cannabisnews.com: Medical Pot War Rages On 





Medical Pot War Rages On 
Posted by CN Staff on July 01, 2002 at 19:16:06 PT
By Haley Nolde
Source: Marin Independent Journal 
Nearly every day, Clay Shinn takes the bus from his home in San Rafael to St. Rita Church in Fairfax, then pilots his wheelchair about a half-mile to the headquarters of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana. Sometimes he goes for company, sometimes to buy pot that relieves his severe nausea.Shinn, 46, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1992. He's been going to the Marin Alliance's Cannabis Buyers' Club for five years. "It's made a major difference in my life," he said.
After taking his medication morning, afternoon and evening, he said, "I was always getting nauseated. ... I could set my watch by it. I hate it. God, it's awful. Now I don't barf anymore."To Shinn, extreme nausea is a far more forbidding menace than the federal government which - in the person of a U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco - issued a permanent injunction last month against the Fairfax cannabis club and others in Northern California. "I don't give a damn," Shinn said. "I'll smoke it anyway. ... I have a choice of two evils and it's the better of two evils."Despite the 1996 passage of Proposition 215, which authorized the use of medical marijuana in California for those who have a doctor's recommendation, the issue has remained contentious in Marin. After several incarnations of a county-issued identification card that patients largely boycotted for fear of being targeted by police - and a failed effort last year to recall District Attorney Paula Kamena in part because of her medical marijuana policies - the battlefield fell silent for a time.Over the past few weeks, however, Marin's medical marijuana war moved on several fronts, resulting in a series of ups and downs for patients such as Shinn.First, the Marin County District Attorney's Office and Department of Health and Human Services announced a new program that allows police to verify a patient's medical need for marijuana on the spot, with an ID card that bears the patient's photograph and a serial number.Police can check the number through a central dispatcher and, if it clears, the patient won't be arrested or have the pot confiscated, regardless of the amount. Sheriff Robert Doyle, all municipal police chiefs in the county and College of Marin police signed off on the program, which was hailed as a victory by the Marin Alliance."I'm very happy the county has come to its senses," said Lynnette Shaw, director of the Marin Alliance. Before, police "were arresting patients and letting them go later, and they were always losing their medicine," Shaw said. "Now there's an agreement and (patients) are treated with respect and left alone."On June 12, only days after the county's announcement, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordered a permanent injunction against the Marin Alliance and other Northern California cannabis clubs. Those who continue to operate do so with the possibility of being held in contempt of court.But, at the Marin Alliance's modest headquarters on School Street Plaza in Fairfax, the order was met with defiance and frustration."I'd like the federal government to be more understanding and compassionate of us ill people that are dying of these diseases," said Tim Ogden, a 38-year-old Novato man who learned he was HIV-positive about six years ago and now has AIDS. "I'm poor. I can hardly afford to get my medical marijuana from Marin Alliance. I'd like to grow my own plants," Ogden said. But, "federal law supersedes state law and that worries me. If I start growing my own plants, how can I be sure I'm not going to jail? I only have three to six months to live and I don't want to die behind bars."Ogden sat on a ragged couch in the club's small waiting room, facing a white-board menu that listed five types of marijuana for sale, ranging in price from $25 to $60 per eighth of an ounce. It's organically grown by patients, Shaw said.The sofa dwarfed Ogden, who said he has lost about 35 pounds this year and weighs only 115. In addition to alleviating his nausea, "The medical marijuana increases my appetite to allow me to eat a lot more food," he said.Shaw, whom Ogden called his caregiver, dismissed the government's injunction as "just another piece of paper in a long line of pieces of paper." Represented by William Panzer, an Oakland-based attorney who helped write Proposition 215, the Marin Alliance is gearing up for a spirited appeal of the permanent injunction."It's a frightening thing to have the federal government shake their fist and throw papers at you," Shaw said, "but the government's lies about medical marijuana will no longer hold. I'd love to be the case that cracks open the medical marijuana dam."Mark Quinlivan, the Justice Department's attorney in the case, could not be reached for comment.The permanent injunction followed a preliminary injunction requested by the Justice Department in 1998 against six cannabis clubs. Government agents have since shut down two of them, the Cannabis Cultivators Cooperative of San Francisco and the Santa Cruz Buyers' Club. The Flower Therapy Medical Marijuana Club in San Francisco volunteered to close, leaving the Marin Alliance, the Ukiah Cannabis Buyers' Club