Quick Hits (page 2)
Medical Pot Okayed in Vermont
By: Darren M. Allen (Rutland Herald)
MONTPELIER - A measure legalizing the use and possession of marijuana by people suffering from AIDS, cancer or multiple sclerosis crossed its final legislative hurdle, ending 19 May 2004, paving the way for it to become law without the signature of Gov. James Douglas.
Senators, voting 20-7 in favor of the heavily lobbied bill, made Vermont's Legislature only the second in the country - Hawaii is the other - to legalize the use of medical marijuana.
The bill was sent to the governor, who confirmed that he would decline to sign it, meaning the measure automatically becomes law in five days.
Vermont will become the ninth state with such a law on the books. In seven of those states voters, not legislators, approved the medical marijuana legislation.
"I will not oppose this decision of the elected representatives of the people, nor will I support it by signing it into law," Douglas said in a statement. "I cannot actively support a measure that allows Vermonters to be subject to prosecution under federal law, increases the availability of a controlled substance and sends a dangerous message to our children."
According to administration officials, the White House lobbied Douglas to veto the bill.
Indeed, President Bush's deputy drug czar came to Vermont last month in a day long lobbying blitz, and, in the last several days, a Bush administration official placed a phone call to Douglas urging his rejection of the bill.
The new law is actually a much narrower package than that passed earlier this year by the Senate. And while the governor was poised to veto that measure, he was said to be cognizant of the political popularity of making marijuana available to terminally ill people.
"I believe that we owe Vermonters with debilitating medical conditions the very best that medical science has to offer," Douglas said.
"Proven science has not demonstrated that marijuana is part of that," he said. "Despite that fact, marijuana offers those with the most painful chronic diseases a measure of hope in a time of suffering."
The measure's supporters included the leader of Vermont's Catholics, who yesterday praised the governor for allowing it to become law.
"I believe this bill is a very encouraging indication that our legislature and our governor are seriously concerned about improving end-of-life care in Vermont," said Bishop Kenneth Angell of the Burlington Diocese. "I know this was a hard decision for Gov. Douglas."
Under the new law, people will be allowed to grow up to three marijuana plants in a locked room and possess 2 ounces of "usable pot."
Users will be under the supervision of the Department of Public Safety.
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Growin' Our Own (page 2)
Your Papers Please
By: Elmore Stone
Here - answer these two questions, quick. The first question is: What was the difference between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union? Answer: The Soviet Union won. The second question is: What is the difference between Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and medical marijuana in California? Answer: Not a god damn thing. Your papers please.
Yep. That is the direction California may be heading with medical weed. Patients can thank the do-gooders, fools in the legislature, the Attorney General, the Attorney General's medical marijuana task farce assholes and some pro-marijuana organizations for this turn of events. Your papers please.
Aren't y'all lucky? Just think, if you are a medical pot user if SB-1494 is passed and signed into law and you are not a card carrying member of the state run get stoned club ... you're busted. Yes ladies and gentlemen, behind curtain number three is Officer pick-a-name of the name-a-city Police Department. "What? Boy, ya don't have a get stoned card? Got a doctor's recommendation to smoke weed ... tell it to the judge boy. Hey turnkey, put this unAmerican long haired hippie type pinko fag (I'll bet he's even got a commie flag) in the same cell with Bubba. Can you believe he don't even have a get stoned card? Even said something about his rights. Bubba will take care of him and his rights." Your papers please.
Thank you, thank you and thank you. Thanks to Bill Lockyear, Attorney General for the State of California. Thanks to his medical marijuana task farce which is made up of cops, crooks and, purportedly at least, people on "our side." Thanks to State Senator (SS - like that, huh?) Vasconcellos for authoring this abortion and the previous abomination SB-420. Thanks to Assemblyman (Ass) Leno for co-authoring SB-1494 and SB-420. Thanks to the members of the Attorney General's medical marijuana task farce for attempting to eviscerate Proposition 215 - and some of them are on our side, remember. And a special note of thanks must go out to those people and organizations which pushed for the passage of SB-420 and are currently pushing for the passage of SB-1494. Indeed, you have all really made a huge difference. Damn, I feel so much better and safer knowing the task farce has some people on our side. Don't you? And these pro-marijuana organizations supporting passage of these bills ... I'm so glad they too are on our side. Shit! With friends like these, we have no need for enemies. Your papers please.
I remember when Lockyear made a big splash about forming this medical marijuana task farce soon after he got elected to the office of attorney general (before that Lockyear was a member of the SS). Every pot activist was excited. Me, having dealt with Lockyear before, I had a somewhat jaded view of the situation. But, I held out hope. Now this next part is a secret so don't tell anybody. I placed a long distance telephone call to the AG's office and asked how I could become a member of the task farce. I also talked to some friends about getting on board the farce. To make a long story a little bit shorter, the AG's office was not interested and the friends I had talked to told me I would never get it because I was too radical and not willing to compromise. They were and are 100% correct about that. I am radical, I do not compromise and I did not become a member of the task farce. Your papers please.
Do you folks get the rather strange sensation that what is happening here is the legislation being put forth is willfully designed to take away a legal right and replace it with a privilege? Yeah, me too. Further, that this same legislation is willfully intended move Prop. 215 patients into a state run database accessible by any state employee? I got the same feeling. And that the contents of this database can be subpoenaed by agents of the federal government whenever they so see fit? Bingo, I do believe you're right. Additionally, state and federal medical privacy statutes do not apply to get stoned card holders? Damn right they don't. Plus, it appears that by accepting a get stoned card patients have vacated some of their Constitutional protections. I would say so. Then, to add insult to injury, a patient can no longer bill their insurance company for the cost of the weed, their medicine. Yup. Just read SB-420, it is right there. And, aren't you lucky, a patient with a get stoned card has the dubious honor of getting to pay for this privilege, this license (you dog) each and every year. What a fucking deal. I am just so glad there are these legislators, AGs, task farces and organizations looking out for my best interests. Your papers please.
Under good old Proposition 215 a patient with either a verbal or written recommendation from a physician -- a "qualified patient" -- can legally (1) possess, (2) use and (3) cultivate weed in any amount that patient so desires. Period. Furthermore, California health and safety statutes (H & S) which make (1) possession, (2) use and (3) cultivation illegal "shall not apply" to a patient with either a physician's verbal or written recommendation. Period. Duh. No shit Sherlock. What part of "shall not apply" doesn't the task farce, AG, organizations and legislators, let alone cops and DAs not understand? Answer: They understand it perfectly but that phrase takes away what they each cherish most -- power and prestige. "What? Power to the People? Letting them make their own decisions? It will be chaos, it will. And anarchy. We can't have that. Better us to tell them how to run their lives." Your papers please.
As I wrote in an earlier article "To put it another way, since the passage of Prop. 215, in November of 1996, police no longer have probable cause to believe that a person in possession or cultivation of marijuana is violating the law. Period, end of story." Under Prop. 215 there is no 'your papers please'.
But power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Police and prosecutors need to have probable cause. Without it no arrest and no trial can stand Constitutional scrutiny. It just doesn't work. So the loss of power, prestige and probable cause was just too much to bear and, as a consequence, SB-420 was passed and signed into law and now SB-1494 is winding its way through the legislative juggernaut. If SB-1494 passes and is signed into law power, prestige and probable cause will be fully restored to the chosen few and all will be right with their world. Your papers please.
The people in California need to read Prop. 215 and then SB-420 and SB-1494. You folks need to understand what is at stake here. You may not approve of weed for any reason but that is not the main point here. The point is this: there is a legal right at stake. A right enacted by the will of the voters of California. Politicians, police, prosecutors and special interest groups are trying their best to destroy the will of voter of California by replacing a legal right with a very limited privilege. That is what is at stake. And the outcome will affect all of the people of California. In other words, if one legal right is lost what is the next right to fall by legislative ax? What does the power of the vote mean? Hence, every voter, indeed every citizen, has a huge stake in the outcome of the Proposition 215 versus legislation fight. I am not at all in favor of the 'your papers please' syndrome.
This tale of potential woe does not have to end this way. Not even close. All that needs to happen is to fight back. Tell your legislative representatives, in no uncertain terms, to vote down SB-1494. Tell them this repeatedly (they have a real slow learning curve although when they have their hand out they can learn very fast). Use the power of the press as well. Letters to the editors can turn the trick. Tell your friends, hell, tell your enemies to do the same thing. Never give a politician an even break. Make them do your bidding. Fight.
On the other hand, if we do nothing do not be surprised if a cop demands -- your papers please.
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Pipeline (page 2)
Deputies Return Seized Marijuana
By: Channel 17 News (Bakersfield, Ca.)
Due to what Sheriff Mack Wimbish has called a "mistake," a local man has reclaimed his stash of marijuana from deputies.
Tuesday (May 26th), the Sheriff's Department released five big bags of medical marijuana to Reverend Victor Love.
Several pounds of Love's pot has sat in sheriff's custody in downtown Bakersfield over the past nine months, until deputies returned the marijuana under orders from the court.
"I'm just happy to get my medicine back, so we can live a fair quality of life," said Love.
According to Love, he and his wife grow and use medical marijuana to relieve chronic pain and discomfort from arthritis. Last September, deputies raided their home in Mountain Mesa, uprooting his marijuana plants and charging him with possession and cultivation of an illicit drug.
"It's like watching somebody hold you at gunpoint and take your possessions, your medication, your bottle of pain pills," said Love.
Love said he and his wife have a right to use medical marijuana under California's "Compassionate Use Act," passed back in 1996.
A jury agreed with him, allowing Love to repossess his pot.
However, Wimbish said deputies were not supposed to give the pot back to Love - a mistake which is currently under investigation. According to Wimbish, it is still against federal law to smoke marijuana, which is why deputies raided Love's home in the first place.
Love is not the only person in Kern County with such strong convictions about the healing powers of marijuana.
Reverend Joe Fortt runs a public health center in north Bakersfield, where he and others dispense medical marijuana from jars. He said many of his clients suffer from chronic illnesses, and all of his customers must produce a physician's note to prove it.
"It's a very compassionate thing to help someone who is dying or suffering from a terminal illness and relieve their suffering," said Fortt. "If there is something wrong with that, then we are taking a stand and fighting for these patients."
Fortt said he is gearing up for a "war" with the Kern County Sheriff's Department, and he's worried the deputies are planning to uproot his marijuana garden and shut his center down.
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Dakota Joseph Arts