cannabisnews.com: Feds Should Stop Their Attack, Listen To People 





Feds Should Stop Their Attack, Listen To People 
Posted by CN Staff on June 09, 2002 at 21:47:41 PT
By Terence Hallinan 
Source: Desert Post Weekly 
Today hundreds of people suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other terrible illnesses, along with their families, friends and supporters, peacefully protested at dozens of Drug Enforcement Administration offices around the country. They came with one simple request: Stop trying to take away our medicine. As District Attorney of San Francisco, I support their effort, and I implore the DEA to stop its attack on the medical use of marijuana. 
In 1996, 56 percent of California voters -- some five million people -- endorsed legalizing medical marijuana by voting yes on Proposition 215. In my city the yes vote was 80 percent. The measure even carried Orange County, one of the most conservative areas of the state. Since then, seven other states have adopted similar laws, six of them by votes of the people. George W. Bush recognized that public sentiment during his 2000 presidential campaign. He told the Dallas Morning News that, while he was personally opposed to medical marijuana, he believed states should be able to decide the issue "as they so choose." As president, however, Mr. Bush has taken a different course. Justice Department lawyers -- continuing a Clinton administration policy -- have argued in federal court that the government has the right to take away the prescribing rights of doctors who recommend marijuana to patients. In other words, the administration believes that politicians and bureaucrats should be able to dictate to your doctor what advice he or she can give you. Armed DEA agents have raided medical marijuana dispensaries operating legally under state law in San Francisco, Los Angeles and El Dorado counties, seizing patient records and sending waves of fear up and down California. Some of these facilities have been forced to close permanently. These raids do not help local law enforcement or protect the public health or safety. Instead, they endanger our most vulnerable citizens and make my job as District Attorney more difficult. From a law enforcement perspective, Proposition 215 has been implemented successfully in San Francisco. It has reduced crime as well as the costs associated with arrest, prosecution and incarceration. It contributes to public health and safety. Our Department of Public Health has established a system of identification cards that protects patient confidentiality while helping law enforcement identify documented medical marijuana patients. Nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries have become an important part of this system, providing a safe, quality-controlled supply of medicinal cannabis to seriously ill people and working closely with local law enforcement and public health officials. Many also function as support groups for people who often are very, very ill. But it is precisely these dispensaries that the DEA has raided. Patients and their caregivers have been calling my office asking for reassurance that their access to a medicine they rely on will not be denied -- reassurance I would like to be able to give them, but cannot. At any moment the DEA could stage more raids, depriving sick people of their medicine or forcing them to turn to street drug dealers instead of safe, supportive providers. I hope the DEA, the Justice Department and the entire Bush administration will heed the "Cease and Desist" orders delivered by yesterday's protesters. Surely at a time when we face so many real threats - -- like the senders of anthrax-laced letters who still have not been caught - -- the federal government has better things to do than to deprive sick people of their medicine. Terence Hallinan is the district attorney of San Francisco.Complete Title: Medical Marijuana: Feds Should Stop Their Attack, Listen To People Source: Desert Post Weekly, The (Cathedral City, CA)Author: Terence Hallinan Published: June 6, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Desert Post WeeklyContact: mdecrini palmspri.gannett.comWebsite: http://www.desertpostweekly.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana Advocates Cheer on Hallinan http://freedomtoexhale.com/nc.htmWhy I Put Myself At Risk for Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13064.shtmlMarijuana Praised Despite Legal Issues http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13056.shtmlStop the War on Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13053.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by Lehder on June 11, 2002 at 09:48:46 PT
dimebag
cockroaches, eh? I bet it's noisy in there too. In my case, I've had huge blocks of my time destroyed by insane neighbors - music in my room, through the wall, louder than you would want in a bar and for hours and hours, months on end. i had four such apartments in two years, each more expensive than the last, one of them a super expensive luxury apartment, but they were all the same: no sleeping, no thinking, no reading allowed. that's how i ended up at cannabis news! - not able to do my work! i had neighbors with the same problem - students and professors too taking & teaching classes, holding a job - and not permitted to sleep or study. that's the US, those are the kinds of pigs who thrive here, and I do not "love the United States." i moved far, far away and now it's quiet, but a library with the things i need is not to be found. i'm outnumbered by the ignorance-is-strength people.politicians love to see us bickering over gore or bush or any of them. the answer is not in defeating any one or group of them, but in toppling the "culture" that is foisted upon us, ridding the US of TV control and relieving people of their happy ignorance and their fear. look up Kalle Lasn.
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Comment #5 posted by dimebag on June 11, 2002 at 08:56:14 PT
Arrest the Government.
When Did Federal Law Become higher than State Law.
Why Cant we Press Charges against the DEA. They have Tresspassed, Violated Civil Rights, Stolen Medicine that The States Have passed to be legal and have put FEAR into the hearts of countless victums. Why are we putting up with this Bull Shit Hipocricy. We Fear our Government, and that is not good. We should never have to Fear Out own Government. What ever happend to the land of the "FREE", We as Americans need to look at who the Real Criminals Are.
 FUCK Income TAX, Fuck Prohibition, Fuck the Fed GOV. What right do they have to Take money out of my paycheck "Interest Free". And I have to File Papers to Get it back. And I dont even get It all back. Thats Fucked up. My paycheck goes to pay those crooked poloticians their million dollars a year, while I sit in a cockroach infested apartment, NO A/C in the middle of white Trash central. I deserve Every Penny I earn. Fuck the Old Sick Bastard that Need Social Security. GET A JOB OR DIE. And Medicare, Fuck Medicare. I have to Pay for Old Sick People to get medicine and they cant even extend the courtacy to pay their $25 dollar bill. I Am Fed up with the Government. I dont want to overthrow them, I just want some one to Press Charges, take the Criminals out of POWER. Put the People back into power. This is a Peoples Government. Fuck We dont even get to choose who gets elected into the White House any more, not that we ever did, but at least that Illusion held up until the last election. Our Democracy isnt working. Its becomming a Totalitarian Government. We Dont Chose whats right or wrong, we "Elect" people to do that for us. Well im tired of this Neo Faccist race of Holier Than Thou Christians. What ever happend to Seperation of Church and State. Well that cant happen if our Senators, and our Congressmen, and our President are fukin Religious Zealouts. We need Real People In Office, not Pure Bred White Christian Politicians. WE NEE A CHANGE. AND A CHANGE IS COMMING FAST!!!!DimeBag.I just wish I could be the one to lead us the The Promised Land. I love the United States Of America. I love our People, and As a matter of fact I love all people that dont want to Bomb the Fuck out of us. WE AS PEOPLE NEED TO RISE!
We rose against British Faccisim. And Won Our freedom, well it seems we hav lost the freedom, or let it slip away. Its Time For A Change.
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Comment #4 posted by Jose Melendez on June 10, 2002 at 06:27:12 PT
tough on drugs, crime... want justice? Tough.
I applaud Terence Hallinan for supporting medical marijuana. Here is what should happen to all those who pretend to be "tough on drugs."See:http://www.nola.com/archives/t-p/index.ssf?/newsstory/w_judge08.htmlJefferson Parish (Louisiana ) Judge Ronald D. Bodenheimer was arrested Wednesday on charges that he arranged to have illegal drugs planted in the vehicle of a man who complained to federal officials about drug trafficking and zoning violations at the eastern New Orleans marina that Bodenheimer owns.
"He ain't gonna know what hit him," Bodenheimer is quoted in federal documents as saying about the federal witness, who has not been identified.
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Comment #3 posted by Lehder on June 10, 2002 at 06:07:38 PT
San Francisco, Home of Dirty Harry
You have written a very succinct and pointed article, DA Hallinan. But San Francisco needs a tough Irish cop, one who can enforce the law and keep swine off the streets. Where's Inspector Callahan?
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Comment #2 posted by Lehder on June 10, 2002 at 04:40:53 PT
like this, Terence:
Convene the grand jury, issue warrants, make arrests. If the wanted persons have fled across state lines, then call the FBI to assist in their apprehension.
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Comment #1 posted by Lehder on June 10, 2002 at 04:36:53 PT
Quit Whining, Hallinan
These raids do not help local law enforcement or protect the public health or safety.
   Instead, they endanger our most vulnerable citizens and make my job as District Attorney
   more difficult. Prosecute the DEA law breakers, guilty of trespass and theft at the very least. Maybe people are so fascinated by the novelty of a DA promoting cannabis that they're willing to accept a weak level of actual performance from his office. San Franciscans should demand that their DA do his job and stop whining about how tough it is. 
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