cannabisnews.com: Revised Rules for Use Seem More Balanced Revised Rules for Use Seem More Balanced Posted by FoM on December 26, 2000 at 11:17:14 PT By Jeff Crawford, Ph.D Source: Honolulu Advertiser Since I strongly attacked the draft of rules for the medicinal use of marijuana offered for public hearing last month, I feel compelled to comment on the revised rules released Dec. 19.Mr. Ted Sakai, director of the Department of Public Safety, should be applauded for taking a bad set of rules and, in less than one month, turning them into a workable framework. He eliminated the most objectionable rules that contradicted the spirit and imposed restrictions beyond those authorized by the underlying medical marijuana law.Responding to public and patients' concerns, he removed the up to 60-day waiting period for patient access to marijuana, travel and mailing restrictions enforced by the state, and unnecessarily onerous requirements for physicians.Furthermore, he inserted provisions for an appeal process for patients to express their concerns.Even with this dramatically improved set of rules, many details that will require the weighing of law enforcement objectives against legitimate health care needs remain to be clarified.While I still have basic concerns about a law enforcement agency administering a health care program, I believe Mr. Sakai has shown himself to be open to patients' issues and rights. I hope he will continue to be available to offer his balanced judgment as we begin implementation of this ground-breaking humanitarian program.Congratulations to Mr. Sakai. He is an asset to this administration's efforts to offer medical care when needed and law enforcement when required.Jeff Crawford, Ph.DKailuaSource: Honolulu Advertiser (HI)Author: Jeff Crawford, Ph.DPublished: 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/Good First Try at Rules for Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8122.shtmlMedical Marijuana Rules Sethttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8073.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by Rev. Jonathan Adler on December 27, 2000 at 10:45:11 PT: Revised Rules Still Useless! Thanks to Mr. Crawford for his comments again on the Rules.I will again refer to the process where we, the public was allowed to submit new wording to improve the rules effectiveness in implementing the statute. The Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute submitted revisions that allowed a central care-giver facility to supply the approved patients immediately with the recognition of Public Safety. They pushed the final draft through with NO rule allowing distribution by LEGAL sources to more than one patient.Our solution is ... that we are not only complying by our religious and medical registrations with the State Dept. of Health, but my application for medical authorization, although not required of me, has been submitted again! By my Doctor! We will see how great Ted Sakai is ....? He is head of PRISONS! Why is he making rules that affect patients and doctors? Reserving space in his prison? Keep watching, the story is unfolding as we speak! Rev. Jonathan Adler-Hawaii MedijuanaP.S. Ted Sakai is only a pawn of law enforcement period. Hawaii Medical Marijuana Instsitute [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: