cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana
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Medical Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on April 19, 2010 at 04:46:27 PT
Editorial
Source: Washington Post 
Washington, D.C. -- In 1998, 69 percent of D.C. voters endorsed the medicinal use of marijuana for those suffering from serious illnesses. Nothing came of the initiative because Congress immediately prohibited the use of local funds to support the program. The ban was lifted last year, and the 11-year lag has actually proved to be something of a blessing, because the District is crafting legislation based on lessons learned from the experience -- and mistakes -- of other states.
Initiative 59 was pretty basic; it gave individuals the right to use marijuana for medical purposes. By contrast, a bill (B18-622) that will come before the D.C. Council on Tuesday, with a vote scheduled for next month, would set up a strict regulatory structure that aims to guard against the problems experienced by some of the 14 other jurisdictions that allow marijuana use for individuals debilitated by illnesses such as cancer or multiple sclerosis. Key to that effort are strict registration requirements for patients, caregivers, dispensaries and cultivation centers. In addition, the bill caps the number of dispensaries at five and limits the quantity of marijuana that can be prescribed each month, making the proposal one of the most restrictive in the country.Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), chair of the council's health committee and the bill's lead sponsor, is right to want to prevent abuses that occurred in places such as California, where medical marijuana has become a euphemism for recreational drug use. There, dispensaries are akin to marijuana cafes and people with complaints as minor as back pain caused by wearing high heels qualify for use. "I want this to be professional and orderly and evidence-based," said Mr. Catania, mindful that anything less could invite renewed congressional intervention. If the proposal is approved, critical details will need to be worked out in its implementation, such as who will be allowed to grow and distribute the drug. It's commendable that particular attention is paid to the dangers of drug interaction and the need for proper education of consumers. If society wants to legalize marijuana for all, it should do so explicitly. Until then, council members are on the right track in formulating a program that meets the legitimate needs of the chronically ill but guards against those who just want permission to get high.Source: Washington Post (DC)Published: Monday, April 19, 2010 Copyright: 2010 Washington Post Contact: letters washpost.com Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/VZSQgdQtCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on April 20, 2010 at 11:02:38 PT
Medical Marijuana Bill Up for a Vote Today
By Kendra Nichols  April 20, 2010The D.C. Council will vote today on a much-awaited proposal to allow chronically ill patients to receive a doctor's prescription to use marijuana and buy it from a city-sanctioned distribution center.Under the bill, which has already cleared two committees, a patient who suffers from HIV, glaucoma, cancer or a "chronic and lasting disease" may receive a doctor's recommendation to possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana in a 30-day period.The patient would not be allowed to grow their own marijuana, but between five and eight pot distribution centers would be established in the city.Those distribution centers would receive marijuana from privately run cultivation centers, where up to 95 marijuana plants could be grown at a given time. The distribution and cultivation centers, which could not be located within 300 feet of a school or preschool, would be operated by private or nonprofit organizations and businesses that would be licensed by the city.The bill is expected to easily pass the council today, perhaps by a unanimous vote. The council will then have to vote on it a second time next month. But it will likely be at least several months before the city's medical marijuana program gets off the ground.Under the legislation, the mayor's office and the Department of Health will have to draft regulations on where the distribution centers can be located and under what terms. It remains unclear what criteria the mayor would use when selecting what companies or nonprofits will win the right to enter the city's potentially lucrative marijuana market. But city officials say they have learned lessons from other states with less controlled medical marijuana programs.Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D), a Democratic candidate for mayor, said Monday he hopes the city moves swiftly to implement the medical marijuana law. He noted District voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum in 1998 to legalize medical marijuana, but Congress blocked the city from moving forward on the issue until this year."This is not a new issue," Gray said. "It's been around 10 years. We had an overwhelmingly large number of people support this. ... I would hope we could move this quickly and implement something a majority of people said they supported."-- Tim CraigCopyright: 2010 The Washington Post CompanyURL: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2010/04/medical_marijuana_bill_up_for.html
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Comment #2 posted by Cheebs1 on April 19, 2010 at 16:52:32 PT:
WOW
WOW!!!! I wonder if this was a Freudian slip when they said, "the problems experienced by some of the 14 other jurisdictions that allow marijuana use for individuals debilitated by illnesses such as cancer or multiple sclerosis. Notice that the word jurisdictions is used and not states. I find that to be very telling in our future.
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on April 19, 2010 at 06:14:23 PT
" -- and mistakes -- of other states. "
Just look at the murder and mayhem the comes to each state along with liberal marijuana laws!Just look at the lost jobs brought about through this onslaught by the green monster.Pharmaceuticals companies are predicted to tank in the states where medical marijuana is widely accepted and used.Crime and violence associated with the black market will all but go away.According to the Dutch Ministry, they have succeeded in making cannabis boring and nothing turns off the young folks over here more than Grandma's medicine.DEA thugs will have no more excuse for shooting innocent people in their sleep or to interrupt Jerry and Linda's Sunday Morning coffee.The fascist elements in our monstrosity of a government will lose their criminal and illegal ability to asset forfeiture.The list goes on but as you can see they have so much to ponder over the power and effect this rogue weed could have over an entire nation.Word to the wise, We must be careful of an intelligent herb with the ability to bring down our very society as it is evilly plotting to do so.It will not only take down our good and kind folks at the FDA Drug industry but it will ruin our youth and create another generation of hippies like the wave that passed through during the sixties. Our country could be filled with kids who will follow in the footsteps of pot smoking hippies who ended the Viet Nam war, started Earth day, raised the consciousness of our country about eating right, they built computers while getting stoned in their parents garages and are now claiming that pot is safer than alcohol?We must stop and consider the mistakes of other states!
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