cannabisnews.com: County Supervisor Wrestles With Medical Marijuana 





County Supervisor Wrestles With Medical Marijuana 
Posted by CN Staff on June 20, 2006 at 15:34:55 PT
By Elaine Nelson 
Source: Valley News 
California -- Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone wants to know how the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is going to respond to marijuana smokers in Riverside County who use the drug to ease the pain caused by their medical condition. Stone has asked DEA officials to meet with him so he can gain an understanding of their intent with regard to the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, because the issue is becoming a hot topic in California.
In 1996, when Californians adopted Proposition 215, the voter initiative designed “to ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes,” the law changed for everybody – even for constituents in counties that recorded a majority vote against the measure. So it was in Riverside County. Deemed the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, the bill prohibits any punishment to physicians who recommend to their patients the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The act further prohibits outlawing the possession or cultivation of marijuana by patients or caregivers who are acting on the recommendation or approval of a physician. The problem is that the initiative violates federal law. But then, federal programs exist that also violate federal law. A program is currently in place in Minnesota, according to Stone, whereby the federal government provides marijuana to test patients. “It’s manufactured by the University of Minnesota, grown under controlled conditions and mailed to these patients,” Stone explained. Stone became involved in the controversial topic back in March when he was invited to attend an international symposium on the topic of medical use of marijuana that was held in Santa Barbara. “What I learned [at the seminar] is that…there is some medical benefit to the active ingredient in marijuana,” Stone said. Stone doesn’t believe, though, that marijuana is “an appropriate indication for some of the conditions” that were mentioned at the conference. While “legitimate practitioners” participated in the conference, including a highly regarded doctor and professor at UC - San Diego and researchers from Jerusalem University in Israel and from Amsterdam, other participants held “questionable credentials,” according to Stone. “I wanted to hear double blind studies,” Stone said. “I don’t want to hear testimonials from people.” Double blind studies are considered to be the most accurate types of tests because neither the researchers nor the subjects are told which participants have been given the placebo, thereby eliminating bias on the part of the researcher. The initiative that passed in 1996 also allowed for the opening of medical marijuana dispensaries, but did not set standards for operators of those dispensaries. “Can someone who has been in jail four times for heroin crimes open a dispensary and sell marijuana?” Stone asked. “Can a felon – any type of felon – open a dispensary? What are the record-keeping requirements to ensure that [the marijuana] is really going to people with a medical necessity? How do we know that it’s not going to marijuana users?” These questions need to be resolved, Stone believes, before dispensaries can be allowed to open in Riverside County. “We, in the county, have been asking for injunctive relief,” Stone said. In conjunction with San Diego County, Riverside County officials have requested that the courts advise them how to proceed. If dispensaries are allowed to open before these issues are resolved, Stone believes, DEA agents can arrest physicians for writing prescriptions for medical marijuana and they can also arrest the marijuana beneficiaries. “We have some conflicting laws that can lead to some very serious problems for people,” Stone said. Stone has been designated by his peers on the Board of Supervisors as the one to write the regulations to ensure compliance with the initiative and resolve the issues behind the opening of medical marijuana dispensaries within Riverside County. Board members have voted to extend for six months the moratorium on opening dispensaries in the county, but Stone estimates that resolution will take closer to 18 months. “I’m not here to tell you that I’m a proponent of legalizing marijuana,” Stone said, “but what I’m trying to do is deal with the proposition and how we – as a county – have to follow the rules.”Complete Title: County Supervisor Wrestles With Medical Marijuana Issue Source: Valley News (Temecula, CA)Author: Elaine Nelson Published: June 16, 2006Copyright: 2006 The Valley News Inc.Contact: : http://tinyurl.com/eadueWebsite: http://www.temeculavalleynews.com/Related Articles: Medical Pot Advocates Speak Outhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21579.shtml Critics Decry Stone's Call for Medical Pot Suithttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21559.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by Had Enough on June 21, 2006 at 06:19:53 PT
Jeff Stone
pharmacists. Here they go again.Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone wants to know how the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is going to respond to marijuana smokers in Riverside County who use the drug to ease the pain caused by their medical condition.DEA should respond by saying "these are sick people, let's leave them be. Let the medical community respond for we are into Law Enforcement, as we have no medical qualifacations to respond properly."
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Comment #6 posted by whig on June 20, 2006 at 19:32:01 PT
mayan
"FRONTLINE: "THE DARK SIDE" just might be informative in that it will document the motives for the 9/11 inside job while avoiding the issue of an inside job being a possibility. Connect the dots and follow the money!"I just finished watching. It definitely whitewashes the events of 9/11 but this whole documentary is basically a CIA narrative. From that perspective it was interesting to watch. I don't trust the CIA but they were sidelined by Cheney and Rumsfeld and they started the whole Plame affair moving forward and they are the ones I think are pulling this administration down for what are basically reasons of payback.We should always be careful of people who seem to be on the same side as we are, but I'm definitely not going to defend Cheney and Rumsfeld.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on June 20, 2006 at 18:27:29 PT
Frontline: The Darkside
Thanks Whig. It starts at 10 PM on DirecTV. I will watch it.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/
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Comment #4 posted by mayan on June 20, 2006 at 18:17:57 PT
Jeff Stone
Isn't he a pharmacist? I'm sure he has a vested interest in maintaining prohibition. Wouldn't want to lose customers the the dreaded devil-weed!Whig, had the order had been given to shoot down the airliners they would have been shot down. Andrews AFB isn't too far from the Pentagon. In fact, there are dozens of AF and AFNG bases within 10 to 30 minutes of the Pentagon. Consider the fact that the Pentagon was hit roughly 40 Minutes AFTER THE SECOND TOWER WAS HIT. Our air defense was intentionally stood down.FRONTLINE: "THE DARK SIDE" just might be informative in that it will document the motives for the 9/11 inside job while avoiding the issue of an inside job being a possibility. Connect the dots and follow the money!THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Professors of Paranoia? Academics give a scholarly stamp to 9/11 conspiracy theories:
http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=j2dll9sp4mf4rtkp62dhg6yxsm3jt43cBYU Physics Prof Finds Thermate in WTC Physical Samples, Building Collapses an Inside Job:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/06/341238.shtml911 Demo: BYU's Prof. Jones Has Wide Academic Support:
http://www.rense.com/general68/demo.htmTHERMITE BROUGHT DOWN WTC:
http://www.rense.com/general70/thermite.htmGreat Danes: 
http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/2006/06/great-danes.htmlNicholas Levis and John Albanese Visit Laura Ingraham at Fox News:
http://www.911blogger.com/2006/06/nicholas-levis-and-john-albanese-visit.htmlFBI says, “No hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11”:
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=891
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Comment #3 posted by whig on June 20, 2006 at 17:44:27 PT
Tonight at 9pm on PBS
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/428045p-360963c.htmlFRONTLINE: THE DARK SIDEIt's called "The Dark Side," and takes its title from a quote by Vice President Cheney in the wake of 9/11. Cheney said that the CIA, the Pentagon and other intelligence-gathering U.S. forces would have to "work from the dark side" to glean information and combat and defeat terrorism.The 90-minute "Dark Side" documentary begins grippingly, with recordings of a 911 call from the World Trade Center. It then shifts quickly to detail Cheney's actions and orders on that day. For instance, Cheney ordered that hijacked commercial airliners be shot down before reaching the terrorists' targets.The documentary traces Cheney's political history and background, a record that goes all the way back to the Nixon administration, where Cheney worked for Rumsfeld as a young intern. Simply by underlining in red the names of Cheney loyalists on the organizational flow chart of the George W. Bush administration, "The Dark Side" shows how deep Cheney's influence stretches.
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Comment #2 posted by whig on June 20, 2006 at 17:28:56 PT
Stone
"Stone believes, DEA agents can arrest physicians for writing prescriptions for medical marijuana...."Physicians don't write prescriptions for marijuana in California. They make recommendations, which are protected First Amendment speech.Conant v. Walters:http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/conantvwalters.pdf(2002): The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the federal government could not punish, or threaten to punish, a doctor merely for telling a patient that his or her use of marijuana for medical use is proper. However, because it remains illegal for a doctor to "aid and abet" a patient to obtain marijuana or conspire with him or her to do so, the court drew the line between protected First Amendment speech and prohibited conduct as follows -- A physician may discuss the pros and cons of medical marijuana with his or her patient, and issue a written or oral recommendation to use marijuana within a bona fide doctor-patient relationship without fear of legal reprisal. And this is so, regardless of whether s/he anticipates that the patient will, in turn, use this recommendation to obtain marijuana in violation of federal law. On the other hand, the physician may not actually prescribe or dispense marijuana to a patient, or recommend it with the specific intent that the patient will use the recommendation like a prescription to obtain marijuana. There have been no such criminal or administrative proceedings against doctors to date.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on June 20, 2006 at 16:25:56 PT
Wow
I hope this is a small newpaper! This reads like a grade school writeup. Univ. of Minnesota? Try Mississippi.Good thing Supervisor Stone is looking out for his people - only double blind studies in this town!  You stupid fool.  ALL the published studies on cannabis are double blind, you IDIOT.
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