cannabisnews.com: Task Force: Distribute Marijuana





Task Force: Distribute Marijuana
Posted by FoM on September 28, 2000 at 07:25:20 PT
Joshua L. Weinstein, Portland Press Herald Writer
Source: Portland Press Herald 
Most members of the Attorney General's Task Force on Medical Marijuana believe the state should distribute the drug. The 29-member task force met for the last time Wednesday, and agreed to send the Legislature a report outlining three proposals. But after seven meetings of the whole group and seven smaller sessions, members never reached a general agreement on how to get marijuana to patients. The group was divided on everything – even its final report. On Wednesday, the task force voted to write minority reports outlining other points of view.
But it put forward a proposal that, among people who follow the issue, is remarkable: setting up a state-operated medical marijuana distribution center, even though the drug is illegal under federal law.Sixteen committee members favor the proposal, and 11 oppose it.Most remarkable is that the presidents of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association and Maine Sheriffs' Association want the center."I feel very strongly that contrary to the way the federal government feels about the states doing this, it makes sense," said Mark Westrum, the sheriff of Sagadahoc County and president of the sheriffs' association. "It was the best and the right thing to do."Last November, voters in Maine approved a law making marijuana legal for limited medicinal purposes. Other states have similar laws, but the federal government has consistently blocked efforts to implement them. In fact, this past summer, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the government's request to shut down the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, a patient-run organization.A state law, however, would have an official status the federal government would be unwise to meddle with, said Chuck Thomas, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C."This would be the first time that a state government itself is creating a medical marijuana distribution system," he said. "To actually go in and punish someone despite what their state government said really puts it on a whole new level . . . the federal government going against the wishes of the state government itself would make a much more powerful statement" that would evoke a large public outcry.Westrum, who opposed the ballot question that made medical marijuana legal in Maine, went a step further.He said he and his association "are keenly aware that our position doesn't sit well with the commissioner of public safety or the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, but we represent a large constituency ourselves, and we are in touch with the people of our counties."And he said he is tired of constant concerns about the federal government."The federal government interferes way too much in the states' rights to do our business and, frankly, I'm sick of it," he said. "If they want to take us to task, let 'em."He guessed that federal interference would backfire. "As more states catch on to what's going on, and as this issue continues to grow, it's going to be happening in a lot of other states," he said.Chief Joe Roberts, of the Hampden Police Department, said he agrees with a central distribution center even though the organization he leads, the chiefs' association, does not.He said it works best and is more easily enforced. "Plus there would be a ready supply," he said. "If you or I got diagnosed with one of those qualifying conditions and we had the need for the product, we could get it, whereas if I get diagnosed today . . . I'd have to grow it from seed."Maine's attorney general, Andrew Ketterer, is uncomfortable with the idea. He prefers a system that would allow approved medical patients to grow the drug for other medical patients.He said he had hoped the task force could come up with a unanimous or near-unanimous recommendation, but that "this task force was beneficial in the sense that it got out all the issues."The report will go to the Legislature, which ultimately will have to figure out how to implement the law – favored by 61.4 percent of the voters in 1998. The Proposals:  The Attorney General's Task Force on Medical Marijuana wrote its final report to the Maine Legislature's Joint Standing Committees on Health and Human Services and Criminal Justice on Wednesday. It discussed three proposals. The first would establish a research program to study the medical benefits of cannabinoids found in marijuana. Ten members voted for that option, as long as the program emphasized research on non-smoked methods of ingesting the active ingredients in marijuana. Twelve approved of it with an amendment eliminating the emphasis on research on non-smoked marijuana. Four opposed it. The second would establish a medical marijuana patient registry and allow registered patients to furnish marijuana to one other registered patient. Eight approved, five supported it with an amendment that would remove the provision making a list of patients with extra marijuana available to other patients. Thirteen opposed it. The third would create a registry and have the state distribute marijuana. Sixteen members favored that option, 11 opposed it. Staff Writer Joshua L. Weinstein can be contacted at 791-6368 or at: jweinstein pressherald.com Source: Portland Press Herald (ME)Author: Joshua L. WeinsteinPublished: Thursday, September 28, 2000Copyright © 2000 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.Contact: letters pressherald.comWebsite: http://www.portland.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Mainers For Medical Rightshttp://www.mainers.org/ Panel Split as Final Distribution Report Issued http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7176.shtmlMedicinal Marijuana Law Under Reviewhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6853.shtmlNext on MMJ: How To Set Up the Program http://cannabisnews.com/news/3/thread3555.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on January 21, 2001 at 11:09:07 PT
