cannabisnews.com: Getting Carded





Getting Carded
Posted by CN Staff on April 22, 2007 at 05:50:30 PT
By David Rubien
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco, CA -- I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me sooner to treat my condition with medical marijuana. I have the journalist's disease -- repetitive strain injury, which results from excessive or nonergonomic typing and mouse use. When the RSI acts up, my fingers tingle and an electrical sensation radiates up my arms, causing nagging pain in the rotator cuff area, prompting me to compulsively poke at the spot.
When the problem was at its worst, in the mid- to late '90s, California had recently passed Prop. 215 -- the Compassionate Use Act -- an epochal measure that legalized marijuana for medical purposes, but gave no direction on how patients were to obtain it.So the infirm, doctors and pot growers were on their own. Medical pot pioneers had set up a few medical marijuana dispensaries even before Prop. 215 passed in 1996. Federal and state authorities shut them down often, but the dispensaries blazed the basic path that is followed to this day. Reading stories about Dennis Peron's prototype dispensary on Market Street, the Cannabis Buyers' Club, which went through several incarnations in an almost Groucho Marxian two-step of eluding law enforcement, I assumed that only seriously ill people, people with cancer or AIDS, were entitled to medical marijuana. My RSI was being treated in traditional ways -- occupational physical therapy, stretching, attention to proper ergonomics, Tylenol and a few months of weekly acupuncture. If someone at the time had suggested I try smoking pot to alleviate my RSI, I probably would have laughed at him. Smoking pot gets you high. How could you get any work done stoned? Certainly I couldn't. I can't even follow street signs when I'm stoned. Pot as medicine just didn't track for me. I compartmentalized it as something used for another purpose -- just like alcohol. At the same time, it seemed beyond absurd that the federal government was banning pot for medical use. Cannabis is classified as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning the weed is seen as having no medical value. It never can be prescribed, and anyone using or selling it can go to prison for years, even for life, depending on quantity. The Schedule 1 category also contains heroin and LSD. Even cocaine and morphine, classified as Schedule 2, can be prescribed. Yet there are reams of evidence that cannabis has medicinal value. Years went by since Prop. 215 passed, and pot clubs were sprouting like the weed they purveyed. By 2005 there were more than 40 dispensaries in San Francisco. The fact that the feds were busting clubs regularly didn't seem to slow them down a whit. Politicians such as Mark Leno, Tom Ammiano and Chris Daly, far from backing down in the face of federal threats, were becoming more determined to get medical pot into the hands of people who claimed to need it. "We have a federal government that is completely disrespectful to the will of the voters of California but also disrespectful to public sentiment throughout the country," Leno, now a state assemblyman representing San Francisco, told me. "Sick people are going to jail -- it's shameful. Don't these people have enough meth labs to go bust?"  Snipped:Complete Article: http://tinyurl.com/2tffqlSource: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: David RubienPublished: Sunday, April 22, 2007Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Marijuana.orghttp://www.marijuana.org/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #38 posted by Hope on April 22, 2007 at 21:40:08 PT
Great Wikipedia article, Whig. Thanks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_reduction
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Comment #37 posted by Hope on April 22, 2007 at 16:03:50 PT
"Did I do violence with my words?"
I think not, Whig.
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Comment #36 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 16:00:15 PT
Now, the question
Does cannabis do mental harm to humans?I would answer right here, but I want others to answer it. Do you know of anyone who has been done mental harm by cannabis? Can you present them and their case? Will we document one instance?There is a time limit.
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Comment #35 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 15:57:13 PT
prescription withdrawal aids
Addicts are frequently put on medications while withdrawing from other drugs. The question is not whether to do this, but what is the best medicine.
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Comment #34 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 15:55:09 PT
Harm reduction
I believe that cannabis is a safer alternative to dangerous drugs of abuse. I believe that it can be part of a system of rehabilitation of addicts. It is necessary to give some remedy for the dysphoria at the very least, and cannabis has no demonstrated physical harm to humans.
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Comment #33 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 15:50:42 PT
Harm reduction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_reduction
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Comment #32 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 15:40:02 PT
Hope
I know that words can deliver harm. Sometimes I have no way to avoid it, or even to remain silent will do some harm. I am a harm reductionist. That is the fundamental base of my action.
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Comment #31 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 14:21:04 PT
Hope
Let him speak for himself, then. If he is still here and wants to express his belief system, maybe we will have more to say about it without being offensive to FoM.Did I do violence with my words?
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Comment #30 posted by Hope on April 22, 2007 at 14:16:43 PT
Christian Jewish people.
Zuckerman may not be "reformed" or Christian. I don't recall him ever mentioning it.He may not personally feel the need to seek, and follow the ways of Christ, or our hope to allow Him to be reflected, if possible, in ourselves.Maybe something about our "reflection" will be a "light" to him to see where you are and what you represent and he might be able to "see" to get to that place in a gentler place...and...maybe not. I've found that words can easily appear to deliver a verbal "backhand", Whig. Easily.
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Comment #29 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 14:16:03 PT
God's mistakes are not mistakes
Considered from the perspective of outside of time, all of this is part of the process of our learning how to handle our own power. We cannot do that without making mistakes, but it is not a parental mistake to allow children to fall sometimes.
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Comment #28 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 14:15:08 PT
We make mistakes
All of us, if we did not, if any of us were truly perfect, and our words were perfect, and not a single atom of them disturbed, we would follow them without freedom.God wants us to be alive, to be God's hands and his eyes and his ears and his thoughts. We cannot do that by following any dead letters, we must recreate in our own image, using those as guideposts for our interpretation and understanding.
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Comment #27 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 14:12:58 PT
necessary evil
Men and women have free will, and we have to choose to do good if we are to be good. Paul's epistles were to those who he was trying to persuade to become good. He had to make himself understood to their context.He wrote in his own hand, his own words, inspired though they were, as ours are inspired as we write our words in our own hands today.
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Comment #26 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 14:11:18 PT
Hope
Paul is forgiven, of course. :)
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Comment #25 posted by Hope on April 22, 2007 at 14:09:09 PT
Comment 2
Almost laughing...I certainly do not agree with every thing Paul writes...and I keep him in historical place and time. I realize who he was talking to and I understand that he was in a place more like the modern middle east than most Christian communities, today.Paul was a very, very angry man. He was a very proud man. He was a hard man. He reigned himself back...and not always completely successfully. Remember when he wanted the knife to slip on some guys and they would just go ahead and imasculate themselves?He admitted to having a serious "Thorn in his side"...and I suspect he wasn't referring to chronic appendicitis or an ulcerated colon.Laughing at myself, "Modern middle east above." He was there. He was in the old middle east.
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Comment #24 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 14:02:43 PT
He did not stop persecuting
Judge the tree by the fruit.
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Comment #23 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 14:00:51 PT
Cannabis prohibition, then and now
Saul was a persecutor, who was told to stop persecuting, and he did so -- but he still denied the sacrament. He blamed the Jews. He was a persecutor. He was a Roman. He.
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Comment #22 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 13:59:20 PT
Hope
Paul was a prohibitionist.
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Comment #21 posted by Hope on April 22, 2007 at 13:49:51 PT
"Epistles" is a cool word.
To me, anyway.Paul closed one, "In my own hand. This is how I write......"
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on April 22, 2007 at 13:48:19 PT
I am listening to Paul's letters to the
Thessalonians. I'm really enjoying it. Hearing and reading them. The "Epistles of Paul". That's cool. "Epistles" is a cool word.
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Comment #19 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 13:06:00 PT
FoM
I think there are different kinds of people, some who like living in high places, some like living on the sea, some in the forest, and some on a farm. It's nice to visit one another, but we live where we do because we like different things. :)
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on April 22, 2007 at 12:30:34 PT
whig
I'm sure you are right but I love the country so that is what I would love to see. I could never live in a city. I was born with a country set mind I think. Give me land lots of land far away from the world. That was always my dream. My first husband wanted us to move to New York. I never could have made it there. My mind needs quiet. 
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Comment #17 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 12:26:56 PT
Actually
Most days we just go where we can on foot... There's enough places around here we can get to by walking.
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Comment #16 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 12:25:30 PT
FoM
My wife doesn't really like driving, and I don't. Also it's a bit of a pain to drive across the Bay. One of these days I'll convince her we need to take the car on a trip to some places around, but mostly we just go where we can by public transportation unless we're going to visit family or friends where we have to drive to get there.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on April 22, 2007 at 12:22:37 PT
whig
I think driving thru that area  would be fun if I lived out there. Neil owns 1500 acres and it's very isolated but the roads that he showed in the movie Greendale looked gorgeous with all the trees and greenery.
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Comment #14 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 12:16:41 PT
FoM
I've never been to Woodside. It looks like it's midway between San Francisco and San Jose on the southern peninsula.
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on April 22, 2007 at 12:14:30 PT
whig
Thank you. Neil lives near Woodside, CA. From the videos I have seen of that area it is absolutely beautiful.
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Comment #12 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 12:05:00 PT
FoM
Well, it's like this... There are two peninsulas which nearly enclose a body of water, called the San Francisco Bay. The south peninsula is San Francisco, the north peninsula is Marin county. They are connected by the Golden Gate Bridge.If you go east across the Bay, over bridge or ferry or under the water by BART train, the major city on the mainland is Oakland. If you go south until you reach the end of the Bay, there is another city which is actually the largest population in the area, called San Jose.
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Comment #11 posted by Truth on April 22, 2007 at 12:02:52 PT
The three articles
all appeared in the magazine section of the Sunday Cronic.This was the best of the three articles, the others are loaded with untruths and discriminatory slang. The editor, explaining the three articles, was calling cannabis "dope" in the first paragraph. She should be ashamed.It's funny, or maybe it isn't, the one other article in the magazine was on the alcohol and fine food of a local restruant. It starts with a glorified photo of the bartender pouring a martini to the smiles of a patron. They comment on "Wines, spirits take flight at Cesar". I thought this all clashed dupicitly with comments they made about cannabis in the articles. They mocked the way breeders try to emulate wine makers. It's glorious for the wine makers to come up with new flavors of something that is quite poisonous but they made fun of the gardeners for doing the same with a substance that has never killed. Isn't life a valuble thing? Shouldn't it be a factor?Alcohol and cigarettes kill.Cannabis heals!
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on April 22, 2007 at 11:42:16 PT
whig
Thanks you. I knew Oakland was next to San Francisco but I can only visualize it. I was in San Francisco only one time. I've been to LA a couple of times so I'm more familiar with LA.
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Comment #9 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 11:37:55 PT
FoM
Just for what it's worth -- those pictures are from Oakland. It's a different city from San Francisco, just across the Bay. People in other parts of the country often don't realize that.
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Comment #8 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 11:36:01 PT
Hope
I don't forget that it's not this way elsewhere. Why do you think I have been trying so hard to end cannabis prohibition everywhere?
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on April 22, 2007 at 11:26:58 PT
Great pictures.
Great pictures. God be with all those brave enough to be in them. They are beautiful.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 22, 2007 at 11:23:49 PT
Hope
The three articles do seem important. San Francisco is the most progressive of cities and it shows the rest of the USA that it's ok to try something different. Fear of change paralyzes growth. We are so backward compared to many countries. I hope we grow up soon.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on April 22, 2007 at 11:16:22 PT
Looking at those pictures
This must be a very prominent, important article. 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 22, 2007 at 10:46:57 PT
Pictures from The San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?o=0&f=/c/a/2007/04/22/CMGK8OSSAA1.DTL
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on April 22, 2007 at 10:14:20 PT
Oh, Zandor. Comment 1
That is so very true in so many instances. It's EXACTLY true in some situations. They are "insulted" by these sick people who dare to "insult" them. They have actually made themselves be able to completely despise anyone who would dare insult them by breaking their delightfully "perfect" law. They are hired henchmen for someone above them. They are not thinking. They are following orders. I'm so very glad that you, Whig, are so blessed to be where you are. Don't forget, Whig, where you came from. And some places are worse. Much worse than even that less good place you were able to migrate from.You are truly blessed.
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Comment #2 posted by whig on April 22, 2007 at 09:51:05 PT
Zandor
It is not that way in the Bay Area. I feel that I am at virtually no risk of arrest, and I speak rather openly of using medical cannabis.
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Comment #1 posted by Zandor on April 22, 2007 at 09:30:57 PT
Why sick people going to jail?
"Leno, now a state assemblyman representing San Francisco, told me. "Sick people are going to jail -- it's shameful. Don't these people have enough meth labs to go bust?""Drug dealers have guns and shoot back so there is risk to police to bust them. Medical Marijuana smokers are kind, good people who don't pose a risk to the officers to arrest. The arrest records looks good on paper and there is little to no risk of being shot at. Most medical users can't run and it's hard to put up a fight when you are sick & dieing.That is why they bust medical marijuana users, we are easy pickings.I wish it was not that way but it is.
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