cannabisnews.com: Drug Czar Faces Angry Medical Marijuana Patients





Drug Czar Faces Angry Medical Marijuana Patients
Posted by CN Staff on February 11, 2004 at 08:45:29 PT
For Immediate Release
Source: Common Dreams 
Sacramento, CA -- State legislators, including Senator John Vasconcellos of San Jose and Assembly Member Jackie Goldberg of Los Angeles will join severely ill medical marijuana patients at a press conference on Wednesday, February 11, at 12 PM PST in Room 317 of the State Capitol. In response to national drug czar John Walters’ visit to Sacramento, the press event will send a powerful message that patients, elected officials and California citizens are outraged at the federal government’s growing war on the sick. 
At 1PM The Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Walters will address an invite-only audience in order to bolster support for the White House’s drug enforcement priorities. Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who has previously written the drug czar’s office requesting an end to raids in California, will attend the press conference or send a statement supporting patients and physicians. In addition to the earlier press conference, patients will picket Walters’ forum at 1800 I St., 1 PM. WHAT: Press conference to challenge John Walters’ (Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy) medical marijuana raids/policyWHEN: Wednesday, February 11 at 12 p.m. PST WHERE: Room 317, State CapitolWHO: Bill Lockyer—State Attorney General (tentatively confirmed) John Vasconcellos— Senator, San Jose, District 13 Jackie Goldberg—Assemblymember, Los Angeles, District 45Glenn Backes— Director, Health Policy, Drug Policy AllianceSteph Sher—Patient, Director, Americans for Safe AccessBonnie Metcalf—Patient, Director, Yuba County Compassionate CareAngel McCary-Raich—Patient, Plaintiff in Raich v. AshcroftSince 1996, when state voters passed Proposition 215 by 56%, acceptance of marijuana as medicine has only grown stronger. A Field Poll conducted in California last month found that a full 74% of voters supported patient access to marijuana if recommended by a physician. Majority support was solid across all political divides, including self-described conservative Republicans. All leading candidates for governor in the recent recall, including current Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, said during their campaigns that they support a patient’s right to access medical marijuana. Before leaving office, Governor Gray Davis signed SB 420 by Senator Vasconcellos into law, which protects patients from arrests for marijuana possession if they carry county authorized cards that identify them as patients.However, the response from the federal government since 1996 has been numerous raids and arrests of patients and growers, aggressive prosecution resulting in prison terms of up to ten years (as in the case of patient Bryan Epis), and threats to revoke licenses for physicians who discuss medical marijuana with patients. Recent Supreme Court and Appellate Court rulings have tended to support the physician’s and patient’s right to disregard federal drug laws when it comes to medical marijuana use.“From our legislature to our governor to our local cops, and with the support of voters, Californians have said that patients should have access to medicines to relieve their suffering,” said Glenn Backes, Health Policy director for Drug Policy Alliance. “John Walters and John Ashcroft and the bully boys in Washington, D.C. need to lay off the sick and dying in California. There has to be a better use for our tax dollars than fighting invalids, cancer patients and people dying of AIDS.” Contact: Drug Policy Alliance Simeon Gant (916) 202-9517Tony Newman (212) 613-8026 Complete Title: Visiting Drug Czar Faces Angry Medical Marijuana Patients and Lawmakers in Sacramento-Wednesday Source: Common Dreams (ME)Published: February 10, 2004 Copyright: 2004 Common DreamsContact: editor commondreams.org Website: http://www.commondreams.org/Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/Americans For Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccessnow.org/Raich vs Ashcroft Ruling in PDF http://freedomtoexhale.com/ruling.pdfMedical Marijuana Action Weekhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/aware.htmCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by ekim on February 12, 2004 at 07:37:52 PT
seeking input 
Moveon.org is currently 
seeking input about where they should funnel some of their PAC money 
and support. 
http://www.moveon.org/pac/field_survey.html
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Comment #11 posted by goneposthole on February 12, 2004 at 07:16:55 PT
transgressors tempt 
such silly games to play. What else can be expected from the whole lot of them?  Don't look back, you may be morphed into a pillar of salt.Names on that black wall are of people I once knew. Attended classes with them throughout my school days.Died in vain. As they are now doing in Iraq, unfortunately. For what? Greed? No, stupid avarice. The earth's resources can be shared amongst all people, not garnered and then parsimoniously divvied out like alms to the poor.Martha Stewart gets wrung through the 'judicial' wringer. Poor thing. The big fish get away. She gets filleted.Time for changes to occur. Time for some smoke. Here's to all at CNews.A yahoo group that might interest you:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Scrt/
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Comment #10 posted by westnyc on February 12, 2004 at 06:57:04 PT
"INVITE ONLY"
I like how all these functions are always "invite only." Those that make a corrupt living off this crazy drug war will be the only people allowed to express their opinions!
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Comment #9 posted by kaptinemo on February 12, 2004 at 05:36:40 PT:
Many thanks for that article link, Virgil
The subject of that link is why I am forever referring to American (and by extension, just about all) politics as a "Punch-and-Judy" show, where supposed opposites are in fact associates behind the scenes. A marionette play, wherein two puppets may posture and make threatening gestures at each other, but both are controlled by one puppet-master. Both Bush and the Dem front runners are for the most part members of the same exclusive clubs of unbelievably wealthy and powerful individuals who see democracy as nothing but a means of social control, a method of ensuring that while they control your choices for who represents what 'party', in fact, there is but *one* party...theirs. And you're not invited. Many may mistake my rants for pure hyperbole, but they are tempered by decades of research into the hidden aspects of politics which, prior to the advent of the 'Net, were the province of scholars of political esoterica. Now many databases can be accessed, many voices are being heard, and the message is becoming clearer by the year that the machinations of these powerful groups tend towards corporately controlled totalitarianism using the apparatus of The State to quell dissent and maintain fear amongst the populations of both 'developed' and 'developing' nations. It also helps to explain why, for literally decades, the top capitalists of Wall Street extended billions in trade credits (paid for by the US taxpayers via government loans courtesy of the Export-Import Bank) to their supposed blood enemies - the Communist powers - literally from the Bolshevik Revolution onwards. While their soldiers were busily killing our soldiers in 'brushfire wars' during the 20th and now early 21st century. Every name on the Black Wall in DC got there courtesy of a bullet or bomb manufactured in plants in Communist countries, plants that were built with US taxpayer dollars. Just as we did with Saddam.(See the works of Anthony C. Sutton for more details; this will get you started: http://www.rense.com/politics6/SKULL.htm and http://topics.practical.org/browse/Antony_C._Sutton). It's a terrible game played with people's lives to enrich the plutocratic few. And it's still going on, and accelerating. And the so-called War on (Some) Drugs plays a very large part in the creation of the totalitarian apparatus which is now being used for political purposes, as has been seen in places like Seattle and more recently in Miami during the MTAA Incident. By allowing our police to become as heavily armed as an army, and by allowing them to behave in a paramilitary fashion, ostensibly to fight the war against (non-existent) LAW rocket toting, Armored Personnel Carrier driving drug dealers (yeah, right; seen any of the dealers driving that kind of 'SUV' lately?) we have allowed a situation to develop where this firepower is now being turned against the average citizen when they decide to do something political…like demonstrate, as they did in Miami. As it was always meant to be.Again, I never expect anyone to take anything I say here at face value; take a look at those links, and then do your own research. You won’t like what you find…
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Comment #8 posted by Virgil on February 11, 2004 at 19:05:54 PT
On Walters- It is a call for perpetual war
It is all so Orwellian, the call for perpetual war. Most people I believe now see what is happening. The whole world is being turned into totalitarian rule as the wealthy build a structure to protect and expand their power. Public failure survives because it protects plutocratic rule world wide. OnlineJournal had an article that sheds light on the situation- http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/021104Staik/021104staik.html
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on February 11, 2004 at 18:49:42 PT
Related News Article from The Sacramento Bee
Drug Czar Stresses Local Drug-Fighting ProgramsBy Steve Wiegand -- Bee Staff WriterWednesday, February 11, 2004Flanked by local politicians, law enforcement and drug treatment program officials at the federal courthouse, White House drug czar John P. Walters said Wednesday in Sacramento that the U.S. government must become a more effective part of local drug prevention and treatment programs."If we stress prevention, if we can stop young people before they start," Walters said, "we can change the face of substance abuse problems in the country for generations to come." Walters, whose official title is director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, was in Sacramento as part of a 25-city tour designed to tout the development of federal-local drug-fighting programs that emphasize prevention and treatment as well as arrests and prosecutions.Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/8249673p-9180346c.html
Medicinal Cannabis Research Links
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on February 11, 2004 at 18:46:11 PT
Related News Article from TheKCRAChannel
U.S. Drug Czar Greeted By Medical Marijuana Supporters State's Attorney General's Office Asks For Federal Help Against Other Drug ProblemsFebruary 11, 2004SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Supporters of medical marijuana say even more Californians support it now than in 1996, when voters passed Proposition 215. And many of them descended upon Sacramento Wednesday in hopes of catching the eye of federal drug czar Dr. John Walters (pictured, left), who was also at the state's Capitol. Walters told reporters Wednesday medical marijuana is a lie that's spread by people who want to legalize drugs. He said California is being used as a wedge to push marijuana proponents' case."I understand that people voted in the state. I understand that many people believe that marijuana is medicine. They have heard testimony of people who have used it. That's not science. That's snake oil," Walters said.Medical marijuana supporters claim there is scientific evidence that, when smoked, marijuana works to fight pain. They also said that the federal government has no right to raid medical marijuana outlets.At a news conference Wednesday, Les Kleinberg, a representative of the California Attorney General's Office, said that he would like the federal government to "redirect limited resources from busting medical marijuana patients to helping us apprehend and prosecute large criminal drug operations, including methamphetamine and commercial-quality marijuana gardens, that prey on our youth and our communities."Medical marijuana supporters say the federal government has been losing recent Supreme Court and appellate court cases, which tend to support California doctors and patients who disregard the federal laws.Copyright 2004 by TheKCRAChannel
Medical Marijuana Information Links
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Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on February 11, 2004 at 12:00:30 PT
Jackie Goldberg at the LACRC Vigil
Here is a rousing inspirational speech by Jackie Goldberghttp://www.vasilisa.com/vigil/mp3/jackie.mp3at the vigil when when our club was shut down.
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on February 11, 2004 at 10:20:06 PT:
Another soldier inducted into the Legion of Honor
I never had the honor of knowing her, but nonetheless:Ave Atque Vale, Judith Cushner. You will not be forgotten.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on February 11, 2004 at 10:14:23 PT
SFC: Judith Cushner -- Advocate for Medical Pot 
 Wednesday, February 11, 2004  Judith Cushner, a longtime San Francisco preschool director and a leader in the campaign to legalize medical marijuana, has died. Mrs. Cushner died Jan. 31 after a long battle with cancer. She was 58. A native of Oakland and a graduate of San Francisco State University, Mrs. Cushner ran Laurel Hill Nursery School for more than 20 years and oversaw the construction of a new schoolhouse and playground. She was an active advocate for children's causes, and was long affiliated with Coleman Advocates for Children. In 1990, during radiation and chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer, she found relief from nausea by using marijuana. The experience led her to become active in the medical marijuana movement. She was featured in an ad campaign and was frequently interviewed about her experiences. 
 Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/11/BAGCM4U0UF1.DTL
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Comment #2 posted by Virgil on February 11, 2004 at 09:28:32 PT
Prop. 215 used in proper context
I am glad to see that Prop. 215 is used in its proper context. It still would not be a bad idea to use Compassionate Use Act, but at least they are not using Prop. 215 for the actual law that now governs state policy.I think on the term Miracle Plant. If it is a proper noun for cannabis, it probably should be Miracleplant. Montel might call for the moving of cannabis to Schedule 2. I believe we need to pin it by its true placement in the Schedule of Narcotics. Miracleplant should be made a Schedule 5. What does NORML and MPP and the DPA say the propere classification of Miracleplant is?
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on February 11, 2004 at 09:18:12 PT:
Political landslides start with very small pebbles
Johnny Pee is so scaaaaaared of the public he purports to serve that he must deliver his message to a select few?Pray tell, how will he arrive? In a taxpayer funded jet, maintained with taxpayer funded fuel and maintenence, conducted by taxpayer supported Federal civil servants and/or military personnel, surrounded by taxpayer supported security personnel Hell-bent on keeping that public at arm's length for fear of his life. And for fear of being forced to answer some very serious and pointed questions from those same taxpayers.Who have every freakin' RIGHT to ask why he is wasting their (extorted by threat of prison for with-holding) Federal, State and local taxpayer's dollars on this little propaganda junket, when the vast majority of the citizens of the State of California have made their wishes plain at the ballot box so long ago and ever since. The pebbles started their journey down the mountainside long ago; what's being heard now is the low rumble of the landslide gaining momentum. And Johnny Pee and company can hear it, oh yes, they can. They feel it under their feet. They know their boss has alienated millions of voters in California - arguably one of the most critical of States in any election - with their actions. If they believe that they can engage in some kind of 'damage control', now, it only just illustrates exactly *who* has a distorted sense of reality.Must come from trying to sniff that angel manure, as my Da used to say; not enough oxygen to the brain from trying to live in an ivory tower has robbed them of their sense.By all means, Johnny-me-lad, step into the arena...but there's nothing Christian about you. And the lions are very hungry indeed... 
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