cannabisnews.com: Searching for Common Ground on Med Pot Guidelines





Searching for Common Ground on Med Pot Guidelines
Posted by CN Staff on February 17, 2004 at 08:20:44 PT
By Martha Walden 
Source: Times-Standard 
The district attorney has implemented a drastic increase for the number of marijuana plants allowable for medical patients. After hearing strongly felt testimony from many people pro and con over the expanded limits, the Board of Supervisors has appointed a task force to grapple further with the issue.Roger Rodoni, who supports the new guidelines, put it aptly: "This is not a hill any politician wants to die on." But it's not just a politician's reluctance to displease anyone that makes this matter so contentious. Medical marijuana is a groundbreaking idea with some genuine problems that must be addressed. The new limits highlight these problems.
Marijuana's popularity as an illegal, recreational drug is widespread and spans socio-economic classes. In some sectors, its use amounts to an underground culture that persists despite all governmental efforts to stamp it out. Now here comes Proposition 215, and suddenly reefer is an herb prized for its medicinal qualities. The state of California, according to the mandate of its voters, is attempting to control marijuana in the same way all prescription drugs are controlled. It does this in contradiction to federal law.Many people, including myself, believe pot should be legal. However, it's not. We must be careful not to construe medical marijuana as a backdoor to acceptance of marijuana in general. This attitude may blind us to the concerns of law enforcement and other community members.Growing pot is a lucrative business because of its illegality. As such it attracts people who won't stop at violence. Pot deals gone bad account for seven homicides committed in Humboldt County last year. These deaths send out waves of loss and trauma that haunt the survivors for the rest of their lives. Plus, the paranoia, distrust and secrecy of pot growing can mar the lives of many innocent people.If anyone who wanted to could grow a few plants, its monetary value would plummet. The black-market, underworld element of marijuana would disappear, and many of the big growers would go out of business. However, since it is illegal, this context makes grow operations of 99 plants susceptible to the wrong kind of attention, whether or not they're endorsed for medical purposes.The only difference between these legal operations and illegal operations is that the growers can complain to the police if they're ripped off. Like the marijuana club in Arcata did. This is not something the police are really happy about. The added risk of violence is not one they relish either.Are 99 plants necessary to produce enough herb for a seriously ill person? Perhaps someone who is going about it all wrong might need 99 baby plants to experiment on. Otherwise, anyone who is growing a personal supply should be content with a much smaller number. Several 215 card holders have told me they were shocked by the generous increase.In his zeal to focus on serious crime instead of pot busts, Mr. Gallegos may have gone too far. Perhaps he was following the lead of other counties that have adopted identical guidelines. This apparent inattention to a legitimate concern may account for much of the antagonism between him and the police. However, those who support recalling him because of his stance on medical marijuana should think twice. The competence and integrity of our new DA make him a valuable public servant.I hope the task force will be able to objectively look at the issues -- not all of which I've mentioned -- instead of forming simple pro and anti sides that attack each other. We may never agree, but we can disagree without demonizing each other. We can negotiate and compromise. There appears to be a lot of middle ground between six and 99.Martha Walden, a writer and amateur mediator, has been a Humboldt County resident for 13 years. She lives in Bayside.Complete Title: Searching for Common Ground on Medical Pot GuidelinesSource: Times-Standard (CA)Author: Martha Walden Published: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 Copyright: 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc.Contact: editor times-standard.comWebsite: http://www.times-standard.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmBoard Calls for Medical Pot Task Force http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18186.shtmlHumboldt Struggles with New MJ Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18173.shtmlSupes Set To Act on Gallegos' Pot Guidelineshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18143.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by JustGetnBy on February 17, 2004 at 13:26:41 PT
SB420 Plant limits
This is exactley what we feared when SB420 was passed. Counties are using the lower limits of SB420, thereby reducing the legal plant count in counties that had a more generous plant limit. They always emphasize the plant count, but don't mention the limits placed on square footage of the canopy.  There is NO difference in the amount of usable product from six large plants, and ninty-nine plants, IF the flowering canopy is the same size.  There are more variables than are being considered here.
These small plant counts make "SOG" style growing and most perpetual harvest systems illegal.
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