cannabisnews.com: Unfair Recall in Marin





Unfair Recall in Marin
Posted by FoM on February 12, 2001 at 08:35:29 PT
Editorial
Source: San Francisco Chronicle 
The campaign to recall Marin County District Attorney Paula Kamena has the nasty look of a political lynching by dissidents who don't want her to prosecute marijuana laws of any kind. However one feels about pot laws, there is no evidence that Kamena is overly harsh on drug cases or has not been a fair-minded, competent and humane district attorney. 
She even supports the use of medical marijuana for people who are really sick. Her policy is not to prosecute pot cases involving fewer than seven mature plants or less than half a pound of dried cannabis, certainly adequate for medicinal purposes. Lynette Shaw, director of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana and leader of the recall, accuses Kamena of abuse of public policy for failing to properly implement Proposition 215, which allows marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation. Yet, pot remains illegal under federal law, and a headache for state prosecutors trying to balance irreconcilable statutes. The recall has a weird twist. It began as an effort by a group of divorced parents to remove three family court judges, and included Kamena almost as an afterthought. When that recall fizzled, the medical marijuana zealots focused on Kamena, who they perceive as a hard-liner on pot. Kamena's opponents obtained the necessary signatures -- some say under false colors -- and a special recall election has been scheduled for May 22 at a cost to Marin taxpayers of about $500,000. Recalls to remove a duly elected official are a serious business designed to oust those guilty of, corruption, dereliction, or failure to uphold their oath of office. That does not describe Kamena, whose credits include establishing a juvenile drug court to steer young offenders into treatment instead of jail and creating effective programs for abused children and seniors and victims of domestic violence. We urge Marin County voters to reject the unfair recall and endorse Kamena's sensible approach to law enforcement. Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Published: Monday, February 12, 2001 Copyright: 2001 San Francisco ChronicleAddress: 901 Mission St., San Francisco CA 94103Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/Feedback: http://www.sfgate.com/select.feedback.htmlRelated Articles & Web Site:Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana http://www.cbcmarin.com/Medical Marijuana Backers Target D.A.'s With Recall http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8638.shtmlMarin D.A. Calls Foes Thuggishhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8603.shtmlMedical Pot Backers Warn of More Recalls http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8565.shtm 
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Comment #14 posted by Dan B on February 13, 2001 at 07:57:38 PT:
Thanks, observer.
When I read through that list of symptoms, the first thing I thought was "these are the results of persecution, not cannabis use." You confirmed my suspicions with your posting.And you're absolutely right about Dr. Brian Boettcher's motives. I was once on the fast track to a Ph.D. (had already completed 2 years of the five year degree plan, was about a year ahead in terms of coursework, just needed to complete one [long] experiment for the MA, 3.7 GPA) in clinical psychology, but got out as soon as I realized that, by and large, it all amounted to quackery. The bottom line is that they don't know what they are doing (save the few genuinely helpful counselors who stick to helping people talk through difficult issues/problems they are facing, and even these are forced to label their patients with some "disorder" for insurance and certification reasons), and those who focus their attention on addiction are usually either completely duped by quacks or quacks themselves. The goal of the addiction business is to make money, and psychologists will lie in the most profane ways to reach their goals. jAHn's excerpts are classic examples of this profanity.Thanks to you, too, jAHn.Dan B
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Comment #13 posted by observer on February 12, 2001 at 18:52:51 PT
Monstrous Extravagances!
 CANNABIS PSYCHOSIS I.e. "REEFER MADNESS" (the scientific-sounding version, that is) Dr Brian Boettcher Consultant Psychiatrist Shelton Hospital, Shropshire’s Community & Mental Health Services NHS No vested interest in drumming up more business and a bigger budget there thank goodness. (3) Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation . . . ... The German experience, however, raises the question of who needs treatment at all. Jewish neurologist Arnold Merzbach studied hundreds of Jewish children during the first eighteen months of the Nazi regime. In the first half of 1933 he found "restlessness, irritability, and increased squabbling. Some youths were refusing to eat; the more intelligent ones were sleeping fitfully and given to brooding." Similar behavior continued throughout the year, "as well as many neurotic symptoms." He noted, "older children thought themselves objects of special attention when outdoors."51  We typically find Jewish adults, too, drawing into themselves, exhibiting despair, and developing problems in relating with people as one formerly supportive group after another (employers, insurers, landlords, police) prevented them from living normally in society. These sorts of Jewish behavior mimic the "drug user personality," suggesting that the behavior may be a response to persecution from society rather than an expression of someone's inherent personality -particularly since most users of socially approved drugs such as alcohol and nicotine do not exhibit "drug user symptoms" despite those drugs' potency and danger. In many cases, the proper course of treatment of drug users may simply be to cease persecuting them.Drug Warriors and their Prey, Richard Miller, pgs.173-174http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275950425. . .(4) Temporal slowing (a sense that time is passing very slowly, and/or the person is experiencing a rapid flow of ideas) . . . Wait a second ... I've heard that before somewhere. Where was that? Yes, that's it! I remember now... this is "Reefer Madness"! Shiver me timbers, he lifted that right from the movie introduction! The motion picture you are about to witness may startle you .It would not have been possible otherwise, to sufficiently emphasize the frightful toll of the new drug menace which is destroying the youth of America in alarmingly increasing numbers. marihuana is that drug -- a violent narcotic -- an unspeakable scourge -- The Real Public Enemy Number One !Its first effect is sudden violent, uncontrollable laughter, then come dangerous hallucinations -- space expands -- time slows down, almost stands still ....fixed ideas come next, conjuring up monstrous extravagances -- followed by emotional disturbances, the total inability to direct thoughts, the loss of all power to resist physical emotions leading finally to acts of shocking violence ... ending often in incurable insanity. Reefer Madness, 1938realmovie: http://crrh.org/hemptv/misc_reefer.htmletc.  He plagiarized the movie, you could make a good case for that. (9) Hallucinations, with preserved orientation . . . ``Flash . . . a simple country scene with red farmhouse, a blue sky, white clouds, yellow path meandering over green hills to the horizon. . . Flash . . . same scene, orange house, brown sky, red clouds, yellow path, violet fields . . . Flash . . . Flash . . . Flash. The flashes came about once a heartbeat. Each flash brought the same simple scene into view, but each time with a different set of colors . . . exquisitely deep hues, and astonishingly harmonious in their juxtaposition.''-- Mr. X Aren't many of the "symptoms" on that list really reasons that people like cannabis, anyway? Like "Euphoria", for example. Isn't that one reason that people like it? Since then I have smoked occasionally and enjoyed it thoroughly. It amplifies torpid sensibilities and produces what to me are even more interesting effects, as I will explain shortly.-- Mr. X (i.e Carl Sagan)http://www.marijuana-uses.com/examples/Mr_X.htm re: RecallIt is nice to see a DA on the defensive from those "amotivated" pot smokers. I think this is good, because it will "send out a message", a message "to the children", that the DA isn't God, and like any other "public servant", this DA really does work for the people. Or will find another job.
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Comment #12 posted by Duzt on February 12, 2001 at 18:22:53 PT
doctor
these tests always have small test groups usually consisting of rats fed outrages amounts of marijuana. I recently saw a test done buy Kaiser Hospital in California. The tests were performed over a number of years on patients to the hospital, seperating tobacco smokers, non-smokers and cannabis only smokers. The test group was over 80,000. The tests showed no adverse affects from marijuana, not one. I can show you tests that prove just about anything you want to hear. Common sense says that a plant that has been smoked for over 4000 years without causing a death not dangerous. I smoke about an 1/8 ounce per day, and have smoked almost every day for over 10 years. I have had no problems with my health, I haven't been to the doctor for a sickness since I was a child. The people who makes these claims of serious health effects shouldn't smoke if they are worried about it. Their decision not to smoke is theirs and they have no right to say because they don't want to then nobody else should either. Alcohol and tobacco kill over 500,000 people each year, yet everybody is so concerned about who is smoking marijuana. A person who smokes marijuana, and doesn't drink or smoke tobacco, is doing very little harm to their body. Why not focus attention on more important things than what a few people think marijuana might do, without proving anything.
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Comment #11 posted by jAHn on February 12, 2001 at 17:32:37 PT
...ha! Only in the Bush years...!
References[1] Hall W, Solowij N, “ Long-term Cannabis use and Mental Health “ 1997 British Journal of Psychiatry, August, 171:107-8 [2] Hall A, Degenhardt, “Cannabis and Psychosis” Australian National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Presented at The Inaugural International Cannabis and Psychosis Conference 1999 , Melbourne 16-17 February 1999 [3] World Health Organisation, Geneva, (1992) “ The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders” [4] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , Fourth Edition, American Psychiatric Association,1994 [5] Schwartz RH “Marijuana: an overview”. Pediatr Clin North Am 1987 Apr;34(2):305-17 . [6] Boettcher B, Medical Journal of Australia 11/25 December 1982 “Marijuana and Apathy” [7] Jentsch J D, Verrico C D, Le D, Roth RH, “ Repeated exposure to dleta9-tetragydrocannabinol reduces prefrontal cortal dopamine metabolism in the rat “ ,Neurosci Lett (1998) May 1;246(3):169-72 [8] Hall W, Solowji N, Lemon J, The health and psychological consequences of Cannabis use. National Drug Strategy Monograph Series no 25. Canberra: Australia Government Publishing Service, 1994 [9] van Amsterdam JG, van der Laan JW, Slangen JL, “Cognitive and psychotic effects after cessation of chronic cannabis use “ Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 1998 Mar 7;142(10):504-8 [10] Caspari D, “Cannabis and Schizophrenia: Results of a follow-up Study” Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 1999;249(1):45-9 Dr Brian Boettcher Consultant Psychiatrist Shelton Hospital, Shropshire’s Community & Mental Health Services NHS Trust, Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury, SY3 8DNhttp://www.priory.com/psych/cannabis.htm
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Comment #10 posted by jAHn on February 12, 2001 at 17:31:40 PT
Here's a doctor who THINKS he's right...
CANNABIS PSYCHOSIS: Dr Brian Boettcher Consultant Psychiatrist Shelton Hospital, Shropshire’s Community & Mental Health Services NHS Trust, Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury, SY3 8DN.  Introduction: The drug induced psychosis seen when Cannabis is the main substance being abused is distinct phenomenologically from other psychosis. It is unusual for such a psychosis to occur without other drugs being involved to some extent and so it is difficult to tease out the differences between the effects of Cannabis and other drugs. However it is misleading and dangerous, to our youth in particular, to label Cannabis as “soft”. In fact the serious adverse effects of Cannabis have been known for some time now and Hall and Solowij in the British Journal of Psychiatry sounded warnings in 1997 about such issues as dependence on Cannabis, adolescent developmental problems, permanent cognitive impairment as well as involvement in and the development of psychosis.[1] There are suggestions that in a small number of cases Cannabis is capable of precipitating psychosis, going on to the chronic picture described below, in people who have had no family and personal history of psychiatric illness.There have been suggestions that such people may be the ones who have started Cannabis in their teens and caused disturbance to neural connectivity. However, it seems Cannabis can precipitate or exacerbate a schizophrenic tendency in a characteristic manner.[2] ACUTE SYMPTOMS OF CANNABIS PSYCHOSIS International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10)Often the combination of symptoms makes one suspicious that schizophrenia is present but at the same time there is an affective component. There may be the suspicion that the condition, either in part of whole, is feigned for reasons that are unclear because the pattern of symptoms do not fall easily into the usual criteria for psychosis. Drug taking is often denied, or the amount that is admitted by the patient is so little that one cannot say that this accounts for the current symptoms. Worse still, patients may not even consider Cannabis as an illicit or dangerous drug and so do not mention using it. Hallucinations are vague and delusions may be transitory with little in the way of thought disorder. There is often a lack of volition and a history of gradually deteriorating social ability and contact with others, including significant others. This history will often be verified by relatives and close friends who may be either completely ignorant of the drug taking, or confirm that there has been some in the past but believe that there has been little drug taking recently. There is often a depressive component with suicide attempts in the past but nothing recent or, if there is, then they are only ineffectual pleas for help. The person has usually lost his or her job some months or weeks before due to their poor performance at work. There is often very poor memory and concentration, which may be marked at the time of presentation. Paranoid delusions may be present and quite severe which can be the most alarming psychotic feature and result in hospital admission. If confronted with aggressive and authoritarian staff, who indicate verbally or non-verbally, that they do not believe the patient, the patient may become violent or simply leave against medical advice. There is a slow and gradual effect of cannabis and the symptoms continue to worsen for some time after the person stops using it. Thus by the time of presentation the person may be so disorganised and confused that they can’t even arrange their next “cone” or “joint”. Over the following few days the symptoms ease quickly. The improvement is easily credited to the neuroleptics and/or the antidepressants, which may in fact have contributed to the improvement. Symptoms such as the paranoia, hallucinations and depression fade until the patient is allowed to go on leave from the hospital and, a worsening of the symptoms may follow this. More often than not the nursing staff are the first to become suspicious that drugs have been taken when the patient is on leave from the hospital.It could even be that the drug screen only indicated small dose drug taking or even absent. The International Classification of Disease indicates the following symptoms due to Cannabis.“There must be dysfunctional behaviour, as evidenced by at least one at of the following: (1) Apathy and sedation (2) Disinhibition (3) Psychomotor retardation (4) Impaired attention (5) Impaired judgement (6) Interference with personal functioning. C. At least one of the following signs must be present: (1) Drowsiness (2) Slurred speech (3) Pupillary constriction (except in anoxia from severe overdose, when pupillary dilatation occurs) (4) Decreased level of consciousness (e.g. Stupor, coma) F12.0 Acute intoxication due to use of cannabinoids F12.0 DCR-10 A. The general criteria for acute intoxication (F1x.0) must be met. B. There must be dysfunctional behaviour or perceptual disturbances including at least one at least one of the following: (1) Euphoria and disinhibition (2) Anxiety or agitation (3) Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation (4) Temporal slowing (a sense that time is passing very slowly, and/or the person is experiencing a rapid flow of ideas) (5) Impaired judgement (6) Impaired attention (7) Impaired reaction time (8) Auditory, visual or tactile illusions (9) Hallucinations, with preserved orientation (l0) depersonalization (11) derealization (12) Interference with personal functioning  increased appetite  dry mouth  conjunctival injection  tachycardia.” [3] DSM IV also has similar but less complete information under the heading of Cannabis Induced Psychotic Disorder and refers the reader to a general description of “ Sunstance­Induced Psychotic Disorder”. That is the difference in the phenomenology of Cannabis Psychosis and other substance induced psychosis is not made, however this is now rather dated being 1994 when published.[4] It can be seen from this that the range of symptoms is quite extensive and not confined to the core symptoms mentioned at the beginning.CHRONIC SYMPTOMS OF CANNABIS PSYCHOSISPatients are left with the well-recognised and permanent symptoms of memory loss, apathy, loss of motivation and, paranoid ideation. These symptoms known as “ the Amotivational Syndrome” in the past are usually permanent.[5] If Cannabis using resumes then the acute symptoms redevelop. The chronic state can also be arrived at without a preceding psychotic episode. After Cannabis started to be widely used about 20 years ago, for permanent damage to occur it was felt by some that Cannabis had to be heavily used over at least three years [6]. However, there is accumulating evidence that smaller amount will do damage also and in animals “ deficits on tasks dependent on frontal lobe function have been reported in cannabis users” [7]. It is very difficult to conduct research in this area, as it is not acceptable to harm humans by doing trials with damaging substances such as Cannabis. However there is accumulating evidence of the psychological consequences of using Cannabis [8]. It is logical that to get the permanent “ Amotivational Syndrome” small amounts to damage have to accumulate incrementally. All this is in addition to the recognised danger of a recurrence of a pre-existing illness, such as Schizophrenia or Manic-depressive disorder. There are suggestions that Cannabis “ caused schizophrenia in young people and (or) enhanced the symptoms, especially in young people poorly able to cope with stress or in whom the antipsychotic therapy was unsuccessful”. [9] Caspari found “patients with previous cannabis abuse had significantly more rehospitalizations, tended to worse psychosocial functioning, and scored significantly higher on the psychopathological syndromes "thought disturbance" (BPRS) and "hostility" (AMDP). These results confirm the major impact of cannabis abuse on the long-term outcome of schizophrenic patients”.[10]P 
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Comment #9 posted by fom on February 12, 2001 at 16:57:25 PT
Hey Kaptin!
How do you like the name of my new web address? I'm having fun! Our pup is so good and smart and everyone loves him and his name. He's 4 months old now and weighs about 60 pounds. He's beautiful too.Peace, FoMhttp://www.freedomtoexhale.com/
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Comment #8 posted by kaptinemo on February 12, 2001 at 16:33:12 PT:
A little taste of their own medicine
Fear.That's what it is all about, my friends. Fear. The antis love to make you afraid. They really do.They want you shaking in your boots, nice and malleable. Drug tests, to make you good, compliant little drones...lest you lose your jobs. They want your kids, in exactly the same way Hitler did, and for the same reasons...nothing like having DARE-indoctrinated little spies to provide 'inside' information about who's using and who isn't. Makes it so much easier to gather intelligence.But now, the shoe is on the other foot. The antis are starting to understand that it is a two-way street, after all. This latest move to unseat a DA is a reminder to all those who've gotten fat and sassy courtesy of their 'splendid little war' that they are not as safe as they think. This hits them in precisely the same place as they've been hitting us for years...by threatening their sense of security.And, particularly in the case of the antis...their sense of self-importance.
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Comment #7 posted by military officer guy on February 12, 2001 at 16:13:13 PT
crying a river...
i'm sure you all can hear the tears falling off my face...listen, can you hear them.? i like this recall thing...we can win this war...
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on February 12, 2001 at 15:56:45 PT
Patton Of Pot - 60 Minutes II 9PM ET Feb 13th
(CBS) 60 Minutes II airs regularly on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Up Next: Tuesday, Feb. 13, 9 p.m. http://cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,48284-412,00.shtmlPatton Of Pot: The economy may be slowing down, but not America's marijuana business. It's booming. 
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Comment #5 posted by Dan Hillman on February 12, 2001 at 13:12:20 PT
San Francisco Chronicle: I gotta laugh
Here's another thing that web-saturated S.F. Bay Area is doing besides recalling D.A.'s: letting their newspaper subscriptions lapse. Corporate powers that guide the S.F. Chron's editorial policy are so desperate to spread propaganda via this lapdog SF "newspaper" that they will litter your doorstep with their rag until you call them (you have to ring them 5 or 6 times ) and tell them to stop.
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Comment #4 posted by Duzt on February 12, 2001 at 12:36:05 PT
what they said......
I copied this from a petition on the AMMA website, it's shows how to use these people's words against them. "In the election of 1996, Attorney General Dan Lungren, Sheriff Brad Gates and several major law enforcement officials and agencies made the following official statements in the California Voter Pamphlet: "Proposition 215 legalizes marijuana use for 'any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.' This could include stress, headaches, upset stomach, insomnia, a stiff neck . . . or just about anything." "Proposition 215 does not require a written prescription. Anyone with the 'oral recommendation or approval by a physician' can grow, possess or smoke marijuana. No medical examination is required." "This initiative makes marijuana available to the public without FDA approval or regulation." "This initiative allows unlimited quantities of marijuana to be grown anywhere . . . without any regulation or restrictions." "It is marijuana legalization." These people put these quotes in the VOTER PAMPHLET. According to the California Elections Code, Sec 18661: "Every public official or employee is punishable by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months or two or three years or in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both the fine and imprisonment, who knowingly makes any false return, certification or affidavit concerning any initiative, referendum, or recall petition or the signatures appended thereto." When they mader these statements, they were telling voters what THEY thought Prop 215 was saying. They interpreted it very clearly in THEIR own words. Now that the law has passed, it seems either they knowingly made false affidavits, see above, or they are currently breaking the law. They will answer for this, laws were meant to protect us, not them.
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Comment #3 posted by michael on February 12, 2001 at 11:24:52 PT:
-------VERY IMPRESSIVE--------
   With no medical training at all, we have a district attorney and an editor of a major newspaper knowledgable enough to make deceisions on the dosage of legal medicine. I am impressed, I don't know about you.Just think of all of the fields these two must be experts in. Let's see, uh logic? no. Uhh, reality? uhhhhhh no. Mmmmmm, fairness? nope. Justice? wrong again. Responsabilty, oh yeah right. You know, it goes on and on. At least they share their idiocy in public, and like the klan, we want these fugitives from the dark ages to show themselves. 
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Comment #2 posted by J.R. Bob Dobbs on February 12, 2001 at 10:47:37 PT
Economics
>>a special recall election has been scheduled for May 22 at a cost to Marin taxpayers of about $500,000.  And how much does it cost to harass and incarcerate the sick and dying?  Remember, this is the kind of coverage we saw on Prop 215 from all the major media - before it passed by a landslide.
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Comment #1 posted by Dan B on February 12, 2001 at 09:28:29 PT:
Sensible Law Enforcement
Until there are sensible laws, there will be no such thing as sensible law enforcement.Kamena is simply one of thousands of DAs who believe that it is fine and dandy to prosecute people for using some arbitrarily illegal substance. Furthermore, she has no problem with having cops arrest, harass and humiliate legitimate medical marijuana users. Just because she does not actually prosecute many of the cases does not mean she is absolved of her complicity in these unfounded, unjust arrests, searches and seizures.Obey the law: let medical marijuana users decide (with their doctors) what is an appropriate amount. Seven plants is outrageously miniscule when one considers the difficulty of maintaining those plants, the amount needed for many medical marijuana patients, and the fact that (on a good day) half of those plants will likely be male, thus unusable.Kamena has proven that she is unfit for her job, and the only proper thing to do is fire her.Dan B
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