cannabisnews.com: Voter Mandate, Legislator Left to Rehash Marijuana





Voter Mandate, Legislator Left to Rehash Marijuana
Posted by FoM on March 15, 2001 at 07:16:19 PT
By John Wilkerson, The Associated Press
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
Nevadans voted overwhelmingly last year to approve using marijuana for medical purposes. Now the state's lawmakers -- however reluctant -- must rehash the issue to implement the voters' will.   That some legislators are less than enthusiastic isn't surprising: Despite the medical marijuana vote, Nevada still has some of the nation's harshest criminal penalties for drug use and possession. 
 Also, marijuana use remains a federal law violation. The Justice Department has gone to court to challenge medical marijuana distribution programs in other states.   "This ballot measure was strictly emotionalism and an entire waste of time," Arnold Wax, a Las Vegas oncologist, said after the measure passed. "It's an issue of state's rights and federalism. The federal government has shut down efforts to prescribe it in other states, it will do the same thing here."   The ballot initiative approved by nearly two of every three voters allows use of marijuana by cancer, AIDS and glaucoma patients, as well as others with painful and potentially terminal illnesses. The amendment to the Nevada Constitution first won voter approval in 1998 and Question 9 passed a second time last November.   The 2-to-1 voter mandate is no problem for Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas. She says Nevada should set up a state registry of marijuana users similar to a program operated by state health officials in Oregon.   Unlike Oregon, which lets authorized users grow marijuana plants, she wants the state to provide marijuana, possibly through a state-run farm.   Others, such as Sen. Ann O'Connell are apprehensive. She said she is concerned about amounts of marijuana that users can take and whether they can drive or use marijuana in public. She also wonders whether people with records of drug abuse will be allowed into the registry.   One way to resolve a looming legislative impasse would be to set up a marijuana "research program" overseen by the University of Nevada Medical School.   Under the plan, marijuana could be grown on a few acres of university farmland and given to patients. Doctors would track whether the marijuana helped ease their pain, nausea or other symptoms.   Keith Macdonald, executive secretary of the state Board of Pharmacy and a task force leader, said the physician-run university research program might be approved by federal authorities.   Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa agrees -- and has warned that legislators are asking for trouble if they establish a program without federal consent. Complete Title: After Overwhelming Voter Mandate, Legislators Left to Rehash Medical Marijuana. Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)Author: John Wilkerson, The Associated PressPublished: Thursday, March 15, 2001 Copyright: 2001 The Salt Lake TribuneAddress: 143 S Main, Salt Lake City UT 84111Fax: (801) 257-8950Contact: letters sltrib.comWebsite: http://www.sltrib.com/Forum: http://www.sltrib.com/tribtalk/Related Articles:Bill Passed May Make Growing Marijuana Legalhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8785.shtmlMarijuana Research Programs Suggested http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8142.shtml
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