cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Advocate Blasts Nevada Research Plan Marijuana Advocate Blasts Nevada Research Plan Posted by FoM on January 11, 2001 at 12:54:29 PT By Brendan Riley, Associated Press Source: Las Vegas Sun A medical marijuana advocate said Wednesday that Nevada officials are in for a fight if they try to limit a voter-endorsed initiative allowing use of marijuana by cancer, AIDS and glaucoma victims.Question 9 was approved by a 2-to-1 margin in November, and the 2001 Legislature is required to set up a distribution method so people with such medical conditions can use marijuana for pain relief. But a task force of medical experts instead recommended a research program to permit limited marijuana distribution and avoid a confrontation with the federal government's anti-marijuana laws that conflict with the state initiative.Dan Hart, who led the effort to get the constitutional amendment on medical marijuana approved by voters, said in a letter to the state Board of Pharmacy, which was involved in the task force effort, that the research plan is too restrictive.Hart wrote Louis Ling, a deputy attorney general and the board's general counsel, that the research project could exclude some qualified, terminally ill patients and instead get medical marijuana only to "a chosen few.""Who will you choose, Mr. Ling," Hart said. "What patient will you deny their rights under the state Constitution? Which physician will you notify that their constitutional right to approve the treatment of their patient has been denied by your ad hoc 'research' approval committee?""Rest assured that the proponents of Question 9 will vigorously defend the will of the people in the Legislature, the executive branch and in every necessary court, including the court of public opinion," Hart added.The report criticized by Hart came from the Nevada Medical Marijuana Initiative Work Group, formed last year after Nevada voters in 1998 passed the ballot initiative a first time. The initiative passed a second time in November and now becomes part of the Nevada Constitution.The group issued its recommendations as guidelines to Gov. Kenny Guinn and the Legislature, which also will be considering bills to reduce the felony penalty for possession of a small amount of marijuana.The group recommended the formation of a committee of health care professionals. Doctors or medical groups could apply to the committee for permission to study marijuana's effects.If the committee sanctions the plan, the research proposal would have to receive federal approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Drug Abuse."Marijuana would be purchased by the research study through federally approved providers," the report says. "Marijuana would not be grown, processed or manufactured in Nevada. The federally approved provider would provide uniform, predictable and uncontaminated marijuana, thus protecting patients from the vagaries of illegal or homegrown marijuana."The physician conducting the research would write the prescription and it would be filled by participating pharmacies that would purchase marijuana from the federal government.This plan, said the work group, "would allow physicians, not state bureaucrats, to decide which patients would have access to marijuana for medical purposes."Complete Title: Medical Marijuana Advocate Blasts Nevada Research PlanSource: Las Vegas Sun (NV)Author: Brendan Riley, Associated PressPublished: January 11, 2001Copyright: 2001 Las Vegas Sun, Inc.Address: P.O. Box 4275, Las Vegas, NV 89127Fax: (702) 383-7264Contact: letters lasvegassun.comWebsite: http://www.lasvegassun.com/Forum: http://www.vegas.com/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgiRelated Articles:Medical Marijuana Advocate: Voters Wishes Thwartedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8272.shtmlMedical Marijuana Advocate Blasts Research Plan http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8269.shtmlMedical Marijuana Group Opposes Limitshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8156.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by FoM on January 11, 2001 at 14:25:49 PT I'll try harder! I try not to disappoint Dr. Russo but I really can be a scatter brain! LOL! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on January 11, 2001 at 14:11:47 PT: I'm Disappointed, FoM I thought I had developed clairvoyance! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on January 11, 2001 at 14:06:46 PT Duplicate Article I posted the same article twice from different papers and I try not to do that but I did. Oops Sorry! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: