cannabisnews.com: Medicinal Pot Use On A2 Ballot





Medicinal Pot Use On A2 Ballot
Posted by CN Staff on September 23, 2004 at 08:37:30 PT
By Karen Tee, For the Daily
Source: Michigan Daily 
Although marijuana use is illegal in most parts of the United States, on election day the citizens of Ann Arbor will decide whether medical marijuana should be legalized in the city.A proposal on the November election ballot would amend Ann Arbor’s charter to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. If the initiative passes, users who can prove they are using marijuana with the recommendation of a qualified health professional will be exempt from fines or prosecution by Ann Arbor police officers.
Yet the move may be merely symbolic, even if the charter does get amended. Lloyd Johnston, a researcher at the University’s Institute of Social Research, said, “There has never been a real implementation of laws (to legalize medical marijuana) because the federal law always trumps the state laws, and state laws in turn trump local laws.”Scio Township Trustee Charles Ream, who spearheaded the drive to place this initiative on the ballot, says this is a chance for the city to “send a big message that we want to help patients here, and that it is foolishness that marijuana is not available to sick people.”As much a personal crusade as it is a political issue for Ream, the 57-year-old University alum speaks with great conviction of the efficacy of the drug. In 1968, while in college, Ream suffered from stomach ulcers and gastric pains so severe that he considered dropping out of school. Nothing the doctors prescribed could ease his trauma.“It was only after a friend gave me cannabis joints to smoke that I managed to take control of my life again. I went back to college, graduated magna cum laude and I’ve led a successful life since,” says Ream, who was a kindergarten teacher for 33 years.Medical marijuana — which some research has shown to treat glaucoma, nausea and loss of appetite — is already legal in nine states, including California, Hawaii and Nevada. Most recently, in August, Detroit voters passed an initiative legalizing medical marijuana in the city.Ream has led the drive to legalize marijuana in Ann Arbor by collecting 7,000 petition signatures, about double the number necessary to put the initiative on the ballot. He paid voters $1 per signature, using $5,000 of his own money.Now, with limited funds left at his disposal, Ream is doing all he can with $4,000 provided by the Marijuana Policy Project — an organization which works to reduce criminal penalties for marijuana use —and another $1,000 of his own savings.Ream wants to run radio advertisements promoting the initiative, but that plan depends on support from donors. Instead, he has decided to rely on newspaper articles and editorials to make his cause known. A public forum will also be held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Ann Arbor on Oct. 24 at 12:45 p.m., on the medicinal values of marijuana.In addition to lack of funding, the initiative faces opposition from Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who has made it clear that she does not approve of medical marijuana use. In a letter to the City Council, Granholm said it is still illegal to use, possess or sell marijuana under state and federal law.She said that even if the proposal passes and becomes a city law, state and federal law enforcers would still be able to arrest, charge and prosecute marijuana users, even if they were using prescribed marijuana.Johnston, director of an annual survey of teenage substance abuse, cites the example of California, where a medical marijuana initiative was passed but rarely implemented. “Federal authorities made it clear that physicians prescribing marijuana risked losing their licenses to prescribe all controlled substances, including all of the traditional psychotherapeutic drugs,” he said.Ream said he refuses to be deterred by Granholm’s opposition and remains convinced that more can be done to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. In a written response to Granholm, he said, “Ann Arbor voters don’t like it when you tell them that their vote will be ignored.”He mentioned Burlington, Vt., which legalized medical marijuana with an 83 percent majority, prompting the state to adopt the policy, and says he hopes a similar amendment will be approved here.“People here understand research and the truth. They are too smart to be manipulated by cultural wars,” Ream added.Yet some people doubt that the initiative will have positive health benefits if passed.Kirk Brower, a psychiatry professor at the University, said, “I would vote against this initiative because the issue here is that they want to legalize marijuana joints. I don’t think smoking a joint is the best delivery system because along with the active ingredient that has medicinal purposes, smokers also inhale tar and other cannabinoids whose effects have not been researched.”While Brower believes marijuana does have medicinal values, he says drug approval should be left to the Food and Drug Administration and not legalized through a ballot.“The only reason I feel people would vote for this is to raise awareness about the effects of medical marijuana.” Brower said. “However, I believe the proper channel of approval should be through the FDA, which will impose regulations and controls for the prescription of addictive medicines, such as morphine.”Source: Michigan Daily (MI Edu)Author: Karen Tee, For the DailyPublished: September 23, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Michigan DailyContact: daily.letters umich.eduWebsite: http://www.michigandaily.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Michigan NORMLhttp://www.minorml.org/Governor Casts Doubt on Marijuana Ballot Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19455.shtmlMedical Marijuana Lands Spot on Ballot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19035.shtmlInitiative Legalizing MMJ May Be on Nov. Ballothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18828.shtmlMedical Marijuana Issue May Make Nov. Ballothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18801.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by ekim on September 24, 2004 at 18:35:00 PT
the rest of the story
Experts : Is drug war worth the fight?
By Rex Hall Jr.
Kalamazoo Gazette 9-24-04 sec.b
WMU forum looks at pros, cons of drug legalization
  Bill Masters says he took the drug war seriously.
 Masters, the sheriff of the San Miguel County, Colo., since 1979 , has done all he could to rid his community of illegal substances.
 but a number of years ago Masters began to notice a problem.
 "The drugs just got worse and worse. " he said.
 During his time in law enforcement, Masters has become an advocate for the repeal of drug laws.
 He was part of a seven -person panel. Thursday night at Western Michigan University's Bernhard Center that debated the validity of the country's war on drugs. The event drew about 200 people. 
 Law enforcement should " arrest people for their crimes, not what they put in their bodies." Masters said during the two-hour event, which was part of WMU's Peace Week celebration.
 Views from both sides were heard Thursday, including members of law enforcement and criminal justice officials from Michigan and Kalamazoo who support the war on drugs.
 Lt. Bill Ford, commander of the Michigan State Police Southwest Enforcement Team, said the amount of illegal substances now being circulated on America's streets is "out of control" and their availability has increased over the years.
 "You'er wrong if you think legalizing drugs will help that," Ford said.
 Audience members tended to give more support to the views put forth by panel members who spoke against drug prohibition, including Sanho Tree, a fellow for the Institute for Policy studies in Washington,D.C.
 Tree said the country's war on drugs has done nothing to stop the flow of illegal drugs in the country, and instead, has made the substances more profitable.
 "Prohibition doesn't mean you control drugs. It means you lose the ability to control drugs," said Tree. He said that about a quarter of the 8 million people in the country currently serving prison sentences were convicted of some sort of drug crime.
 About half of those 2 million drug offenders were first-time, nonviolent criminals, he said.
 "We have to be effective rather than tough," Tree said.
 The Rev.Edwin C.Sanders II the senior minister and founder of the Metropolitan Interdenominational Church in Nashville., Tenn., has outreach programs in areas such as substance abuse. Sanders said racism and racial profiling are prevalent in the justice system and the country's fight against illegal substances.
 He said blacks make up the majority of those currently serving time in the nation's prisons and those convicted of drug offenses. "Something is wrong with that," Sanders said. "It has everything do with race."
 Ford and his counterparts on the panel -- Kalamazoo County Prosecutor James Gregart and Kalamazoo County Circuit Court Judge Philip D. Schaefer-- agreed that there is a disproportionate number of minorities currently circulating in and out of the criminal justice system.
 Hoverever, Gregart and Schaefer said the county's drug court has been a positive initiative the offers rehabilitation for substance abusers rather than time behind bars. 
 "There is a social cost that we pay for using substances," Gregart said. "There is a social price , an economic price, for legalizing substances. The question is, are we willing to pay that price?" he said.
 While their views differed, the seven panelists agreed that those in the audience could take the initiative to promote the changes they feel are needed for the nation's drug enforcement policy.
 Masters recommended that citizens speak to lawmakers and "demand that they change the tools we work with."
 Ford agreed.
 "I am going to remember this night for a long time." Ford said. 
 "But I hope 25 years from now your kids aren't in this room complaining about this because you didn't do anything about it."
http://www.leap.cc/events
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Comment #4 posted by ekim on September 23, 2004 at 20:29:29 PT
Debate at WMU Kal MI
The debate was great tonight only Sen. George was
not there.
The Judge and police and DA got a ear full. The State Police chief said we arrest those for criminal behavior like stealing and violent actions, which brought a police man asking
how are we to feel when we arrest someone for a little
cannabis if it is helping them. and questions about med use. Which the DA said I don't know much about Med Marijuana. Mr. Tree said
anorexia hurts people how about arresting people of they look thin and pale
the crowd roared. then the judge said that he heads up the drug court and he
thinks drug use is a disease which a audience member told the judge that
smoking a joint was not a disease and that a close friend had just been
fired for a ticket for a roach in the ash tray when she was 19 and how she
is 27 and it is still on her record -- the judge said she can have it
removed from her record but that is little comfort for the person who lost
the job.One woman said her son from a mixed race marriage was out in the garage
with a couple other friends with a small amount of cannabis and was arrested and has been all thru the system probation, drug
court, pee testing the works. The mother and son were in court and a
underage kid was driving and drinking to which the judge let him off with a
warning while the cannabis offender got the book thrown at him. It was two hours I have not done justice to all the panel. Bill Masters was great telling all of the stats on arrests and how the Drug War is not working. Nora Callahan said to the mostly young onlookers to many prisons are being built, that in her small town kids were overdosing on prescribed meds and when the town had a meeting pot was what was brought up for the discussion she said that was not the issue causing the harm.
Rev.Sanders said we are seeing that minority youth are being sent to prison in higher numbers. 
Mr. Tree said the drug war catches the little streeters while the more clever smugglers and big dealers get away with all the money. While the police eliminate the competition, all for plants worth there weight in gold. 
http://www.leap.cc/events
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Comment #3 posted by siege on September 23, 2004 at 10:12:29 PT
Michigan
Michigan Kirk Brower psychiatry professor at the University 
“However, I believe the proper channel of approval should be through the FDA, which will impose regulations and controls for the prescription of addictive medicines, such as morphine.
 Kirk Brower The FDA has had it for 22 years and are still asleep SO where are we to go professor. Johnston get your [ facts ] straight, engage brain befor opening mouth and being foolish. Gov. Jennifer Granholm
I beleave that the initiative passes that it will Trump
state laws on this, at least it did in 9 other states.
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on September 23, 2004 at 08:53:19 PT
Trumps: You're Fired
' Lloyd Johnston, a researcher at the University’s Institute of Social Research, said, “There has never been a real implementation of laws (to legalize medical marijuana) because the federal law always trumps the state laws, and state laws in turn trump local laws.” 'The US Constitution trumps (unconstitutional) federal laws.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 23, 2004 at 08:42:41 PT
Vermont News Brief from The Associated Press
State Medical Marijuana Applications Open Next Month
 
 September 23, 2004MONTPELIER, Vt. The state of Vermont will begin taking applications next month from people who want to legally use marijuana to cope with serious medical ailments.Last spring, the Legislature passed a "medical marijuana bill." Governor James Douglas allowed it to become law without his signature.The law means Vermonters won't face prosecution for using or possessing small amounts of marijuana if they have state identity cards certifying they meet certain standards.To qualify, an individual must have terminal cancer or AIDS, or serious symptoms caused by AIDS, cancer, H-I-V, multiple sclerosis or the treatments for any of these diseases.Copyright: 2004 Associated Press
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