cannabisnews.com: Registry Proposed to Track Medical Marijuana Use!





Registry Proposed to Track Medical Marijuana Use!
Posted by FoM on July 05, 1999 at 05:51:48 PT
By Mary Curtius
Source: Hot CoCo
SAN FRANCISCO A committee of police, medical marijuana advocates and doctors has recommended that California establish a voluntary registry of medical marijuana patients to protect users from arrest.
The Medical Marijuana Task Force, appointed in March by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, also has recommended that the state develop regulations to allow groups of patients and caregivers to grow marijuana.The proposals, if made law, would represent an about-face from the policies of former Gov. Pete Wilson. His attorney general, Dan Lungren, maintained that Proposition 215, passed by voters in November 1996, allows only individual patients to grow marijuana and to use the medical marijuana law as a defense if prosecuted.State regulation of marijuana cooperatives would allow clubs now operating underground in Humboldt, Mendocino, Marin, San Francisco, Alameda, San Diego and Santa Cruz counties to function openly, said task force members and other medical marijuana advocates."Some clubs, at least, will apply under these guidelines," said Dale Gieringer, an author of Prop. 215 and a spokesman for the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which lobbies for the legalization of marijuana.The statewide registry would make enforcement uniform, with patients issued photo identification cards that all the state's law enforcement agencies would honor.Prop. 215 was supposed to end the prosecution of patients who could produce a doctor's recommendation that they use marijuana to treat a variety of serious illnesses, including AIDS and cancer. Instead, patients' chances of being arrested and prosecuted for using marijuana depend largely on where they happen to live or travel.In Northern California's Mendocino County, a user can apply to the county health department for an identity card and expect not to be molested by local deputies if in possession of no more than six marijuana plants and 2 pounds of marijuana. But even patients carrying a Mendocino identity card have no guarantee against arrest in many other counties that interpret the law as merely a defense a patient may use after being arrested and brought to court on charges of growing, buying or possessing marijuana.The task force's recommendations have not yet been released, and some of the wording is still being reviewed by organizations represented on the committee.But state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-San Jose, hopes to introduce a bill this month to establish the statewide registry.Some medical marijuana supporters and AIDS activists have already raised concerns."This is unprecedented," said Dennis Peron, chief author of Prop. 215, whose San Francisco medical marijuana club was closed by a federal court in 1998. "Registering cancer patients? For what? This is treating marijuana as though it were heroin." The law, Peron insisted, "is working. They are just doing this to appease the cops."The task force's 16-page document, drafted as an Assembly bill, would have patients submit their doctor's recommendations and an application to their county health departments, along with a fee.In return, patients would receive an identity card, which would include a 24-hour 800 telephone number that officers could call to verify the card's validity. People identified as primary caregivers to medical users of marijuana would also have the right to carry the identity card. The card would be renewed annually.A similar system exists in Oregon, where patients must pay $150 to register with the state. © 1999 Contra Costa Times Published on July 5, 1999
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Comment #3 posted by Steve Kubby on July 05, 1999 at 21:00:07 PT:
Answer to your question
I oppose SB 848 because it treats medical marijuana as a dangerous and addictive drug, when Prop. 215 doesn't. Such language may appease the police, but it perpetuates lies and should have been rejected as false and misleading, based upon clear findings to the contrary by the Drug Czar's own IOM report. I also object to SB 848 because it fails to mention one word about punishing rogue police for raiding, arresting, jailing, looting, humiliating and murdering sick and dying patients.However, SB 848 is supported by many good people and deserves to be considered without prejudice or false information. In the interest of fairness, it should be noted that SB 848 is voluntary and would provide protection for patients such as the
The Kubby Files
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 05, 1999 at 20:28:32 PT:
It's is so unfair!
I wish that Steve Kubby would respond to you since I don't live in California. I'm sorry about your situation and I think I might send this to Mr. Kubby and see if he could respond. I know with the trial and all coming up soon I don't know if he can but I'll try to see if he will.Thanks for your comments and it is just so totally unfair. FoM!
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Comment #1 posted by lookinside on July 05, 1999 at 11:40:39 PT:
hmmmm...
 i am currently incarcerated in the "home detention" program in sacramento county ca. my "crime" was cultivating marijuana for my wife's use. although she did not have an "official" recommendation for use at the time of my arrest, her doctor was aware of her use, which allowed her to reduce the dosages of several prescription drugs which are much more harmful to her health. i felt that i was acting in the spirit of prop. 215 and if arrested, the authorities would consider this. i was wrong. dan lungren and his band of thieves chose to charge me with cultivation and sales, as well as child endangerment. (we have 3 teenagers who were aware of their mother's use of pot as medicine)rather than risk 3 years in prison, i pled guilty to cultivation, which is a felony.  i was appalled at the scare tactics used by the district attorney's office. these people are far worse criminals than many they prosecute. i hope the people of california realize that our legal system has become more concerned with self perpetuation than justice. i agree with mr. peron on many issues, but in this case i believe some regulation and registration is needed to give individuals like myself some protection from overly zealous district attorneys. i hope to be able to grow for my wife after my current troubles are past. she now has doctor's recommendations, but because of my situation is unable to use and live with me too. the odd thing is that the sacramento county probation dept. has affirmed her right to use, and at the same time ruled that i may have no pot in my residence. if she uses, i go to jail or prison.  i have not used any psychoactive substances in over 6 years.  comments?
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