cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Bill Heads To Senate





Medical Marijuana Bill Heads To Senate
Posted by CN Staff on February 06, 2007 at 06:29:34 PT
Sun News Report
Source: Las Cruces Sun-News 
Santa Fe, NM -- A proposal to legalize the medical use of marijuana is headed for a vote by the full Senate, which has endorsed it in the past. Supporters of the legislation steered the measure Monday through the Senate Judiciary Committee, which passed it on a 7-3 vote.Patients with cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and some other illnesses could be certified by their doctors to participate in a program run by the state Department of Health, which would issue identification cards.
Patients in the program would be protected from prosecution by state authorities for possessing or using the drug."This bill is not about the legalization of marijuana for recreational use," said Reena Szczepanski, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico, part of a national group lobbying for the measure.She estimated that between 50 and 200 New Mexicans could qualify for the program.It's supported by patients who say marijuana alleviates symptoms including nausea.A statement read on behalf of Erin Armstrong, a 25-year-old cancer patient who has been lobbying the bill for several years, called the proposal "one more option to help us eat, help us sleep, help us from wasting away."Law enforcement groups oppose the measure and note that marijuana is illegal under federal law and there would be no immunization from federal prosecution under the bill.District Attorney Donald Gallegos of Taos said the controls in the bill are too loose, allowing for the possibility of illicit marijuana growing or phony certification cards.The bill doesn't authorize patients to grow marijuana; the health department would come up with regulations governing the licensing of producers who would operate "on secured grounds."New Mexico had a program more than two decades ago that linked the medical use of marijuana with a research project that eventually lost its funding.For the past two years, a similar medical marijuana bill has passed the Senate but failed to clear the House.On the Net:New Mexico Legislature: http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/ Source: Las Cruces Sun-News (NM)Published: February 6, 2007Copyright: 2007 by Mid-States Newspapers Inc.Contact: editorlcsn zianet.comWebsite: http://www.lcsun-news.com/Related Article & Web Site:Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/Easy Panel Passage Gives Hope for Supporters http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22591.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #7 posted by OverwhelmSam on February 07, 2007 at 16:09:49 PT
City by City,
State by State, Politician by Politician, the will of the people will be obeyed.
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Comment #6 posted by nuevo mexican on February 07, 2007 at 01:50:51 PT
What we can do, 'The Occupation Project'!
"The Occupation Project":
Voices for Creative Nonviolence is organizing the Occupation Project, a campaign of sustained nonviolent civil disobedience aimed at ending the U.S. war in and occupation of Iraq. The campaign will begin the first week of February 2007 with occupations at the offices of Representatives and Senators who refuse to pledge to vote against additional war funding.
http://www.vcnv.org/project/the-occupation-projectUnited for Peace endorses The Occupation Project!
http://unitedforpeace.org/'Bang on Every Door' ...by Mike FernerWar Opponents Occupy Congressional OfficesFrom Alaska to Washington, D.C. yesterday, peace activists escalated their tactics and occupied Congressional offices, demanding elected officials vote against George Bush's request of $93,000,000,000 to extend the war.The Occupation Project, organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV), kicked off at noon, Eastern Time when four people were arrested holding a funeral service in the Chicago office of Democratic U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and four more people were arrested in the Chicago office of U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), reading names of Iraqis and U.S. soldiers. 
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=822Also at Unitedforpeace.org:
UFPJ Calls for Local Actions on 4th Anniversary of the War in IraqMarch 19th will mark the 4th anniversary of the U.S. military assault on Iraq and the beginning of what has turned into one of this nation's longest military engagements. Four years of war and occupation; four years of death and destruction; four years of a war that never should have happened.United for Peace and Justice is calling for a massive outpouring of opposition to the war in locally based, decentralized actions throughout the U.S. from Saturday, March 17th, through Monday, March 19th.Jailed blogger hits record as supporters rally
http://news.com.com/Jailed+blogger+hits+record+as+supporters+rally/2100-1030_3-6156953.htmlJosh Wolf has been locked up for 169 days. As of today, Wolf became the longest-imprisoned journalist for contempt of court in U.S. history. He is a San Francisco video blogger who filmed some of a mini-protest march in the Mission district in July, 2005. (I live in this neighborhood; I wrote about the events at the time here.) A TV station bought some of his footage. You can see that story here.So far so good. And then ...
