cannabisnews.com: Attorney General Backs Plan to Regulate MMJ!





Attorney General Backs Plan to Regulate MMJ!
Posted by FoM on July 14, 1999 at 14:10:59 PT
Noah Sackson, Associated Press Writer
Source: SF Gate
A bill to regulate medicinal marijuana through a statewide user registration system has survived its first Assembly test despite opposition from both supporters and foes of Proposition 215.
The author of Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative that attempted to legalize marijuana use for medical purposes, said the bill would subject patients to too much police supervision. ``When I wrote Proposition 215, I wrote it for the patients,'' said Dennis Peron. ``(The bill) is written for the cops.'' On the other side, Art Croney, lobbyist for the Committee on Moral Concerns, described legalization of marijuana for medical purposes as ``a cruel hoax'' that would use medical patients to open the door to widespread use of marijuana. ``I think the character of the two opponents illustrates how carefully this measure is balanced,'' the bill's author, Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, joked before the Assembly Health Committee approved the bill Tuesday and sent it to the Appropriations Committee. Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who endorsed Vasconcellos' measure on Monday, was his chief support witness. He said Proposition 215 was vaguely drafted with serious ambiguities that Vasconcellos' measure would resolve. ``We're convinced this is a good product that will provide answers to many unanswered questions and ... fulfill the will of the people'' who voted for Proposition 215, Lockyer said. However, Gov. Gray Davis' press secretary, Michael Bustamante, warned that the bill may not have clear sailing even if it does pass through Legislature. ``This is clearly in conflict with federal law,'' Bustamante said. ``Until the federal government legalizes its use or growing, state government should not put itself in a position of sanctioning it.'' A day earlier, Bustamante had signaled that Davis, who opposed Proposition 215, might be reassessing that position, telling reporters that Davis would ``look at it very seriously'' and be guided by whether it reflected ``good science and good medicine.'' The purpose of the proposed state registry is to protect legitimate medical marijuana users and growers from prosecution under state and federal laws which prohibit the cultivation, possession and sale of marijuana. Patients would need a doctor's recommendation that they use marijuana to control pain, nausea or other conditions in order to win a place in the registry and get an identification card to show officers that they were using or possessing marijuana legally. Former Attorney General Dan Lungren opposed any attempt to carry out the ballot measure and supported the efforts of federal agents who shut down many of the state's medical marijuana distribution centers. When Lockyer took office in January, he shifted the state's position, expressing his support for Proposition 215 and creating the 30-member task force to try and make the law work. Under Vasconcellos' proposal, registration cards would be issued by county health departments to anyone with a doctor's recommendation to smoke marijuana to relieve the symptoms of serious medical conditions such as AIDS, anorexia, chronic pain and cancer. Cards would also be provided to qualified caregivers, people who grow pot for patients who are unable to grow themselves. 07-14) 09:56 PDT SACRAMENTO (AP) 
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Comment #1 posted by jdd on July 14, 1999 at 23:16:40 PT
Attorney General backs plan to regulate mmj 
Ah, regulation!! What would politicians do without it! What's happened to this "sweet land of liberty" that we used to sing proudly about? It seems that when someone recommends something that would give us liberty (in the case of prop. 215, liberty from pain and legal penalties) some politician or bureaucrat tries to regulate it away from us. My feeling is, "Leave us alone!!!" We voted for the freedom to seek the treatment necessary medicine we need, so let us seek it. "Let freedom ring"!!!
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