cannabisnews.com: Patients Inquire On Medical Pot Patients Inquire On Medical Pot Posted by FoM on November 10, 2000 at 07:39:04 PT By Karen Augé, Denver Post Medical Writer Source: Denver Post OK, medical marijuana is legal. Now what? From the halls of the state health department to the homes of cancer patients, that question reverberated Wednesday, the day after Colorado voters approved Amendment 20 by a margin of 53.6 to 46.4 percent.Martin Chilcutt, one of the original proponents of legalizing medical marijuana in Colorado, said he'd been getting calls Wednesday from patients wanting to know what their next step should be. Chilcutt tells them he envisions setting up cannabis cooperatives for medical marijuana patients."I can't tell you exactly how it's going to operate at this point. But we're going to control it very tightly." They've worked in other states where medical marijuana is legal, he said.One thing Chilcutt is sure he wants to do is help patients who can't afford to buy marijuana. He said an ounce of marijuana can run anywhere from $100 to $400, depending on quality. Meanwhile health department officials met Wednesday to figure out how to implement the statewide patient registry spelled out in the amendment, and how much that will cost.Dr. Richard Hoffman, chief medical officer for the department, said officials didn't have a cost estimate yet but expect to ask the legislature for additional money.The health department has at least one model to go by: Oregon.That state's law, passed in 1998, is very similar to Colorado's.Like Colorado's, Oregon's law allows patients to possess and grow their own marijuana for medical purposes. And, as in Colorado, Oregon patients must have recommendations from a doctor and must register in a state-operated system, which gives them a card certifying that they have been approved to use medical marijuana.Oregon charges $150 for processing an application.According to an Oregon health department Web site, 1,068 people have registered to use medical marijuana there since the law passed. "Our first-year review shows the system is working as it was intended," Dr. Martin Wasserman, administrator of that state's health division, said in a written statement. One place where there is no uncertainty about what the law means is the U.S. Attorney's Office.There, Tom Strickland, U.S. attorney for the district that includes Colorado, is very clear: Marijuana is still illegal as far as federal law is concerned."Any thought that last night's vote decriminalizes possession of marijuana for medical purposes is inaccurate," Strickland said.On the other hand, Strickland's comments make it seem unlikely that chemotherapy patients will be led away in handcuffs."As a matter of policy, the U.S. Attorney's Office has a history of only prosecuting larger cases involving distribution in larger amounts. We have not prosecuted simple possession," Strickland said.Despite the advent of Amend ment 20, "we anticipate following past practices," he said.That may make medical marijuana users relax a bit, but it doesn't help those who sell them marijuana."There is no immunity for anyone who sells marijuana," even to a patient approved to use it medically, said Mark Grueskin, a Denver attorney who helped draft Colorado's law and Oregon's.That is one reason why so-called cannabis clubs set up as medical marijuana marketplaces in California, the first state to approve medical marijuana use, in 1996, have run afoul of federal authorities.A federal attempt to shut down those clubs is on appeal.By Karen Augé E-mail: newsroom denverpost.comSource: Denver Post (CO)Author: Karen Augé, Denver Post Medical Writer Published: November 9, 2000Copyright: 2000 The Denver PostAddress: 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202Fax: (303) 820.1502Contact: letters denverpost.com Website: http://www.denverpost.com/Forum: http://www.denverpost.com/voice/voice.htmRelated Articles & Web Site:Coloradans For Medical Rights http://www.medicalmarijuana.com/Voters Approve Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7601.shtmlCancer Survivor Used, Advocates MJ To Ease Painhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7595.shtmlMarijuana Measure an Apparent Winnerhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7594.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by Chris on September 10, 2001 at 08:19:57 PT: Doctors??? I need help finding a Doctor to Ok the use of Marijuana.. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by nl5x on November 11, 2000 at 14:31:45 PT oakland In Oakland, a three-month supply would be allowed, which according to the proposed guideline amounts to 30 outdoor flowering plants, 48 indoor flowering plants or 1 ½ pounds of bulk marijuana.If all the plants aren’t flowering - and thus not harvestable - then users would be able to keep 96 on hand indoors or 60 outdoors.No more than 144 plants would be allowed. Users would have to be able to provide proof of medical use to police. If they do not provide proof within two days, their marijuana would be forfeited. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by nl5x on November 11, 2000 at 14:17:56 PT affirmative defense Possession is limited to two ounces of marijuana, or, if a patient is cultivating a small supply, six plants total of marijuana - with no more than three mature and producing usable marijuana. Any patient caught with more marijuana than is specified by these limits has the burden of proving such larger amounts are "medically necessary." b) For quantities of marijuana in excess of these amounts, a patient or his or her primary care-giver may raise as an "affirmative defense" to charges of violation of state law that such greater amounts were medically necessary to address the patient's debilitating medical condition.affirmative defense The Oakland City Council late Tuesday approved a policy directing police not to target individuals or confiscate their marijuana if it falls within guidelines set by the city. Those guidelines, the broadest set down since California voters in 1996 approved a state law allowing medical use of marijuana, say patients with a valid doctor’s prescription may keep 30 outdoor marijuana plants, 48 indoor plants or 1.5 pounds of bulk marijuana. Oakland officials say the amounts were intended to allow patients a three month supply of marijuana and were established on the basis of U.S. Food and Drug Administration tests on the drug that ration users to ten marijuana cigarettes per day. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by nl5x on November 11, 2000 at 13:51:45 PT Amendment 20 b) "Medical use" means the acquisition, possession, production, use, or transportation of marijuana or paraphernalia related to the administration of such marijuana to address the symptoms or effects of a patient's debilitating medical condition, which may be authorized only after a diagnosis of the patient's debilitating medical condition by a physician or physicians, as provided by this section.loopholeb) For quantities of marijuana in excess of these amounts, a patient or his or her primary care-giver may raise as an affirmative defense to charges of violation of state law that such greater amounts were medically necessary to address the patient's debilitating medical condition.http://www.medicalmarijuana.com/initiative.html p.s. thanks for your help fom. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by freedom fighter on November 11, 2000 at 11:53:36 PT nl5x Just to make sure you know, you cannot transport/trade the cannabis. Only place you can do it is at your house. I would love to meet you one of these days when you get to Denver. Man, you got some good strains. I recently got busted two days ago and the pigs took my silver haze seeds and this one plant(indica type). One can grow six plants with 3 at flowering stages. Just be sure to get the card! Cops in Colorado are all pissed that they lost the amend.20 and they are getting tuff on pot growers. I found that out two days ago. In Colorado, we have enough growing season to grow any kind of strains. Hey, when you get to Denver, you got a deaf buddy. If you need any help with anything, get me! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by nl5x on November 10, 2000 at 20:34:44 PT: Colorado or bust /no pun intended First off let me say that I am a patient, I have a spinal cord birth defect that at times causes crippling muscle spasms. I go to physical therapy twice a week, as I have had to do the last 10+ years off and on. To top that off, all the muscle relaxers they gave me ate a hole in my stomach that cause nausea or just an unsettled stomach as I describe it and lack of appetite.Now if I take 3-4 puffs of marijuana 1-2 times a day (more on bad days) I am fine or at least a lot better. My nausea totally goes away and It helps with the muscle spasticity in my back, not so much full blow spasms (that takes both THC and other prescription muscle relaxers) but overall tightness or little muscle spasms that will build up over 1-3 days and go into a full blow crippling muscle spasm if I don’t take/smoke my medicine.note: eating and vaporizing is not very effective for me. All marijuana use is medical even if it is for simple mental relaxation. Some people just need it worse than others.If you find yourself as I sometimes do taking a few bong hits not because you want to at that time but because you have to you would fit into the latter of the two groups. I will be moving to Denver at the first of the New Year and would love to trade some clones freedom fighter.I have blueberry, flo, and NL#2 now and cream sodica and matanaska tundra (from Alaska) on the way. I picked the mata. Because I think it should do well outdoors in the cold Colorado climate as will the very fast (6 week) cream sodica.The way I understand the Colorado amendment is if you have your card you can carry/transport up to 2 oz. Of raw marijuana or 2 oz. Of hash/seeds etc. (oops loophole) and all related par·a·pher·na·lia. Also you should legally be able to trade/transport up to 6 veg. Plants/clones or 3 flowering mature plants, no more than 6 in total. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by freedom fighter on November 10, 2000 at 16:48:06 PT To the people of the Colorado I am a grower.I got a green thumb!I am willing to teach you how to grow them.I am willing to help you set up your grow room.Leave a msg here if you need someone to help this. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on November 10, 2000 at 11:51:56 PT: Arkansas News Brief Group's Head Pledges Effort To Get Measure on 2002 BallotSource: St. Louis Post DispatchPublished: November 10, 2000©2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Website: http://www.stlnet.com/Bentonville, Ark. (AP) -- The head of a group that failed to get enough signatures to put a medical-marijuana proposal on this year's ballot pledged a day after the election to get the measure on the 2002 ballot.``We're organizing a grass-roots campaign that's really the voice of the people,'' said Denele Campbell, president of a group called the Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansas.``We've got over 250 people right now with petitions,'' she said Wednesday. ``And with the kind of time now that we've got, we're hoping we can do it.''The group began its efforts to get on the 2000 ballot in September 1999. In June, Campbell announced the effort had failed, with only about 10,000 signatures gathered out of 56,481 needed.The proposal would allow for the medical use of marijuana by patients suffering debilitating medical conditions as defined in the measure. It also would allowed the patient to designate a primary care giver, other than a doctor, to help in the medical use of marijuana, Campbell said.Alliance for Reform of Drug Policy in Arkansashttp://www.ardpark.org/Marijuana Measure OK'd For Petition http://cannabisnews.com/news/3/thread3772.shtmlPryor Mulls 2 Proposals Making MMJ Legal http://cannabisnews.com/news/2/thread2985.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 10, 2000 at 08:56:45 PT: Important News Brief Marijuana Case is Dismissed Source: Orange County Register (CA)Author: Teri SforzaPublished: November 10, 2000Copyright: 2000 The Orange County RegisterAddress: P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711Fax: (714) 565-3657Contact: letters link.freedom.comWebsite: http://www.ocregister.com/Charges have been dismissed against medical-marijuana activist David Zink, who had faced the possibility of up to eight years behind bars after being accused of cultivating marijuana, possessing it for sale and manufacturing a controlled substance.Zink, 55, tried to invoke the protection of Proposition 215 - California's medical-marijuana law - when police in August dug up 30 plants growing in his Long Beach back yard, but to no avail.On Wednesday, prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to proceed, and a judge threw out the charges.-- Teri Sforza/(714) 796-6910Court Charges Pot Grower http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7014.shtmlMarijuana Grower To Stand Trial http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6867.shtmlActivist Fighting Felony Drug Charges http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6854.shtml [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: