cannabisnews.com: Senate Overrides Medical Marijuana Veto Senate Overrides Medical Marijuana Veto Posted by CN Staff on June 30, 2005 at 21:41:13 PT By The Associated Press Source: Associated Press Providence, R.I. -- The Senate voted Thursday to override the governor's veto of a bill allowing the seriously ill to use marijuana. If the House overrides the veto as well, Rhode Island would become the 11th state to permit medical marijuana use.The proposed legislation protects from prosecution those advised by a doctor that marijuana could help them with chronic pain or other medical problems. Patients licensed by the state would be permitted to have up to 12 marijuana plants or 2 1/2 ounces of usable marijuana.Gov. Don Carcieri vetoed the bill Wednesday, saying it could promote marijuana abuse.Before the vote, Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere argued the bill did not include enough safeguards."Nearly anyone would be allowed to grown marijuana in nearly any private location across the state under this piece of legislation," said Algiere, R-Westerly.But bill supporters argued passing the override was an act of compassion for the chronically ill.Sen. Joseph Polisena, D-Johnston, said in his work as a nurse he had seen many patients die in pain. The only difference between giving them marijuana and prescription pharmaceuticals is that the latter mean profits for drug companies, he said.The Senate approved the override 28-to-6, as compared with the 34-to-2 vote on the original bill.Source: Associated Press (Wire)Published: June 30, 2005Copyright: 2005 The Associated Press Related Articles: Rhode Island, Uncertainty About Med Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20920.shtmlRhode Island Gov. Vetoes Medical Pot Billhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20919.shtmlMarijuana Bills Go To Gov. Carcieri http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20918.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #15 posted by mayan on July 01, 2005 at 18:02:48 PT House? Anyone know when the House votes? I'm sure Johnny Pee,in desperation, is sending his minions to "persuade" the Representatives to reconsider their positions. But I thought that medical marijuana was a dead issue after the Supremes ruling? Hee-Hee. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by Max Flowers on July 01, 2005 at 10:07:18 PT RI may be a small state, but I have a feeling it's going to prove to have big influence in this case.SLAP! Take that, Governor. How do you like that stinging feeling? That's the sensation of common sense and compassion overriding your stupidity and oppression. Nice, huh? And by the way, you've just been exposed to the nation as a heartless drug warrior who doesn't care at all about the ill and ailing among your constituency. Buh-bye! [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by FoM on July 01, 2005 at 08:31:36 PT Sam I always loved the Kennedys. When JFK and Bobby Kennedy were murdered I never cared much after that about who was president. JFK was the best ever to me. Sometimes the greatest work is done by people in politics that you don't see or hear much about. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by Sam Adams on July 01, 2005 at 08:01:47 PT kennedy FOM, yes, he's great, I'm a big fan of NRDC also, they do great stuff, they were pretty much the only group fighting the Navy's efforts to blast underwater sonar that was going to damage whales & dolphins hearing halfway around the world.It's interesting, we sit here & criticize people like Clinton for his silence & complicity in the war on marijuana, and many of the Kennedys refuse to run for public office anymore.However, maybe we shouldn't be so harsh. Many of the most successful progressive leaders of the previous generation were murdered! Who could say what would happen to a very powerful figure who suddenly started advocating MJ legalization, or ending the WOD? All of the federal agencies & LEO organizations that were around in the 60's are probably 5-10 times bigger today. I never looked at it this way before. Even if they didn't actually kill you, there are many things the right-wing could do to you to destroy you publicly. They control most of the media. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by FoM on July 01, 2005 at 07:36:38 PT Sam About Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I wanted to say that I have the greatest respect for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. My sister is 14 years older then me and doesn't understand our issue because it wasn't something that was a part of her younger years and she is a Republican but she adores Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The best politicians have come from up north when it comes to caring for people and earth issues. That's one reason why I like the north east so much. RK took his drug problem and made it work for him and others. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. BiographyThe way Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has assumed command of the Water Keeper Alliance, you’d almost think he started the environmental movement on his own. But he actually stumbled into it as a result of a 1984 criminal conviction for heroin possession. A judge sentenced him to 800 hours of community service, which he satisfied with volunteer work for the Hudson River Foundation. After his 800 hours were used up, the organization (now operating as the Hudson Riverkeepers) hired Kennedy as its “chief prosecuting attorney.” In the years since his drug conviction, Kennedy has also gone to work for the Natural Resources Defense Council and assumed a professorship in the law school at Pace University. Kennedy also started Pace’s environmental law clinic specifically to sue governments and businesses on behalf of Riverkeeper. http://www.activistcash.com/biography.cfm/bid/2765 [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by siege on July 01, 2005 at 07:19:12 PT unrelated maybe Americans seemingly have no clue and tragically, they don't want the truth. Either from fatal blind loyalty to the Democrat or Republican parties, laziness or because their brains are simply COOKED from decades of ingesting dangerous prescription drugs (including evil ones like Prozac, Ritalin, Luvox), being pumped full of dangerous vaccines, the food they're eating, aspartame and and fluoride. [ on Aspartame and read book Fuoride]See Video aspartame http://www.newswithviews.com/HNV/Hot_New_Videos1.htmFuoride http://www.newswithviews.com/HNB/Hot_New_Books17.htmM E A T R I X http://www.themeatrix.com/"Sweet Misery" is a documentary just released by Sound and Fury Productions. http://www.soundandfuryproductions.com/The government's media apparatus will continue to label anyone with a clear head that is attempting to warn people about what they're putting in their bodies as nothing but conspiracy wackos, but even their attempts are starting to lose steam and more as more Americans do begin to wake up and get the facts. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Sam Adams on July 01, 2005 at 07:03:49 PT more RI from projo.com:PROVIDENCE -- Working late into the night, weary lawmakers slogged on toward adjournment yesterday, battling over whether to institute new controls on prostitution and wine sales, confirming a new director of the state Department of Environmental Management and holding a Senate vote to override Governor Carcieri's veto of medical marijuana legislation.Journal photo / Connie Grosch House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, center, deals with last-minute issues behind the House chamber yesterday. With him are Representatives Richard Singleton, left, R-Cumberland, and Arthur Corvese, right, D-North Providence. At far left is Frank Anzeveno, the House speaker's chief of staff. In voting 28 to 6 in favor of the override, senators rejected objections of Senate Minority Leader Dennis L. Algiere, R-Westerly, who said that while the governor supports "effective pain management techniques," marijuana is "an addictive drug" and the override would mean that "nearly anyone" in the state could grow the plant. The House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Thomas Slater, D-Providence, said House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West Warwick, had agreed to an override vote, but not today.----------------"Today" means today, Friday, so it looks like the Good Governor Carceiri can spend the 4th weekend without egg on his face....but he better show up bright & early on Tuesday to face the music.In Hawaii they shot a nice picture of the governor & a bunch of med MJ patients in his office celebrating his signature of the med MJ bill. Maybe they can get a shot of Carceiri pushing someone in a wheelchair into a jail cell? [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Sam Adams on July 01, 2005 at 06:37:25 PT only 1 vote to go..... Let's see, Carceiri & the evil feds were able to garner 17% of the vote in the state Senate. JUST shy of the 41% they needed! In the house, they got 16% of the vote the first time around....I'd say it's time to ice the bubbly, the fat lady is getting ready to sing.I'm glad there's some good news out of RI today, this column by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. almost had me crying over my breakfast. A good friend of mine has 2 autistic children....this story should be all over the front pages of our papers, not some ridiculous vote by a bunch of old men on banning a silly plant, it shows how far our whole government/public health system has run off the rails...we are now paying them to actively do us harm, instead of protecting us.....http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/07/01/autism_mercury_and_politics/excerpt: "In a 1991 memo, Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one of the fathers of Merck's vaccination programs, warned his bosses that 6-month-old children administered the shots on schedule would suffer mercury exposures 87 times the government safety standards. He recommended that Thimerosal be discontinued and complained that the US Food and Drug Administration, which has a notoriously close relationship with the pharmaceutical industry, could not be counted on to take appropriate action as its European counterparts had. Merck ignored Hilleman's warning, and for eight years government officials added seven more shots for children containing Thimerosal"In the same newspaper......