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/2/6/201140/9787
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Comment #5 posted by The GCW on February 06, 2007 at 16:37:00 PT
the drug
the drug
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 06, 2007 at 16:28:30 PT
unkat27 
That was really good. I don't think there is anything that I disagree with. That is how I have felt all along.Words from comment: Almost everything the liberal left antiwar people of the 60s said about corporate USA turned out to be right, and it's high time the American public admitted it. 
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Comment #3 posted by unkat27 on February 06, 2007 at 16:04:01 PT
Neocons Lied, Wrong on Many Things: What of Canna
Neocons Lied and Neocons were Wrong about Many Things: What then about Cannabis?God, what a mountain of bullshit the neocons have made the USA into. I recall how the neocons had their beginning, in the late 70s and early 80s, how they used the Iran Hostage Crisis as an excuse to blame all the problems of the world on the liberal left, for being "too soft" on foreign enemies, and those enemies included "drug lords" that were blamed for the subversion of the youth and a whole generation of Americans in the 60s, who, coincidentally, also opposed the Vietnam war. Way to spin reality into a web of lies, fascists! So, there was little opposition to the war in Iraq at the beginning in 2003. Now, there is over-whelming opposition to that same war in 2007, even if it doesn't materialize as anything but a dominant public opinion. So, what are we supposed to think, now that the US is bogged down, sacrificing its dumbed-down youth in another quagmire of quicksand based upon lies and imperial hubris?  This is what i think. I think that the fact that the antiwar opposition to the imperial neocon foreign policy in the ME turned out to be right is proof that the whole neoconservative sham, from its beginning around the time of the Iran Hostage Crisis of 79, was wrong, including their scapegoating of cannabis and people who grow and use it for down-time victuals and medicine. Almost everything the liberal left antiwar people of the 60s said about corporate USA turned out to be right, and it's high time the American public admitted it.  The neocons that took control during Reagans 80s were wrong and they still are. They told us that the antiwar left was wrong and they told us that corporations were working for the good of the people and they told us that the government and the White House, specifically the republican WH, deserved all of our support because it represented everything that was good about the USA. They also told us that cannabis was an evil drug that turned our youth into anti-American communists if it didn't simply turn them into drug addicts and criminals.  With this war on terror and the war in Iraq, we have come to see how wrong the neocons are. We have come to realize that almost everything we were warned about by the antiwar left has once again turned out to be right, despite the denial and delusional attitudes of those neocons and the governmental offices they represent. We have come to realize that the corporations really are more interested in profits than people's lives and that the government and the WH are not working for the good of the people so much as the good of corporations and profit motivations.  We have come to realize that supporting the president and the WH means supporting a continuation of a meaningless war and further sacrifices of people's lives, all in the name of corproate profits and an imperial presidential war-mongering ego in the WH that has lost touch with reality in preference for a near borderline psychotic delusional state historically attributed to dictators and tyrants. If the neocons were so wrong about so many things, and we know also that they have lied as well to drag us into a war, isn't it also possible that they were wrong about cannabis and have been lying to us about that as well?Nick Zentor,
2/06/07Note: Couldn't post this at Mad Krow site due to inability to update, so i thought maybe I could post it in this forum. Hope I'm not being too presumptuous. If so, please delete. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on February 06, 2007 at 13:16:03 PT
nuevo mexican 
I wish you the best of luck!
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Comment #1 posted by nuevo mexican on February 06, 2007 at 12:57:19 PT
2007 will be the year where compassion rules!
Go New Mexico! We had the votes last year, but the Aqriculture Committee killed it! 
The momentum is even greater now, with all of the years advances making this a mainstream, 'will of the people' issue now!It's already semi-legal in New Mexico, as usual, the cop shops deal the Mexican shwag, and make a few big show busts' every year to steal the kine bud, for various reasons, that grows so well in the New Mexican Sun!With such a large Hispanic or Latino population, as well as many Native Americans, and a lot of hip Anglos', all knowing the medical benefits as well, many find the beautiful scenery a great backdrop for relaxing with Mother Natures greatest gift!
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