cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Is Here To Stay





Medical Marijuana Is Here To Stay
Posted by CN Staff on July 25, 2006 at 10:12:01 PT
By Kevin Keenan, Steph Sherer & Daniel Abrahamson
Source: San Diego Union Tribune 
California -- San Diego County has adopted an official head-in-the-sand policy on medical marijuana: Sit back and hope the courts outlaw it. But an ostrich strategy won't work. Doctors will continue to recommend it, patients will continue to use it, and the law is clear: the judiciary will not overturn California's medical marijuana in favor of federal prohibition. To do so would violate centuries of legal precedent firmly establishing the boundaries between state and federal power.
Instead of pursuing baseless litigation, San Diego County should implement the law and work with the rest of the state to find practical ways for law enforcement and others to distinguish between legitimate patients and those who would abuse the system. Our nation is built on the principle that states do not have to march in lock-step with all federal policy decisions. It is true that Congress could have chosen to make the federal government solely responsible for making and enforcing criminal drug laws. But it has not. The Controlled Substances Act is the federal statute that identifies marijuana, among other drugs, as a “Schedule I” substance prohibited for all uses. The CSA explicitly provides that states can implement and enforce their own drug laws using state-level resources and manpower. Even if state laws differ from federal laws, the federal government cannot trump or invalidate them. No doubt economic reality has much to do with this. The federal government undertakes less than 2 percent of marijuana arrests and prosecutions nationwide and has neither the resources nor the will to expand that to a full 100 percent. Can the federal government arrest and prosecute people under federal law who use medical marijuana in California even though it is legal under state law? Yes. Can the federal government force California to make medical marijuana illegal under state law and to arrest and prosecute medical marijuana patients? No. The California attorney general and the attorneys general of other medical marijuana states all made this clear in legal opinions issued after the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal government's ability to prosecute medical marijuana patients. Despite this, San Diego County has filed a lawsuit (at great cost to its taxpayers) against the state of California based on the mistaken theory that federal law preempts state medical marijuana laws. This doomed legal argument also serves as the rationale for San Diego's refusal to issue identification cards to medical marijuana patients as required by state law. But the courts are not going to solve San Diego County's predicament, nor should they. It is the responsibility of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and local government to develop a workable, fair way to limit use of marijuana to legitimate medical patients. California voters passed these laws in response to the growing realization that science had proven the medicinal benefits of marijuana and that people whose doctors recommended it to them should not fear arrest for following that advice. Passage of Proposition 215, California's medical marijuana initiative, did not give rise to the medical use of marijuana; it simply protects the sick and suffering from prison. Since then, the legislature has expanded Proposition 215 to include an identification card system that helps law enforcement identify legitimate patients, protecting them from arrest and allowing law enforcement to focus its resources on criminals. San Diego County's refusal to implement that ID card system defies logic. If limiting marijuana use to legitimate patients is the goal, then why would the county be so loathe to take steps toward proper regulation? Some critics of the card program argue that the system would not fully prevent abuse. It is true that the identification card system is not perfect, just as the 21-year age limit for purchasing alcohol is not perfect, but it is a much-needed step in the right direction. While any system of regulation over otherwise illegal goods is open to abuse, San Diego County's refusal to implement the state-required identification card system ensures as much. Legitimate patients are denied a safe and effective means to access medicine, and police are denied a means to identify legitimate users, making appropriate enforcement virtually impossible. Anyone who has ever had a loved one with a complicated or persistent illness knows the challenge of managing medications and especially their side-effects. Doctors and patients must have options, including medical marijuana, because when you are trying to get better, you care about science and how you feel, not politics. It is time for San Diego County's supervisors and local officials to find compassion, pull their heads out of the sand, and start making sensible, responsible policy decisions. Keenan is executive director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. Sherer is executive director of Americans for Safe Access. Abrahamson is director of legal affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)Author: Kevin Keenan, Steph Sherer and Daniel AbrahamsonPublished: July 25, 2006 Copyright: 2006 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.Contact: letters uniontrib.comWebsite: http://www.uniontrib.com/Related Articles:Medical Marijuana Profiteers Targetedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21973.shtmlFive Arrested, Marijuana Dispensaries Raided http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21971.shtml 
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on July 25, 2006 at 18:04:49 PT
Thanks Mayan
I haven't seen Nightline in years but I will watch it tonight. It's posted now. 
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Comment #9 posted by mayan on July 25, 2006 at 17:39:24 PT
Represent or Resign
It is time for San Diego County's supervisors and local officials to find compassion, pull their heads out of the sand, and start making sensible, responsible policy decisions.It's way past time for the San Diego County Supervisors to either represent the will of the people or resign immediately. By sucking up to the criminal federal government they themselves have become criminals. They cannot win this battle but they can sure lose, bigtime!According to the following linked article there will be a segment on ABC's Nightline at 11:35 p.m. ET.At San Francisco's Wharf, a Fight for Medical Marijuana Ensues:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2218471&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...How to Give a 9/11 Interview: Controversial Instructor Speaks About His 9/11 Views, UW Course:
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060723174254601NASS: DEBATE BARRETT! campaign launched:
http://mujca.com/debatecampaign.htmIn Defense of the Billiard Ball Example (BBE): 
http://www.911blogger.com/2006/07/in-defense-of-billiard-ball-example.html9/11 Truth Advocates Launch Nationwide Congressional Candidate Poll:
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060723035503797Inside Job (video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W21MutyXOew&NR
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Comment #8 posted by global_warming on July 25, 2006 at 14:39:07 PT
May God Bless LEAP
Enough is enough and all too much.This war on peoples choices is ending,It is financially out of control,
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Comment #7 posted by ekim on July 25, 2006 at 14:30:34 PT
Jul 27 06 Law Enforcement Indicts the Drug War! 
 http://www.drugpolicy.org/homepage.cfm
Location: Drug Policy Alliance Office, 610 S. Ardmore Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90005 
Contact: Admission is free, but please register in advance by contacting Yazmin Trujillo at (213) 201 4780 
 
You are cordially invited to the official launch of Mike Gray's "Law Enforcement Against Prohibition", a short video about the eponymously named group (called LEAP for short) of patrol officers, chiefs of police, judges and more, which works to end the US prohibition on drugs. 
