cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Progress





Medical Marijuana Progress
Posted by CN Staff on September 02, 2008 at 05:52:56 PT
Editorial
Source: Appeal-Democrat
California -- When we read the first headlines, we were concerned that California Attorney General Jerry Brown had become part of the campaign to subvert California's medical marijuana laws by recommending that police go after so-called medical marijuana dispensaries more aggressively. Having read the actual guidelines, however, we believe they are not perfect but potentially useful — at least to state law enforcement people who want to do their job properly rather than seeking to nullify the law.
Our main problem with Brown's guidelines has to do with his contention, as stated in the summary, that the "guidelines affirm the legality of medical marijuana collectives and cooperatives, but make clear that such entities cannot be operated for profit." Proposition 215, the initiative approved by voters in 1996, does not ban profit, and that law can only be changed by a vote of the people, not by a legislative enactment or a set of guidelines from the attorney general.That issue will no doubt be settled through litigation, as have many of the issues that created the circumstances that made it advisable for the attorney general to issue guidelines to clarify the legal climate. California courts have already affirmed, for example, that limits on the number of plants a patient may possess amount to an illegitimate amendment of Prop. 215 and therefore have no legal standing. The stipulation in the attorney general's guidelines that dispensaries must be nonprofit cooperatives or collectives rather than profit-making enterprises is likely to suffer the same fate.That quibble aside, Brown's guidelines are useful and constructive. They make it clear that California law permits patients with a valid recommendation from a physician to possess, use and acquire marijuana, and that dispensaries that keep proper records and exist to serve patients rather than being fronts for illicit drug distribution are also legal. Kris Hermes of the patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access says he thinks most dispensaries already follow Brown's guidelines, and some that don't will require only a few tweaks to be completely legal.The main problem is that marijuana is still completely prohibited by federal law, and federal agents still have the power to enforce that law. As the U.S. Supreme Court and several lower courts have acknowledged, however, the fact that federal law is still utterly unreasonable has not invalidated California law. State and local officials are duty-bound to enforce state law, not federal law.Attorney General Brown's guidelines should make this admittedly sometimes confusing task a little easier. Now it is up to local law enforcement agencies to follow them in good faith and leave federal law enforcement to the feds.Note: State guidelines for dispensaries are helpful.Source: Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA)Published: September 02, 2008Copyright: 2008 Appeal-DemocratContact: http://tinyurl.com/4cyhzoWebsite: http://www.appeal-democrat.comCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #30 posted by Hope on September 05, 2008 at 07:00:14 PT
Thank you, Bro Green AND
Sister Green! :0)
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #29 posted by Hope on September 05, 2008 at 06:58:24 PT
Thank you, BGreen
It's very rough. The surgeon told her before the surgery there was less than a ten percent chance she would even survive the surgery. The other alternative was that she would die in a few days from infection. He said she told him to do the surgery because she'd rather go out fighting than to just lie there waiting to die. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #28 posted by BGreen on September 05, 2008 at 02:30:44 PT
Hope
Mrs. Green and I send our prayers and best wishes for your grandma.I'm really sorry she has to go through this.Brother and Sister Green
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #27 posted by FoM on September 04, 2008 at 20:18:53 PT
Hope
That's a wonderful story. I hope she lives to 100. With a will like she has it is possible.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #26 posted by Hope on September 04, 2008 at 20:14:39 PT
Thank you, everyone.
