cannabisnews.com: Measure 74: No
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Measure 74: No
Posted by CN Staff on October 10, 2010 at 05:49:01 PT
Editorial
Source: Mail Tribune
Medford -- Oregon voters, with the best of intentions, legalized marijuana for medical use in 1998. The system now in place allows Oregonians suffering from various medical conditions to use marijuana to relieve their symptoms if they obtain a medical marijuana card from the state.The system is not perfect. It allows individual cardholders to grow marijuana for their own use or to designate a caregiver to grow it for them, but it does not allow the sale of marijuana or any distribution except by specific growers to specific patients. This can make it difficult for some patients to obtain the marijuana they need.
The existing system also causes problems for law enforcement officers, who must determine who is and is not authorized to grow or possess marijuana, and whether a grower is producing more than is allowed under the law.Ballot Measure 74 attempts to remedy this situation by creating a system of licensed dispensaries where patients may obtain the marijuana they need without having to grow it or deal directly with a grower.We agree the existing system needs to be fixed, but we are not convinced that Measure 74 is the answer. We recommend a no vote.Measure 74 would solve the existing problem of patients who need better access to the drug. But it would not make the system any less confusing for law enforcement; in fact it would almost certainly make it worse.The measure would allow nonprofit dispensaries to distribute marijuana to cardholders. It does not say how many dispensaries would be needed, and it does not say where they would be situated, except that "initially dispensaries shall not be established within 1,000 feet of any school or within residential neighborhoods."Anywhere else, apparently, is a permissible location, and eventually, dispensaries could be situated near schools or in residential neighborhoods. It's not clear why facilities for dispensing medication should be prohibited anywhere, but this language is too vague to be useful to voters trying to make sense of the measure.The state Department of Human Services would be responsible for creating the system and regulating it, and the measure requires all costs to be paid by fees charged to dispensary operators and producers. No one, including the measure's proponents, can say how much money would be raised or if it would be enough to cover the costs of creating a new bureaucracy.The measure says dispensary employees would be exempt from prosecution for possessing, distributing or transporting marijuana, regardless of whether they are medical marijuana cardholders. This would be necessary to allow dispensaries to operate, but would increase the likelihood that some of the drug might find its way into the hands of people not authorized to possess it.That's the real difficulty with this measure and with the entire medical marijuana system: A popular recreational drug is now freely available to some residents and illegal for everyone else. The result is a convoluted system that doesn't always serve the needs of the people it was created to help, and undermines police efforts to enforce the drug laws that apply to the rest of the population.There are better solutions. One, which is largely out of the hands of Oregonians, is to convince the feds to classify marijuana as a Schedule II drug instead of Schedule I as it's now labeled (along with meth and heroin). That would allow marijuana medicine to be processed and distributed like other prescription drugs. Barring that, a limited system of growers and dispensaries licensed by the state would be easier to manage than a system that has sanctioned thousands — maybe tens of thousands — of marijuana gardens and now proposes an unknown number of dispensaries to be added to the mix.There's not much doubt what the end game is for most medical marijuana supporters. California will deal with that on Nov. 2, when voters could well declare marijuana legal for every adult in the state. If that happens, there will almost certainly be a campaign asking Oregon voters to do the same.Legalization would solve many of the problems of the medical marijuana system without having to create a new state bureaucracy. It would also raise an entirely new set of issues for Oregon voters to consider.We are not prepared to address the question of legalization now, but we suspect it will not be long before we must. In the meantime, voters should just say no to Measure 74.Source: Mail Tribune, The (Medford, OR)Published: October 10, 2010Copyright: 2010 The Mail TribuneContact: letters mailtribune.comWebsite: http://www.mailtribune.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/8OCdtBL0CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #6 posted by Had Enough on October 10, 2010 at 17:23:27 PT
Re: #2
""I had the right to remain silent but I didn't have the ability!""Ya Gotta love it...And we need more of it...