Join Mike Gray, who filmed and narrated the film; Jack Cole, founding member and current president of LEAP; as well as many local drug policy reformers, for an honest and engaging conversation. We invite you to share dinner and a showing with us, followed by a discussion on law enforcement's role in drug policy reform. LEAP members have seen first hand how drug war policies do more harm than good. Not all law enforcement are so reform-minded, however, and public health advocates will discuss recent run-ins in the Los Angeles area. The event is hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance and sponsored by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and Common Sense for Drug Policy. Highlights
Press conference
Dinner
 www.leap.cc/events 
Jul 27 06 Law Enforcement Indicts the Drug War! 06:00 PM Jack Cole Los Angeles California USA 
 LEAP Executive Director Jack Cole and Speaker Judge Jim Gray meet with civic leaders and the everyday citizen when they participate in a round table highlighting the absolute failure of the current drug prohibition policies and put forth new ideas and policies that have been proven to be successful. This is a DPA/CSDP sponsored program for the LEAP DVD. 
http://www.leap.cc./events/
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Comment #6 posted by jose melendez on July 25, 2006 at 14:24:01 PT
slate rules: truth be told
from: http://www.slate.com/id/2146214/?nav=tap3 Gateway to Nowhere?The evidence that pot doesn't lead to heroin
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Comment #5 posted by global_warming on July 25, 2006 at 13:47:46 PT
Hideaway
Creedence Clearwater Revival (WISH I COULD) HIDEAWAY lyrics	Creedence Clearwater Revival (WISH I COULD) HIDEAWAY lyrics
Howdy, friend, beggin' your pardon,
Is there somethin' on your mind?
You've gone and sold all your belongings,
Is that something in your eye?
Well, I know you really never
Liked the way it all goes down;
Go on, Hideaway.
What's that you say?
We're all bound for the graveyard;
Oooh, I wish you well.
Think it's gonna rain,
Oh, what's the diff'rence,
Is there some way I can help?
'Cause you know, I'm gonna miss you
When you're gone, oh, Lord,
Wish I Could Hideaway
Hold on, give yourself a chance,
I can hear the leavin' train.
All aboard! Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!
Oooh, I wish you well.
See you soon, maybe tomorrow.
You can never tell;
Cause you know, I'm gonna miss you
When you're gone, oh,
Wish I could Hideaway
Hideaway, hideaway, hideaway, hideaway.
Hideaway, hideaway,
Hideaway, hideaway.
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Comment #4 posted by Global_Warming on July 25, 2006 at 13:32:15 PT
There is that third rail in politics
Some of the finest human beings have toked, that is, inhaled those healing vapours into their lungs, yet, high judges, constitutional lawyers, cannot find an even path, there is an answer, all those forgotten and secretly hidden advocates need to come forth and stand in the daylight that shines on "all"
of our faces.When so many good faced populations agree, it will become the law of the land.
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Comment #3 posted by Wayne on July 25, 2006 at 12:27:02 PT
further clarification
"The CSA explicitly provides that states can implement and enforce their own drug laws using state-level resources and manpower. Even if state laws differ from federal laws, the federal government cannot trump or invalidate them."That's right guys, remember that. The only time the federal government can trump a state law is if the state law is deemed unconstitutional. The Constitution says NOTHING about marijuana. Otherwise, it's up to the state. The Feds might be able to arrest people for MJ, but they can't do a damn thing about the state laws. Don't let anyone try to confuse that."The federal government undertakes less than 2 percent of marijuana arrests and prosecutions nationwide and has neither the resources nor the will to expand that to a full 100 percent."As it stands right now, I think they do dream about it. But that's only because 12 states have tackled the issue. If that number grows to 25 or 30, they may have a change of heart. And eventually, they will crack under the will of the people. That 2% figure is actually true, most MJ arrests are made on the state and local level."Some critics of the card program argue that the system would not fully prevent abuse. It is true that the identification card system is not perfect, just as the 21-year age limit for purchasing alcohol is not perfect, but it is a much-needed step in the right direction."Damn straight! It may not prevent abuse, but neither does mind-numbing gub'ment propaganda.The point here is, the MMJ decisions can only be made on the state level. 12 states in 10 years. If the dominoes keep falling, the Feds will be forced to either legalize it or reschedule it.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 25, 2006 at 12:03:30 PT
Graehstone
Thank you. I'm looking at the pictures now. I love what the Internet and Activists can show us.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by Graehstone on July 25, 2006 at 11:35:57 PT
Rally
How funny, here are the pictures of the Rally we attended today and went to the city council meeting to speak before them.
And the reporters getting their scoop for the story above. 
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v340/Graehstone/Rally/
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