cannabisnews.com: Good First Try at Rules for Medical Marijuana


cannabisnews.com: Good First Try at Rules for Medical Marijuana 





Good First Try at Rules for Medical Marijuana 
Posted by FoM on December 26, 2000 at 09:20:02 PT
Opinion
Source: Honolulu Advertiser
The folks charged with drafting administrative rules for the state’s new medical marijuana law heard the complaints and heeded them. They were taking too long, and the rules were so stringent as to be virtually unusable.After all, when you consider that the point of the law is relief from suffering, then months of delay and petty hurdles are no minor matter.
Now they’ve hurried up and produced a useful, workmanlike product that the intended beneficiaries will find usable. Gov. Ben Cayetano signed them this week.The rules, of course, are not perfect. They can’t be. That’s because the use of medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law. That being the case, vagueness and ambiguity aren’t flaws, but constructive creativity.The rules don’t tell patients how to obtain marijuana. That’s because, if an organization begins distributing marijuana in any quantity, or uses the mails or airports, it invites the attention of federal narcotics enforcement.The rules make clear that a patient can possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana, and they can have up to seven marijuana plants. Marijuana plants grow like weeds, which explains one of this drug’s many nicknames. Thus the patient must go underground to obtain his first "stash"; but thereafter, he should be self-sufficient.Generally speaking, the federal government isn’t inclined to go out of its way to arrest and prosecute penny-ante users. They’ll continue to pursue distribution networks, and they won’t be impressed by major dealers claiming to be angels of mercy.One other worthwhile feature of the new rules deserves praise: Largely, they now take physicians off the hook for what their patients do after they’ve been certified. Earlier rules put so much responsibility on the shoulders of doctors, it seemed highly unlikely that any of them would be bold enough to sign for a patient’s marijuana use.The new rules are a good effort for now. They’ll be improved with experience. But nothing will help them so much as national legalization of medical marijuana. Source: Honolulu Advertiser (HI)Published: Tuesday, December 26, 2000Copyright: 2000 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.Address: P.O. Box 3110 Honolulu, HI 96802Fax: (808) 525-8037Contact: letters honoluluadvertiser.comWebsite: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Drug Policy Forum of Hawaiihttp://www.drugsense.org/dpfhi/Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institutehttp://www.medijuana.com/Medical Marijuana Rules Sethttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8073.shtmlAdvocates Laud Rules Allowing Use of Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8072.shtmlLegal Use of Medical Marijuana Begins Dec. 28http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8058.shtmlGovernor Approves Medical Marijuana Rules http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8057.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by Rev. Jonathan Adler on December 27, 2000 at 11:05:47 PT:
Rules are made to be broken?
Aloha from Paradise!This latest article from Honolulu Advertiser is interesting to say the least. They have already sent a reporter and photographer here to our LEGAL facility TWICE and did front-page articles with PHOTOS of me in the garden! The Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute is on the cutting edge of providing herbal medicine religiously and medically to church members and approved patients; if they ever approve any. And YES the rules were all made up.... by narks!The testimony was sparsely attended and most ideas and revisions were ignored! We are sure the FEDS know us by now and our RELIGIOUS protections ARE in place and ready forassault! We have judiciously applied to ALL agencies for recognition and NONE has assisted us! Until they are sued or come to grips with reality, we will still be....starting seeds; growing weeds; and meeting needs! ALOHA!REV. Jonathan Adler - Hawaii Medical Maruijuana Institute *Dr. Pot in UK and Prairie Plants in Canada only wish they had our expertise or our genetic history. God Bless Us All!P.S. "Angels of Mercy!!!?" Sounds good to me! 
Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute 
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Comment #3 posted by drfist on December 26, 2000 at 19:14:15 PT
can't work
Hawaii's rules allows 4 seedling and 3 mature plants so you would be very lucky to get two females, the entire thing is impossible, the law allows " the amount necessary" but only allows token production. The DEA choppers are still out there and registration requires one to disclose the location for inspection. maybe 5 seedling and they put the cuffs on? They say it's a start, I guess so?
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Comment #2 posted by freedom fighter on December 26, 2000 at 11:20:15 PT
ditto kapt.
Same down here in Colorado, 2 oz pls only 6 plants and 3 must be flowering. Another problem is that there are 35 thousand species of cannabis. Different taste for different folks. It takes about 20 weeks from start to finish. One would need a strong back to lug the buckets if you are doing hydro. Sure they grow like weed but it takes loving care and respect for nature to do that. A new breed of growers are doing just that under the stigma of illegality. It is time for people to understand, cannabis is just a plant. 
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on December 26, 2000 at 10:00:04 PT:
Encouraging...but still baby steps.
'The rules, of course, are not perfect. They can’t be. That’s because the use of medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law.'I hope the author did that as a deliberate tongue-in-chek move; the puerility of this remark would aid some people to question why it is illegal to begin with.'The rules don’t tell patients how to obtain marijuana. That’s because, if an organization begins distributing marijuana in any quantity, or uses the mails or airports, it invites the attention of federal narcotics enforcement.'As if they didn't have the wherewithal to tap whoever's phone they wished, purely on suspicion. A good rule of thumb to follow: legislators are generally short-sighted and behind the technology 8-ball. Whenever an abomination like the "Know Your Customer" Bill, or the Anti-Meth Bill or the Bankruptcy Bill arises, it is because the technology to perpetrate such Orwellian nightmares already *exists*. And is *already being used*. The 'laws' are formulated to make legitimate an illegitimate use of technology, sanctifying it.But this is a real gem:'The rules make clear that a patient can possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana, and they can have up to seven marijuana plants. Marijuana plants grow like weeds, which explains one of this drug’s many nicknames. Thus the patient must go underground to obtain his first "stash"; but thereafter,he should be self-sufficient.'Presuming, of course, that the very conditions for which cannabis has been prescribed have not rendered the supplicant immobile. Ever watched someone with acute rheumatoid arthritis combined with osteoporesis hobbling about, trying to water her garden? And what about this 3 ounces/7 plants rule? In order to maintain themselves, the medical growers will have to let the males pollinate the females in every generation. Most of the plants may turn out to be male anyway, and therefore, medically marginal if not useless altogether. They'll be lucky to get *one* female plant, and that can't be made into sinsemilla without culling the males needed for pollination and continued production. This is self-defeating, in that the quality needed for medicinal use is sacrificed to maintain the grower within these purely arbitrary boundaries.Who thought this stuff up, narks?
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