it's been learned that cannabinoids are released from the cell to which signals are being sent, travel back to the cell doing the sending, and convey "tone it down." There's something satisfying about the likeness between how cannabinoids work on the neuronal level -toning down signals depending on the need downstream- and their overall modulating effect on the mind and body. A Scientific American article reprinted in the Spring 2005 O'Shaughnessy's explains this "retrograde messenger" process in detail. Even before the biochemists reached their current level of understanding, Tod Mikuriya, MD, inferred from the effects cannabis has on people that its mode of action was unique and that it modulated multiple systems within the body. Mikuriya presented a poster at the 2001 ICRS meeting explaining why "sedative," and "hallucinogen" were inadequate descriptions, and proposing that cannabis be categorized as an "easement" and listed on a schedule of its own. Complete Article: http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner03072005.html
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on March 06, 2005 at 23:22:40 PT
Mayan
Thank you for the MMJ article. I forgot to put your name as Newshawk. I'm sorry about that.
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Comment #1 posted by mayan on March 06, 2005 at 23:00:37 PT
Watching & Waiting
We think the Modesto City Council should let the Supreme Court of the United States handle this one.The SCOTUS will let the states handle this one...if the supremes have any respect for The Constitution. If they don't it will be clear for all to see.unrelated...Medical marijuana? Yes, in the name of compassion:
http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/article_17338.shtmlFor the U.S., the drug war is still an uphill battle: 
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/06/news/drug.htmlCanadians debate marijuana laws after Mounties killed:
http://www.brunet.bn/news/bb/mon/mar7w34.htmTHE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Bell Calls 9/11 Skeptics 'Wingnuts' - Tells Them To Leave:
http://rense.com/general63/wingnuts.htmMe, Art Bell, and 9/11:
http://69.28.73.17/thornarticles/artbell911.htmlIn Defense Of Jeff Rense...
http://rense.com/general63/desf.htm9/11 Is Still A Cry For Help:
http://rense.com/general63/cry.htmPROJECT CENSORED: Threshold Fears and Unanswered Questions about 9/11:
http://911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=497&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0Hunter S. Thompson on 9/11 - Realplayer audio-transcript:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/09/144645.phpGerman Engineers on 9/11:
http://home.debitel.net/user/andreas.bunkahle/defaulte.htm
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