cannabisnews.com: Pot Measure Stuck at Starting Line





Pot Measure Stuck at Starting Line
Posted by CN Staff on December 26, 2003 at 09:29:12 PT
By Ed Fletcher -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Source: Sacramento Bee 
Next Thursday was supposed to be a big day for medical marijuana users. That's the day Californians with AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic pain and other ailments could begin getting state-issued identification cards -- thus freeing them from jail time as they debate their medical need with cops.That won't happen. State officials charged with running the program say they don't have enough money to get it going.
"This is a fee-based program, but we need startup funding," said Lea Brooks, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health Services. "We have a very tight budget."The author of the legislation aimed at augmenting Proposition 215 said he was "astonished" and "angry.""Departments are there to carry out the law -- not (flout) it," said Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara.Under the law, SB 420, the state cards would replace other cards authorized in some counties. Advocates say a state system would be a win-win for those in need and for cops and courts -- freeing criminal justice officials from having to separate legitimate patients from lawbreakers. The state law would also create greater uniformity.Even though Proposition 215 passed in 1996, the federal government continues to enforce federal marijuana laws in California. Court decisions have backed the state law, but the conflict continues.Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/8009672p-8946016c.htmlSource: Sacramento Bee (CA)Author: Ed Fletcher -- Bee Capitol BureauPublished:  Friday, December 26, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Sacramento BeeContact: opinion sacbee.comWebsite: http://www.sacbee.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmPot ID Law Sparks Criticismhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17621.shtmlPot Bill Splits Pro-Smoking Groups http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17612.shtmlState Sets Marijuana Standardshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17583.shtml 
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Comment #9 posted by jose melendez on December 27, 2003 at 04:55:49 PT
kids - parents
"Children and parents stop people from being themselves I think."That's the latest ONDCP ad: You lied to your parents about your pot use. Do the same for your kids. Parents. The Anti-Truth.
above comments are satire. click here for reality . . .
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on December 26, 2003 at 15:55:18 PT
kapt
Are Al Gore's parents still alive? He seemed afraid of his father when it came to smoking marijuana when he was on The Farm many years ago if I remember correctly. Now he is probably afraid because he has kids. Children and parents stop people from being themselves I think.
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Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on December 26, 2003 at 15:26:30 PT:
This only confirms my earlier impressions
Gore had 8 years to speak out against cannabis prohibition, and failed to do so, despite the very personal involvement his son had. And continues to have. In fact, the vast majority of the human wreakage caused by increasingly harsher prohibition of the 1990's took place during his tenure as Veep.Every day for 8 years he had a 'bully pulpit' from which to help bring an end to the suffering. He did nothing. While people suffered and too many died. Needlessly.But so long as the children of privilege are never ground up by the teeth of the legal machine's cogwheels that grinds the bones of the middle and underclass, the laws are just fine and dandy.Besides, when you don't have a spine, you can ooze between the cogwheels and the jail bars and the tumbler locks and the other legal impediments of prohibition people with more substance to their character are destroyed by, and dribble down the drain to freedom...along with the rest of the scum. I suppose being an invertebrate has *some* advantages.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on December 26, 2003 at 15:21:10 PT
CorvallisEric
I saw that article but didn't post it because I don't remember why but it was another snipped source and I just passed on it because of the extra work. The Gore's are lucky that they can bury things and no one bothers them. I mind the double standard.
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Comment #5 posted by CorvallisEric on December 26, 2003 at 14:53:17 PT
Off-topic: piecing together Al Gore
A couple more things about Al Gore's son from "Al Gore keeps silent after son's marijuana arrest" (the remainder of the article is redundant). http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20031222/5779069s.htm Article seems to be from Monday, Dec. 22. The 1996 item is very familiar to me; the other one isn't.In 1996, when he was 13, Albert III was suspended from St. Albans, a private school in Washington, for smoking marijuana during a school dance, Bill Turque reported in his 2000 book, Inventing Al Gore. The school treated it in standard style, announcing the infraction without the name of the offender, but news organizations learned of the incident. The vice president called leading outlets and asked them not to publish the story, Turque wrote, and 'all complied.'In 1989, when he was 6, Albert III darted in front of a car in the stadium parking lot after a Baltimore Orioles game. He lost about 60% of his spleen, broke a leg and a rib, suffered a concussion and bruised his kidney, lung and pancreas. His lengthy recovery and his mother's depression after the accident prompted Gore to forgo a run for president in 1992.
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on December 26, 2003 at 14:39:12 PT
This story doesn't seem right
This reporter seems to be under the impression that SB420 made the ID cards mandatory and none of the other provisions will go into effect until that one is in place." The law also imposes legal limits on marijuana possession. Patients or primary caregivers may possess no more than 8 ounces of dried marijuana. Additionally, they may maintain no more than six mature and 12 immature marijuana plants per qualified patient. Higher limits are possible, if set by local authorities or if patients can prove a greater medical need.But those limits won't go into effect until the ID card portion becomes reality.
"The ID card system is VOLUNTARY, so this can't be right.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on December 26, 2003 at 11:54:49 PT
Kucinich makes this program obsolete.
Kucinich will end cannabis prohibition making the need to register or have a card history!In case You haven't heard: Democratic Presidential nominee, Dennis Kucinich, put in writing that as PRESIDENT He WILL: 
"DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA" -"in favor of a drug policy that sets reasonable boundaries for marijuana use by establishing guidelines similar to those already in place for alcohol." (POSTED ON His website!)http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17917.shtml http://www.kucinich.us/issues/marijuana_decrim.php Kucinich needs You to tell others!Now!Please.
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on December 26, 2003 at 11:41:14 PT
Be careful before you speak on this
Some people in the patient community welcome this program, others do not.The ones who do not welcome it might try to be nicer to the ones who do.
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Comment #1 posted by jose melendez on December 26, 2003 at 10:03:17 PT
we don't need no steenking IDs
Damn it Governor Schwarzenegger, do something! TERMINATE PROHIBITION - ARREST A CRIMINALIZER
Or are you also a crook?
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