cannabisnews.com: Sides Prepare Fight Over Medical Marijuana Bill
Sides Prepare Fight Over Medical Marijuana Bill
Posted by CN Staff on February 27, 2004 at 08:31:20 PT
By Cecil Angel, Free Press Staff Writer
Source: Detroit Free Press
With roughly six months to go before Detroit voters weigh in on a ballot measure on whether to legalize the medical use of marijuana in the city, the issue is picking up steam. Supporters have raised $30,000 in campaign funds and that number is steadily rising as donations pour in from across the country. Some of the city's best-known names -- including U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, the mother of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, City Councilwomen Maryanne Mahaffey and JoAnn Watson and U.S. Rep. John Conyers -- have endorsed the proposal, according to the Web site for the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care, which sponsored the initiative.
Even so, "we're not taking anything for granted," Tim Beck, chairman of the group, said Thursday. The proposal's staunchest opponent is the Partnership for a Drug-Free Detroit, an anti-drug agency that focuses on education to prevent drug abuse. The co-chair of the group is City Councilwoman Alberta Tinsley-Talabi. "It's not what this city needs. It's not what this country needs," Tinsley-Talabi said Thursday. Today, members of the partnership and others are to meet in the mayor's office to develop a strategy to defeat the initiative, Tinsley-Talabi said. If voters approve the measure at the polls in August, Detroit police would not be able to arrest anyone with marijuana who has a doctor's note saying there is a medical need for the drug. The local ordinance would not prevent Wayne County Sheriff's Department deputies, the Michigan State Police or federal agents from arresting anyone with marijuana in Detroit, even if they have a doctor's note. "We need to get the message out that this is about sick people," Beck said. "This is not about partying teenagers." A key reason for legalizing marijuana for medical use, he said, is that at least 200,000 people in Detroit don't have health insurance. Medical marijuana is a cheap and effective alternative to expensive pain medications, he said. "We're not here to give drugs to kids," Beck said. "It's strictly medical." Next month, state Sen. Hansen Clarke is to introduce a bill to legalize the medical use of marijuana, Beck said. Clarke aide Kim Bowman said the senator is trying to get talk show host Montel Williams to come to Michigan for the formal announcement of the bill. Williams uses marijuana for treatment of multiple slerosis. The Partnership for a Drug-Free Detroit plans to counter the efforts of Beck and other supporters by campaigning on radio talk shows, television, town hall meetings and other means to let the public know the law change is too risky, Andre Johnson, program manager for the Partnership for a Drug-Free Detroit said. Studies show that communities that have enacted medical marijuana laws have an increase in teens using the drug, he said. "It's dangerous," Johnson said. Jacqueline Sledge, 49, who works with a social services agency in Detroit that works with teens, said she opposes the proposal. "It's going to do everything but heal our children," Sledge said. "We already have alcohol legal and look where that has gotten us."Note: Detroit voters go to the polls in August.Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)Author: Cecil Angel, Free Press Staff WriterPublished: February 27, 2004Copyright: 2004 Detroit Free PressContact: letters freepress.comWebsite: http://www.freep.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Carehttp://www.newagecitizen.com/DMMI.htmMedical Pot: Detroit has Important Vote Ahead http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18088.shtmlMedicinal Pot Headed To '04 Detroit Ballot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17843.shtmlMedical Marijuana Could be Relief for Pain http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11700.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by Max Flowers on February 28, 2004 at 11:52:30 PT
MIRACLEPLANT
If you want to make it even more unviversal: Millions In Revolt Against Corrupt Legislation Enforcing Prohibition Laws And Needless TyrannyorMultitudes In Revolt Against Corrupt Legislation Enforcing Prohibition Laws And Needless Tyranny
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Comment #13 posted by kaptinemo on February 27, 2004 at 21:45:38 PT:
The ACLU does bring suits, Ekim
But needless to say, with so much institutionalized injustice this nation has created these past 90 years, there's quite a mess.The Conant vs. Walters suit began with Barry, and during the trial, it became clear that Barry had indeed violated the Hatch Act, a major no-no for civil servants. Dan Forbes has written extensively on this, and if we had any semblence of justice free from political pressures, his work would have been People's Exhibit #1 in a case that would have caused 'regime change' in a parliamentary system. But given the *de facto* political control of the 'justice' system by Republicans, the likelihood of this happening is vanishingly small, and the Democrats are as much to blame for allowing this state of affairs to take place; Barry worked for Klinton, remember? THere's one good thing about what has been happening lately, and that is this: there are now a number of straws suspended over the anti camel's back, waiting to fall and snap it's spine. The Hatch Act violations of public servants is but one. The Rosenthal Trial with it's astonishing (first ever in American jurisprudence) public apologies by jurors to him for their much-regretted verdict, and their anger at the judge for misleading them caused him to back down and give a token punishment. Likewise, MMJ is advancing in the courts. Other nations, some long time allies like Britain, are turning quietly away from The Amerikan DrugWar. Judges are quietly, steadily revolting against the imposition of mandatory minimums. More discoveries of the medical efficacy of cannabis are being made seemingly monthly, if not weekly.Just one of those straws falling on the anti camel will finally break it's back. It's only a matter of time. Cannabis prohibition is being seen as an expensive proposition few States if any can afford now. Barring martial law, with the economic situation worsening and non-violent offenders being let out of jail (and I still ask: "If they were so safe to be let out, why were they in to begin with?") it becomes a no brainer that the DrugWar is on it's last legs, and that America must finally decide if it will become it's Kafka-esque mirror image, of 'Amerika'.An ACLU bringing suit against unlawful use of public facilities by private groups intent upon derailing the democratic process and using taxpayer's funds to do so would be a major coup. Just the publicity alone would advance our cause.Just think: someone who's barely scratching a living will look at the waste of the prosecution of cannabis users and then look at his last unemployment check and make the realization that that is HIS family's food, HIS mortgage payment, HIS rent, HIS car payment, HIS loan payment, HIS kid's school loans, etc. being p***ed away, and he'll get angry about it. When he's told that there's no more money for him and his family...while billions are spent on ineffectual drug policies...he'll not only get mad, he'll get politically active.That's why I sincerely hope some ACLU member is reading this and makes the logical conclusion.
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Comment #11 posted by ekim on February 27, 2004 at 21:05:20 PT
come on Gov Jenny get on board
would not a Dem Gov that came in office and has had to make a billion and a half in cuts in programs that have hurt many see that this War must be ended and to think that this Gov is a Lady and on top of that she comes from the Great Country of Canada. Wow Gov please take a moment and hear the sounds of suffering human beings. Kapt does the ACLU sue or is it the job of the AG.
To protect the voters. man it would be cool if some one like Mel spent 25 mill on a movie that showed what E is sayen about Prohibition. R Cowan {http://www.marijuananews.com has new peice on compassion wow what a thought. like we would treat each other as we would like to be treated.
http://www.mmdetroit.org
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Comment #10 posted by sukoi on February 27, 2004 at 18:23:15 PT
Virgil
That is simply OUTSTANDING!!!
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Comment #9 posted by Virgil on February 27, 2004 at 18:03:01 PT
M.I.R.A.C.L.E.P.L.A.N.T.
Mothers In Revolt Against Corrupt Legislation Enforcing Prohibition Laws And Needless Tyranny
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Comment #8 posted by gloovins on February 27, 2004 at 17:12:24 PT
WTF????
"Studies show that communities that have enacted medical marijuana laws have an increase in teens using the drug, he said."First off, this is hearsay, Second, where the hell are these studies of increased teen usage when cannabis is legalized for medical purposes? Show them, back up your claim. Once again, LAZY JOURNALISM as Richard Cowan points out basically daily.And the corp run sheeples rag, the detroit free press is so slanted, they won't even mention the larger effort to legalize throughout the state to legalize ALL cannabis for those 21+. Not even a mention, they won't do it. They will cover us, eventually though...just wait. www.apublicservice.comI love too that, at the end of the petition wording they quote me, writing, "Richard Nixon created the DEA, our creator gave us cannabis. Who do you trust?" Then I read on John Kerry's drug policy forum or whatever that the "Nixon era policies" now in place need to be changed. Damn John, reallly? I think I want a royalty fee for that one!You'd think this Nixon guy was like a crook who was impeached or something, or who jailed more cannabis users than any other president? Oh no, I'm sorry, that was Bubba Clinton, I'm so sorry, I do forget these things. Me & Jaqueline Sledge defintely need history lesson, uh?Yeah, Jaqueline I hear the best college for someone like you is F.U. Great school, hell they don't even charge! All the best,
Johnny
Freedom CAN happen in 2004
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Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on February 27, 2004 at 12:30:36 PT
good idea afterburner
That was what put the nail in the coffin of Alcohol Prohibition.The already have Mothers of the Disappeared in New York. That could be a nucleus maybe?
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Comment #6 posted by afterburner on February 27, 2004 at 10:30:41 PT:
Maybe We Need a New Organization:
Mothers for Sensible Drug Policy.
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Comment #5 posted by OverwhelmSam on February 27, 2004 at 10:13:42 PT:
People Will Tire of the Propaganda
Scare tactics and fear mongering are getting so old that nobody is buying the propaganda about marijuana anymore. Once they see that these people are sick and need this medicine, they'll ignore the pharmaceutical companies' puppet organization - Partnership for a Drug Free America. Drug Free America is an oxymoronic name.
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on February 27, 2004 at 10:12:29 PT
Here's my actual letter
Send Jqueline Pledge back to the 20s for a visitDear editors, I wish someone would please explain to Jaqueline Sledge that Detroit during Alcohol Prohibition was not a place she would want to raise children. Since she is a social worker, I presume she graduated from college, apparently without learning American history. Banning alcohol made every problem associated with alcohol worse, not better, and that's why American mothers overwhelmingly to back the Repeal by voting for FDR, who campaigned for it in 1932.I don't think we should license social workers who are ignorant about the history of their own country, especially regarding alcohol and the historical consequences of banning it. Alcohol Prohibition created a social work disaster in America and any social worker who doesn't know that does not deserve to be a social worker at all, in my opinion.
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on February 27, 2004 at 10:07:54 PT
I wrote a letter
I said anyone who is as unfamiliar with American history as Jaqueline Sledge should not be licensed to do social work, because Alcohol Prohibition created a social work disaster in America, and it was the great hero of American social workers -- FDR -- who backed Repeal as a national campaign issue.What a poorly educated woman Jaqueline Sledge is. Oh heck, in American universities, all they teach any more is racism and sexism. No wonder nobody learns American history any more.In her profession, she really should know more about this topic. But I see she is the variety of human who prefers ideology to fact.Some people prefer to only believe things that are in line with their philosophy towards the world, wheher or not they are reflected in actual measured data about the real world.
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Comment #2 posted by TroutMask on February 27, 2004 at 09:09:42 PT
Prohibition didn't work the first time!
"We already have alcohol legal and look where that has gotten us."Oh yeah, making alcohol illegal worked really great, didn't it? Let's have a little quiz: Why did we make alcohol legal again after making it illegal?-TM
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on February 27, 2004 at 08:54:00 PT:
My God, they're at it AGAIN
WHERE are the process servers? Where are the prosecutors? The Hatch Act is being violated left and right and no one hangs for using public resources for private political means!*Today, members of the partnership and others are to meet in the mayor's office to develop a strategy to defeat the initiative, Tinsley-Talabi said.*Now tell me: what business does a PRIVATE group like the PFDFA have in using PUBLIC RESOURCES at a TAXPAYER FUNDED, PUBLIC SERVANT'S OFFICE to derail a popular, democratically inspired initiative? It's Barry's kaffeeklatsch with Abe Rosenthal and the Ohio initiative, all over again.Public office holders are supposed to be neutral in matters of direct democratic initiatives; to be anything else is to invite a well-earned charge of favoritism and partiality. Yet the Detroit Mayor's office is engaging in just such behavior. If I were the ACLU, I'd send someone up there right away, to let these public servants know they've stepped beyond the bounds of governmental propriety.This kind of thing is poison to any nation that calls itself a democracy, for it opens the door wide to nepotism, cronyism, and corruption. But then again, we have the Busch Regime, so we can expect the rot to reach down into the local levels, too.There were reasons, long ago, for making the civil service seperate from the 'spoils system' of governing; this is taking a giant step backwards to the days of Boss Tweed and his gang.
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