She's doing ok under the circumstances as of tonight.Her surgeon told me something today. He said she'd told him about wanting to make that hundredth birthday. He said he wanted to be there and she told him he'd have to give her a hundred dollars if he came... everybody else that was coming would. He said he went home that night, opened his Bible and put a hundred dollar bill between the pages in hopes that he'd be able to give it to her on that birthday. That touched my heart. What a wonderful thing for him to do. I thought you guys might appreciate hearing about a doctor that did such a thing.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #25 posted by FoM on September 04, 2008 at 05:55:32 PT
fight_4_freedom 
Here's a little song for your this morning.Bobby Mcferrin - Don't Worry, Be Happyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjnvSQuv-H4
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #24 posted by FoM on September 04, 2008 at 05:36:45 PT
Paint with light 
Thank you. Hope is a dear friend of mine and the love her family has for her grandmother is something I find remarkable. Love can move mountains. She is 96 years old and been thru two major surgeries in a little over 2 months. My niece is 45 and has two sons in there 20s. Trying to get help since she won't be able to work anymore shows how broken our system is. I wouldn't be able to do what I do here without having faith that I am doing the right thing. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #23 posted by gloovins on September 04, 2008 at 01:46:03 PT
Hope
I too will send prayers for your grandmother of good health and speedy recovery...positive vibes as well...peace all, love ya's
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #22 posted by Paint with light on September 03, 2008 at 23:53:54 PT
Hope and FoM
I hope your respective relatives get the strength they need in dealing with their health problems.I also hope both of you find the comfort you deserve for supporting them.I am not a praying person but I will send all concerned a reasonable facimile thereof.Positive spiritual energy to all.I will skip for once my usual close.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #21 posted by fight_4_freedom on September 03, 2008 at 22:13:02 PT:
I'll try not to
But I will still get you a copy or two.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #20 posted by FoM on September 03, 2008 at 21:38:56 PT
fight_4_freedom 
When I had a DVD Recorder that happened to me too. Please don't worry about it.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #19 posted by fight_4_freedom on September 03, 2008 at 21:36:24 PT
Hope: You and your family are in my prayers
As well as you and yours FoM. Your Grandmother sounds like quite the fighter, Hope. May God bless her with comfort and relief. FoM, I'm sorry to inform you that the copy of "Run From the Cure" that I tried to burn for you somehow didn't work. I just tried playing it on my dvd players and it was blank. So either I didn't finalize it after I burned it or I just grabbed the wrong disk. I called my sister and told her to look for a blank dvd with that movie on it.I was in a hurry before I left for the airport when I tried to do this, so maybe I forgot to finalize it.So I'm going to find somewhere to make copies here in a couple days. Sorry I haven't sent it to you yet.I will though, I promise.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #18 posted by FoM on September 03, 2008 at 20:52:01 PT
Hope
Angry people burn bridges. People need people but angry people isolate themselves and miss out on so much. I feel sorry for them.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #17 posted by Hope on September 03, 2008 at 20:28:44 PT
Calm and peaceful...
Quiet and gentle.That's how I prefer to be. Sadly, I can be agitated out of it too easily, by the things going on around me that I perceive as being terribly wrong.I'm so sorry about your niece. I hope she will subject herself to treatment. It works sometimes... pretty often, in fact.Yup. I know about those angry people. They hurt everyone around them.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #16 posted by FoM on September 03, 2008 at 19:20:28 PT
Hope
I didn't mean you getting angry. I meant that as a general philosophy. My niece is easily angered. Because she is volatile she makes life hard for those who are trying to help her. Anger and hatred can twist a person's mind and make them into a not very nice person. My sister said when we talked that I have such a calm peaceful approach to life that she really appreciates it. I try really hard to live what I say I believe. I know you do too.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #15 posted by Hope on September 03, 2008 at 19:07:43 PT
"Don't waste time being angry"
Good advice. I hadn't got to angry so much as grief stricken.She's still improving. I don't know what to think about all of this. I'm just stunned and grief stricken.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #14 posted by FoM on September 03, 2008 at 15:08:10 PT
Hope
I'm glad she is still hanging on for you and your family. I know how much you love her. I just got off the phone with my sister and my niece's diagnosis is in. She has cancer. I say we should find good in life. Be hopeful and live life with vigor while we can. Don't waste time being angry. Spend time loving life and those that make life precious. That's the only important thing.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #13 posted by Hope on September 03, 2008 at 13:22:14 PT
Hey, to my cyber-friends!
I'm trying to keep up whenever I can.About my old Granny, the first surgeon left a hole the size of a quarter or half dollar in her intestine and it's been leaking into her body all this time, two and a half months. She's been too stoic. When you hurt or feel sick, my advice is to raise hell, as loud and long as you can, and complain without ceasing until you get some real help.She's survived a drastic clean up surgery now, that the new surgeon said she had less than a ten percent chance of surviving. He wouldn't have even attempted it her age, but he spoke to her and was impressed enough with her, her mind, her will to live, and the health she's had in the past to attempt it. She's hanging on against all odds. She's got a very rough road ahead of her... if any... but the doctors she has now say it's truly a miracle, even with all they've done to help, that she's alive at all.About those pro-lifers. I don't agree with capital punishment. But I think where they are coming from is that they are protecting the helpless... the unborn... and killing those they believe to be wicked... executions. Of course, the possible innocence of those they kill or the wrongness of killing other humans and revenge never occurs to them. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #12 posted by FoM on September 03, 2008 at 05:50:19 PT
Paint with light 
I know what you are saying. I don't understand why they have such a double standard. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #11 posted by Paint with light on September 03, 2008 at 00:33:03 PT
conflict in thought
Anyone else notice that almost all "pro-lifers" are for capitol punishment?Equal with alcohol would be a start to fair treatment for cannabis.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #10 posted by BGreen on September 02, 2008 at 22:28:03 PT
Ha, what an amateur ... and liar
"In July, Winehouse was hospitalized again after reportedly smoking marijuana for a straight 36 hours."A typical vacation for me in Amsterdam consists of me smoking cannabis for a straight 144 hours, with only a five hour break each night for sleep, then a wake and bake before breakfast to start the new day of cannabis enjoyment.In other words, Winehouse is full of $#!^.The Reverend Bud Green
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by purpleshadrach on September 02, 2008 at 11:48:08 PT:
New Guidelines
Can you trust that Attorney General Jerry Brown new guidelines are fair and equitable? #1 what will stop the misuse of information that is retrieved while law enforcement systematically checks the legitimacy of dispensaries. Law enforcement can easily get the names of suppliers, patients, etc. from those that are legitimate.  #2 who is going to protect the patient who believes he/she is purchasing from a legitimate source? Who is going to protect the suppliers of local dispensary? A dispensary does not make sense unless it can dispense something. I do not want to sound conspiratorial, but law enforcement and government do not always act in the best interest of its citizens. To me it seems like Attorney General Jerry Brown is clearing the way for the cleanup crew. After all it is an election year. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by FoM on September 02, 2008 at 11:46:43 PT
Another View From The San Bernardino Son
S.B. County Gets Kudos for Seeing Through The SmokeSeptember 1, 2008http://www.sbsun.com/pointofview/ci_10357118
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by HempWorld on September 02, 2008 at 11:40:48 PT
"Republicans are pro-life." But not when it c
to Cannabis. The hypocisy in this is so big it made me LOL. And by the way the fact that they (the republicans) are 'pro-life' means that nobody else has a choice because they want to make abortion illegal. I would call the latter an unholy interference of Gov't in our lives and this is called fascism.And, then this, pro-life in republicanspeak also means pro-torture, see cannabis and the 'war on terror.'Go figure!
On a mission from God!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by FoM on September 02, 2008 at 09:39:12 PT
fight_4_freedom 
Unfortunately she reminds me of Janis Joplin. I don't know why they blame cannabis.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by fight_4_freedom on September 02, 2008 at 09:34:19 PT:
Acute Cannabis Poisoning????
Listen to this crap....."Amy Winehouse should really get to rehab, yes, yes, yes! The singer might be suffering from brain damage as a result of some heavy-duty drug use, the New York Daily News reported.The “Rehab” soul siren has overdosed twice in the past 12 months and her excessive drug use may have caught up with her. In August 2007 she went to the hospital after a binge on crystal meth, heroin and cocaine. In July, Winehouse was hospitalized again after reportedly smoking marijuana for a straight 36 hours.An insider admits to the paper that during Winehouse’s last trip to the hospital, her father, who explained the emergency trip as a “bad reaction to the medicine,” was covering up for his daughter.“She had smoked an inhuman amount of hash, which resulted in acute cannabis poisoning. You have to take a (expletive) of pot to suffer that severe reaction. It is thought she had been smoking it for 36 hours,” the pal let on."
entire article
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by fight_4_freedom on September 02, 2008 at 08:40:49 PT
Proposal 5 in California
http://www.sacbee.com/344/story/1202029.htmlGiven the prison mess we've locked ourselves into, Soros' proposal may be the brightest light on a bleak horizon.This one, Proposition 5, called NORA, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, is a monster plan designed to direct many more drugusing lawbreakers to treatment and keep them out of the slammer. It puts more money into diversion and rehabilitation for both adults and youthful offenders, for whom there is now no drug treatment program at all.It's a complicated and costly plan, running to an estimated $1 billion a year. It would allocate more resources to treatment, probation and parole. But the Legislative Analyst's Office believes it could save the state as much money, especially in prison construction, as it will cost, and maybe more.The numbers are a little iffy. Nonetheless, the LAO says the program could reduce the state's adult inmate population, now roughly 171,000 prisoners, by 18,000 – at $46,000 per year apiece, that's not peanuts – and reduce the rolls of parolees by an additional 22,000.NORA is part of what's become a long procession of drug reform and criminal sentencing reforms underwritten by Soros, John Sperling, the founder of the private for-profit University of Phoenix, and a group of other rich liberals.They funded California's Proposition 215 in 1996 and a string of similar measures in other states legalizing the medical use of marijuana, as well as a variety of other drug "harm reduction" laws. Among them was California's Proposition 36 to divert drug using offenders to treatment instead of prison.Proposition 5 expands on that idea, creates "rehabilitation wardens" in the prison system and makes possession of small amounts of marijuana an infraction, not a misdemeanor. All those changes are part of a larger strategy by Soros and his co-sponsors to radically reform U.S. drug-control policy, with its vast establishment of narcs and other drug cops, by shifting from a criminal model to a medical model, as much of Europe has done.Proposition 5 has strong opposition from the leaders of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, which, in the words of one of its California members, Jeffrey Thoma, the public defender of Solano County, is based "on misunderstanding and misinformation" and was adopted "using heavy-handed tactics."Conversely, Proposition 5 has the endorsement of a long list of California individuals and groups, from the League of Women Voters and organizations representing physicians and drug and alcohol abuse counselors to labor unions, the former warden of San Quentin Prison and former director of the state Department of Corrections to conservative libertarians like former Secretary of State George Shultz.If Proposition 5 passes, it could ring bells in the new Congress, elected on the same day, that Americans are ready for a new drug strategy. Congress, in its fear of being tarred as soft on drugs, has so far ignored all the other ballot measures.But given the general fatigue of right-wing ideology, the messages might be heard this time. A growing number of Americans are beginning to understand that the countless billions we're spending on tracking down and incarcerating users, the additional billions in overseas interdiction and eradication, and the human and property cost of the crimes addicts commit to sustain their habit may not be worth the price.
Full Article
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by FoM on September 02, 2008 at 07:12:51 PT
OT: About Hope
I just heard from Hope in my e-mail. Her grandmother is in in the hospital and in very bad shape. Please say a little prayer for the family. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 02, 2008 at 07:09:38 PT
OverwhelmSam
That would solve the problem. I don't know if a state can do that though. I think we must change the Federal Law to really fix this problem.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by OverwhelmSam on September 02, 2008 at 07:07:36 PT
Ya Know, What California Needs To Do
Is simply legalize and regulate marijuana for adult use, and then all the medical marijuana issues become a problem of the past.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment