cannabisnews.com: Senator Seeks Medicinal Marijuana Limits





Senator Seeks Medicinal Marijuana Limits
Posted by FoM on February 03, 2000 at 19:56:56 PT
Johannessen's Pot Play
Source: Sacramento Bee
State Sen. Maurice Johannessen of Redding is bravely stepping into the political minefield of medical marijuana.A conservative Republican, Johannessen is no proponent of marijuana use of any kind. Yet he is proposing legislation that would allow Californians to possess and grow specific quantities of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Why? 
Johannessen is out to help law enforcement make sense out of the vague medicinal marijuana law. Good for him.Passed by voters in 1996, Proposition 215 left all the tough questions about medicinal marijuana unanswered. Which health ailments qualify for the use? Where do patients get the marijuana? Can others grow it on their behalf? Can a patient have a week's supply on hand or a year's? How can any of this reconcile with federal laws that leave no room for a medicinal use of marijuana?The result in the north state, Johannessen's political turf, has been the predictable mess for law enforcement and the courts. Shasta County authorities, for example, arrested a man in 1998 when officers found 41 seedlings of marijuana growing in his back yard and 24 ounces of pot in his bedroom. Yet the man claimed that his doctor orally, not in writing, endorsed his use the pot to help combat symptoms of his illness, Hepatitis C. A jury threw out the case. The judge ordered officers to give the man his pot back. Before they could, federal officials confiscated the drugs.In Tehama County, the sheriff has guidelines limiting patients to growing 18 seedlings, cultivating to maturity only three. In Shasta County, the sheriff has offered no such guidelines. They have turned for Johannessen for help. Laudably, Johannessen isn't ducking.The senator's strategy is to submit a bill that doesn't initially specify how many plants a patient can grow or how many ounces or pounds of pot that patient can possess. That will be up to the legislative process. Johannessen's colleagues on both sides of the political aisle, law enforcement agencies and the governor should engage this pot bill rather than hide in the smoke. The status quo is a mess for patients and police alike.Published: February 3, 2000Copyright © The Sacramento Bee Related Article:It's About Time The State Clarifies Med. Pot Rules-1/26/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4492.shtml Johannessen Seeks Restrictions on Use of MMJ - 1/22/2000http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4435.shtml
END SNIP -->
Snipped
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: