cannabisnews.com: Digging Up Pot Could Pose a Problem





Digging Up Pot Could Pose a Problem
Posted by FoM on May 28, 2001 at 08:30:05 PT
By Lynn Bartels, News Staff Writer
Source: Rocky Mountain News
In the '60s, J.F. Oschwald smoked pot because he was a flower child. In the '70s, he lit up because everyone else did. In the '80s, Oschwald tried to give up marijuana but discovered he needed it for medical reasons; he had suffered a spinal cord injury in a car crash. In the '90s, Louisiana authorities busted him for possession so he headed to California to take advantage of its recently approved medical marijuana initiative. 
Now it's 2001 and Oschwald, who lives in Lyons, wants to be part of Colorado's medical marijuana program, which begins Friday, barring a prohibition from Attorney General Ken Salazar. Oschwald, 51, was injured in 1980 after he pulled off the side of a road in Louisiana to sleep. A car plowed into his van, breaking his neck. He uses a wheelchair or arm crutches to get around. "The medical relief I get from marijuana is that it soothes impulses in my nervous system and therefore I don't spasm," he said. "I didn't realize that until about 1989, when I quit for about six weeks. I started having spasms and I had never had a problem prior to that. That was the indicator to me that it was a factor in my well being. "And I enjoy the buzz, too." But how Oschwald and other Coloradans who say they need marijuana for medical purposes will get their pot is at the center of a debate made murkier by a U.S. Supreme Court decision this month. The court ruled that California's cannabis clubs for medical-marijuana patients are illegal because federal law says marijuana has no medicinal purpose. Colorado's Amendment 20, which voters approved last November, allows patients on a state registry to possess up to 2 ounces of pot and six marijuana plants, three of them flowering. But under state and federal law it's still a crime to buy the drug. Oschwald is among the potential registry patients who said he's thinking of buying a horticulture book and growing his own. Good luck, said Dennis Follett, who warned it takes more than a book to grow quality pot. He should know. He's a Drug Enforcement Administration agent. "There's a real science to growing marijuana, and the best stuff is grown indoors using hydroponics," he said. "Most of the stuff you grow yourself is what you call ragweed." Ror Poliac, 44, of Arapahoe County, wants to get on the registry but said he is having trouble scraping together the $140 fee he needs to apply to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Applicants need a letter from a doctor saying they would benefit from marijuana; the cards must be renewed every year. Poliac, who has multiple sclerosis, said he takes about "10 puffs" a night, enough to give him an appetite and to control his spasms. He might not sleep any better, he said, but the marijuana eases the anxiety of not being able to fall asleep. Dr. Richard Hoffman, Colorado epidemiologist and chief medical officer, said the state expects about 800 people on the registry the first year and twice that the second year, based on experiences in Oregon, where a nearly identical ballot measure already is in place. The state is ready for the program to begin Friday once it gets the official go-ahead from the attorney general, who is reviewing the Supreme Court decision. "You've got a state program where the folks who use it are in peril of going to jail," Colorado Solicitor General Alan Gilbert said after the ruling. "That's an unusual situation, and one that calls for careful thought by the Department of Public Health and Environment about how to proceed." But political activist Julie Roche, who helped put Amendment 20 on the ballot, said the court decision should have no effect because the initiative had nothing to do with cannabis clubs. In fact, neither did California's law, which is still in place, she said. "Nothing is on hold in Colorado," Roche said. "The state is ready and so are we." Note: Medical users must find a source, unless attorney general stops law from taking effect.Contact Lynn Bartels at: bartels RockyMountainNews.comSource: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)Author: Lynn BartelsPublished: May 28, 2001Copyright: 2001 Denver Publishing Co. Contact: letters denver-rmn.comWebsite: http://www.denver-rmn.comRelated Articles:Court's Marijuana Ruling Was No Surprisehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9858.shtmlMedical Marijuana And The Folly Of The Drug War http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9827.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by Rambler on May 29, 2001 at 00:23:17 PT
weird
The more ya think about it,the more absurd it is.The federal government had no business making drugprohibition laws in the first place.Now that they have them,they are insulting the votersof the states by ignoring the issue.Since the SC decisionon MMJ,we have heard scarecly a murmer from our "represenatives",addressing the issue.They will continue to ignore us,and leave us on the backburner as long as they can get away with it.
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