cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Advocate: Voters Wishes Thwarted Medical Marijuana Advocate: Voters Wishes Thwarted Posted by FoM on January 11, 2001 at 07:36:12 PT By Ed Vogel, Donrey Capital Bureau Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal An advocate for medical marijuana said Wednesday the attorney general's office wants to thwart the wishes of Nevada voters by blocking access to pot to qualified patients. Dan Hart, director of Nevadans for Medical Rights, said the attorney general's office and the Medical Marijuana Initiative Committee want to make marijuana available only to a chosen few, instead of all sufferers of AIDS, cancer and other illnesses. In a letter to former Deputy Attorney General Louis Ling, Hart said the committee's plan to set up a University of Nevada medical school research study on marijuana is not what the voters intended when they passed Question 9 in November. Sixty-five percent of voters approved a constitutional amendment that requires the Legislature in 2001 to set up a registry program whereby qualified sick people with a physician's authorization can receive marijuana. Hart's organization, a subsidiary of Americans for Medical Rights, successfully put the medical marijuana issue on the ballot and passed it during two consecutive statewide elections. Nine states now have medical marijuana laws. The Medical Marijuana Initiative Committee, a group of doctors and pharmacists who are trying to determine how to carry out the initiative without incurring litigation, proposed last month to have the medical school conduct a marijuana study rather than have a statewide marijuana distribution program. Ling now is private legal adviser to the state Board of Pharmacy, whose executive secretary, Keith MacDonald, co-founded the Medical Marijuana Initiative Committee. MacDonald said the research project might secure federal approval and help the state avoid the protracted litigation from U.S. drug authorities. He also proposed the University of Nevada's agricultural farm could grow marijuana and then medical school doctors could distribute it to patients as part of a research project on the drug's effects. In his letter, Hart said it is clear most doctors and health care officials on the committee oppose medical marijuana. According to Hart, one of his staff members attended a committee hearing and committee members accused him of being "either a dealer in illicit narcotics" or of having a "real estate interest in a marijuana plantation." Even before the Medical Marijuana Initiative Committee made its final recommendation, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa backed the research study and said legislators would invite trouble by creating a marijuana distribution program without federal approval. She said Nevada should not rush into a distribution program until after the U.S. Supreme Court makes a ruling on such programs. The court will decide soon whether the Oakland, Calif., Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative can distribute marijuana to its members. "The Supreme Court is going to make a ruling that will probably be definitive on this issue," said Tina Leiss, a Nevada deputy attorney general. "It is going to give the state a lot of guidance on what they can do and cannot do." Despite federal opposition to medical marijuana, Hart is not aware of any arrest of a doctor who authorized marijuana for a patient in a state with a medical marijuana law.Note: AG's office, others accused of blocking access to drug from qualified patients.Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)Author: Ed Vogel, Donrey Capital BureauPublished: Thursday, January 11, 2001Copyright: Las Vegas Review-Journal, 2001Address: P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125Fax: (702) 383-4676Contact: letters lvrj.comWebsite: http://www.lvrj.com/Related Articles:Medical Marijuana Advocate Blasts Research Plan http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8269.shtmlMedical Marijuana Group Opposes Limitshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8156.shtmlMarijuana Research Programs Suggestedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8142.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by whatsuppppp on January 11, 2001 at 12:05:02 PT Irrelevant Every reason they are using to keep this stuff illegal is irrelevant to "Freedom of choice" .I can't believe I am hearing this from a state that allows gambling and in places i believe prostitution . It is time to stop the blame game and start reform. the people of this nation know the truth and they know they are being lied to .I think the people of this nation will have to look to other nations such as China to put pressure on them to stop persecuting the American people that use drugs. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by observer on January 11, 2001 at 08:58:40 PT Committee Members Accuse Medical MJ Reformer ...staff members attended a committee hearing and committee members accused him of being "either a dealer in illicit narcotics" or of having a "real estate interest in a marijuana plantation."Prohibitionists are so very predictable.see:Themes in Chemical Prohibition (NIDA, 1979)http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/ticp.html``8. Anyone questioning any of the above assumptions is bitterly attacked and characterized as part of the problem that needs to be eliminated. . . .``A reading of any number of works which trace the development and evolution of our narcotics policy, all demonstrate the personal hazards in challenging those policies. To attack or challenge existing policies has opened one up for charges ranging from a lack of patriotism to charges that the critic is himself part of the international drug conspiracy. To most persons, confronting the issues surrounding the inadequacies of existing drug policy is simply not worth the challenges to their own personal integrity.'' Historical Research on Drugs and Drug Policy [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on January 11, 2001 at 08:07:56 PT: Who's More Important? Someone will end up unhappy here. The will of the voters is clear. Should they be satisfied, or should the state attempt to please the implacable federal government? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: