cannabisnews.com: San Francisco Eyes Marijuana Farming










  San Francisco Eyes Marijuana Farming

Posted by CN Staff on July 23, 2002 at 14:14:49 PT
By Reuters 
Source: Reuters 

The leaders of this liberal West Coast bastion are proposing that the city get into the marijuana growing business -- and use the program as agricultural job training for the unemployed. Under a measure approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Monday, voters will be asked in November whether the city should look into ways to begin growing medical marijuana for sick people -- in direct defiance of federal laws banning the drug. 
"If the federal government insists on standing in our way locally, we must take matters into our own hands and protect the lives of our community members and protect their right to access life-saving medicine," said city Supervisor Mark Leno, who sponsored the measure approved by city leaders Monday. Under Leno's proposal, voters will be offered a November ballot measure which would direct the municipal government to study how to grow and supply pot for patients who qualify to use it under California's landmark medicinal marijuana law of 1996. That law -- which led to "medical marijuana clubs" being established across the state -- has been repeatedly challenged in court by federal officials, who say flatly that marijuana remains illegal. Many of California's marijuana clubs have shut down voluntarily, while others have been closed by federal raids. Leno said getting the city government involved could help to take the pressure off local suppliers. "I think the federal government and the Bush Administration has bigger fish to fry right now than continuing to bust local clubs," Leno said. He said San Francisco has plenty of places where it could grow marijuana, and could even use the program as agricultural job training for the unemployed. "We have a lot of land. That's not going to be a problem," Leno told the San Francisco Chronicle. But federal officials cautioned that San Francisco would be picking a serious legal fight if it sought to turn its vacant lots into pot farms. "Cultivation, possession and distribution of marijuana is illegal under the Controlled Substances Act -- federal law," Richard Meyer, spokesman for the DEA's regional office in San Francisco, told the newspaper. "Unless Congress changes the law and makes marijuana a legal substance, then we have to do our job and enforce the law, whether or not it's popular," Meyer said. Note: San Francisco officials want their city to go to pot -- literally. Source: ReutersPublished: Tuesday, July 23, 2002Copyright: 2002 Reuters UnlimitedRelated Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htm S.F. Considers Growing its Own http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13505.shtmlCourt Writes Prescription for Pot Reliefhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13504.shtml

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Comment #3 posted by culebra on July 23, 2002 at 22:48:06 PT
Cool...
If this passes, it really ups the stakes. The feds have popular ignorance on their side when they bust publicly run dispensaries because most of the sheeple are willing to believe that criminals run them. There is no such luxury if the city of San Francisco decides to plant the seed...not without one helluva rhubarb to boot. Still, keeping in mind the recent Flin Flon shenanigans I cannot help but be somewhat skeptical of government on any level entering into such endeavors. But hopefully they pass this measure, "study" the issue (again and again and again), and decide to give out free equipment and classes to the patients and their caregivers. That would be nice.
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Comment #2 posted by paul peterson on July 23, 2002 at 16:02:31 PT:
 NEED, SEED, FEED, WEED, INDEED!
That's what I call it, a prescription to keep the feds out of the hood-First, identify those people that have a medical NEED. Second, get your "corps" together and go into a patient's house, and plant a SEED. Then come back every day or so, and merely FEED the plants (and teach the people how to do what they can themselves. Then you WEED the plants (meaning to harvest clippings & help the people learn how to best administer the medicine-the leaves have a higher ratio of cannabinoids to THC (which makes them more usable for most treatment purposes, I am told). Then, if you get to the bud stage, INDEED~!How does this help? 1) the feds only have that shred of jurisdiction over in-state concerns where there is "commerce" happening, and if this corps of learned growers can teach people well enough, there will never again be any COMMERCE going on ie: for each house, no pot in, no pot out! How can they then say there is ANY INTERSTATE COMMERCE AT ALL, OR ANY "EFFECT" ON INTERSTATE COMMERCE FROM "INTRASTATE" COMMERCE, if there is NO COMMERCE AT ALL? 2) this will encourage people to become truly self-sufficient, meaning that the sales of pot should plummet, meaning that the DEA has to get out of business entirely, like maybe to 3) find real jobs (and I am confident those DEA PEOPLE CAN BE RETRAINED TO LIVE PERFECTLY PRODUCTIVE LIVES, really I do)! 4) the feds then lose a big WHIPPING POST, those club guys in California that keep trying to help sick people, good hearts, good intentions, but BAD TACTICS and all (sorry they just keep locking em up and stuff!). 5) if all pot sales end, the DEA can't get that press coverage and all, and things will calm down a lot, like in those other MM states that we never hear about anymore (because they all use the NEED, SEED, FEED, WEED INDEED! program already.My prescription? TAKE TWO SEEDS AND CALL ME IN THE MORNING-I'LL SEND YOU MY BILL BY SNAIL MAIL, OK?  end of transmission. PAUL PETERSON 312-558-9999
http://ILLINOIS-MMI.ORG
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on July 23, 2002 at 14:53:33 PT
Liar liar pants on fire
"Unless Congress changes the law and makes marijuana a legal substance, then we have to do our job and enforce the law, whether or not it's popular," Meyer said.
er
Oh we're just enforcing the law! We're just a bunch of innocent law enforcers!The DEA fights with all of its strength to keep marijuana laws from changing -- and you know that damned well, Mr.Meyer.
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