cannabisnews.com: Police, Medical Marijuana Backers Seek Alliance





Police, Medical Marijuana Backers Seek Alliance
Posted by FoM on May 30, 2001 at 19:13:47 PT
By Don Thompson, The Associated Press
Source: Inland Empire
An unusual coalition of police and medical marijuana advocates is struggling to craft a statewide patient and caregivers' registry that would skirt the legal edges of an adverse U.S. Supreme Court decision this month.To do so, law enforcement officials want to shield themselves from learning the identity of doctors who prescribe marijuana, and perhaps the people who grow it and the patients who use it in part for fear federal agents might seize the registry.
"We're really walking a delicate line. Law enforcement is supposed to enforce laws, not break laws," said Pete Herley, who represented the California Police Chiefs Association at a task force meeting called Wednesday by Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the state's top law enforcement official.The secrecy has become more significant since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 14 that California's landmark Proposition 215 cannot supersede federal laws against marijuana distribution. Since voters approved California's medical marijuana law in 1996, eight other states have passed similar measures."In California, marijuana is supposed to be legitimate for people who have a medical need," said Robert Elsberg, who represented the California Peace Officers' Association at Wednesday's meeting. "We would never support something that violates federal law. But we will remove our opposition to it and we would go and tell the governor it's a better system than we have today."Police and prosecutors are eager to have an easily verifiable, uniform, statewide registry so they don't waste time and money charging a legitimate medical marijuana user who will go free under California law, Elsberg and Herley said.Law enforcement groups, along with the state medical society and medical marijuana advocates, all want to shield doctors who prescribe marijuana in apparent violation of federal law."We don't care who the doctor is. We're not going to go around and bust the doctor," Elsberg said.However, a major remaining sticking point in the bill being crafted by state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, is how to verify doctors' prescriptions while protecting them from federal prosecution.Law enforcement groups want a variation on the state's existing requirements for prescribing addictive drugs. But doctors would file their prescriptions with local health departments instead of the state Department of Justice, to ensure it never falls into the hands of law enforcement.Vasconcellos, along with medical marijuana advocates, is balking even at that protection.With the acquiescence of law enforcement representatives, Vasconcellos removed portions of his proposed legislation Wednesday that would have required counties to check patients' identifying information or verify that their attending physician in fact has a valid medical license. Counties would not even have to report how many licenses they have issued.Until Wednesday, his bill would have given police access to the name, sex, race, date of birth, address, driver's license and Social Security number of each medical marijuana patient so they could verify the patient's identity.But when marijuana advocates vehemently objected that such information could be turned over to federal agents, Vasconcellos and law enforcement groups agreed to consider following San Francisco's model, in which patients are given a 16-digit code number.Once patients' identifying and prescription information is verified, the information is destroyed and only the code number and expiration date remain, said Dr. Herminia Palacio of San Francisco's Public Health Department.Law enforcement's support is crucial if Gov. Gray Davis is to sign the measure he squashed two years ago before it reached his desk, said Vasconcellos."If you guys don't support the bill, he won't sign it not only support it, but persuade him he wants the bill," Vasconcellos told police and prosecutors.Complete Title: Police, Medical Marijuana Backers Seek Odd AllianceSource: Inland Empire On Line (CA)Author: Don Thompson, The Associated PressPublished: Wednesday, May 30, 2001 Copyright: 2001 The Press-Enterprise CompanyContact: feedback inlandempireonline.co Website: http://www.inlandempireonline.com/Related Articles:Medical Pot Bill Aims To Clarify Usage http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9893.shtmlMedical Pot Raises State's Rights Issues http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9811.shtmlMedical Marijuana Bill Faces Uphill Battle http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9768.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #2 posted by Cuzn Buzz on May 30, 2001 at 20:03:42 PT
Peace Officers and Pot
Most policemen could care less about marijuana.The old school rabid prohibitionist cop is for the most part gone, having retired, or gone to his grave as a result of a stroke or cardiac insult due to his general hatred of everything and everyone.Sure you still have the little maggot narcs (even other cops hate em) and a few mean spirited, low IQ cops out there just looking to hassle anybody who seems to be having a good time.Police Officers who deal with the public every day will often use their own judgement as to whether or not to make a bust over a little bit of the grim reefer, if you ever get caught holding you might be surprised at the result of a little courtesy...nothing more than common courtesy will often suffice to cause the Officer to give you a "stern warning" and let you go...he may keep your weed though... (most cops find it very hard to score).Basicaly there are lots of Peace Officers out there who wish the pot laws would disappear.Believe it or not there are MANY tokers among the boys in blue, one in particular, a friend of mine, is actualy a contributing N.O.R.M.L. member.To be sure there are still cops who fit the description of PIG, but don't label them all because many are really on the force to protect and serve.It is good to see an effort being made to protect medical marijuana users from the feds.Free the Green so that we can back the blue!Freedom is Norml.AndWE ARE WINNING! 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on May 30, 2001 at 19:33:58 PT:
Fooling the Fascists
See, it always possible for bright, motivated, compassionate people to figure solutions to thorny problems. The police want a method of identifying people who "deserve" cannabis, while the Feds would salivate to have the information. The proposed mechanism allows one (state-inspired) method to work, while the other (Feds) are thwarted. It is merely a shame that this entire rigamarole is considered necessary in the first place. It is only herbal medicine, after all.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: