cannabisnews.com: Congresswoman Barbara Lee Sponsors Legislation 
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee Sponsors Legislation 
Posted by CN Staff on August 03, 2012 at 20:19:38 PT
By Lauren Fox 
Source: U.S. News & World Report 
California Rep. Barbara Lee won't be spooked by the Justice Department's aggressive curtailing of medical marijuana dispensaries in her own backyard. Lee, a top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, introduced the States' Medical Marijuana Property Rights Protection Act in Congress this week, which she says would curb the Obama Administration's efforts to intimidate state medical marijuana dispensaries from setting up shop.
"The people of California have made it legal for patients to have safe access to medicinal marijuana and as a result thousands of small business owners have invested millions of dollars in building their companies, creating jobs, and paying their taxes," Lee says. "We should be protecting and implementing the will of voters, not undermining our democracy by prosecuting small business owners who pay taxes and comply with the laws of their states in providing medicine to patients in need." The bill will make it illegal for the federal government to seize the assets of medical marijuana business owners, a tactic DOJ has begun using to crack down on pot shops. While DOJ rarely takes legal action against businesses that comply with their local and state laws, Americans for Safe Access, a group that is committed to legalizing medical marijuana says the threat alone has been enough to scare roughly 400 medical marijuana dispensaries in the state of California to close their doors. The Justice Department has sent roughly 300 letters to landlords in California and Colorado threatening to file lawsuits if they don't stop operating dispensaries. "For the price of postage, the Justice Department gets to threaten an entire population of property owners and it is a very effective tactic," says Kris Hermes, a spokesman with Americans for Safe Access. Lee announced her legislation just weeks after U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag filed a lawsuit against Oakland and San Jose, Calif.-based medical marijuana dispensary Harborside Health Clinic. Haag argues the clinics, which serve about 100,000 medical marijuana users, could be violating local laws because of the number of patients they provide pot to. "The larger the operation, the greater likelihood that there will be abuse of the state's medical marijuana laws, and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a demonstrated medical need," Haag said in a statement. The asset forfeiture lawsuit caused an uproar in the community, with thousands of signatures gathered for an anti-lawsuit petition drive, protests, and political rallies. "They won't stop until they have closed every single regulated law-abiding dispensary in California unless people rise up and say enough is enough," says Steve DeAngelo, the executive director at Harborside Health Clinic. But DeAngelo says it wasn't always this way. The federal government's dogged pursuit of medical marijuana dispensaries has escalated since 2009. On the campaign trail and at the beginning of President Barack Obama's time in office, medical marijuana seemed low on the administration's priority list. "I think the basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate," Obama said in the Spring of 2008 during an interview with Oregon Newspaper, the Mail Tribune. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue."Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws and Americans for Safe Access estimates the Justice Department has carried out roughly 200 raids on dispensaries or growing facilities in nine states. Hermes fears if the lawsuits persist, patients who need medical cannabis could be forced into the unregulated drug market. "[Rep. Lee's] law would take the wind out of the sails of the Justice Department to intimidate dispensaries who are serving patients in need," Hermes says.Source: U.S. News & World Report (US)Author: Lauren Fox Published: August 3, 2012 Copyright: 2012 U.S. News & World ReportWebsite: http://www.usnews.com/Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/gfkqitBTURL: http://drugsense.org/url/wrHuRKjrCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by HempWorld on August 05, 2012 at 07:56:34 PT
Vioxx
According to a CNBC documentary, VIOXX claimed about 120,000 lives.
Merck Settles Vioxx Case
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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on August 05, 2012 at 06:43:26 PT
merck
interesting thing about Merck, the CEO was the president of the Penn State trustees during the Joe Paterno/ Sandusky scandal.I tell friends I wasn't surprised about Penn State. This guy got the FDA to fire a scientist who tried to warn us about Vioxx, enabling Merck to sell it for a few more years while 40,000+ people died from the cardiovascular events caused by Vioxx.This guy's probably thinking what's a few more kids when 40,000 are already down?
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Comment #3 posted by HempWorld on August 04, 2012 at 14:09:32 PT
This is what I found on Merck:
Merck & Co., Inc. whose President, George W. Merck, was director of America’s biological weapons industry, and whose hepatitis B and polio vaccines most plausibly transmitted AIDS throughout the world.Read more: Blue Sky Sunshine’s Blog » The Cancer Report (Full Version) - Rockefeller Influence On The Health Care Industry http://blueskysunshine.org/blog/?p=4267#ixzz22c7KL257
Blue Sky Sunshine’s Blog
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on August 04, 2012 at 07:55:18 PT
translation
"The larger the operation, the greater likelihood that there will be abuse of the state's medical marijuana laws, and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a demonstrated medical need," Haag said in a statement. What he really means is: "The larger the operation, the more angry voicemails I get from Pfizer and Lilly"People should realize that at events like the Dem/Repub conventions all the government people spend the weekend at incredibly post events hosted by Merck, Pfizer, Citibank, etc.They often have private shows by big rock stars and musicians, famous celebrities, etc.I seriously doubt that Harborside was hosting a big gala events for the DNC or RNC, were they?
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on August 04, 2012 at 07:31:12 PT
Barry got schooled.
After he got elected he was told to drop that nonsense about easing up on pot laws. There are some crusty old bureaucrats with more than 25 years in office and a budget of 10s of billions of dollars with even more powerful friends outside of DC who do not want medical marijuana.America goofed around and trusted the wrong people to do the right thing, now they are embedded in our government like skin chiggers and we can't get rid of them.
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