(just remember: it's the EVIL HERB that is threatening your children!!!)Bird-flu drug supply called inadequate Officials say US seeks to buy more By Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press | July 1, 2005WASHINGTON -- The government has not stockpiled enough of the only drug known to be effective against bird flu but is in ''aggressive discussions" with its maker to buy more, federal health officials said yesterday.Enough Tamiflu to treat 2.3 million people is in a national stockpile of drugs and vaccines being set aside in preparation for the next flu pandemic -- a worldwide outbreak influenza specialists fear could be triggered by the increasingly worrisome bird flu in Asia.Negotiations are underway to buy enough Tamiflu pills for an additional 2 million people, with more purchases possible later.That still would cover only 2 percent of the population, well short of World Health Organization recommendations that countries set aside enough Tamiflu for a quarter of their populations, said Representative Tom Davis, Republican of Virginia.''Let me do the math for you: We're about 62 million people under the WHO guidelines," Davis said during a meeting of his House Government Reform Committee.Other lawmakers wondered why the United States is not stockpiling as much as other countries. Manufacturer Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. told the committee that Britain, France, Finland, Norway, and New Zealand are placing orders that would cover between 20 percent and 40 percent of their populations.With today's stockpile, ''certainly we don't have enough," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious-disease chief at the National Institutes of Health.Officials would not estimate how much the nation needs. Other countries are depending mostly on Tamiflu to fight a bird flu outbreak, while the United States would use Tamiflu more to buy time until more inoculations could be made, said Dr. Bruce Gellin of the National Vaccine Program Office. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by fearfull on July 01, 2005 at 06:17:05 PT unrelated...kinda..But.. This article makes me believe that there may still be hope yet.http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050701/ap_on_re_us/minnesota_shutdown [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by siege on July 01, 2005 at 05:59:29 PT O T Thomas Jefferson weighed in back in 1815 with, "He, therefore, who is now against domestic manufacture, must be for reducing us either to dependence on that foreign nation, or be clothed in skins, and to live like beasts in dens and caverns. I am not one of those."Congressman Henry Clay said back in 1824, "The measure of the wealth of a nation is indicated by the measure of its protection of its industry; the measure of the poverty of a nation is marked by the degree in which it neglects and abandons the care of its own industry, leaving it exposed to the action of foreign powers.Abraham Lincoln said, If we buy a steel rail from England, we have the rail and they have the money. But, if we buy it from ourselves, we have both the rail and the money."Senator George Malone warned in 1958: "The global theory of free trade is siphoning off America's wealth and bringing her economy to the level of others. The theory is displacing American workers who otherwise would be employed." The strongest words might be those of Andy Jackson when he said back in 1833: "Tell them (the South Carolinians who wanted to nullify the Tariff Act of 1832) that I will hang the first man of them I can get my hands on to the first tree I can find." Samuel Adams had something else to say that rings loud and clear today:"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors; they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men." [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by OverwhelmSam on July 01, 2005 at 04:53:11 PT This Is Awesome News! Okay Rhode Islandians, time to call, fax and e-mail the House. If you're in the capitol, stop by for a visit to urge your representative to override the "governor's" veto. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by The GCW on July 01, 2005 at 03:38:25 PT Poll: at bottom of page http://www.texasmonthly.com/Do you think marijuana should be legal? [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by jose melendez on July 01, 2005 at 03:38:12 PT Oops there goes a billion kilowatt dam "Our greatest challenge is to get beyond empty symbolism and discredited policies"POTUS - - -Once there was a silly old ramThought he’d punch a hole in a damNo one could make that ram, scramHe kept buttin’ that dam’cause he had high hopes, he had high hopesHe had high apple pie, in the sky hopesSo any time your feelin’ bad’stead of feelin’ sadJust remember that ramOops there goes a billion kilowatt damAll problems just a toy balloonThey’ll be bursted soonThey’re just bound to go popOops there goes another problem kerplop http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank-sinatra/55241.html Concerned Citizens Coalition to Criminalize Prohibition [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by TroutMask on June 30, 2005 at 21:44:45 PT Oops! There goes another rubber tree plant!(song reference)-TM [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by John Tyler on June 30, 2005 at 21:43:23 PT Go Rhode Island Take your steps to freedom. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment