cannabisnews.com: California Voters Be Damned!





California Voters Be Damned!
Posted by FoM on May 26, 1999 at 18:31:07 PT
By Peter McWilliams
Source: McWilliams.com
Sixty years after the release of the film "Mr. Smith Goes ToWashington," Washington has gone after Mr. Smith.B.E. Smith, a mild-mannered disabled Vietnam veteran and fundamentalist Christian, was found guilty in a Sacramento federal courthouse last Friday.His crime? Following the laws of California.
He is now in federal custody, awaiting a ten-year-to-life mandatory-minimum sentence and a possible $4 million fine.Mr. Smith, it seems, had the audacity to believe that the will of the people of California actually meant something; that a Proposition passed into law by 56.4 percent of the California voters had some value; that the states' rights provision of the United States Constitution was of some importance; that the federal government had more important things to do than to put sick people in jail.Mr. Smith, you see, is a medical marijuana patient. After serving a very active tour of duty in Vietnam, he volunteered for a second thirteen-month tour. Why? Because his country needed him. Mr. Smith served his country with bravery, honor, and self-sacrifice. He got out alive, but with a deeply scared psyche. Even after three decades, Mr. Smith can't seem to eliminate from his mind the smell of death, the sound of comrades losing limbs to land mines, the sight of his best friend dying in his arms.Medically, it's known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Practically, it's what countless veterans still suffer for God and country.Following his doctors orders, Mr. Smith used medical marijuana to reduce his debilitating anxiety, ease the painful memories that plague him, and calm him after waking at night for the ten thousandth time, screaming from the nightmares.Under California law, Mr. Smith openly cultivated a small amount of medical marijuana with the full knowledge and permission of his local law-enforcement authorities. Mr. Smith thought he was under the protection of California law.The federal government thought otherwise.Shouting the battle cry, "Federal law supersedes state law!" (which is merely a legalistic way of saying, "California voters be damned!"), Washington arrested Mr. Smith.Surely, you might think, a jury of twelve Californians would never convict a man who peaceably followed California law. But the jury, when they voted to convict, never knew what they were voting for.The federal judge banned any mention of Proposition 215, Mr. Smith's medical condition, the testimony of Mr. Smith's doctor, or the fact that California law enforcement had specifically given Mr. Smith permission to grow his medicine. The jury saw Mr. Smith as the federal government presented him: An evil drug kingpin whose crime was serious enough "to make a federal case out of it."So severe was the federal censorship of "the whole truth" presented to the jury that when actor Woody Harrelson, testifying as a character witness on Mr. Smith's behalf, vaguely eluded to Mr. Smith's medical condition, the jury was immediately removed from the courtroom. Mr. Harrelson was threatened with imprisonment for contempt of court and permitted no further testimony. Forced to leave the stand, Mr. Harrelson asked the judge, "How can you sleep at night?"Personally, I wonder how Californians can sleep at night knowing that the sovereignty of their state has been trampled under the arrogant heel of the federal government. Our right to treat our illnesses, under the care of our doctors, has been revoked. To the federal government, a ballot cast by a California voter means nothing.Of course, California voters can't be expected to follow every attack on their freedom emanating from Washington--but where were our elected officials? Although this trial that stripped Californians of their suffrage happened only a few blocks from the state capitol, I'd be willing to bet that Governor Davis doesn't even know who B.E. Smith is.In March, Attorney General Lockyer went to Washington to lobby for the medical marijuana rights of California's sick and dying. He was given a flat-out, "No!" from Attorney General Reno--the same Attorney General Reno who allows drugs to be used by physicians to kill Oregon patients in compliance with that state's physician-assisted suicide referendum.When AG Lockyer said he might allow the state to grow and distribute medical marijuana to the needy, drug czar Barry McCaffrey threatened him with personal arrest. Did AG Lockyer call an immediate press conference demanding an apology from drug czar McCaffrey? No. He quietly came home, apparently with his tail between his legs. That tail seems firmly planted there to this day--otherwise, how could the B.E. Smith tragedy have taken place?And what of our two state Senators whose specific duty it is to defend the people of California against federal encroachment? Senator Boxer, who supported Proposition 215, has done nothing. Senator Feinstein, who opposed Proposition 215 (the only California Democratic member of Congress to do so), has actively opposed the will of the people in both statements to the press and votes on the Senate floor.Although precedent setting, please don't think this federal nullification of your rights as a California citizen is unique to the hinterlands of Sacramento. I am a Los Angeles cancer survivor and AIDS patient who faces precisely the same fate as Mr. Smith.I am under federal indictment for acting under what I thought was the protection of Proposition 215. I face the same penalty as Mr. Smith for treating my life-threatening illnesses under my physician's care. The federal prosecutors in my case have filed essentially the same motion to suppress all medical evidence. (Federal prosecutors use each other's motions as boilerplate. To defend yourself against a federal indictment is like trying to stand up against a 9,000-member law firm with unlimited resources--and guns.)The medical marijuana issue was never about drugs. Before the passage of Proposition 215, it was about compassion. Now that the voters have spoken, it is about liberty. Six years before the Declaration of Independence, Edmund Burke observed, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."The Founding Fathers heard Mr. Burke and did something. Will we?Peter McWilliams is an author and publisher. His web page is:http://mcwilliams.com/
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 26, 1999 at 18:43:59 PT
E-Mail Request From Peter McWilliams!
From:"Peter McWilliams" LA Times Op-Ed pieceHello.Here is an op-ed piece I wrote for the Los Angeles Times.If you find it worthy, you might want to write a brief, polite note to the op-ed editor, Bob Berger, asking him to publish it. op-ed latimes.comThank you.Peter
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