cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Politics Marijuana Politics Posted by CN Staff on November 18, 2003 at 15:59:30 PT By Ethan Fletcher Of The Examiner Staff Source: San Francisco Examiner President George Bush's drug czar John Walters came to San Francisco Monday and wanted to talk drugs, but the only drug San Franciscans wanted to hear about was pot. Walters, the Director of the National Drug Control Policy, arrived at the Glide Health Services Recovery Center, to promote improved cooperation between the federal government and local drug treatment organizations in the nation's top 25 cities. However, Walters spent a majority of his press conference discussing the federal government's policies on medical marijuana and how they interact with The City's "I wish we could take this off the table, to be honest with you," Walters said before addressing the issue of medical marijuana. "Why can't we take this off the table? Because we have a system of federal law that uses science to devise a safe and advantageous message...I can't say it's safe when it's not." California passed Proposition 215 in 1996 that allowed medicinal marijuana smoking for seriously ill patients, and allowed cultivators to grow it for such uses. This butts heads with the federal laws that continue to ban all marijuana. The result has been several high-profile drug busts of local pot clubs by the Drug Enforcement Agency. To add to the tension, San Francisco passed Propisition S last year, which would explore the possibility of the city growing marijuana instead of individuals. The drug czar emphasized that smoked marijuana has not met the medical requirements for legalization, and would still be prosecuted by the federal government. This argument was not popular to the 30 or so pro-pot protesters gathered outside Glade to protest the federal government's infringement on local marijuana law. In recent months, Walters took on some pro-pot arguments, disputing marijuana's label as a "soft" drug, saying that kids are smoking higher potency marijuana at younger ages, and that smokers had been shown to become dependent. He also claimed that people such as New York financier George Soros, as a front for their desire to see pot legalized, were funding the pro-marijuana movement, and challenged him to debate the idea of marijuana as medicine. Due to his strong statements and to flush out some of the arguments, Glide Memorial's Reverend Cecil Williams, invited Walters to a marijuana forum being hosted today. District Attorney Terence Hallinan, a long-time advocate for medical marijuana met with Walters along with public health and law enforcement representatives Monday. Hallinan said he instigated a 15-minute discussion with the "drug czar" regarding San Francisco's desire to protest their pot clubs. "We tried to get him into a discussion of medical marijuana, and he had a typical knee-jerk reaction to that...I said you have discretion, just give us some guidance about what's acceptable and what's not, and of course he immediately said 'Aw, follow the law,'" Hallinan said. "He's probably never had a confrontation quite like that." Rev. Williams told protesters that he was glad that a dialogue had been started, and if nothing else, Walters came away with a sense of San Francisco's commitment to the marijuana laws. Note: President Bush's drug czar addresses medical pot issue.Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)Author: Ethan Fletcher Of The Examiner StaffPublished: Tuesday, November 18, 2003Copyright: 2003 San Francisco ExaminerContact: letters sfexaminer.comWebsite: http://www.examiner.com/Related Article & Web Site:Americans For Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccessnow.org/Drug Czar Gets Cool Reception in S.F.http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17825.shtmlS.F. Officials Warned on Dispensing Medical Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17824.shtmlCommittee Asks for S.F. Pot Garden Studyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17447.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by Arthropod on November 18, 2003 at 19:51:29 PT: An interesting idea I had the same idea a few months ago. Somehow force the government to stop spending more than it earns, and take measures to eliminate some of the debt we have racked up already. This seems to be a good way of putting that idea in motion, it will be very interesting to see how Arnold executes it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Jose Melendez on November 18, 2003 at 18:22:08 PT California: Got Debt? Terminate prohibition!from:http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=ETNOGJDICAGIQCRBAEKSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=3847340SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying he had "strong resolve" to cure California's fiscal woes, on Tuesday proposed a record bond issue of up to $15 billion to fund the state's ballooning budget deficit. To set an example of new austerity, the multimillionaire actor said he would forgo a salary in his new job as governor of the nation's richest state and would impose a freeze on hiring, travel and upgrading expenses. "I inherited a huge debt," Schwarzenegger told his first news conference after his Monday inauguration. "It is not my doing. So now we have to figure out how to work with it." "I'm asking voters to approve up to a $15 billion bond to consolidate the debt accrued by the reckless spending in recent years. It will allow us to move forward to recovery without cutting the schools." The proposal was unusual not only in its massive size but in its focus. Voters are usually asked to support bonds for specific future spending projects such as schools or roads, rather than to cover past deficits. Schwarzenegger, speaking to reporters just before a special session of the state legislature convenes late on Tuesday, also said the massive borrowing program would have to be paired with a constitutional cap on state spending. He called for $2 billion in cuts from the state's roughly $77 general fund budget, but said he was putting together the details in the coming days with Democrats and Republicans in the legislature. "Absolutely there will be budget cuts," he said. "I'm not going to take a salary ... which is $175,000." snipped Cut Spending Here! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Patrick on November 18, 2003 at 17:56:19 PT oh it's the science now??? "Why can't we take this off the table? Because we have a system of federal law that uses science to devise a safe and advantageous message...I can't say it's safe when it's not." Walter's position is that the same science that made marijuana illegal must still be in effect. You know the science...you will turn into a bat, become insane and want to kill people and my favorite scientific fact, if you are black you'll stop at nothing to have sex with white women!Who can argue with these scientific facts? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by OverwhelmSam on November 18, 2003 at 16:45:07 PT: Walters Must Wake Up At some point, Walters and the government must wake up and realize that what they're doing to peaceful marijuana users is not unlike Hitler's persecution, concentration, and elimination of the Jewish race. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on November 18, 2003 at 16:23:14 PT: No, Terrence, he most certainly hasn't *"We tried to get him into a discussion of medical marijuana, and he had a typical knee-jerk reaction to that...I said you have discretion, just give us some guidance about what's acceptable and what's not, and of course he immediately said 'Aw, follow the law,'" Hallinan said. "He's probably never had a confrontation quite like that."*But he will. Because it's getting too personal, now.Before, Johnny Pee could hide behind his Eastern Establishment walls of bureaucratic haughtiness. But get him in the streets, one on one with the people he is hurting, and the man shrinks. I said it the night of his appearing on PBS, that he looked as if he expected the camera crew filming him to jump his sorry carcass. It was practically dripping from his pores: FEAR. He knows what's going to happen the moment he gives an inch, so he has to appear even more threatening. He's like the old-time racist crackers who were finally backed into their corners when the number of peope asking "Why?" kept increasing. No amount of 'justification' could explain the images of vicious dog attacks and high pressure water hoses. Just as no amount of 'justification' can, when held and compared to the images of the sick and dying, explain the government's war on cannabis consumers. But now, the wall between him and us is getting thinner all the time. People are getting in his face and telling him he's wrong. The sycophants can't shield him. Not anymore.Johnny Pee knows the day he debates us, cannabis prohibition dies in the USA. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment