cannabisnews.com: Hopefuls Decry Medical Marijuana
Hopefuls Decry Medical Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on October 10, 2002 at 07:08:20 PT
By Elvia Díaz
Source: AZCentral.com
Gubernatorial candidates Janet Napolitano and Matt Salmon put their political rivalry aside Wednesday to denounce a medical marijuana ballot initiative they believe would promote drug addiction and drain state police resources.The two top contenders joined forces with U.S. drug czar John Walters, who was in Arizona to persuade residents to vote against Proposition 203 in next month's election.
"I'm proud to stand here with Janet Napolitano even though we're on a hotly contested race," said Salmon, the Republican nominee. "We know that marijuana is a gateway drug that leads to other drugs like cocaine."The initiative would require the Arizona Department of Public Safety to hand out monthly doses of marijuana to those claming a serious illness and carrying a physician's note. The measure also would decriminalize marijuana possession of two ounces or less.Napolitano said homicide and domestic violence have gone up because of drug abuse."There are some odd aspects to Proposition 203," said Napolitano, the state attorney general and Democratic candidate for governor. "Requiring DPS to distribute marijuana is nuts."Walters said those backing the measure are trying to play on people's sympathy for the ill to pass a law that would only increase drug problems and put a huge financial burden and legal liability on the state. "The campaign is dishonest," said Walters, speaking to a group of elementary pupils and senior citizens in Phoenix. "I don't believe voters in Arizona are going to buy a stupid, insulting con like this proposition."Proponents dismissed the arguments, saying the initiative would save Arizona millions of dollars each year by diverting first- and second-time drug offenders to treatment instead of locking them up. The war on drugs has failed, they argue, and it's time to try other solutions."The drug czar doesn't get it that the answer to crime involving drug addicts isn't incarceration but treatment," said Grant Woods, a former attorney general who supports the measure.Walters called the measure a real threat, citing statisics that say thousands of teens begin using marijuana each year. "We're sending the wrong message to young people," he said.But his arguments weren't enough to convince Carolyn Barker, 60, a Phoenix resident with breast cancer and severe arthritis."Two ounces of marijuana doesn't seem very much," said Barker, who plans to vote for the measure because she may have to use the drug to ease her pain.State officials estimate the measure could cost Arizona as much as $12 million to set up labs to test confiscated marijuana and then distribute it. Proponents dispute that amount, saying the cost would be more like $160,000 annually.Source: AZCentral.com (AZ)Author: Elvia DíazPublished: October 10, 2002Copyright 2002 azcentral.comWebsite: http://www.azcentral.com/Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/help/comment-form.phpRelated Articles: Drug Czar Opposes Prop 203 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14403.shtml'Drug Czar' Denounces Proposition 203 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14402.shtmlDrug Czar Blasts Arizona Pot Proposition http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14399.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help
Comment #9 posted by afterburner on October 10, 2002 at 19:17:01 PT:
Satchmo Blows His Horn Again
"It really puzzles me to see marijuana connected with narcotics... dope and all that crap... it's a thousand times better than whiskey - it's an assistant - a friend."
- Louis Armstrong -
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #8 posted by karkulus on October 10, 2002 at 16:03:29 PT
"We know that marijuana is a gateway drug that
leads to other drugs like cocaine." He forgot to mention the "Negros,Mexicans,and Entertainers" !!!Why leave out the "good parts" of the Anslinger Report?? c'mon ,man! don't wuss out,Republican boy!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #7 posted by p4me on October 10, 2002 at 15:59:41 PT
No free thinkers for governor here, just robots
Gubernatorial candidates Janet Napolitano and Matt Salmon put their political rivalry aside Wednesday to denounce a medical marijuana ballot initiative they believe would promote drug addiction and drain state police resources.Well, here we have the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor following the Fascist position. This can make me think of only one thing. Now many people have heard of Mike Ruppert and his From the Wilderness website and probably wondered if this guy is fruity. Well, I have come to the conclusion he is a man telling the truth and that everyone is confused because of a lifetime of brainwashing in that America is for the people and by the people and only does good in the world. But anyway, I have waited for someone to comment on this truth warrior here and no one has. My position is this guy needs to be respected as a journalist and a patriot worthy of Nancy Reagan's Medal of Freedom.The link to GuerillaNews, gnn.tv, about the 10 minute video on the CIA and Crack has appeared here many times. Where things get informative is in the written section where they have an interview with Mike Ruppert, a Doctorate scholar/teacher, an editor of a paper in Little Rock that got interested in cocaine trafficking and its related mysteries because of the investigation into the death of two boys run over by a train while lying motionless on the tracks, and a former CIA employee that had the IRS wipe him clean after he blew the whistle.All four of these people have their images on the right side of the page under transcripts. Just click on the image and you get their gnn.tv interview. They are all worth putting on your reading list but lets talk exactly about Mike Ruppert's interview shown here: http://www.guerrillanews.com/crack/m_ruppert.htmlHe starts out with this telling paragraph:The point about the drug trade is not that the CIA dealt a few drugs during the Contra years to fund the covert operation that Congress didn't want it to engage in. The CIA has dealt drugs for all 50 years of its existence - 50 plus years - even before it was the CIA. And the point is that with 250 billion dollars a year in illegal drug money moved - laundered through the American economy - that money benefits Wall Street. That’s the point of having the prohibitive drug trade, which the CIA effectively manages for the benefit of Wall Street.He says this about the two parties being but different factions of one force that controls government- Mayan's word might be Replicrats. He says:No. It’s a joke. There are two ends of the same party. There are two factions. There's what I like to call a Clinton faction - even though he is leaving office - and a Bush faction. But they are like the Genoveses and the Gambinos. If I am going to be the shopkeeper who is gonna have - who is gonna be oppressed - it doesn’t make any difference to me whether there's a Gambino or a Genovese sticking a gun in my face and taking the money out of my pocket. We rationalize this by saying, well they keep the economy good etc, etc. That's the blind spot.You never hear about the peoblems of Africa, but Mike Ruppert shows he is not a pinhead because he is answering the question,"What's happening in Africa?" off the top of his head with this:Yeah, well I just read something today from the Times of London, which I thought was fascinating that I've often speculated about, and my question has been why is coca only grown in South America when there are great highlands in Central Africa? And The London Times today was talking about that it might be coming up but I read something recently that pretty soon, blacks will be in the minority in South Africa - thanks to AIDS. There is - Africa to me seems to be like a long-term planned rape, is about the best way that I could put it.Ruppert talks of two factions in this controlling machine- the Bush faction and the Clinton faction. He talks how Clinton had to stay within the system to get anywhere just the way these Replicrats in Arizona are following the Fascist line. Get outside of the Fascist control and you don't go anywhere. I want to include just one more paragraph from gnn.tv on Ruppert's interview on Clinton. I suggest it is worth reading in it's entirety for a fuller appreciation of who Mike Ruppert is and what he is saying.Clinton played the games he had to play. I firmly believe that Bill Clinton was connected to the CIA as far back as when he was at Oxford. I believe his trip to Moscow was not to protest the war. I believe it was to spy on Americans. He was making his bones. Clinton - and I've documented this very completely - about how Bill Clinton blackmailed his way out of the impeachment with the CIA proof - with the proof in the CIA investigations that Reagan and Bush had been dealing cocaine and ordering it - that Bush was involved in it first-hand, and that’s where we got volume two. The big side story of that is that the Gary Webb story is broken in August '96. We were promised all these investigations. Maxine Waters jumped in and was running all around the country screaming about CIA and cocaine. In March of 1998, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, did a walking tour of South Central and Maxine received a 300 million dollar empowerment grant. Then in May, Maxine Waters receives a smoking gun letter from Reagan attorney general William French Smith to Bill Casey in writing, where it said the CIA no longer has to report drug trafficking by its agents! It's in writing! Then in October of '98, CIA inspector general Frederick Hitz released - well actually he didn’t release it - he had finished a report as far back as May or June of '98 and it was classified as top secret. And it was left to the CIA director George Tenet to declassify it for public consumption. Well George Tenet works for Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton appoints the head of the CIA. Head of the CIA takes Clinton's orders. That report - that CIA report that absolutely destroys George Bush - which is a public document - you can access it off my web site copvcia.com and I have these extracts that I sell - was released to the public on October 8, 1998 one hour after Henry Hyde's committee on the judiciary voted to start the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton picked up the phone and said, they're gonna impeach me? George Tenet, CIA, release the report that sinks George Bush, we'll see how far they want to go. Click. Maxine Waters stops screaming about CIA and drugs and she starts supporting Bill Clinton.DAD-D,1,2
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #6 posted by mayan on October 10, 2002 at 14:53:33 PT
Arizonans...
You can always vote for Barry Hess - Libertarian, http://www.hessforgovernor.orgor Richard Mahoney - Independent,Clean Elections Candidate, http://www.mahoneyforgovernor.comDown with the corporate duopoly RepubliCrats!!!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by canaman on October 10, 2002 at 09:13:47 PT
Where are all the people in between?
--"The campaign is dishonest," said Walters, speaking to a group of elementary pupils and senior citizens in Phoenix. "I don't believe voters in Arizona are going to buy a stupid, insulting con like this proposition."--What's the matter Johnny can't find anyone in the 18-65 age group to listen to your BS propaganda?
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by malleus on October 10, 2002 at 08:37:22 PT
Fine. Let them all fall together
When I was a soldier, they used to tell us not to bunch up on route marches as you could kill a lot of men with one grenade.If the 'antis' all want to stand together and show their solidarity, then the Question 9 referendum grenade will do plenty of political damage. Let them stand with the fed who's part of so much that has bedevilled Nevadans. Let them be associated with what's been trashing the Nevada countryside for decades. People in Nevada know who the enemy is, and it's Uncle Freakin' Sam telling them how to live while making it almost impossible to do so.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by knox42897 on October 10, 2002 at 07:58:27 PT:
PROTEST RALLY TODAY
Who: NRLE, the campaign to pass Question 9What: A rally to support Question 9. Assemblywoman Chris Giunchiliangi will
be tapping a segment opposite the Federal Drug Czar on John
Ralston's show, "day one" on channel 8.When: THURSDAY, October 10, 2002. 11:00 a.m. PRESS EVENT.
Supporters please arrive by 10:15 a.m.Where: Near the Channel 8 Studios. 3228 Channel 8 Drive, the cross streets
are paradise and convention center drive. We will meet outside the
parking garage and assemble on the sidewalk near the studios. We will
validate your parking ticket.Why: To show our support for Question 9 and courageous spokespeople like
Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani. Nevadans DON'T appreciate the
Federal Government coming into our state and telling us how to vote on
Question 9. This is YOUR chance to be part of this historic effort. Look
professional-- the dress is business casual. We will have signs on hand
for supports to wave.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #2 posted by Ethan Russo MD on October 10, 2002 at 07:45:24 PT:
Very Interesting
If and when this initiative passes, federal and state law will be on a collision course. One of these candidates will be governor. I wonder what the state penalty is for obstruction of justice if they interfere with the process outlined in the initiative?
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #1 posted by goneposthole on October 10, 2002 at 07:40:30 PT
Gateway theory challenged
I imbibe in cannabis. However, I never could understand why people wanted to use cocaine. It really never did anything for me except dull my senses. I only ever used it twice and was offered to me.. It was not for me.I don't like cocaine and I don't really like whiskey, either.The train left the station long ago, Mr. Walters.
[ Post Comment ]
Post Comment