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Comment #5 posted by The GCW on October 10, 2010 at 15:19:16 PT
If the cops can't, the bears can protect the peace
I like this little bit about growing:"This comes on the heels of the much-publicized outdoor grow-op near Christina Lake where the owners allegedly used black bears to guard plots containing between 1,100 and 1,200 plants."CN BC: Grow Operations Take Root In Rural Areashttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n823/a06.html?397
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Comment #4 posted by observer on October 10, 2010 at 15:11:35 PT
The system is not perfect.
re: "The system is not perfect."You know, like full-on cannabis prohibition - the arrest and imprisonment of people over cannabis - is of course the summit of sublime perfection. No, the system now (which allows some people to use medical marijuana there) is not "perfect" like that."Perfect" for corrupt police - who would rather chase peaceful non-violent pot-smoking non-criminals for made-up pretend cannabis "crimes", than they would rather chase real criminals, with real victims."Perfect" for police-state minded politicos - who need an excuse to search everyone's anything, all the time. Why, that is merely to (cue the violins) save the children, if you must ask."Perfect" for those who already have bloody hands in the drug war, those who also may have found it quite profitable ($$$) to be arresting and jailing people for pot all those years. This includes the lot of such drug war camp followers. And cannabis is the cornerstone and lynch-pin of the drug warriors' splendidly profitable war on cannabis users - and non-users alike. 
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Comment #3 posted by museman on October 10, 2010 at 10:01:19 PT
runruff
and I certainly remember your absence from the process.Freedom is the issue.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #2 posted by runruff on October 10, 2010 at 09:31:13 PT
Uncle Remus' tar baby.
This what the strategy of the WoD has been based on since the beginning.Arguments that have become so convoluted that they make less sense than when they were invented.For me it has always been about freedom. Nothing more, nothing less. As for the herb? I could have had all the herb I could consume and sell without any trouble at all if I would have sat with my mouth shut but as Ron White once said, "I had the right to remain silent but I didn't have the ability!"
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Comment #1 posted by museman on October 10, 2010 at 08:54:32 PT
"Its not clear
why facilities for dispensing medication should be prohibited anywhere,.."but;"...it would not make the system any less confusing for law enforcement; in fact it would almost certainly make it worse.""...and undermines police efforts to enforce the drug laws..."That is the reason, and it is very 'clear' where the 'problem' lies.The problem is that prohibition has empowered a faction of humans who are better fit to be warriors and gladiators from an ancient time, than modern 'protectors' of the peace. The problem is Prohibition, and lawmakers who make laws for special interests and not the people.The problem is the super wealthy, who have control, and must maintain that control at all costs to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (that isn't theirs), and the fact that the masses have been well trained to not resist - kind of like the Borg.It is very clear that the idea of just anyone making a lot of money on anything not controlled by the above is also the 'problem.'Old Money does not want New Money to get big enough to threaten their control. That's why they tried to get Bill Gates years ago, but he joined their club so they stopped.In Oregon right now, there are two basic classes of growers; the 'old school,' made up of experienced guerilla farmers who have for the past 10 years or so, refined their experience into most of the current 'names and flavors' of the herb, and their product is consistently the best for obvious reasons. Then there is the second group which is composed of younger growers, and older first time growers, who think its all about a fast buck. The second group is largely responsible for all the inconsistencies and error that we find in Oregon's Medical Marijuana Establishment, and are making it difficult -through their lack of proper prioritizing- for medical patients to get consistently quality herb.I agree, 74 is flawed, because it creates an all too exclusive new class of 'government sanctioned' growers whose only necessary qualification that distinguishes them from anybody else is their access to money and resource. That screams at me, and if it weren't for the fact that our patients need to get easy access to the herb, and the current imbalance with all these second-class growers is not cutting it, I too would be against this measure.The compromising that is going on with the thugs, as if those bullies ever deserved the honor of 'upholding' peace, safety and welfare of the people, is also the problem.The answer has been simple for over 70 years;Repeal, End Prohibition.There has never been anything for anyone to worry about, except what has arisen out of prohibition, so end that, and all the REAL problems go away.But then common sense and logic only make it into mainstream awareness -after it has been convoluted, tweaked, adapted, and modified to fit into your TV screen.However, as flawed as it is, 74 makes it better for the patients, and since that's supposed to be what medical cannabis is about, if the voters are actually concerned about correct ethics, and people getting what they need, without high dollar expense that 90% of is going to fund greedy people here and in Mexico, and questionable quality, then 74 is a part solution. Vote for it.Pay no attention to most mainstream media, they are all SQAKs.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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