cannabisnews.com: Medicinal Marijuana Law Gains Favor, Survey Finds 





Medicinal Marijuana Law Gains Favor, Survey Finds 
Posted by CN Staff on January 29, 2004 at 19:16:48 PT
By Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Source: San Francisco Chronicle 
Californians are higher than ever on medical marijuana. Proposition 215, the state's pioneering initiative which made it legal for doctors to recommend pot to patients, has gained significant support across all segments of California's population since voters approved it in 1996, according to a Field poll released today. The survey of 500 registered voters in the state found that 74 percent now favor legal protections for patients who use marijuana to cope with illnesses, compared with 56 percent who approved it on the ballot. And, the poll shows, support for Prop. 215 comes from all political, ideological and age groups.
Democrats favor Prop. 215 by more than 5-1, and Republicans by nearly 2-1. Conservatives are 53 percent in favor, middle-of-the-roaders 78 percent and liberals 92 percent. All age categories back the measure by more than 3-1 except those 65 and over, who were 59 percent in favor. In another finding, the poll found that 50 percent of those surveyed agree that using marijuana is no more dangerous than using alcohol. That's a shift from 44 percent who held that position in 1983 and 16 percent who believed it when the question was first asked in 1969. Legalization of marijuana for general use is still opposed by a solid majority, 56 to 39 percent. "I think people are realizing that (marijuana) is a medicine, and we all get sick in our lifetimes,'' Prop. 215 author Dennis Peron said Thursday when told of the poll results. "Everybody knows someone with cancer. If one person is easing their nausea, feeling better with marijuana, that resonates with others. ... These people are not strangers. They're not hippies and drug addicts. They're regular people.'' Prop. 215's chief antagonist has been the federal government, which has fought its implementation with raids and shutdowns of pot clubs, and by prosecuting suppliers and growers. Federal law classifies marijuana as an illegal and dangerous drug with no legitimate medical use. Richard Meyer, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Francisco, said the poll reflects "the success the marijuana lobby is having in deceiving the public by distorting all the facts.'' Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/01/30/MARIJUANA.TMP   Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished:  Friday, January 30, 2004Copyright: 2004 San Francisco Chronicle - Page A - 1 Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Ed Rosenthal's Trial Pictures & Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/trialpics.htmCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #21 posted by John Tyler on January 31, 2004 at 09:44:56 PT
Re: Grading papers
Get control of the language. Control the definition of terms. The prohibitionist will be at a further disadvantage.
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on January 30, 2004 at 10:25:11 PT
Related News Article from The Associated Press
Medical Marijuana Gains Support Among California VotersJanuary 30, 2004 The use of medical marijuana has gained greater support among Californians since 1996, when voters passed a pioneering initiative that allowed doctors to recommend pot to patients, according to a Field poll released Friday.About 74 percent of Californians now favor legal protections for patients who use marijuana to treat a medical condition, compared with the 56 percent of voters who approved Proposition 215 eight years ago, according to the survey of 500 registered voters.The poll found increasing support for medical marijuana across all segments of California's population. About 83 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Republicans, 92 percent of liberals and 53 percent of conservatives now favor Proposition 215.The poll also found that 50 percent of Californians surveyed believed that using marijuana isn't any more dangerous than using alcohol, compared with 44 percent in 1983 and 16 percent in 1969. But 56 percent of voters still oppose the legalization of marijuana for general use.The federal government, however, continues to fight medical marijuana use, raiding pot clubs and prosecuting suppliers and growers. Under federal law, marijuana is classified as an illegal and dangerous drug with no legitimate medical use. Copyright: 2004 Associated Press
Cannabis News Breaking News Archives
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Comment #19 posted by Nuevo Mexican on January 30, 2004 at 10:08:55 PT
Dennis Kucinich coming to town!
Awesome news!Dennis is coming to New Mexico Sunday, and I have the pleasure of providing him with a P.A. system!I've met him twice and now my wife gets to meet him!He is truly bigger than life in person, his aura is like that of Ghandhi, MLK, Lennon, and other spiritually enlightened beings. He may be short, but stands taller than any candidate currently being shoved down our throats.If anyone watched the debate last night, he kicked butt, on bush, on the lies, on no wmds, on Iraq, and his plan to get us out, on free health care for all, but still nothing on Cannabis, the one subject that is still taboo for this election. But not for long, I will do my best to get his ear on this subject on encourage him to speak out now, as it is getting late, and the subject guarantees him massive publicity, good or bad, any press is good press!If he speaks out on Cannabis soon, you can bet that the voices here at C-News have been heard! You know I will do my best, and if he wants my services as an Astrologer, I will offer them pro-bono!After the free rally, we're having a fund raiser and hope to raise thousands from the community that has literally run Rumsfeld out of town. His neighbors are a source of major contributions to our cause! As they are liberal 'artists' and fume at the sight of his black SUV caravan of oil worshippers driving down the police blockaded roads. Everything comes to a halt when the 'boys' are in town! He's suckered Cheney into buying the properties he owns
with Tom Brokaw! Imagine a Vice President and a famous Newscaster owning properties jointly! What does that tell you about the 4th estate, the media. Let's start a class action suit against big media!Al Gordiano won his, we can win ours! Don't forget to vote for Dennis Kucinich, a month ago, kerry was no threat to Dean, what happened. Kerrys robo-callers got to the Dean supporters, i'll find the link and post it later.
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Comment #18 posted by Nuevo Mexican on January 30, 2004 at 09:50:55 PT
Huge shift in USA chart on Election Day! 
July 4th, 1776, is the birthday of the USA, and this year, on election Day, our birth chart changes signs, (through a technique called 'progressions' where a chart is advanced to mirror the evolution of ones soul experiences).
One day equals a year, so the chart for the USA gets progressed 228 days from July 4th, 1976.Why am a sharing arcane knowledge with cannabists with little or no knowledge of the influence of the stars?Because of the fact that on Election Day, the USA chart progresses into Picses, very co-incidentally, for at least the next 30 years, and indicates that everything will change after Election Day. Either a Democratic landslide, likely, or another Stolen election, with martial law and a bonefide police state. Very possible.The stars show the 'potential', and not the outcome. As all nature operates on the ying/yang, higher vibratory response, or the lack of response to higher vibrations will leaves us reacting negatively. It is a 'free-will' issue. Everything is up to the collective will of humankind, and as we enter our Picses phase of existence, prepare for the dissolution of the USA, as we are a Water Sign country, Cancer, and this will flood the consciousness of the people of the USA with compassion, or allow ourselves to be futher decieved. We can choose the high road, or allow ourselves to go further down the road to the total dissolution of this country. It is truly up to us to make the call.And this means anything goes on election day, don't let the media make up your mind for you, as Kerrys sudden surge is proof of media manipulation of the democratic party, being Skull and Bones, he's the 'good cop, bad cop', and that if he loses, its part of the deal, and if he wins, we get another Skull and Bonesman, and the deception continues!Kerry folks used a robo-call phone bank to undermine Deans support, and being a Skull and Boneser, and a Full Moon Sagittarius, Kerry will resort to dirty tricks to get the nomination, with a free pass from the complicite media, to make it a 'horse-race', shut the opposing candidates up, and save lots of media money being spent covering the other candidates. It's called 'funneling'.The media hates spending money on anything that smacks of true democracy, like the telivised debates. They can't stand giving the Dems the floor, while bush is imploding in front of their eyes!Dennis and Al were great last night, all the rest just spew pablum, nothing from the heart, no conviction, no integrity, just 'play it safe', politicans that offer nothing. I'm not in the 'anybody but bush' crowd, i'd rather have bush take the country all the way down, than have a lame dem provide cover for the corrupt duopoly. A lame Dem will suffer a worst fate than Clinton, and Kerry is a disaster waiting to happen. Dean must instill fear the in the power that be, but nothing compared to Dennis Kucinich, and Al Sharpton.Don't be sheeple Cannabis people, get out and create your future, don't let it be imposed on you. You are a participant in the world, and one person makes ALL the difference. Don't believe you don't have power! 
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on January 30, 2004 at 08:54:55 PT
Hi kapt
I haven't said Hi to you in a while. I'll drop you an email soon. Between news, my rescued dog getting spayed yesterday and a blown up truck motor ( Not blown up but seriously broken ) I've been busy. I really appreciate your comments and I want you know that.
