cannabisnews.com: The Feds Crack Down -- on Medical Marijuana










  The Feds Crack Down -- on Medical Marijuana

Posted by FoM on November 07, 2001 at 08:40:21 PT
By Peter Schrag  
Source: Sacramento Bee 

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft issues unspecified warnings about new terrorist attacks -- somewhere, someplace in some form. The FBI declares that, despite a month of intense pursuit and a million-dollar reward, it has few good leads in its search for the anthrax terrorist, or terrorists, and again asks the public for help.But there seems to be no uncertainty and, it seems, plenty of investigative and legal muscle for at least one phase of the federal government's other war -- rooting out California's providers of medical marijuana.
In the past month or so, according to the New York Times, the feds have uprooted a marijuana garden run by patients, who under the provisions of California Proposition 215, passed by voters in 1996, have the legal right to smoke pot if they have a doctor's recommendation. The feds also have raided a West Hollywood cannabis buyers' club, one of the largest in the state. And they've seized the records of a lawyer and doctor in the town of Cool who recommended pot for patients suffering from the effects of cancer chemotherapy and the symptoms of AIDS, glaucoma and other maladies.The Justice Department is operating entirely within the provisions of federal law, which declares pot to be a dangerous substance, lacking any medicinal value. Last spring, the U.S. Supreme Court reinforced the Justice Department strategy by overwhelmingly striking down the claims of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Club that medical necessity gave it a common-law defense against the federal injunction shutting it down.The feds' campaign is confined almost entirely to civil proceedings, seeking court orders and threatening doctors with loss of their right to prescribe, a sanction that in essence would drive them out of practice. They thereby avoid the daunting prospect of getting criminal convictions from jurors who may themselves have voted for measures such as Proposition 215 and who in any case are likely to sympathize with terminally ill patients struggling to mitigate pain and prolong life.In virtually every state where medical marijuana initiatives have been put before voters -- Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Maine, Colorado, Nevada, the District of Columbia -- they've passed overwhelmingly. And in a poll taken last March by the Pew Research Center, 73 percent of Americans said they favored medical use of marijuana with a doctor's prescription.So why are the feds harassing the marijuana providers? To be sure, there's no certainty that they're only growing for medicinal purposes or providing pot only to people legally entitled to get it even under state law. But especially at a time like this, when we're told that the FBI is devoting extraordinary resources to the prevention of domestic terrorism, you'd think the feds would have more important things to do.Even in ordinary times, this was a dubious campaign, especially in an administration that so constantly professed its respect for state prerogatives and a disdain for the heavy hand of Washington. In virtually every other Western nation -- Canada, Britain and most of Europe, where the prime objective is to reduce the harm of both drug use and harsh drug law enforcement -- there are strong moves to depenalize marijuana possession. American politicians seem to be the only ones who've adamantly resisted that trend.In a major new book, "Drug War Heresies," Robert MacCoun, who teaches law and public policy at UC Berkeley, and Peter Reuter of the University of Maryland point out that depenalizing is not the same as legalization. It simply can mean far more discretion in enforcement, as the justice system already does on crimes such as prostitution and gambling. Where such policies are wisely pursued, MacCoun's and Reuter's voluminous data show no significant increase in use.In their most recent ballot measures, as in Nevada last year, the promoters of medical marijuana have sought to designate the state itself as the provider of medical marijuana. So far it hasn't happened, but if it does, it would put the feds in the embarrassing position of having to go after state officials.In the meantime, the primary providers under the state medical marijuana laws remain the users themselves, or those who, under those initiatives, are their primary caretakers -- usually under the general supervision, and thus the general approval, of the state.But what's most troubling about the feds' recent efforts to go after the providers is that they are doing it at all. The government's own studies have shown that the danger of smoked marijuana is totally irrelevant for terminal cases. Nor is there any evidence from the European cases that depenalizing its use leads to increased use of cocaine or other more dangerous drugs.When every spare agent and investigator should be devoted to multiple threats of terrorism, many from sources we may not have fully imagined, why is the government making war on some of our sickest citizens and the doctors who are treating them?Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)Author: Peter SchragPublished: November 7, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Sacramento BeeContact: opinion sacbee.comWebsite: http://www.sacbee.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmLow Times: S.F. Pot Club Closes, Fears Raids http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11279.shtmlHallinan's Pot Shot at Fedshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11276.shtmlProposal for Medical Pot Sanctuary http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11266.shtml

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Comment #3 posted by Jeaneous on November 07, 2001 at 13:35:38 PT:

Great Article
I am very pleased to see this in the Bee. I have been corresponding with them regarding their lack of coverage in their paper over upholding 215 as law.I can only say I see this as they listened a little...
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Comment #2 posted by goneposthole on November 07, 2001 at 10:19:57 PT

medicine man
If Asa Hutchinson would try marijuana, he would probably quit his job and open a medical marijuana club in California.How much do you want to bet?
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 07, 2001 at 09:15:26 PT

News Brief from The Associated Press
Prosecutor: Rethink Marijuana Seizures

Source: Associated Press
Published: November 7, 2001
Copyright: 200 Associated Press

A prosecutor has asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to rethink its campaign against medical marijuana providers after agents searched a resource center and seized pot plans and patients' records. 

"I urge Administrator (Asa) Hutchinson to respect our city's approach to medical marijuana, which has reduced crime, saved money and contributed to public well-being," District Attorney Terence Hallinan said Monday. "Any move to close the dispensaries will result in sick people trying to get marijuana from street vendors, whose product may or may not be safe." 

Federal agents searched the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center on Oct. 22 and seized computers, financial documents, 400 marijuana plants and medical records of some 3,000 current and former patients, said Scott Imler, a resident. 

The DEA also seized thousands of records on Sept. 28 from the California Medical Research Center in El Dorado County in what was portrayed as an investigation into alleged marijuana distribution. The clinic owners deny selling marijuana or certificates to buy it. 

The medical marijuana movement began in earnest in 1996, when California passed a statewide referendum intended to make it legal. The federal government continues to outlaw the drug. 

Medicinal Cannabis Research Links
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