cannabisnews.com: Activist Takes on Medical Pot Laws 





Activist Takes on Medical Pot Laws 
Posted by CN Staff on December 06, 2004 at 08:49:24 PT
By Sharon Kiley Mack
Source: Bangor Daily News 
Madison -- Nearly mirroring a debate in the U.S. Supreme Court, the founder of Maine Vocals is challenging Maine's medical marijuana laws. Don Christen, a marijuana reform advocate who has been arrested several times on marijuana violations, was arrested again last month. Police charged him with growing and trafficking in marijuana, and providing marijuana to others, while Christen maintains he was legally providing pot to seriously ill people with doctors' permission as allowed under Maine's medical marijuana law.
Maine is one of 11 states that has passed such laws.In October, Christen established the Medical Marijuana Distribution Center at his Madison home and was providing pot to seriously ill people who had received written notices from their doctors for the drug. At the time of his arrest, Christen said he had five "patients.""The problem is the Maine law is so vague," he said. "I expected the police [to raid my home]. I knew they'd come."Christen said that when the Maine Legislature passed the medical marijuana provision six years ago, it failed to implement a distribution plan. Even Somerset County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Carl Gottardi, who arrested Christen, agrees. "If, for example, a doctor allows that a patient should have marijuana, where do they get it?" Gottardi said Friday.Gottardi said his drug eradication team is "fully aware that there are people with serious medical conditions that allow certain people to qualify to possess a certain amount of marijuana. We take that into consideration and we don't go around raiding people who have slips from their doctors."As an example, Gottardi said that during the raid on Christen's home, Christen's wife, Pam, who has cancer, was not charged with any drug violations. "Mrs. Christen obviously does have a serious illness. I can feel for that in my heart. And she was not charged with anything.""We are not after Don Christen because he is supplying people with medical conditions. He violated the law," said Gottardi."We don't make up the laws. We enforce them," he added.Pam Christen said she is petitioning the court to return the marijuana, which she said she legally uses as medication."I am a cancer patient, undergoing chemotherapy which all [drug] agents acknowledged prior to entry to my home," said Pam Christen. "They had no regard for the Medical Marijuana Law whatsoever and no compassion for me as they left me nothing to medicate with, all fully well knowing that I was sick as hell and would be miserable soon without it."Vassalboro resident Carroll Cummings is also petitioning the court for return of the marijuana, which he uses as medication and was obtaining from Don Christen."I was charged recently - Oct. 13, 2003 - for possession of a usable amount of marijuana and the charges were dropped once I provided evidence that I met all the requirements set forth in the Medical Marijuana Law," Cummings said Friday."Though the Marijuana Law does help me, if you study it thoroughly you will find it lacks provisions for me to acquire my [medicinal marijuana]. Thus, to protect myself from buying from an undercover DEA agent or one of their informants, and due to the fact our state legislators have failed to pass any type of legislation that allows for distribution, I had to take it upon myself to find someone willing to take the chance and provide me with my medicine when I need it. I found the person I believed I could trust, Donald Christen, a friend for nearly 15 years." Cummings said that his notarized doctor's notice is attached to the wall right next to the Christens' front door, along with similar notices for four other people. Cummings maintained that the drug agents seized and have failed to return his legal medication.Christen said his operation was public and not covert."Everything was upstairs in the storage room and was not hidden at all," Christen said. "Some of the processed marijuana was in jars in my kitchen cabinets that we used daily, so it was handy. There was also some leaf that was trimmed off the marijuana, that was to be thrown in the wood stove or on the compost but the police want to add that weight to the 'processed marijuana' to make the weight up over a pound of marijuana. The patients don't want to smoke leaf as it has no medicinal qualities and doesn't work. Leaf is also more carcinogenic than tobacco products."He said he also had 13 plants as part of his winter medicinal crop. Christen said he is legally allowed to grow six plants per patient.Christen is scheduled for a bail hearing next week and an arraignment on the drug charges is set for Jan. 19 at Skowhegan District Court.Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court questioned whether state medical marijuana laws might be abused by people who aren't really sick as it debated whether the federal government can prosecute patients who smoke pot on doctors' orders.The justices refused three years ago to protect distributors of medical marijuana from federal prosecution. This time, they are examining the power of federal agents to go after sick people who use homegrown cannabis with their doctor's permission and their state's approval.A ruling is not expected until next summer. Source: Bangor Daily News (ME)Author: Sharon Kiley MackPublished: Monday, December 06, 2004Copyright: 2004 Bangor Daily News Inc.Contact: letters bangordailynews.netWebsite: http://www.bangornews.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Angel Raich v. Ashcroft Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/raich.htmShould Federal Policy Trump State Law on MJ?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19982.shtmlLet States Decide Medicinal Pot Usehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19977.shtmlMedical Pot or Not? High Court To Decide http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19973.shtml 
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on December 07, 2004 at 10:34:27 PT
Related Article from The Associated Press
Advocate Challenging Maine´s Medical Marijuana Law Tuesday, December 7, 2004 
  
 
 
MADISON, Maine — A marijuana reform advocate who has been arrested several times is challenging Maine´s medical marijuana laws just as the Supreme Court considers legalizing the drug for medicinal purposes.Don Christen, who established a marijuana distribution center at his home last October and was subsequently arrested, claims the state´s law legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes does not address a distribution plan for patients.Christen said he was providing marijuana from his home to five seriously ill people who had received written notices from their doctors. He was arrested last month and charged with growing and trafficking in marijuana."The problem is the Maine law is so vague," he said. "I expected the police. I knew they´d come."Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court questioned whether state medical marijuana people who aren´t really sick might abuse state marijuana laws. It debated whether the federal government can prosecute patients who smoke pot on doctors´ orders.The stakes are high on both the personal and the government level _ 11 states have passed medical marijuana laws since 1996.Somerset County Sheriff´s Detective Sgt. Carl Gottardi, who arrested Christen, agrees that Maine´s law doesn´t fully address how to distribute the drug to people are genuinely benefit from the drug."If, for example, a doctor allows that a patient should have marijuana, where do they get it?" Gottardi said.Gottardi said his drug eradication team is aware there are people with serious medical conditions who can possesses a certain amount of marijuana under law."We don´t go around raiding people who have slips from their doctors," he said.Christen is the most prominent marijuana reform advocate in Maine. For years he organized Hempstock, an annual festival in Starks to advocate the legalization of marijuana.When he was arrested last month, Christen had 13 plants as part of what he called his winter medicinal crop. He contends he is legally allowed to grow six plants per patient. His arraignment on the drug charges is set for Jan. 19 at Skowhegan District Court.Three years ago, Supreme Court justices refused to protect distributors of medical marijuana from federal anti-drug charges.They are confronting a more personal issue this time _ the power of federal agents to go after sick people who use homegrown cannabis with their doctors´ permission and their states´ approval. Copyright: 2004 Associated Presshttp://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D86QU6580-341.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by goneposthole on December 07, 2004 at 05:09:42 PT
thank you for the kind words
they are appreciated.I have come to the conclusion that chemotherapy and radiation treatments do not work. Cancer patients accept them as treatments in desperation. The treatments may actually destroy the patients immune system.I have also concluded that prohibitionists are also terminally ill. Along with the US government.From my vantage, they're doomed.
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Comment #10 posted by 13th step on December 06, 2004 at 20:38:49 PT
goneposthole
Condolences, friend.And with this, we shall fight harder.
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Comment #9 posted by ekim on December 06, 2004 at 20:18:13 PT
May the Good Lord have mercy upon her weary soul.
 I feel that her weary soul would forgive, my dad went out the same way. Good luck and thanks for all the posts goneposthole 
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on December 06, 2004 at 19:55:09 PT
our tax money
I believe that I read somewhere today that the U.S. Gov. is giving Afghanistan something like 187,000,000 dollars to help them fight drugs. Yeah...right.That would surely do more for humanity if it were spent on cancer research.It was sickening when I read it and now thinking about the loss of our money to something like that when it could be so much better spent.What's going on? Surely, our leaders are insane.
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Comment #7 posted by afterburner on December 06, 2004 at 19:48:31 PT
goneposthole 
Sorry about mispelling your name. I typed it instead of cut-and-paste like I usually do.Both my father and grandfather died of cancer. I relate to your frustration with the medical profession and the law makers that try to prevent effective alternative treatments.
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Comment #6 posted by breeze on December 06, 2004 at 19:34:33 PT
Goneposthole
I send you my condolences, and I hope that grief is fleeting for you.Try to keep a strong heart in her memory, and know that she HAS gone on to a better place, a better world.
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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on December 06, 2004 at 19:06:07 PT
gonepostal
I add my condolences over the painful loss of your cousin to cancer and to today's medieval drug war thinking."The pharmas, whether they know it or not, are engaged in the systematic corruption of the medical profession, country by country". --author John le Carré...why he chose the world of the pharmaceutical companies as the setting of his new novel: The Constant Gardener http://tinyurl.com/3tz5n
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on December 06, 2004 at 17:37:02 PT
Goneposthole
I'm sorry, too, to hear that you've lost your cousin and that she had such a horrible time. I wish the money spent on prohibition had been spent on looking for a cure for cancer.It's totally stupid not to try to make things better...really better. Prohibition doesn't make things better.We don't have many good leaders. Ron Paul is the only one I can think of easily.Again, I'm sorry about your loss.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 06, 2004 at 17:22:23 PT
goneposthole
I just want to say I am very sorry. 
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Comment #2 posted by goneposthole on December 06, 2004 at 17:15:56 PT
A great big thank you
To all prohibitionists, the DEA, the US government and all other related anti-drug, pro-death groups.My cousin died today. Her cancer-racked body gave out. It was just too much to bear. The chemotherapy and 'modern medicine' was all for naught.May the Good Lord have mercy upon her weary soul.May the Good Lord have mercy upon all prohibitionists, the DEA and the US government. You're going to need it. All will not be forgiven.
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Comment #1 posted by global_warming on December 06, 2004 at 15:27:43 PT
Diseased
"I am a cancer patient, undergoing chemotherapy...Though the Marijuana Law does help me, if you study it thoroughly you will find it lacks provisions for me to acquire my [medicinal marijuana]. Thus, to protect myself from buying from an undercover DEA agent or one of their informants, and due to the fact our state legislators have failed to pass any type of legislation that allows for distribution, I had to take it upon myself to find someone willing to take the chance and provide me with my medicine when I need it."I hope that none of us have to suffer such as this, except those that seek to persecute and deny this man his medicine. It's difficult to fathom such a human being that would attempt to take away anybodies medicine, to hide and go undercover, sneaking around in the shadows of humankind, but just such creatures have been born from this insane prohibition.The insects will outlive our wretched kind along with the blessed plants. -gw
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