and the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. While still in existence, the Oakland operation does not dispense marijuana.Panzer's strategy to appeal the injunction hinges on three main points. Under the interstate commerce rules at the heart of the Controlled Substances Act, Panzer asserted that Congress does not have the authority to regulate or prohibit medical marijuana sales or use that occur in California in accordance with Proposition 215."It's purely intra-state, grown in California for use by Californians in California," he said.Moreover, Panzer said he will question the rational basis for a federal law completely banning medical use of cannabis. The Constitution ensures that Congress, in curtailing rights, must have a rational basis to do so.Judge Breyer has said that he doesn't have the authority to hear a rational basis argument once Congress has rendered a decision on the matter, Panzer said - a claim he plans to fight as well."All I've ever wanted to do is put the facts in the courtroom," he said. "Let's look at the science, the real science. There are more studies of cannabis than of most drugs you can buy over the counter. The government just doesn't like the results of the studies."Panzer must file his notice to appeal by today, and doesn't expect a decision from the court for a minimum of six to nine months."I expect the government to take this to the Supreme Court because Bush has had a lot of luck with the Supreme Court," he added.Shaw said she's concerned that cracking down on medical marijuana clubs will strengthen the black market for the drug."A lot of our patients are very dependent," she said. "They don't want to go back to the streets and unsavory neighborhoods. (But) they won't stop. Throwing the patients back to the gangsters is what this will do."A prominent figure in Marin's medical marijuana debate, Shaw joined the movement after spending 80 days in jail in the East Bay on marijuana charges in 1990. Once a battered woman, Shaw said she suffers chronic pain and is allergic to most prescription drugs.From 1992 to 1996, she delivered marijuana brownies to patients around Marin, while working on the Proposition 215 campaign. When California voters approved the law in 1996, the Marin Alliance opened its headquarters in Fairfax.After a year of operating underground, the Fairfax Planning Commission granted the club a use permit, provided that it comply with 84 conditions.The permit came up for review on June 20, a week after Judge Breyer ordered the permanent injunction against the Marin Alliance, prompting Shaw to galvanize supporters to attend the meeting.To her relief, the commission voted unanimously to continue the permit until its August meeting to allow time for the club to provide a belated financial audit which, Commissioner Steve Shaiken said, the club is trying to do.Neither the review, nor the decision, he said, bore any tie to the injunction. The commission did seek guidance from Town Attorney Joe Brecher on the matter, and was advised that municipalities have neither the obligation nor the right to enforce a federal injunction, Shaiken said."By continuing the permit process we're not in any way stopping the federal government from doing what they're going to do," Shaiken said."So long as they're in compliance and there's no legal impediment to their operation, the majority of the commission is supportive of it."Among the people of Fairfax, he added, the alliance is widely supported. "Rarely does anyone complain, but numerous people have come forward to support them."Despite the injunction, the Fairfax Planning Commission's decision and the county's new medical marijuana program were cause enough to celebrate for the Marin Alliance, which hosted a victory party over the weekend at Pete's 881 Club in San Rafael, featuring music by "4 Pot Peace." The band continued the celebration last night with a performance at 19 Broadway in Fairfax."They have a pretty weak case," Shaw said of the federal government. "I think they haven't pursued us because they know it's a can of worms." Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA)Author: Haley NoldePublished: Monday, July 1, 2002Copyright: 2002 Marin Independent JournalContact: opinion marinij.comWebsite: http://www.marinij.com/Related Articles & Web Sites: Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana http://www.cbcmarin.com/Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmFederal Injunction Halts Pot Buyers Clubshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13113.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 #2 posted by Industrial Strength on July 02, 2002 at 01:22:06 PT
A good article
I thought so at any rate. No prohibitionist bull shit, comments straight from the horses mouth so to speak. I don't know how any decent human being could read something like that and not support the sick people in need of a safe place to get good quality, reasonably priced (although 60 bucks for an 1/8 is hardly reasonable) medicine. It could have been a little more critical of the feds, but there always is something.
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Comment #1 posted by Rambler on July 02, 2002 at 00:32:07 PT
Off Topic Sardonic Humor
Good Gore quips for EJ.
 
http://www.barrycrimmins.com/quips.html#7-1-02
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