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on January 30, 2004 at 08:48:57 PT
Virgil
I want you to know that I really Like Dennis Kucinich. I really like Al Sharpton too. I know that Kerry will probably win the Democratic nomination because I am realistic but Kucinich will be appointed to some very important position because of his run and his convictions and that makes me very happy.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on January 30, 2004 at 08:17:57 PT
Virgil
I am watching the debate while looking for news. Thanks for the heads up!Thanks The GCW. I'm setting up the article about Don Nord right now!
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Comment #14 posted by kaptinemo on January 30, 2004 at 07:30:59 PT:
Meyers DOES know the truth
As do all DEA agents. They know, alright. They can't help but know. But they also know that they are riding a political and social tiger that has been growing bigger and hungrier with each decade, and if they get off now, they'll be nothing but the big beasts' appetizers. Hence their continued, seemingly concrete-brained insistence upon spouting the Party Line ever louder. Like priests of a religion that's losing followers, they become increasingly strident and vocal...while more of the congregation get up and walk out of the temple in disgust.But no matter how loud or often they screech their increasingly hard to justify lies, they cannot drown out the sound of the juggernaut that's heading their way.
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Comment #13 posted by Virgil on January 30, 2004 at 07:23:06 PT
South Carolina prez debate on C-Span at 11AM
The South Carolina presidential debate hosted by Tom Brokaw and televised by MSNBC will be repeated on C-Span at 11 AM.Nobody put anything up at HempCity about the protest they were going to have in London. It is way to cold to be staying out over night. Come spring things will heat up more ways than one.
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Comment #12 posted by The GCW on January 30, 2004 at 07:03:04 PT
Dean pot-smoking Flashbacks.
US CO: Aspen recalls Dean's stint as '70s ski bum  Pubdate: Jan. 29, 2004
Source: Denver Post (CO)Viewed at: http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E29805%257E1921441,00.html?search=filter
 
and coming to MAP! Flashbacks range from dishwasher to 'loser' "But from the restaurant owner who employed Dean as a dishwasher and remembered him as a pot-smoking "loser" to a buddy who said they were there simply to ski, no one anticipated his future in high-stakes national politics.""Dean - who has acknowledged that he tried marijuana and drank too much beer in his youth - and fellow Yalie Greg Wylde rented a cabin named Trout in a valley near Aspen."CONT.
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Comment #11 posted by The GCW on January 30, 2004 at 06:10:52 PT
Don Nord / The Feds / Denver
US CO: Nord's pot case goes to Denver    Pubdate:  Jan. 30, 2004
Source: Steamboat Pilot & Today, The (CO)Viewed at: http://www.steamboatpilot.com/section/frontpage_lead/story/21713A conflict between state and federal drug laws took Hayden resident Don Nord, 57, inside the glossy wooden walls of a U.S. District courtroom in Denver on Thursday.Nord is a registered medicinal marijuana user in Colorado who has battled cancer, diabetes and chronic pain and takes more than 20 medications. When his "drugs" or "medicine" -- depending on who is talking -- was seized in mid-October, he said he wanted to get it back. He said he didn't imagine the effort would earn him a trip to a federal court, but, "We're gonna take it as far as we can take it, because they absolutely (have) done me wrong," Nord said before the Thursday hearing.Cont.
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Comment #10 posted by CorvallisEric on January 29, 2004 at 23:14:54 PT
Howard Dean and Rolling Stone (comment 3)
Searched and gave up. Rolling Stone previous issue had an interview, excerpts: 
http://rollingstone.com/features/featuregen.asp?pid=2760 also had Dean's photo on the cover. Don't know what's in the printed version.Couldn't find anything at 
http://www.antiprohibitionist.org/ which calls itself "International Antiprohibitionist League" and I presume is the same organization mentioned in comment 3.Can anyone provide real info?If it's bogus, that's just as well with me because Howard Dean is probably almost as unelectable as Kucinich. At this point electability is almost all I care about. Anyone but Bush. Clark or Kerry? The devil? Edwards? I don't care.
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Comment #9 posted by Treeanna on January 29, 2004 at 21:32:47 PT
Yay!
I love the baloney song! :)The version about the 9th circuit decision is still the best ;b
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Comment #8 posted by Virgil on January 29, 2004 at 21:19:37 PT
Grading papers
Proposition 215Coming here and even at DU reminds me of a teacher grading papers. One thing about it there are a thousand people here that can corrects papers on the subject of cannabis across the Internet. That is why when the Plan of Silence failed and the prohibitionists take to talking, they are doomed. There are people that are studied in various issues from years on the Internet, out there grading papers and providing information just as a teacher would.I often think of the collective position of Cnews. People like Joyce the drug warrior do not have a chance here. There is to much collective knowledge and a lie here is sure to die. That is what will sink Bu$h's boat also. There are to many people that have really taken to the Internet to understand how things really are. They are now qualified to grade articles and comments in all the forums.In this article we see that there is severe restraint in aying The Compassionate Use Act of 1996. Now that is strange. It was the same with mentioning vaporizers. I did BS on Vaporize and Vaporize prohibition in discussing cannabis policy hear and at HempCity without restraint. I might have restraint in saying Compassionate Use Act, but only because is it easier to say CSA. I even like the name of the Act. The Compasionate Use Act is great and name appropriate. There is an invisible force restricting the language here. It is all to obvious by now. On an intellectual level it is not proper to use the name of an iniative when the name needed is the name of the law. The vocabulary is bent by a dark force. http://tinyurl.com/2dqrw - (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
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Comment #7 posted by GentleGiant on January 29, 2004 at 21:02:34 PT:
Who's fooling who?
I would love to be there when Richard Meyers realizes that he's the one being deceived by the government
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Comment #6 posted by Virgil on January 29, 2004 at 20:10:26 PT
Ras
That is incredible. It is the Internet that has brought us to this place. It is clear that the intellectual with information will demand change. Now that we are broke, change is all the more required. A focus group of college educated 50-year olds is pretty much going to see it the same way once everyone compares notes.The failure is evident. It is undeniable. With Kerry I have a target at DU on the drug warriors. Kerry has been shot at and hit. It is like paid people place stuff up there and it is like fishing in a barrel. I can tear them up on the drug war and am. One person can make a difference when the conversation goes both ways. One side will resonate with reason and the other side will thud from the cracks in its bell.There are people on the Internet representing the PTB. Someone was talking pot and a strange voice said "You should not talk about it, because it is illegal." He set me up for a homerun starting with "Do you have something against free speech" and going on to say legal cannabis would help the problems of alcohol and should be legal. So when, they break silence with stupidity like that, it is slam time.The one thing the cannabis perspective taught me started with the lesson on the media that came with Rainbow Farms. I do speak about the media using the disinformation we have all seen in cannabis prohibition. I only mention DU because, what the thought herders want to do is say look here. One guy asked "Were you a 100% sure that there were no WMD in Iraq?" I let him have it pretty bad as he was a thought herder. When I later spoke of thought herding in order to spot what is going on, I called it question inversion. Sorry for the long story. The punchline is "question inversion" and it is a term now entered into the Cnews vocabulary.
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Comment #5 posted by Virgil on January 29, 2004 at 19:52:24 PT
Yep EJ, the DEA should be dismantled
No imprisonment without representation. Is there a Congressman representing my view that the DEA needs dismantling? I just don't think they are looking after the public good. What we have is a bologna sandwich with whore*hit bread. 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on January 29, 2004 at 19:50:28 PT
RasAric
That is really good to hear. It will give our issue more attention then we've had so far.EJ Now I'm singing again! LOL!
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Comment #3 posted by RasAric on January 29, 2004 at 19:47:17 PT
Dear FoM et al:
This just in from The International League of Anti-prohibitionistsU.S.A.
OPINIONS
ANSA
Howard Dean, ex-governor of Vermont and presidential candidate, told the music magazine Rolling Stone that, among other matters of policy, he would move for the legalisation of drugs.Don't get me wrong; I still favor Kucinich and I know that politicians lie as a general rule of thumb, but this is good to hear!!!
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on January 29, 2004 at 19:45:26 PT
It's time for a singalong!!!!
In honor of Richard Meyer's latest appearance on CNews, let's have a cheery round of the Richard Meyer Baloney song:My baloney has a first nameIt's R-I-C-H-ardMy baloney has a last nameIt's M-E-Y-E-RThe public shuns him more each dayHis agency is doomed they sayBecause every word from the D-E-AisB-O-L-O-G-N-A
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on January 29, 2004 at 19:18:14 PT
More Good News
We're on a roll!
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