cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Amendment Passing 





Marijuana Amendment Passing 
Posted by FoM on November 07, 2000 at 21:45:07 PT
By Kevin Flynn, DRMN Staff Writer
Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News 
Voters solidly supported Amendment 20, allowing medicinal use of marijuana. Polls had showed voters favoring the constitutional amendment allowing certain chronically ill patients to smoke marijuana. But even with the amendment passing, it will still be illegal for the patients to get the drug. This contradiction is the result of the halfway measure taken in Amendment 20. It allows certain patients suffering chronic pain or nausea to have and use small amounts of marijuana. 
But amendment provides no way for the otherwise illegal drug to be obtained by these patients. Therein lies the promise for some interesting court battles that are being played out in skirmishes elsewhere around the United States."We call it the drug dealers' full-employment amendment," said Dr. Joel Karlin, a physician who was active in the opposition campaign.Coloradans — who authorities acknowledge already have one of the highest rates of pot use in the country — previously approved a constitutional amendment allowing some people to smoke marijuana if their doctors think it might help them ease pain or nausea from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis or other illnesses. But a legal battle struck the measure down. Martin Chilcutt, a retired California psychotherapist who moved to Denver six years ago, was the initiator of the amendment drive in 1996.He took a back seat during the recent campaign after working through political and legal battles that forced him off the 1998 ballot, and then back on it for this year.He hopes to address the availability issue by forming a Cannabis Cooperative, which would help organize the folks legally entitled to possess and use the substance into a group that would cultivate and distribute marijuana."I was very grateful for the opportunity to work with these people," Chilcutt said of the numerous terminally ill patients he counseled over the years. "It made me realize it's their quality of life and their relationships that matter."Julie Roche, who ran the pro-marijuana campaign, said the onset of television and radio ads in the last two weeks by opponents softened support somewhat, while the pro-20 campaign ended up with a lower than anticipated advertising budget."We decided to put it all into TV in the last week," said Roche. Her ad used a Breckenridge doctor, "Dr. P.J.," telling viewers that he has seen the ravages of chemotherapy on cancer patients and would like to see marijuana smoking available as an option to build appetite.Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the principal active ingredient in marijuana, is known to reduce nausea and pain.The opponents ads tried to capitalize on the fact that Amendment 20's financial backers are part of a nationwide movement with the goal of legalizing some if not all drugs.Medical marijuana, opponents said, was just a foot in the door for increased substance abuse. Synthetic THC has been marketed in pill form, although marijuana proponents say it is not as effective and in some cases worse on patients. It is soon coming out in a skin-patch form.Karlin said calling smoked marijuana "medicine" is a hoax. It's never been established through rigorous testing as a medicine and because of the wide varieties available on the street, it can't be properly administered in consistent dosages or strengths.Last week's tightening of the polls on Amendment 20 gave Karlin and Coloradans Against Legalizing Marijuana the shot they hoped for."We have the highest number of recreational marijuana users in the country here in Colorado, so that was working against us," he said.Since early 1998, Coloradans for Medical Rights, which pushed the measure, raised $742,758. Nearly all of it came from Americans for Medical Rights, a Santa Monica, Calif., group bankrolled principally by three wealthy men who have a larger agenda of ending the government's War on Drugs.They are financier and philanthropist George Soros of New York, Progressive Auto Insurance head Peter B. Lewis of Cleveland, and John Sperling, founder of the University of Phoenix program.The opponents raised $144,634, most in small local contributions but with the single largest one coming from Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, who gave $25,000. Centura Health was the second-largest giver at $9,000.Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)Author: Kevin Flynn, Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff WriterPublished: November 8, 2000 Copyright: 2000 Denver Publishing Co.Address: 400 W. Colfax, Denver, CO 80204Contact: letters denver-rmn.com Website: http://www.denver-rmn.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Coloradans For Medical Rights http://www.medicalmarijuana.com/Am. 20 Ads Share Healthy Dose of Realityhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7543.shtmlBallot Issues Face Late Threathttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7527.shtmlCan Marijuana Be Medicine?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7457.shtmlAnti-20 Arguments Make You Wonder http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7402.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Colorado:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=colorado 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 07, 2000 at 23:29:40 PT
Medical Marijuana Passes
Medical Marijuana PassesNovember 08, 2000Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)Author: Kevin FlynnPublished: November 8, 2000 Copyright: 2000 Denver Publishing Co.Address: 400 W. Colfax, Denver, CO 80204Contact: letters denver-rmn.com Website: http://www.denver-rmn.com/DENVER - It will soon be legal for some chronically ill people to possess and use marijuana in Colorado.However, it still will be illegal for them to get it.Backers of Amendment 20, the medical marijuana initiative, say they will rely on the governor and legislature, among the strongest opponents of the measure, to find a way to get the illegal substance into legal hands."There aren't any plans in place," said Julie Roche, spokeswoman for the pro-marijuana side. "We don't have a huge plan or task force. A lot of this will have to be discussed by the governor and legislature."The measure sets up a state registry of patients whose doctors provide written certification that they might benefit from the effects of smoking marijuana.Experience shows that smoking marijuana can relieve pain and ease nausea from cancer treatments, AIDS and other chronically painful ailments.But U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland said his office would continue to enforce federal drug laws that say marijuana possession is a crime. From a practical standpoint, possession of the small amounts legalized in Amendment 20 by sick people aren't likely to be prosecuted, he said Tuesday."But make no mistake about it, this will have no effect on federal drug laws," he said.The amendment passed by wide enough margins in Denver and Boulder counties to overcome smaller defeats statewide.The constitutional amendment allows people to smoke marijuana if their doctors think it might ease pain or nausea from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis or other illnesses.Martin Chilcutt, a retired California psychotherapist who moved to Denver six years ago, was the initiator of the amendment drive in 1996.He took a back seat during the recent campaign after working through political and legal battles that forced him off the 1998 ballot, and then back on it for this year.He hopes to address the availability issue by forming a Cannabis Cooperative, which would help organize people legally entitled to possess and use the substance into a group that would cultivate and distribute marijuana.Roche, who ran the pro-marijuana campaign, said the barrage of television and radio ads in the last two weeks by opponents softened support, while the pro-20 campaign ended up with a lower than anticipated advertising budget."We decided to put it all into TV in the last week," said Roche. Her ad used a Breckenridge doctor, "Dr. P.J.," telling viewers that he has seen the ravages of chemotherapy on cancer patients and would like to see marijuana smoking available as an option to build appetite.Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the principal active ingredient in marijuana, is said to reduce nausea and pain.The opponents' ads tried to portray Amendment 20's financial backers as part of a nationwide movement with the goal of legalizing some if not all drugs.Medical marijuana, opponents said, was just a foot in the door for increased substance abuse. Synthetic THC has been marketed in pill form, although marijuana proponents say it is not as effective and in some cases worse on patients. It is soon coming out in a skin-patch form.Dr. Joel Karlin, a physician who was active in the opposition campaign, said calling smoked marijuana "medicine" is a hoax. It's never been established through rigorous testing as a medicine and because of the wide varieties available on the street, it can't be properly administered in consistent dosages or strengths."We have the highest number of recreational marijuana users in the country here in Colorado, so that was working against us," he said.Contact Kevin Flynn of the Denver Rocky Mountain News at: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/
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