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| Count Shows Support for Med. Marijuana in Capital |
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Posted by FoM on September 21, 1999 at 15:26:26 PT By Derrill Holly Source: SF Gate 
D.C. voters support medical use of marijuana by a more than 2-to-1 margin, according to the results of a November ballot initiative finally counted after a judge overruled a congressional ban.
``I call upon the Congress to respect the will of the electorate,'' said D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams. He called Monday's release of the referendum results ``the first of a long line of cases'' to secure self-government for district residents. But Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., chairman of the House panel that oversees district affairs, said, the release ``threatens to reignite the national ridicule of D.C. that erupted when Marion Barry was arrested.'' Istook was referring to the former mayor's arrest and conviction after he was caught on videotape smoking crack cocaine. U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts ruled Friday that preventing city officials from counting and certifying the referendum results was a violation of the constitutional rights of district voters. As passed, District of Columbia ballot initiative 59 would allow doctors to inform their seriously ill patients of the option of using marijuana to ease certain symptoms and side effects of treatment related to AIDS and cancer. After the proposal is submitted on Capitol Hill, Congress would have 30 legislative days to pass a resolution of disapproval. If it didn't, the measure would become law. Although 11 of 13 D.C. Council members and Mayor Anthony Williams supported the measure, the White House and the Republican majority in Congress have cited a lack of conclusive medical research in their opposition. ``Marijuana continues to be a Schedule I substance and is still illegal under federal law to cultivate, possess or use,'' said Joseph C. Peters, acting Assistant Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. ``It would send a terrible message to America's young people to allow those laws to be openly flaunted in the same city where they were passed,'' said Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga. Barr wrote the amendment to the district's budget that blocked city officials from spending local money to count the ballot last November. He also is backing an amendment to the city's 2000 budget to block possible implementation of the measure. Sixty-nine percent, or 75,536 district voters, cast their ballots in support of the measure. Thirty-one percent, or 34,621 ballots, were cast against the initiative in an election that brought out 40 percent of the district's 353,503 registered voters.
D.C. Voters Passed Medicinal Marijuana Initiative-9/21/99 Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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Comment #4 posted by Dankhank on September 22, 1999 at 10:18:09 PT:
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Here is the e-mail addrress for Governor Frank Keating:
governorkeating@email.com
send him a message ... no profanity, but be as mad as you want ... Profanity is useful, to me, but it gives the recipient a handy reason to trash the comment at the first profane insult, thus, not reading it.
Everyone, please, send a message ...
Peace
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Comment #3 posted by rainbow on September 22, 1999 at 06:14:10 PT:
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 21, 1999 at 17:37:14 PT:
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Comment #1 posted by Dankhank on September 21, 1999 at 16:44:56 PT:
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Rep Istook goes to new heights by suggesting that the only apparent downer to the release of the vote is that it
"threatens to reignite the national ridicule of D.C. that erupted when Marion Barry was arrested."
Does Rep. Istook R-OK not know that the capitol boys and girls ARE ridiculous and are ridiculed daily? That ridicule is one of the tactics used by us because they make it so easy?
How about that Oklahoma is the target of special ridicule because of the special ridiculousness spewed by all of the senators and representatives?
And ... as a former longtime resident of Georgia ...10 years ... I have a special thought for Rep. Barr R-GA, too.
You said, "It would send a terrible message to America's young people to allow those laws to be openly flaunted in the same city where they were passed.''
Sir, want to know what terrible message I am giving to young people and anyone else that I can?
This: "Your elected representatives are telling you that it doesn't matter if you are dying of a terminal disease or whatever... You can use morphene for pain, other drugs for nausea, other drugs for appetite stimulation that all have serious side effects peculiar to each, but you can't use marijuana ...EVEN IF YOU ARE TERMINAL !!
Side effects to marijuana use are so benign as to beggar even their mention. Yet your representatives believe it is proper to put terminally ill people in prison for long periods of time if they try to use marijuana to alleviate pain, nausea, stimulate appetite ... whatever.
What sort of "freedom" is that?
Know this Mr Barr ... the young see you for what you are ... an ignorant, hateful, vapid, venal, vituperave holdover from the days of yore when rich white men enjoyed "liberty" at the expense of everyone else.
Mr Barr, I hope someone will run you out of office ... if I lived in your district I would help ...
alas ... I live in J C Watts' district and have my hands full already ... Darn .....
To find out about Will Foster go to my page ... :-)
There is a link on the index page.
You could also go to marijuananews.com, August 20, 1999 and see the little blurb that I sent to them to have a public record of what happened at Watts' town meeting. I sent one here, too, but no response ...
That's OK, someone just let me know how to become a contributor here.
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