cannabisnews.com: Med Marijuana Law Leave Patients, Police in a Fog Med Marijuana Law Leave Patients, Police in a Fog Posted by CN Staff on November 13, 2006 at 06:54:52 PT By Claudia Rowe, P-I Reporter Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA -- In her spacious suburban home, Robin DeBow cleans countertops until they gleam, vacuums the carpets to plush perfection and then turns toward her most pressing chore -- tending the large pot plant budding in her sunny front room.It's a job DeBow has fought for years to perform. Though not a marijuana user herself, the 44-year-old Lewis County woman has been authorized to provide the potent herb to her son, Chris Chastain, a 27-year-old paraplegic. Yet despite a state law permitting use of marijuana in certain medical cases -- as well as permission from two doctors -- DeBow was charged with manufacture of a controlled substance in August and faced up to five years in prison. She's not alone. Legal advocates estimate that in the past five years, at least 100 Washington residents authorized to use or provide marijuana have been charged with drug crimes. Some have done jail time. Others have drained their savings paying for lawyers.In 1998, when the citizens initiative passed with 59 percent of the popular vote, prosecutors and police made clear their misgivings. To law enforcement, the state's Medical Marijuana Act -- with its imprecise language, gaps in logic and potential for abuse -- was a miserable tangle. Eight years later, many of Washington's 5,000 marijuana-approved patients agree. Eleven states have such statutes on the book, but medical marijuana advocates say Washington's is the worst."Anybody who's tried to apply this law has run into problems," said Dan Satterberg, chief of staff for King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng. "It's the collision of two worlds: the medical world and the criminal justice world." Snipped:Complete Article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/292136_medpot13.htmlSource: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)Author: Claudia Rowe, P-I ReporterPublished: Monday, November 13, 2006Copyright: 2006 Seattle Post-IntelligencerContact: editpage seattlepi.comWebsite: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #15 posted by publicbulldog on November 13, 2006 at 15:25:31 PT: my home state is controlled by movement head attor I called and asked the PI to write an article. I gave them lots of information about what was being enforced in my State. Instead of doing a story about what was being enforced in my state ,and informing my state of what was being enforced,They wrote a story on the movement heads. The movement heads want the law the way that it is so grey marketeers can grow and sell their dope under the disguise of medical marijuana. They pretend to make changes,and purposely thwart any bills, so the law stays the same so enforcement and movement heads prosper. The fact is there is a way to solve the problem. The purpose of this article is to serve notice to Washington State legislators who is in charge of the movement. So they can sit a top the movement and thwart any changes or promote their own changes. This is a shamefull article that does not tell the real story in my state. My state pays multi jurisdictional task forces to enforce federal law over state law. That was why I called them. You wont find that in this piece o chit article. No matter which paper you call,it ends up being a movement head pitch. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by Sam Adams on November 13, 2006 at 10:50:34 PT one more thought Let us consider this confusion one more time. Could the cause of the confusion be that it's perfectly legal to use tobacco and alcohol, while we spend $40 billion a year violently attacking users of cannabis, a natural plant that cures many illnesses? No, it's the PATIENTS' fault, isn't it? yes, that must be it. Those stupid people, getting sick and complicating everything for the nice government people. It couldn't be the government's fault, who have had 10 years to change the law anytime they want, could it?You know, this is getting so confusing, I'd better just stop thinking and let the nice government people decide everything for me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by Sam Adams on November 13, 2006 at 10:45:26 PT oh yes, the awful "confusion" Good to see that the cops have a solution to all this agonizing "confusion" - repeal the law, so ALL medical users can be attacked and jailed. Perfect! God, why didn't we think about putting them in charge of everything earlier! [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by whig on November 13, 2006 at 10:14:26 PT Max I'm still in the city of angels. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by Celaya on November 13, 2006 at 09:39:30 PT Max and Whig Thanks folks. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but you know what they say about the ferocity of a wounded beast. Marijuana prohibition won't die easily.Power to the people! [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Max Flowers on November 13, 2006 at 09:34:46 PT whig Good to see ya again. Hope you had a good trip to the underworld known ironically as the city of angels. I hope you came back intact. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Max Flowers on November 13, 2006 at 09:31:52 PT Flowering in the living room?? How does the woman in the article get the plant to bud in her front room? If I tried that, the photoperiod would get all screwed up from the other lights in the house that are on at night, etc. Someone should teach her how to set up a proper grow room and do things right. She'd get a whole lot more bud. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by whig on November 13, 2006 at 09:31:05 PT Celaya They'd better print your reply. If they don't they are cowards who should be called out. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Max Flowers on November 13, 2006 at 09:29:06 PT Right on, Celaya See my posts in the thread above this one, saying essentially the same thing. I will send an LTE also.Even if they don't print, we're letting them know loud and clear what's up. And that's valuable too. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Celaya on November 13, 2006 at 08:06:20 PT FoM Okay. Again, sorry about that. Here's the post without their text.-----------------------------------------------------------The Santa Cruz Sentinel wasted no time in countering my letter they printed yesterday. Today, comes this editorial:http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/November/13/edit/stories/01edit.htmUnbelievable. I immediately responded this morning. It was a LOT of work paring it down to under 150 words!The Sentinel should be ashamed of the way it insulted the citizens of Santa Cruz, as if some national funding had brainwashed the voters. The paper insults them again by deriding marijuana consumers for daring to get involved in the political process instead of staying home on their couches getting high. What petty condescension and bigoted use of stereotypes!The fact is, the great majority of marijuana consumers are good citizens who consume responsibly. This is understandable considering marijuana is not addictive and less harmful than alcohol. If the Sentinel were to trash alcohol consumers in the same fashion, you can bet many powers-that-be would not stand for it.What's the Sentinel's interest in perpetuating the fraud of marijuana prohibition? After the good citizens of Santa Cruz get over this slap in the face, they might consider what standards they should demand of their media.I doubt if they'll print it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on November 13, 2006 at 08:02:05 PT Celaya Thank you. I can fix a spelling error but the rest is really hard for me to do. It isn't like a message forum because of it all being in html code. I'll remove it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Celaya on November 13, 2006 at 07:58:51 PT FoM If you want to, just delete the whole post. It's okay with me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Celaya on November 13, 2006 at 07:54:49 PT FoM I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was a problem for you to cut things out. I'll just post the link in the future. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on November 13, 2006 at 07:50:15 PT Celaya I posted it. I won't cut anything out because that is hard for me to do because it's all in html. I spoke my peace and made many requests to help me on this issue. If Mapinc. takes us down it's no longer my concern because I am not good at policing anything. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment