cannabisnews.com: Group Awaits Pot Opinion 





Group Awaits Pot Opinion 
Posted by CN Staff on October 21, 2003 at 08:09:03 PT
By Rob Moritz, Arkansas News Bureau
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 
Little Rock — A northwest Arkansas group hopes to find out today if it can begin collecting signatures on a proposed initiated act that would legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.The Attorney General’s Office received the proposal on Oct. 8, and has 10 working days to respond, meaning that office has until Wednesday to release its opinion, an Attorney General’s Office spokesman said Monday.
The proposed initiated act would allow physicians to advise patients who are chronically ill or suffer chronic pain that they could be candidates for marijuana use and would allow such patients to possess up to six plants of marijuana or one ounce of processed marijuana.The sponsor of the proposal, Denele Campbell, president of the Fayetteville-based Alliance for Drug Policy in Arkansas, said marijuana is effective for pain and nausea caused by severe illnesses, including cancer.If Attorney General Mike Beebe approves the proposal’s popular name and ballot title, supporters would have until July 2 to collect the 64,465 signatures of registered voters needed to get an initiated act on the ballot. The initiative would appear on the Nov. 2, 2004, ballot. A similar measure failed in a legislative committee earlier this year.That proposal would have allowed possession of up to six plants or 20 seedlings a year.Campbell said that a U.S. Supreme Court decision last week should help her organization’s effort to gather voters’ signatures. The high court’s decision, she said, removes the concern expressed by several lawmakers that the bill would hurt doctors prescribing the drug because it would contradict federal laws that make marijuana possession illegal.That concern is moot, Campbell said, because the U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to consider the federal government’s argument for punishing doctors who recommend marijuana use to patients.The decision let stand an appeals court ruling that said the government cannot punish doctors by taking away their license to prescribe medicine.“This really should help us,” she said. “Several of the legislators were worried about this issue during the session.”  Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)Author: Rob Moritz, Arkansas News BureauPublished: Tuesday, October 21, 2003Copyright: 2003 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.Contact: voices ardemgaz.comWebsite: http://www.ardemgaz.com/Related Articles & Web Site:ARDPArkhttp://www.ardpark.org/Arkansas Medical Marijuana Bill Rejected http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15704.shtmlGroup Works To Legalize Medicinal Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14303.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by afterburner on February 20, 2004 at 07:03:02 PT:
Good Point, ekim
Political speech has protection during an election campaign. As a candidate Dennis could speak with authority in Arkansas and Nevada to counter the inevitable lies of John P. Walters. Getting the media to report what Dennis says, priceless.
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Comment #8 posted by ekim on February 19, 2004 at 20:02:19 PT
But Dennis is the Man
he could get things going down there. then follow the number of signers growing for the next few months. Man he could also help Nevada. Gee the door only stays open a short time, here is hoping Dennis can help the people.
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Comment #7 posted by ekim on February 19, 2004 at 19:27:03 PT
Bill could walk the walk 
right after leaving office the Pres. told Rolling Stone that no one should be jailed. Ok WJC prove it and get this peoples ballot for compassion going. July 2 is comming fast.
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Comment #6 posted by VitaminT on February 19, 2004 at 14:34:03 PT
ambiguity
It looks like Mr. Beebe is exploiting a little ambiguity in his own words or maybe the AP isn't very detailed in it's reporting. Why not publish the language and point to the general area of ambiguity?I wonder if this has a future in the courts as in Alaska.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on February 19, 2004 at 12:35:11 PT
News Brief from The Associated Press
Medicinal Marijuana Ballot Initiative FailsFebruary 19, 2004 LITTLE ROCK, AR - The latest ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for medical use in Arkansas falls short of legal standards.That's the decision by Attorney General Mike Beebe, who says the wording of the proposed initiative is too ambiguous to be placed before voters.Beebe, who must certify ballot titles before initiated acts can move forward, says the wording of the proposed title did not fully summarize the proposal.The proposal was submitted by Denele Campbell of West Fork, who has submitted numerous other ballot proposals for medical marijuana that were also rejected by Beebe. Campbell is the executive director of the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas.In response to Campbell's proposal, Beebe wrote that he rejected the ballot title because he could not "fairly or completely summarize the effect of the proposed measure to the electorate in a popular name or ballot title without the resolution of the ambiguity."Copyright: 2004 by The Associated Press
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on December 09, 2003 at 14:33:39 PT
News Article from The Arkansas News Bureau
Rewritten Marijuana Proposal Again Rejected by AG Tuesday, Dec 9, 2003 Arkansas News BureauLITTLE ROCK -- State Attorney General Mike Beebe on Monday rejected, for the third time, the ballot title and name of a proposed initiated act that would legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.Beebe rejected similar proposals in October and November.The attorney general wrote in Monday's opinion that the proposal was ambiguous.Specifically, the opinion noted ambiguities in the wording dealing with how the patient would get the marijuana. It also raised questions about the wording used in detailing the identification card that would exempt people from arrest if they possess marijuana.The proposal that the Alliance for the Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas hopes to get before voters on Nov. 2, 2004, would allow physicians to advise patients they would be candidates for marijuana use and would allow those patients to possess at any given time up to six marijuana plants or one ounce of processed marijuana.Supporters say marijuana is effective for pain and nausea caused by severe illnesses, including cancer.Once the attorney general's office approves a proposal's popular name and ballot title, supporters would then have until July 2 to collect the 64,465 signatures of registered voters needed to get an initiated act on the ballot.Copyright: 2003 Arkansas News Bureauhttp://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2003/12/09/News/78193.html
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on October 23, 2003 at 11:36:30 PT
Marijuana Initiative Snuffed Out 
By Rob MoritzThursday, October 23, 2003Little Rock — State Attorney General Mike Beebe on Wednesday rejected the ballot title and name of a proposed initiated act that would legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.Denele Campbell, president of the Fayetteville-based Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas, said Wednesday afternoon that she had not seen the attorney general’s opinion but said the organization will rewrite the proposal and file it again.The attorney general wrote in the opinion that the proposal was “ambiguous” and had “misleading tendencies.”One of the several problems mentioned was its definition of “primary caregiver.”“In my opinion, the term ‘primary caregiver’ is likely misleading, under controlling Arkansas case law, because it does not readily convey to the voter that this person is essentially a supplier of marijuana,” the opinion states.“If the caregiver may acquire, possess, cultivate, manufacture, use, deliver or transfer the legal amount (of marijuana) per qualifying patient, this fact should be clearly stated to the voter,” the opinion states.The proposal that the drug policy reform group hopes to get before voters on Nov. 2, 2004, would allow physician to advise patients they would be candidates for marijuana use and would allow those patients to possess at any given time up to six plants of marijuana or one ounce of processed marijuana.Campbell said marijuana is effective for pain and nausea caused by severe illnesses, including cancer.Once the attorney general’s office approves the proposal’s popular name and ballot title, supporters then would have until July 2 to collect the 64,465 signatures of registered voters needed to get an initiated act on the ballot.A similar bill was before the Legislature during the session, but it failed in committee. 
http://www.swtimes.com/archive/2003/October/23/news/Marijuana.html
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Comment #2 posted by John Markes on October 21, 2003 at 12:53:41 PT
Thanks Denele...
Thank you Denele, for your tireless efforts. The state legislators decided they really didn't agree with their constituents, so let's let the citizens decide.
ARDPArk
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on October 21, 2003 at 11:41:14 PT:
Technically Speaking
Technically speaking, the Supreme Court could choose to take up the free speech of physicians argument again if another case came up outside the 9th Circuit (as Arkansas is). Having said that, only one result is possible: physicians must have free speech with their patients. If not that, then this is no longer America.
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