cannabisnews.com: Readers Write About Medical Marijuana





Readers Write About Medical Marijuana
Posted by FoM on October 11, 1999 at 09:07:08 PT
D.C. Initiative is treated as an informal opinion!
Source: The Seattle Times
Congress seems intent on thwarting democracy and making sure that hundreds of seriously ill people in the District of Columbia remain subject to arrest and imprisonment for using medicinal marijuana.
In November of 1998, an initiative appeared on the ballot that would remove criminal penalties for patients and their caregivers who possess or grow marijuana for medical purposes in the nation's capital. Local government was not permitted to count or release vote totals because of a federal law that Congress had passed just 13 days earlier.A federal judge cleared the way for the votes to be released in a court challenge to the amendment prohibiting the use of D.C. funds to "conduct an election" on the medical-marijuana referendum. The court recognized that the First Amendment applies even to D.C. residents. The initiative passed by an overwhelming 69 percent.Unfortunately, Congress recently amended the D.C. appropriations bill to prohibit the D.C. government from spending any money to carry out or implement the initiative. Because the bill has passed, last November's initiative vote is treated as an informal public opinion poll, rather than a serious vote by American citizens in a democratic election.It's bad enough that Congress wants to punish seriously ill people. It is an outrage that Congress is willing to go so far as to thwart democracy in the process.Duane GrindstaffKentLetters to the editorPosted at 02:42 a.m. PDTMonday, October 11, 1999 Copyright © 1999 The Seattle Times Company Related Articles:National Agendas Color D.C. Marijuana Debate - 10/10/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3229.shtmlGOP Budget Would Keep D.C. Limits - 10/09/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3214.shtmlPlease Get Active!E-The People: Petition: Making Peace In The Drug War http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3226.shtml 
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