cannabisnews.com: Pot Measure Steams Drug Czar





Pot Measure Steams Drug Czar
Posted by CN Staff on September 11, 2004 at 07:51:00 PT
By Brad Cain, Associated Press Writer 
Source: Associated Press 
Salem, Ore. -- A measure on Oregon's Nov. 2 ballot to expand the medical use of marijuana is drawing fire from state district attorneys and the White House drug czar, who says it would turn the state into a "safe haven for drug trafficking."Measure 33 would make it easier for ailing people to obtain marijuana and allow them to possess more of it -- up to a pound at a time. It also requires that indigent patients be given free marijuana.
But White House drug czar John Walters, echoing criticism by Oregon's district attorneys, calls Measure 33 a fraud on Oregon voters and a back door attempt to legalize marijuana."People are being played for suckers," Walters said in an interview from Washington, D.C. "Their compassion for sick people is being used to do something that's destructive for the state."Proponents say, however, that Oregon's current program is too restrictive and that Oregonians already have shown they support allowing ill people to have the drug by overwhelmingly approving the 1998 law.The chief petitioner for the measure is John Sajo, a longtime marijuana activist who sponsored an unsuccessful 1986 ballot measure to legalize marijuana. But he said that isn't the issue in Measure 33."Our opponents don't have any good arguments against medical marijuana, so they call this a legalization measure. That is nonsense," Sajo said.Measure 33 would represent a significant expansion of Oregon's medical marijuana program, which was approved by the state's voters in November 1998. Oregon is among nine states with medical marijuana laws. The others are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada and Washington state.Under Oregon's current law, qualified patients are allowed to grow and use small amounts of marijuana without fear of prosecution as long as a doctor says it might help their condition.The measure on the Nov. 2 ballot would create state-regulated dispensaries authorized to supply up to 6 pounds of marijuana per year to qualified patients, although they could possess only 1 pound at any given time.The current possession limit is 3 ounces, an amount that advocates say is too low and often leaves patients scrambling to find enough marijuana to ease their suffering.The initiative also would expand the number of health care professionals who can recommend marijuana for their patients. Right now only physicians and osteopaths can do that; the measure would give licensed naturopaths and nurse practitioners that authority as well.The Oregon District Attorneys Association opposes Measure 33 mainly because of the provision allowing patients to possess 6 pounds of marijuana a year plus 10 mature plants. That would give patients enough pot to smoke a joint every hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, said Benton County District Attorney Scott Heiser.The Oregon Medical Association, representing more than 7,000 physicians statewide, has paid for a page in the state Voters' Pamphlet to urge Oregonians to vote "no" on Measure 33."It is a thinly disguised effort to legalize the use of marijuana without any medically scientific justification," it said.Source: Associated Press Author: Brad Cain, Associated Press Writer Published:  Saturday, September 11, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Associated Press Related Articles & Web Site:Voter Power Foundation http://www.voterpower.org/Yes on Measure 33: MMJ from a Patients Perspectivehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19427.shtmlPolitical Insanity About Marijuana and Drug Usehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19426.shtmlOregon To Vote on Easing Medical Marijuana Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19124.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on September 11, 2004 at 14:02:21 PT
sukoi
I have the forum bookmarked but because I've made my own personal web site I know how important it is to have access from your front page to important pages. I just looked again and nothing yet on National Review. It might take a few days. They like to get the magazine out before it gets put on line so people buy the magazine. 
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Comment #11 posted by sukoi on September 11, 2004 at 13:56:38 PT
FoM
I'm not sure when Walters is supposed to give his response to the National Review but I'm sure that I'll hear about it and I'll post a link to it when it happens if you haven't already.As far as the thread at the kerry site goes, they have done some modifications to the site that I haven't really noticed; I use a shortcut directly to the section. The decrim thread is still in "Other Issues" and here is the link:http://forum.johnkerry.com//index.php?showforum=11
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Comment #10 posted by siege on September 11, 2004 at 13:18:56 PT
PATIENTS CONVERGE TO DEMAND RESCHEDULING
STOP THE FEDERAL WAR ON PATIENTS FOREVER
October 5, 2004, Washington DChttp://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=1295Feds file medical pot complaint http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=1397Marijuana Reform To Tap Grassroots http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=1403
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Comment #9 posted by The GCW on September 11, 2004 at 13:04:29 PT
Cannabis prohibitionists are Biblically evil.
John Walters sucks the truth out of life.Colorado's medical use of cannabis is based on the Oregon example.Perhaps Colorado could also up the pot...I spoke to a registered Colorado patient just last night who said He was confronted by the cannabis prohibitionists police enforcers and He got in trouble for having more than 6 plants (He had 21 in different stages)...He has been busted 2 times now.The update in Oregon would also help this Colorado person.John Walters and His diaper changers make people sick enough to need cannabis like never before; more people will sign up for relief.
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Comment #8 posted by Overwhelmsam on September 11, 2004 at 12:58:12 PT
And?
So it will be a haven for drug trafficers. And? Why does Walters take issue first of all with people using marijuana? Can't be just because IT"S HIS JOB! We actually have a puppet in federal government who's paid tax dollars to misrepresent and fight the American public on marijuana issues. Insanity.
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Comment #7 posted by lombar on September 11, 2004 at 11:47:42 PT
Lips moving = lying drug czar
"People are being played for suckers," Walters said in an interview from Washington, D.C. ...yes..by employing YOU. Listening to your LIES."Their compassion for sick people is being used to do something that's destructive for the state."Destructive how? Yes...excercising FREEDOM in a FREE country IS destructive to a state... a POLICE STATE.
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Comment #6 posted by Virgil on September 11, 2004 at 11:38:17 PT
Three paragraphs from Fred Gardner
Fred Gardner's piece this weekend was mostly about issues surrounding Prozac and depression. He did get in three paragraphs in a segment headed "Insights from O'Connell" at http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner09112004.htmlWe were all systematically miseducated on the subject of cannabis. It's only in recent years that some of us have learned the distinction between marijuana (cannabis grown for resin) and hemp (cannabis grown for fiber and oil from the seeds); and that cannabis grown for resin was widely used as a medicine in this country; and that it reduces the suffering associated with diverse conditions.A significant question arises as we find out the true facts: why did the American people allow the government to prohibit in 1937 a medicine that is inexpensive and uniquely effective? Some might say we were and are just sheep, but that's a facile overstatement. The answer, according to Tom O'Connell, MD, is that gringos were only using cannabis as a tincture, they weren't employing the delivery system that exploits the drug's potential, i.e. smoking, so they didn't understand what they were being deprived of until the modern era. (Blacks and Mexicans were smoking pre-1937, but had no influence.)O'Connell, 72, feels he has been treated as a heretic by p.r.-conscious reformers (and even fellow MDs) since reporting that almost all his San Francisco Bay Area patients are using cannabis to cope with emotional rather than physical pain. He seems to think that original, evidence-based insights should be treated with respect. Sorry, doc: only money matters. 
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on September 11, 2004 at 11:04:49 PT
sukoi
Thank you. I did a quick look and no article so far on National Review but I will keep looking for one and post it as soon as I find one.PS: I have gone to Kerry's web site and no matter how hard I look I can't find a link to the forums. How will anyone know where the forums are if there isn't a link to them? Have the moderators mentioned why no links to forums anymore. Maybe I missed it but it sure should be made easy to find not hard. I hope I just missed it.
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Comment #4 posted by sukoi on September 11, 2004 at 10:54:18 PT
Speaking of Walters, 
is everyone aware of this:Drug Czar Attacks the Alliance's Nadelmann in National Review; Nadelmann Replieshttp://www.drugpolicy.org/news/090904ethan.cfm
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on September 11, 2004 at 08:18:31 PT
"They"
"They" are afraid of him smoking. I'm afraid of him being caged and raped...or murdered.
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on September 11, 2004 at 08:16:26 PT
Third time
Some kid was going to get thrown into a cell for a hideously long time...and maybe not by himself...which could be infinitely worse.It's the third time I've said it, in one comment or another, in one way or another. Good riddance.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 11, 2004 at 08:03:33 PT
He's Back!
I was wondering why the Drug Czar wasn't complaining about any of the Initiatives particularly Nevada unless he knew it wasn't going to make it because of the 6000 votes that didn't get turned in on time.
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