cannabisnews.com: 'Father of Medical Marijuana' Speaks

cannabisnews.com: 'Father of Medical Marijuana' Speaks
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'Father of Medical Marijuana' Speaks
Posted by CN Staff on February 08, 2010 at 09:11:24 PT
By John Darling for the Mail Tribune
Source: Mail Tribune
Ashland, OR -- The man who opened the nation’s first “pot club” for medical marijuana users will come to town Tuesday to speak in favor of legalizing marijuana.Dennis Peron, known as the “father of medical marijuana,” supports across-the-board legalization of marijuana. In a telephone interview, he said enforcing existing laws costs the criminal justice system a fortune.
Peron is scheduled to speak from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday in the Meese Auditorium in the Visual Arts Building at Southern Oregon University, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland. The free presentation is sponsored by Ashland Alternative Health, a clinic that helps people obtain medical marijuana cards.Peron championed California’s 1996 medical marijuana ballot measure — the first in the nation.His position is at one extreme in the range of opinions on marijuana’s role in society. Law enforcement officials say the present arrangement, in which some people with a medical condition can legally possess marijuana, makes enforcement of drug laws difficult. In Southern Oregon, police have arrested a number of medical marijuana card holders for exceeding the number of plants they were allowed to grow and seized hundreds of pounds of illegal pot in several widely publicized arrests.Peron said the passage of medical marijuana laws changed the image of pot from something used by “long-hair, hippie-crazy” people to a drug of middle-class people.“It helped make (marijuana use) more benevolent. We changed the tide,” said Peron.He said the thrust of his work now is ballot measures to normalize distribution, so “you can get it at Walgreens,” at affordable prices.Peron, who also is a gay-rights advocate, said he joined the effort to legalize pot when his lover was dying of AIDS and found that marijuana helped him when chemotherapy didn’t.“When he died, I decided to dedicate my life to alleviate the suffering” of users, he said. “I opened the (Cannabis Buyers Club) to serve the dying. It was in the belly of the beast. The cops and the mayor supported me.” Alex Rogers, director of the clinic that’s bringing Peron to Southern Oregon, predicted backers of Oregon’s proposed ballot measure for a state-licensed, nonprofit marijuana supply system would get enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.Rogers said he opposes state control of marijuana culture because “they don’t have the ability to provide a multitude of strains” of the plant, which he said are beneficial to specific ailments. After the dispensary initiative, he said, advocates will work to end to all civil and criminal penalties for cannabis possession and use.Source: Mail Tribune, The (Medford, OR)Author: John Darling for the Mail TribunePublished: February 08, 2010Copyright: 2010 The Mail TribuneContact: letters mailtribune.comWebsite: http://www.mailtribune.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/yCAAlMj1CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #15 posted by runruff on February 11, 2010 at 05:25:39 PT
The market dictates......
For some of you who do not know my history I will say this only for the purpose of this post.I have live in cannabis communities for most of the last 40 years. I have done other stuff also but never the less?I have know purveyors of skank weed. I know the market will not support skank weed vendors for very long. I've seen them come and go. I have purchased some poor quality herb at times over the years. I've had my share of dirt weed from the 60's. I have met some pretty sleazy individuals along the way but saying that you might assume I mean in the cannabis culture? Yes there are sleazy people in every culture, that is my point. I worked for many years at various legitimate jobs. I found just as many amoral types on the mainstream as I did on the counter culture side. The thing is we talk about regulating herb by law so we will get quality. I don't see that in the regulated industrial world or any place else for that matter. Nothing is better for quality control than the consumer.I bought one of the first Neptune washers that come out, for example, it has been a lemon and it cost $1,100 for the washer alone. I finally threw it out!I got burned by corporate crap, so be it, I will not buy that brand or go back to that dealer again.But we tend to apply a double standard to cannabis, like it needs special attention and that is the real problem with all this hysteria is that cannabis does not need any special treatment or regulation. It amazes me how the general populace can be made to believe and disbelieve and missbelieve such simple and everyday things? Cannabis, a plant! How can a simple plant cause so much consternation for a country? It is a weed found a place in society and was elevated to an herb. Over the past 40 years the federal government has spent more money on the war on cannabis [the people] than all other wars combined!Lump in the Revolutionary War, The Civil War, War with Indian nations, WWI, WWII, Viet Nam, Korea, Iraq.The price for all wars do not add up to the over One trillion dollars that can be accounted for and who knows, in the underground, black market and dirty politicians, The real price tag is incalculable.The war on the Amercian people who tried to exercise their freedom has lasted 40 years longerer than all previous wars put together.The war on cannabis is also the greatest failure of any war and is going on still, today with no end in sight or a goal for victory?
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Comment #14 posted by Richard Zuckerman on February 09, 2010 at 14:25:38 PT:
Police are unconstitutional standing army:
I worked as a Borough Inspector in Venice, California, and voted for Dennis Perone for California Governor, in same election, back around 2001 or 2002. Police are extremely overrated because:
1. They only solve 10% to 20% of the crimes. [As per midterm exam question in my Police Operations class taken this past Summer 2009 semester in a N.J. community college];
2. Police lie as part of a "code of silence", as formally acknowledged in Blair v. City Of Pomona, 223 F.3d 1074, 1080 (9th Cir. 2000), though this published panel decision received no fanfare.
3. It is very very difficult to sue police, especially when judges use the summary judgement procedure, which Law Professor Suja Thomas has criticized in several law review articles, http://www.law.illinois.edu/faculty/directory/SujaThomas, and impose the nefarious Heck v. Humphrey to require the conviction to be thrown out as a precondition to bringing the lawsuit-even when the plaintiff is no longer in custody and thus ineligible for post-conviction relief. [There are law review articles criticizing Heck v. Humphrey on this, supporting the dissenting opinion of Heck v. Humphrey].
4. Police too often arrive at the scene too late.
May I remind you folks that on March 3, 2010, the United States Supreme Court is going to hold oral argument on whether the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms applies to the States, whether the Second Amendment is "incorporated" into the Fourteenth Amendment.
www.chicagoguncase.com.
WE NEED TO RESEARCH ALL OF THE CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR ELECTION AND VOTE FOR THE CANDIDATE WHO BEST REPRESENTS THE PEOPLE, EVEN IF IT IS RON PAUL OR RALPH NADER!!
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on February 09, 2010 at 11:03:12 PT
Afterburner comment 9
I can't bear to watch it. It's murder. Pete put the film up a few days ago over at DrugWarRant.I can't bear to watch it. I just can't.The insanity of it is over bearing.How long must we bear this horror and be able to do nothing about it?I sometimes wonder if even one prohibitionist came to their senses because of this tragedy. As far as I know, they haven't.Donald Scott's death should have ended the War on Drugs. It didn't. So many other tragedies brought forth from the hands of the prohibitionists that any one of should have ended these horrible Drug War policies. But they didn't. Why? What's wrong with prohibitionists? Why? Why? Why?We've got to stop them. We've got to stop their vile atrocities. But how? They are so powerful. They keep on killing people and getting away with it. Year after year.If hatred has to control our government's policies... here ... take my hatred, my hatred of the drug warriors' idiocy, their wars, and their murderous, dictatorial, dangerous, intimidating, and imprisoning ways.The whole world needs protecting from prohibitionists and their violence. http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/drug-war-victim/
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Comment #12 posted by Paint with light on February 08, 2010 at 23:46:52 PT
whoops
For awhile it was the end of the "first" quarter and we were down 10-0.Fire fox gives me spell check Now if it could just give me brain check.
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Comment #11 posted by Paint with light on February 08, 2010 at 23:43:15 PT
Imagine....
Imagine a time when half the recreational intoxicant(even though it is not toxic) ads at the Superbowl are for recreational cannabis.......Imagine the year the first cannabis commercial is run....To keep the Superbowl analogy going......For awhile it was the end of the forth quarter and we were down 10-0.Then we began to rally.We began to see progress and it gave us hope(and FoM and all the others).Now, maybe we need the political equivalent of an onsides kick.I am waiting for that reception near the end that seals the deal.What a glorious time that will be.Go team!Equal with alcohol.
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Comment #10 posted by Paint with light on February 08, 2010 at 23:14:33 PT
Legal like alcohol
I used to close with "Equal with alcohol".......I realized that was open to misinterpretation even when the meaning was explained.I then changed to "legal like alcohol".Three words....sixteen letters.....easily understandable.That seems to work.Of course I like to occasionally add....."for now".The majority who post here know the that cannabis is not the crime....The crimes are the laws against cannabis and their enforcement.Someday the world will wake up and realize what we have been trying to tell them for decades.For now, "equal with alcohol" gives us a potential for understanding and results that will benefit more people quicker than holding out for full legalization like it should be.I just want to keep my friends out of jail or even the court system.Legal like alcohol.
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Comment #9 posted by afterburner on February 08, 2010 at 22:30:16 PT
Hope - The Video Is Finally Released
You won't like this, but it will stoke your determination to stop the suffering:CIA Watched as Family Shot Down Over Jungle.
Source: AOL News.
Posted: 02/04/10 10:37AM.
Filed Under: World
http://tinyurl.com/yczl7zs
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Comment #8 posted by The GCW on February 08, 2010 at 18:38:46 PT
JoeCitizen & Hope,
JoeCitizen & Hope,I agree with both of You. I do recall times when the cannabis I purchased had dubious things in it including bugs, bug larvea, white colored mold etc. I recall bags that didn't contain what it should have; a good buzz. Regulation would help insure the buzz was included.And legal like alcohol is a right on way to proceed for now.I believe what I said but it's all good...
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Comment #7 posted by JoeCitizen on February 08, 2010 at 16:33:53 PT
A small amount of regulation
The GCWI've also bought cannabis on the open market for at least 27 years. And in that time, I've (occasionally) wound up with some that had mold/fungus on it, or insect pests, or had obviously been treated with poisons or otherwise contaminated.I wouldn't mind cannabis being regulated at least as a foodstuff, so that you can't sell something tainted or bad.At bare minimum, truth-in-advertising standards should apply, so that you can have some certainty that the product is substantially as represented.But regulated as a poisonous or hazardous material? Unnecessary.JC
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on February 08, 2010 at 16:08:37 PT
GCW
Of course. You're right about that. I was just trying to make it easy for prohibs and leos to understand HOW it could be done. To help them get a grip on their fear and hatred. To help them understand. And at this point, I, personally am willing to concede some to their fearfulness and dread, to get them to stop hurting people over it. When they're calmer, we can talk about it some more.Or something like that.
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Comment #5 posted by The GCW on February 08, 2010 at 15:37:43 PT
Hope,
Legal like cigs and wine sounds good but I don't know.That stuff kills people, it should be regulated.I'd like to see cannabis UNregulated. I've bought cannabis on the open market for over 30 years and I don't think it needs regulatin'Cannabis doesn't need no government. Government needs cannabis. We should keep government's hands off the plant.
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Comment #4 posted by runruff on February 08, 2010 at 13:54:40 PT
"get their heads out of their asses?"
Well you know, onec't that ol' methane poisoning sets in, well, things get a might fuzzy!
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on February 08, 2010 at 13:28:36 PT
Legal
Like tobacco.
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on February 08, 2010 at 13:26:53 PT
Legal
Like wine.
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Comment #1 posted by EAH on February 08, 2010 at 12:29:24 PT:
LEO blindness
"Law enforcement officials say the present arrangement, in which some people with a medical condition can legally possess marijuana, makes enforcement of drug laws difficult."They should take some responsibility for this situation they don't like. If it wasn't for their resistance and obstructionism, better laws could have been written.
Besides that however, pot laws have always been "difficult" to enforce. It should be clear by now that prohibition laws are unenforceable in any consistent, effective way. If they were, cannabis would have been erased from society long ago. When are they going to get their heads out of their asses?
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