Question
Hello Durward,If you don't mind asking I have a question for you.Do you think it is ok for an adult couple, with no children in the house, to sit down after dinner and enjoy a little fine wine?Other than Cannabis being illegal why can't a couple, with no children in the home, enjoy a little fine herb in the privacy of their home? PS: There are health effects with alcohol and tobacco so that wouldn't a good argument.Thanks
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Comment #3 posted by observer on January 21, 2001 at 10:57:57 PT
DEA: `cannabis plant has accepted medical use'
Medical Marijuana has only one meaning and that is to make it for recreational use like alcohol.Now there's a lofty claim. That's false, though. Man has been using cannabis medicines for about 4,000 years.seeMedical Marijuana - Master Reference http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/medical_mj.htmhttp://www.google.com/search?q=the+history+of+medical+marijuanaHistorian Chris Bennett -- a history lesson on medical marijuana (readaudio) http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-333.htmletc.(Silly me! Like facts make one whit of differences to a narc; they don't of course, but for the non-narcs reading this, the information is presented.)``To meet the substantial nineteenth- and early twentieth-century medical demand for marijuana, fluid extracts were marketed by Parke Davis, Squibb, Lilly, Burroughs Wellcome, and other leading firms 29 and were sold over the counter by drugstores at modest prices. Grimault and Sons actually marketed ready-made marijuana cigarettes for use as an asthma remedy. 30 As medicine progressed after 1903, marijuana's use declined, but its therapeutic value remained unchallenged, and doctors continued to prescribe it. ''The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugsby Edward M. Brecher and the Editors of Consumer Reports Magazine, 1972http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cu54.html``In the 1920s, marijuana cigarettes were sold legally in drug stores as a treatment for such ailments as asthma, migraine headaches and to ease the pain of childbirth.'' Don't Expect Your Physician To Say... (AZ Republic, Jan 1999)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n030/a09.html``The debate about legalising cannabis for medical use was reignited in 1998 when the House of Lords science and technology committee acknowledged that part of the cannabis plant seemed to alleviate asthma as effectively as conventional treatments. '' Cannabis 'To Be Legal As Painkiller In Two Years' (UK, Sunday Telegraph, Oct 2000)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1576/a01.html After extensive research, it has never been shown to have medical benefits. Another (false) assertion. But you have to love the propagandistic, authoritarian (parental) tone, "After extensive research," etc. False. It has been used as a medicine for 1000s of years, much research (see above) shows cannabis to be an extremely safe and effective medicine. Even DEA judges agree. . . . The evidence in this record clearly shows that cannabis has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress from great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record.The administrative law judge recommends that the Administrator conclude that the cannabis plant considered as a whole has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, that there is no lack of accepted safety for use of it under medical supervision and that it may law-fully be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule II. The judge recommends that the Admin-istrator transfer cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II.-- by Francis L. Young,[DEA] Administrative Law JudgeSeptember 6, 1988, Docket No. 86-22, Francis L. Young, DEA Administrative Law Judge http://www.chrisconrad.com/fcda/judge.young.htm Even the DEA judge was forced to admit that marijuana has medical uses. Self-serving narcs are all wet when they try to tell people otherwise. Narcs' lies are motivated by greed, and lust for power. Durward A. Phillips Member - Maine Sheriffs' Association Oh, I see your income depends on arresting peaceful adults who smoke marijuana, and throwing them in jail, and stealing their property.  Those with a ve$ted intere$t in continuing to jail cannabis users often are the ones squealing the loudest when it is suggested that American adults have returned to them their traditional rights over their very bodies, including the right to use cannabis. Then we find out (according to narcs) that all of society and civilization will fall apart if "we" don't jail marijuana users. I don't believe the narc's hype. I've caught them in too many lies.
Drug Reform Coordination Network
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Comment #2 posted by dddd on January 21, 2001 at 10:36:55 PT
so what's the problem?
Durward.I appreciate your opinion.Let's say that you were right,,,that MMJ was simply some sort of trojan horse,master evil plan devised for the sole purpose of trying to be free to choose to smoke marijuana.,,Coffee has no medical benifits.Aspirin has no medical benifits,other than making you feel less pain.Where are the "medical benifits" of Prozac,or Ritalin?All they do is make people feel better.I respectfully suggest you take another look at marijuana Mr Phillips.There are far more important issues in life than jailing people who are supposed to be free.Our government has become somewhat of a hate group,with it taxpayer funded vilification of marijuana.Take another look,,,and thank you for your comment.Dont be shy.Sincerely........................dddd
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Comment #1 posted by Durward A.Phillips on January 21, 2001 at 10:10:28 PT
Medical Marijuana
Medical Marijuana has only one meaning and that is to make it for recreational use like alcohol. After extensive research, it has never been shown to have medical benefits.Durward A. PhillipsMember - Maine Sheriffs' Association
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