cannabisnews.com: Guide Issued on Medical Marijuana! Guide Issued on Medical Marijuana! Posted by FoM on June 24, 1999 at 12:06:43 PT Groups' brochure includes form for Doctors! Source: Spokane.net SEATTLE Three groups that supported the initiative to legalize marijuana for medical use in Washington issued a guide Wednesday to explain the law to patients, physicians and others. The 13-page guide, written in a question-and-answer format, explains who is eligible to use marijuana for medical purposes under the law, what it is used for, how to document doctor recommendations and other issues. It also includes the full text of the law and a suggested form for doctors to use in recommending marijuana use.Producing the guide were Washington Citizens for Medical Rights, Americans for Medical Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.ACLU spokesman Jerry Sheehan said he hoped the guide also would help police and prosecutors better understand what the law covered.Sheehan said he saw a newspaper article quoting an Eastern Washington sheriff ``saying, `We don't know what the law means so we'll arrest people and let the court sort it out.'``So this will hopefully help law enforcement understand that this is the law for them to enforce, too,'' he said.The only arrests of people using marijuana for medical reasons since the law went into effect were in Tacoma, he said.In January, a blind AIDS patient and his mother were arrested after Tacoma police found three marijuana plants in their home, but the Pierce County prosecutor's office decided not to press charges after determining they would be covered by the new law.In May, a Tacoma man was charged with unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance after authorities found 157 marijuana plants at his home. David Teatsworth, 43, said he was growing the marijuana for 11 patients covered by the medical marijuana law, which allows patients too sick to grow their own marijuana to have a caregiver do it.The guide defined a caregiver as someone responsible for the housing, health or care of the patient, including family members, roommates and close friends. The caregiver must be designated in writing. The law doesn't address whether someone can grow marijuana for more than one patient.Sheehan wasn't sure whether Teatsworth would be protected by the Medical Marijuana Act.``I'm not really sure of the facts of that one,'' Sheehan said. ``He was providing for a number of patients. ... Maybe a court would find that OK.''Pierce County Prosecutor John Ladenburg was attending a conference this week and did not immediately return a telephone message.JoAnna McKee, co-founder of an underground clinic in Seattle called the Green Cross Patient Co-op that provides marijuana to the sick, said the Teatsworth case illustrated an ongoing problem for people who are too sick to grow their own marijuana.``There's a gaping hole in the initiative regarding distribution and how patients who can't grow for themselves'' can get marijuana, McKee said. ``They have just as much need as anyone else but there's no way for them to get it and they have to rely on the black market basically.'' Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 24, 1999 at 18:56:58 PT: Feds Begin to Bend on Medical Marijuana! SANTA MONICA, May 21 Americans for Medical Rights (AMR), the sponsors of several state ballot initiatives permitting the medical use of marijuana, today praised a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) policy, announced this morning, that opens the door to scientific research on the medical potential of marijuana and its unique compounds, known as cannabinoids.Click the link below to read the whole article:http://www.medmjscience.org/Pages/amrrelease.htmlNEW YORK With the fourth installment of its public policy advertising campaign, the American Civil Liberties Union today challenged Americans to question the government's criminal prohibition of marijuana.American Civil Liberties Union and Marijuana!http://www.aclu.org/issues/drugpolicy/hmdrugpolicy.html My MMJ Link Page [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 24, 1999 at 17:30:35 PT: WCMR Publishes a Guide for Patients and Doctors! June 10, 1999WCMR Publishes a Guide for Patients and DoctorsThe use of medical marijuana, within the state of Washington, is now legal for certain, limited conditions. However, due mainly to the existing conflict with Federal law, there remain many questions regarding the application and implementation of our new law. The brochure has been prepared to answer the most frequently asked questions. This guide is a must read for anyone - patients, doctors, media - who has an interest in the specifics of the Washington State Medical Marijuana Act. To get a copy...Click the link below to read the whole report: A Guide for Patients and Physicians! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: