cannabisnews.com: MMJ Discussion Leads To Talk of Legalization
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MMJ Discussion Leads To Talk of Legalization
Posted by CN Staff on February 16, 2010 at 04:30:57 PT
By Robert Allen, Summit County Correspondent
Source: Summit Daily News 
Frisco, Colo. -- A lively public discussion on medical marijuana recently reflected the belief that, regardless of personal opinion, society is becoming more accepting of the drug — and statewide legalization is no pipe dream.“We kind of follow the trends of the state of California,” Summit County Sheriff John Minor said. California has a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana set for this fall. Minor said that if it passes, Colorado could follow.
About 35 local residents including doctors, marijuana dispensary owners, law enforcement and more attended Thursday's Our Future Summit roundtable conversation on medical marijuana at the Summit County Community and Senior Center in Frisco.Topics ranged from regulation of medical marijuana to the drug's history and societal norms.Susan Westhof with Summit Prevention Alliance — a community organization that promotes health and preventing drug abuse — said the community should consider the effect marijuana's public acceptance has on children.She said she asked some kids how they would describe the community and they replied, “Potheads.”“Of course they want to make pot legal because it gets you high. It's fun. Kids were saying ‘Go Breckenridge...'” she said of the town of Breckenridge's marijuana decriminalization.Others said marijuana is hurting the tourism-based community's reputation.Jerry Olson, owner of Medical Marijuana of the Rockies in Frisco, said the new law could attract “families friendly in the cannabis concept.”Another dispensary owner said it's the responsibility of parents as well as the community to teach kids about drugs.  Regulating a Psychoactive Plant as Medicine  Though the Colorado General Assembly is drafting legislation to regulate medical marijuana, Minor said the highly restrictive, dispensary-closing regulations law enforcement recommended won't likely be approved.He said that as an example of changes in “societal norms,” there was once a policy that if a person had ever used illegal drugs, he or she couldn't be a cop.“Now we're asking people if they haven't done it in the past two years to not do it,” Minor said.The Sheriff's Office has dealt with a mess of complications since medical marijuana began to proliferate — such as wasting taxpayer dollars investigating grow operations that turned out to be legal. There's also the issue of dispensaries buying product from the black market.“I'm a big believer in the will of the people just like most of the people in this room,” Minor said. “But we've got to have some rules.”Some doctors find the lack of regulation troubling as well.Dr. David Gray, a local physician, said the it's difficult to identify the definition of “severe pain” as a medical-marijuana-worthy condition.“It's hard to say (to a patient), ‘Your pain is not severe,'” he said.Gray said that while a young person may feel severe pain from a cut on the head, there are war veterans who could keep stoic with a broken leg.He also said it's unusual for a physician to “recommend” rather than “prescribe” a drug, as medical marijuana patients need only a doctor's recommendation.Olson said that language is used to protect doctors from federal prosecution.“It's federally illegal to prescribe a schedule I drug,” he said.  Effects On The Ill and Black-Market Villains   Thursday's discussion included a few testimonies to the drug's potential benefits as an alternative to pills.One woman said that when she first moved to the county, she saw it as a “very druggie society,” but with alcohol even more widely promoted.She said that when her husband became ill last fall, he was given a recommendation for medical marijuana.“It was such a comfort for him,” she said, becoming tearful as she added that he died in November.Howard Hallman, the discussion's mediator, took two polls of the people in the room.When he asked whether anybody would prefer no dispensaries in the county, nobody raised a hand. One woman said she didn't want people dispensing marijuana on her residential block.When Hallman asked whether people agree regulations are needed, nearly everyone raised hands.Regarding marijuana prohibition, Frisco resident and former mayor Bernie Zurbriggen said the black market is dangerous.“If there's a villain, it's the drug dealer,” he said. “He doesn't care if you're sick or well. He's got other stuff in his back pocket that's more expensive and more addictive ... If we legalize, this state would get well economically. It would be almost overnight.”Source: Summit Daily News (CO)Author: Robert Allen, Summit County CorrespondentPublished: Tuesday, February 16, 2010Copyright: 2010 Summit Daily NewsURL: http://drugsense.org/url/pmcW5l6ZContact: http://drugsense.org/url/yBSkElsLWebsite: http://www.summitdaily.com/home.phpCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #9 posted by kaptinemo on February 17, 2010 at 18:13:27 PT:
What to do with group C?
Good question. No nice, neat answers, though.I was going to write a long, philosophical screed, but thought better of it. Just convene the panel I recommended, and caused the prohibs to be subjected to the raw, cold unsparing light of reason regarding how their actions caused so much misery. I'm not expecting any 'Saul of Tarsus' moments, as I believe that the vast majority of prohib leaders lack any real moral compass. But if they understand that, from that point on, they'll be watched for any future attempts at circumscribing their neighbor's rights and freedoms, and that there will be consequences much worse than a verbal scolding, they'll get the hint.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on February 17, 2010 at 11:13:33 PT
Related Article From The Denver Post
Medical-Pot Advocacy Group Pushes for Compromise at CapitolFebruary 16, 2010URL: http://www.denverpost.com/technology/ci_14407629
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on February 17, 2010 at 06:36:53 PT
How do you deal with group C? Humanely?
LSD?
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Comment #6 posted by Paint with light on February 16, 2010 at 23:35:49 PT
Prohibitionists
I wonder what percentage of prohibitionists belong to each group.A. Those who truly believe the "War on Drugs/Dare" lies and are honestly scared of the supposed destruction cannabis can cause.Those people are just ignorant of the facts but ignorance can be overcome somewhat by education.B. Those who's job depends on things staying as they are.Some of these people might be on our side but are more worried about feeding their family.C. Those who know the truth but use prohibition as a tool to punish those they disagree with or want to exert power over.This is by far the worst of the groups.Education can take care of most of group A.Money(for profit cannabis industry)...that necessary evil......can take care of group B.How do you deal with group C?Humanely?Legal like alcohol.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on February 16, 2010 at 20:56:44 PT
Kaptinemo
Like you, I would have wished that this era's "Inquisition" would have come to an end because of good sense and human understanding.As you've always predicted, though, it has come down to the lowest, basest, common denominator. Money."They", the people that support these deadly and dangerous prohibitions can ignore death, disaster, murder, terror tactics used against citizens, military and military style attacks on regular people, spying, snitching, destruction, and mayhem. Prohibitionists can ignore having government agents blast away the lives of innocent children as well as innocent adults and pets.But not money. The money is more important to them than the lives lost because of their overwrought hatred and fear of drugs and drug use or pot use or whatever.Like you, I'll take whatever I can get as far as prohibitionists calming down, that gets us closer to a more civilized society, but it's very dangerous to forget atrocities done to one segment of society by another. I'm not forgetting the dead, the dying, the wounded, the shackled, the imprisoned, and the terrorized and mortified.
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on February 16, 2010 at 17:57:30 PT
Kaptinemo
"And the panel must consist mainly of those whose lives have been ruined by drug prohibition."I agree. Prohibitionists have demonized these people. They have treated them like they are despised and hated demons of some sort, and not people. They've treated them like criminals. Some prohibitionists have asked for death for the "Drug" offender. Like the Inquisition's supporters treated their victims. Like the witch burning people treat their victims.From time to time I try to think about the what, and the why, and the wherefore of the kind of paranoia, fear, hatred, and superstitiousness of some sort, I think, it is, that the prohibitionist is exhibiting. They're so afraid of people using the plant cannabis, that they've allowed themselves to be worked into a state of frenzy. A murderous frenzy.There are things prohibitionists really, really hate, I've come to believe, about some people that use "Drugs" and that "Smoke pot".One thing they really, really hate about people that smoke pot is the way they look. Their eyes. Their smile. Almost especially that "Stoned to the bone" smile.Their demeanor. Their relaxation. Their attitude. How dare they, they think? They don't like it. It makes them angry. It gets under their skin. It irritates them.Enough to kill, maim, imprison, and punish people so very harshly over it.They're sort of, it seems, that very worst kind of crazy. When you don't have a clue that you're actually crazy.(Most of the time I feel pretty sure that I'm probably not that sort of crazy, since I always take into account that I might be.)Drug policy reformers are about having a more civilized society. As is always the case for the people who tried to "reform" the situation of all injustices down through the ages.
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Comment #3 posted by Had Enough on February 16, 2010 at 17:12:44 PT
re: kaptinemo
“” Alright, so be it. That's good enough...for now. But we're not through there. Not by a long shot...post-re-legalization, a modern-day Church Committee is desperately needed to examine in detail the gross miscarriages of justice that have taken place under the aegis of the DrugWar, so that they never happen again. And the panel must consist mainly of those whose lives have been ruined by drug prohibition. Then, and only then, will there be even a semblance of justice.””That’s right...People need to be held accountable for their actions that have taken a dreadful toll on some...I too will take it for now...but I would like to see the day when these creeps get caught up in the karma they leave in their wake.I went to the store today...The clerk told me there was a run on Tar, Feathers, Pitchforks and torches...I was told they couldn’t keep them on the shelves, that they were backordered, and waiting for delivery...:)
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on February 16, 2010 at 16:25:29 PT:
And there it is
"... If we legalize, this state would get well economically. It would be almost overnight.”And there it is. The Gospel of the Holy Dollar Bill. Not relegalize because it would end the suffering of millions. Not relegalize because it would mean the end of ruining people's lives over a plant. Not relegalize because it would go a long way towards dismantling a humongously dangerous, unaccountable and destructive bureaucracy that makes a mockery of human rights daily.Nope. Relegalize because of the tax windfall resulting from the jobs created in a legal cannabis industry. Alright, so be it. That's good enough...for now. But we're not through there. Not by a long shot...post-relegalization, a modern-day Church Committee is desperately needed to examine in detail the gross miscarriages of justice that have taken place under the aegis of the DrugWar, so that they never happen again. And the panel must consist mainly of those whose lives have been ruined by drug prohibition. Then, and only then, will there be even a semblance of justice.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on February 16, 2010 at 06:14:40 PT
Poll: Iowans Favor Medicinal Pot
February 16, 2010URL: http://www.omaha.com/article/20100216/NEWS01/702169861
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