cannabisnews.com: Committee Asks for S.F. Pot Garden Study





Committee Asks for S.F. Pot Garden Study
Posted by CN Staff on October 01, 2003 at 18:48:09 PT
By Alex Posorske
Source: San Francisco Bay Guardian
Almost a year after San Francisco voters approved Proposition S, which called on city officials to consider helping with the distribution of medical marijuana, they have inched closer to the creation of a municipal pot garden, in defiance of federal law. The full San Francisco Board of Supervisors was scheduled to take the matter up Sept. 30 (after the Bay Guardian went to press) after its City Services Committee Sept. 25 recommended assigning a legislative analyst to formally study the idea of starting a "community garden" of medical marijuana in San Francisco.
The committee – consisting of Sups. Bevan Dufty, Fiona Ma, and Gavin Newsom (who left shortly after the public hearing began without making his views known) – was also receptive to the idea of licensing and regulating the city's cannabis clubs. That was expected, but activists were pleasantly surprised that officials considered the more significant step of creating a marijuana garden. "A lot of people realize that 63 percent is a really significant number," said Camilla Field of the Drug Policy Alliance, which has been working toward the implementation of Prop. S, referring to the measure's winning percentage in November 2002. "Hopefully this will light a fire." Theoretically, if the city follows through with the garden, modeled after a Santa Cruz program, it would make a plot of land available for growing medical marijuana that would then be tended and harvested by patients or their designated primary caregivers. This would probably be permitted under California law thanks to 1996's Proposition 215, although it would still clash with federal law. Dufty told the Bay Guardian he anticipates the full board will easily approve the request. He said such studies typically take about 45 days, which would put the measure back before the City Services Committee in late November. Enacting such a plan would make some activists, such as Harvey Feldman of the Patients' Health Defense, happier than only implementing the other major idea that was being thrown around before the public hearing: finding some way to license and regulate the city's cannabis clubs (see "Pot and the People," 8/20/03). Pot and The People: http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17118.shtmlFeldman, calling the clubs "strictly profit places" and "essentially unethical," said merely licensing the clubs – which many activists support as an initial step – would not help poorer patients who need the medicinal benefits of marijuana but cannot pay the $55 to $60 for an eighth of an ounce he said the clubs usually charge. A community garden, Feldman said, would work on a nonprofit basis to help those patients. The PHD has offered to contract with the city to run any potential grows. Dufty told us he is planning on meeting with Department of Public Health director Mitch Katz to discuss the idea of regulating the clubs as clinics, but he said no immediate further action is planned. At this point many city officials still preach caution. "The key is to keep your heads down and to avoid direct involvement as much as possible," District Attorney Terence Hallinan told the City Services Committee Sept. 25. Police captain Tim Hettrich, who runs the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division, told the committee he worried about security for medical grows and about the department's future relations with federal law enforcement agencies. "I do not know how strong these relationships would be if marijuana were grown on San Francisco streets," he said. There is also some evident concern from the City Attorney's Office. Before the Sept. 25 meeting, deputy city attorney Rick Sheinfield met with the City Services Committee in a closed session to discuss potential legal pitfalls in implementing Prop. S. But both Dufty and Sheinfield declined to share any information about the closed session ("Why make their case any easier," Sheinfield said, referring to the feds). One thing to watch for in the coming weeks is the progress of Senate Bill 420, which is currently awaiting Gov. Gray Davis's signature. The bill, sponsored by state senator John Vasconcellos (D-San Jose), would clarify possession and cultivation limits and develop guidelines for the security of medical marijuana grows. Although the bill would do nothing directly about the federal crackdown, Dufty said knowing the state was committed to helping develop standards would ease some of the doubts city officials have. "Federal policy still trumps state policy," Dufty told us, "but the legislation would really help." Complete Title: Let It Grow: Committee Asks for S.F. Pot Garden Study Source: San Francisco Bay Guardian, The (CA)Author: Alex PosorskePublished: October 1, 2003Copyright: 2003 San Francisco Bay GuardianContact: letters sfbg.comWebsite: http://www.sfbg.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/SF Supes Committee Considers Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17415.shtmlSF Looking At How To Grow Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17403.shtmlMedical Marijuana Card Bill Goes To The Governorhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17354.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by BigDawg on October 02, 2003 at 09:54:04 PT
If I thought...
... that Rush was subject to the same penalties as I would be in his circumstances... I would truly feel sorry for him.It's just that he isn't likely to be subject to prison time like the rest of us.Double standards upset me.
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Comment #11 posted by goneposthole on October 02, 2003 at 09:53:41 PT
I really can empathize 
Place yourself into Rush's shoes. It is not a good day for him. We all have good days and bad days. The amount of abuse cannabis users endure, we all should lend the guy a helping hand. Be a good Samaritan, not a haughty Pharisee. No need to rub salt into his wounds.
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Comment #10 posted by VitaminT on October 02, 2003 at 09:26:07 PT
I've never liked Rush. . .
but I've seen addiction up close and it can be a horror to behold.If Rush is at all inclined toward introspection I think there is a chance that he might see the error of his drug war cheerleading ways and turn away from the dark side.We may take some joy in watching a hypocrit writhe but to what end? Doesn't it reveal a wickedness and self-righteousness in ourselves? THAT is what I dispise about Rush.We as a movement, are about compassion as much as anything, and even if it offends us to do so, I think we're obliged to extend that compassion to Rush. Letting our anger rule will ultimately harm us.". . . . Even our worst enemies, They deserve music, sweet music.""Everyone Deserves Music"
-Michael Franti
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Comment #9 posted by goneposthole on October 02, 2003 at 08:32:51 PT
He can run, but he can't hide
It is difficult to generate sympathy for Rush Limbagh. He has made a fool of himself, no doubt. I am sure that John Ashcroft will seek an indictment of Rush's illegal drug activity. Rush will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. However, I do feel sorry for him. Tommy Chong will have company in the bighouse. If you believe that I could sell you the moon.I found this interesting:New Hampshire Versus "Goverprise"Read up on the Free State Project picking New Hampshire at http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031001/phw019_1.html. This story is not making prime time because it's a sock in the jaw at beltway bandits and the "Goverprise" structure. Goverprise? Yeah...a new word I invented that means government is more an enterprise or business than a system of insuring maximum Liberty and Freedom. Let me illustrate for you the difference between Liberty and Freedom, on the one hand, versus the nanny State Goverprise. Pretend you go for a walk in your field one day and discover something growing. Maybe it's a mushroom and you eat it, or it's a plant that you harvest, dry, then roll up and smoke it. If Liberty and Freedom mean anything, you have picked one of God's plants on your own land and harming no one, but possibly yourself, and that's the end of the story. You get high or dead as a matter of personal choice. Goverprise, on the other hand, acting as the enforcement arm of the corporatist's State, declares certain of God's plants "illegal" and proceeds to build a business around their decision. I don't know about you, but that's a pretty big deal - regulating what is God's, right? First, they issue licenses (for a fee) to dispensers (pharmacists), then they make sure that pharmaceutical companies report purity to the Food and Drug Administration and the drug companies in turn make massive contributions, public and otherwise to Goverprise worker campaign coffers. Then they set up Law Enforcement, which in turn buys radios and police cars and builds prisons. It's a system, you see. Crime is a business enterprise for the Mafia and a Goverprise venture on the other side of the law. There's an equilibrium. Of course, nothing is free, so to pay for what is now crime fighting, Goverprise levies more taxes, which in turn requires you to work more and, well...you get the picture. Here's something to think seriously about: When you look at the long term picture of the War on Drugs, ask yourself, "Would crack and Ecstasy have ever been invented if people were able to make their own wine, distill their own spirits, pop their own mushrooms and smoke a little grass without bowing to authority and getting a permit?" I will propose the alternative explanation is that regulation of some basics has actually caused the "drug menace" of today. Don't look for longitudinal studies of cause and effect. It's much too easy to let Goverprise just do its thing.http://www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm
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Comment #8 posted by WolfgangWylde on October 02, 2003 at 08:13:05 PT
Once he's backed...
...into a corner and has to come clean, Rush will end up being a national spokesperson for locking up OTHER people who abuse prescription drugs, in exchange for him doing no jail time. 
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on October 02, 2003 at 07:41:18 PT
Rush L.
Shame on him. Shame on all those who have double standards.
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Comment #6 posted by BigDawg on October 02, 2003 at 07:07:19 PT
I never enjoy seeing a drug bust...
but I have no problem watching a hypocrit slip and fall on his own sword.I hope he burns... but we all know better.Lemme guess, a fine and rehab is all he'll get... maybe.
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Comment #5 posted by darwin on October 02, 2003 at 06:17:54 PT
Rush is already going down hard
He made an ass of himself at his football gig on ESPN this past week. He said Donavan McNabb is overated and that the media is very desirous to have a black quaterback be successful. He was then fired from his spot on the show.
Rush is done for.
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Comment #4 posted by WolfgangWylde on October 02, 2003 at 04:40:59 PT
Rush...
...has been a Drug War cheerleader from the start. I hope he goes down hard.
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Comment #3 posted by mayan on October 02, 2003 at 04:27:50 PT
Time Is On Our Side
A lot of people realize that 63 percent is a really significant number," said Camilla Field of the Drug Policy Alliance, which has been working toward the implementation of Prop. S, referring to the measure's winning percentage in November 2002. "Hopefully this will light a fire."63% is a signifigant number. That number would certainly be even greater now. Every day our numbers grow. Time is on our side. The way out is the way in... White House Not to Declassify More of 9/11 Report:
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3535611
 
9/11 Education, Organizing and Outreach Finally Hit the Ground:
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=26&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0Claim, 9/11 was Inside Job, becomes Mainstream:
http://news.globalfreepress.com/article.pl?sid=03/10/02/0146247FTW Ad Campaign Saturates Northern California: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/ad_updates.htmlOctober 25th - Mass March on Washington DC:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/
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Comment #2 posted by firedog on October 02, 2003 at 00:25:31 PT
You're going to love this...
I wonder what he'll have to say about mandatory minimums now...
Talk-radio titan Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying thousands of addictive painkillers from a black-market drug ring.
The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper - who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years.Wilma Cline, 42, says Limbaugh was hooked on the potent prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone - and went through detox twice.
http://www.nydailynews.com/10-02-2003/front/story/122839p-110349c.html
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Comment #1 posted by Petard on October 01, 2003 at 20:29:35 PT
Taxes, collected by States
Since the feds enjoy the "carrot and stick" approach with state funding to keep states toeing the federal party line:One thing the Cali government could do is to have the citizens send their Fed Income taxes to the state to hold in "good faith". In this way Cali could be sure that they get the federal funds they deserve and prevent the feds from witholding, or blackmailing, the state into doing the will of the fed instead of the will of the free and independent state. Any monies the feds try to cutoff in retaliation for Cali going against national policy could be subtracted from monies actually turned over to the feds before the feds ever see it. The feds can't cutoff what they don't have ya know. Neither could the fed pursue the people individually as they would have done their duty and sent their money in.Don't fight the system, use the system against itself and watch it implode.
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