cannabisnews.com: Don’t Thwart Will of Voters on Medical Marijuana
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Don’t Thwart Will of Voters on Medical Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on January 25, 2010 at 17:58:42 PT
By Kurt Kalas, Reader Contributor
Source: Holland Sentinel
Holland, MI -- State Senate Bill 618, introduced by Sen. Wayne Kuipers of Holland, to tighten regulations for the production and distribution of medical marijuana makes my head spin very high. This bill ascends into the clouds.It would require, among other things, that doctors write prescriptions for medical marijuana and that the pharmacies dispense it. In fact, both of these proposals are ruled out by federal regulations on marijuana, which classifies it as a Schedule 1 drug that doctors may not prescribe and prohibits anyone from distributing it.
The Michigan Medical Marijuana Act of 2008 (MMMA) is written precisely in such a way to avoid coming into conflict with federal laws.Back in May 2009, when Mr. Kuipers first introduced this bill he stated, “Most people who vote for the medical marijuana law would support these common sense changes.” Really? Every single person I know in the medical marijuana community strongly oppose these changes because they undermine the essence of the ballot initiative passed by a majority of voters in every country in the state, including Ottawa County.Senate Bill 618 would essentially destroy the MMMA of 2008. The state office responsible for administering the MMMA, the Department of Community Health, for a variety of reasons, has also come out against the bill. Mr. Kuipers has previously stated that his legislation is not meant to condone medical marijuana or undermine the will of the public that overwhelmingly voted to allow usage for medical purposes. Actually, 63 percent of state voters, by passing the ballot initiative, already voted to condone its use, so what he’s talking about makes no sense to me.It’s true that the production of medical cannabis by state-registered home growers creates the possibility for abusing the law. One realistic solution to this is for the federal government to change its regulations allowing for the production of medical marijuana by a highly regulated industry. But until that happens, the current system or something like it remains the only option. From what I hear, this flawed bill has very little chance of being passed, thank goodness. This makes me wonder, however, why in the world Senator Kuipers would introduce such a flawed bill, and spend precious time on it, not to mention spending taxpayers money to run state government and pay his salary.I am now trying to figure out how to bring my high head down to earth, where this bill has taken it. Maybe somebody ought to introduce a bill making it illegal for Mr. Kuipers to needlessly take voters into the stratosphere. I wonder what motives he has for doing so.Kurt Kalas is a resident of Holland.Source: Holland Sentinel (MI)Author: Kurt KalasPublished: January 25, 2010Copyright: 2010 The Holland SentinelWebsite: http://www.hollandsentinel.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/qhAhXxdiContact: http://drugsense.org/url/iJ2QWHyECannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by ekim on January 26, 2010 at 12:11:35 PT
NPR now talking about how much jail is costing
subject now is bail national public radio
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