cannabisnews.com: Berkeley Marijuana Ordinance Jeered 





Berkeley Marijuana Ordinance Jeered 
Posted by FoM on March 31, 2001 at 07:40:44 PT
By Sonia Krishnan, Times Staff Writer
Source: Contra Costa Times
The Berkeley City Council voted this week to adopt a more conservative version of a medical marijuana ordinance, dashing the hopes of activists who say the new law doesn't allow users to grow enough plants to soothe chronic health conditions. The council Tuesday voted 8 to 1 -- with Councilwoman Dona Spring dissenting -- to permit medical marijuana users to grow 10 plants per year. If grown outside, this would produce 2.5 pounds of dried marijuana and 1.5 pounds if grown indoors.
The vote was met with jeers and shouts of "Shame on you!" by members of the audience who supported a more lenient plan that would have allowed patients to grow up to 144 plants per year."The ordinance is worse than nothing," said Don Duncan, co-director of the Berkeley Patients Group, a medical marijuana collective. "We should be empowering -- not restricting -- patients who need medical marijuana. "The vote was reached after hours of debate that touched on everything from legal concerns to the power crisis. Councilwoman Betty Olds brought up the practice of using grow lights to harvest marijuana plants indoors. "Doesn't that draw huge amounts of energy?" she asked. "People using grow lights will have such terrible bills." In response, Mark Chetal-Bain of Berkeley's Community Health Commission, said that "what we have to realize is that you can lose a plant if there is a power outage." The commission had proposed the more generous ordinance, similar to one adopted in Oakland in 1998 that allows users to grow 144 plants per year.Commission members recommended that users be able to grow enough for roughly 6 pounds a year. The higher number of plants were necessary, they said, so that users could stagger marijuana harvests throughout the year.That proposal was eyed with skepticism by some council members, despite personal feelings on marijuana."I basically believe that we should just legalize marijuana and concentrate on other crimes," said Councilwoman Polly Armstrong, to loud applause. "But I don't want Berkeley to be the Amsterdam of the East Bay." Police Chief Dash Butler, speaking to the council, said that a fine line exists between using marijuana for medicinal purposes and growing it for street sales. He supported the more conservative ordinance."We need to look at whether the propensity for violence is large and whether we've opened that wider," he said. Others scoffed at the notion that a marijuana ordinance will boost predatory crime."All of this is an excuse," said Susan Rodriguez, an activist and a former caregiver from Berkeley. "People are suffering." She said several members of her family have been stricken with cancer but that doctors would not even prescribe Marinol, a legal drug used to fight cancer-related nausea and AIDS-related wasting. It contains the primary active ingredient in marijuana.In 1996, voters passed Prop. 215, which allows seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation and without state penalties. Federal law, however, says marijuana has no medical purposes and cannot be administered safely without medical supervision.On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments from the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative and the federal government on whether marijuana clubs should be allowed to distribute the drug.Note: Berkeley marijuana vote jeered. Activists say the law doesn't let people grow enough to soothe ailments. Justices skeptical of California's medical marijuana law.Source: Contra Costa Times (CA)Author: Sonia Krishnan, Times Staff Writer Published: March 29, 2001Copyright: 2001 Contra Costa Newspapers Inc.Address: 2640 Shadelands Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598Website: http://www.contracostatimes.com/Feedback: http://www.contracostatimes.com/contact_us/letters.htmRelated Articles:City Sets Limits for Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9213.shtmlBerkeley's Pot Limit Is 2.5 Pounds http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9183.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by Cuzn Buzz on March 31, 2001 at 10:39:24 PT:
HURRAY!
"I basically believe that we should just legalize marijuana and concentrate on other crimes," said Councilwoman Polly Armstrong, to loud applause. "But I don't want Berkeley to be the Amsterdam of the East Bay." THANK YOU MS. ARMSTRONG!But...why wouldn't you want Berkley to become the Amsterdam of the east bay?Amsterdam is a pretty nice place.When was the last time you were there?You should go.Ya like tulips?They got a million of em.Cheese? Hey, you don't know cheese till you go to the Netherlands.Happy, hard-working people who are generaly very considerate of others, low crime stats, and a high level of education combine to make the Netherlands an altogether delight for the tourist or resident. By the way, the children smoke less marijuana there than here, and they believe the warnings about hard drugs and avoid them. The average age of a heroin user in the Netherlands is 30 something, this means there are relatively few younger people using.Back when the Dutch were considering the direction their laws might take they toured the U.S..Why did they make the laws the way they did?Well, they went to SF, and didn't want to make laws that would turn them into the Tenderloin of Europe.Thanks again and remember "The Netherlands...Come for the Smoke....stay for the windmills"
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