cannabisnews.com: Measure To Rescind Limit On Medical Marijuana





Measure To Rescind Limit On Medical Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on October 29, 2004 at 09:35:43 PT
By Sean Patrick Farrell, Contributing Writer
Source: Daily Californian
Swirling in the alphabet soup of initiatives voters will face Tuesday is Berkeley’s controversial Measure R—The Patients Access to Medical Cannabis Act of 2004—which aims to abolish current medical marijuana amount limits for homes and dispensaries and establish a peer review committee made up of members of currently operating clubs to certify new dispensaries. Under the measure, clubs could keep on hand as much marijuana as doctors say patients need. Patients who grow their own marijuana would be able to cultivate as much they and their doctors see fit. 
“Measure R does away with arbitrary limits,” said Dege Coutee, director of social services for the Berkeley Patients Group, one of Berkeley’s three medical marijuana clubs. Some patients may need more marijuana than current laws permit, she said. “We have very sick people here and very qualified staff taking care of them,” said Coutee. Coutee said one goal of Measure R is to update city laws to reflect Proposition 215, the state’s medical marijuana law passed in 1996. An April City Council proposal to make similar updates failed. A loosening of limits in Berkeley has some public officials concerned. In a report to the city council on the measure, Berkeley Police Department warned of a reprisal of problems encountered two years ago at a now defunct University Avenue dispensary. The club was robbed at gunpoint, and robbers made off with piles of cash and a pound of marijuana. Coutee said representatives from other Berkeley dispensaries worked with police to force the club out of town. But a recent pot bust in Berkeley has some on edge about increased drug-related crime. “It worries me. It think it’s a real magnet,” said Councilmember Linda Maio, who sponsored the council’s recent club limit ordinance. “There was this bust just the other day by campus with all that dope and weapons,” she said in reference to last week’s arrest of three UC Berkeley students on drug and weapons charges. Current Berkeley laws restrict home growth to 10 indoor and outdoor plants and 2.5 pounds of dried marijuana. Medical Marijuana dispensaries are limited to a total of 12.5 pounds of dried cannabis and up to 50 live plants. The measure would also technically allow potential dispensaries to sidestep public hearings to obtain a commercial zoning permit. But under a recently passed city council ordinance, Berkeley is limited to its current three pot clubs. Those three dispensaries have been commended by the city council and police for their service to the community and for keeping a low profile. Unlike other cities, no Berkeley dispensaries have run afoul of federal drug laws. Should one of the clubs be raided on federal drug charges—which trump state and city laws—city officials would be responsible for the dispensation of medical cannabis under Measure R. Even if Measure R does not pass, Councilmember Kriss Worthington says he believes that “voters in Berkeley are passionately in favor of medical marijuana.” Worthington cast the only dissenting vote on the club limit ordinance and has vowed to bring up the plant limit issue to the newly formed council in December. “I think the limit should be set by the doctor, not by political rhetoric,” he said. Source: Daily Californian, The (CA Edu)Author: Sean Patrick Farrell, Contributing WriterPublished: Friday, October 29, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Daily CalifornianContact: dailycal dailycal.orgWebsite: http://www.dailycal.org/Related Articles & Web Sites:Americans For Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccessnow.org/Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmGroup Challenges U.S. Marijuana Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19601.shtmlMedical Pot Measure Lands on Ballothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19058.shtml Berkeley Considers Limits on Pot Clubshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19520.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by siege on October 29, 2004 at 12:19:46 PT
Cops and robbeds
Get the dead a--ss police force off there butts 
and HELP the dispensaries it is state Law 
NOT Federal law  all they [police] are doing is helping the robbeds, robbed the dispensaries at gunpoint, lets all wake up and do the right thing  this is law in your states, citys, Counties so make your communitys more safe, livable and peacefull and get out of the **CRY BABY Mode** this is not the 1960's Cry Cry Cry. as the old county and western song goes. If all of you Councilmembers,, wents a be FEDS. then go to Oklahoma, then you can be happy there to see all potheads caged, but leave the medical marijuana Patients ALONE thank you. sorry community!!
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