restore Wed, 14 Jul 1999 Volume 1 : Number 200 In this issue: Kubby Trial Back On For July 20th. Iranian student protests SB 848 corrections Re: Look What I get From Kampia Re: Goreisms..... Re: Look What I get From Kampia Good News On-line Re: Marijuana Arts Festival Demonstration HI: The Other Side Of Bread And Puna Butter Hawaiian Paradise Park UK: Scotland's Going To Pot CA: Vasco Med MJ Bills Advance CA MEDICAL MARIJUANA TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS CA: Required text book -- Shattered Lives CA MEDICAL MARIJUANA TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS CA: VENTURA MEDICAL MJ BUST CA: Marijuana Task Force Offers a Workable Plan ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 17:44:10 -0700 From: Steve Kubby To: "Kubby Announce" Subject: Kubby Trial Back On For July 20th. Message-ID: Tue 7/13/99 Friends, Today, July 13th, our attorneys appeared in Section 13 of the Auburn Court before Judge McLeheny of the Auburn Court. Our attorneys, Dale Wood and Joe Farina presented two motions, one for the return of our computers and the second for a continuance into September. Our defense attorneys argued that the CD copies we just received this last Friday were promised to us back in February and that we have virtually no time now to review these files before trial on July 20th. We believe this is most certainly a clear violation of the Sixth Amendment which guarantees defendants to right to an adequate defense. We also argued that we believe the computer hard drives have been sabotaged and false information is being used against us. Remember, the prosecution has had our computers for six months, now, and they have had plenty of time to find out what is on our hard drives and then insert whatever incriminating information they want. Our attorneys asked for an appropriate amount of time to research this problem - 8 weeks - to study the contents of the computers' hard drives to determine the extent of the sabotage. We also need that eight weeks time to reconstruct our finances after we have identified the the amount of tampering by the police. You would think the police and prosecution would be anxious to clear up our charges by handing over the computers for analysis. The determination shown by the prosecution and police to refuse to allow us to examine the hard drives only raises more questions about the honesty and integrity of Placer County officials. Judge McLeheny denied both motions. No reason was given by the Judge for either of his decisions. We have no choice, but to go to trial unprepared on July 20th, which is Tuesday of next week. Let freedom grow, Steve & Michele -------------------------------------------- -THE KUBBY FILES- http://www.kubby.com Monarch Bay Plaza #375 Dana Point, Ca 92629 DON'T GET LEFT OUT OF THE LOOP: Subscribe: Kubby-Announce-on@list.kubby.org Unsubscribe: Kubby-Announce-off@list.kubby.org -------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 16:11:03 -0400 From: "Heath Wintz" To: Subject: Iranian student protests Message-ID: <19990713201108.57008.qmail@hotmail.com> Has anyone seen what's going on with the student protests at the University of Tehran, Iran? When the students stand together in protest of their governments actions, the world listens. I hate to say it, but I do not believe that an end to the drug war will be found without college campuses across the nation boiling over. Iranians are absolutley within their rights to hold their "illegal" and "banned" protests in opposition of the hard-liners' unyielding hold on power and their total control of the armed forces, the police, the judiciary, the Intelligence Ministry and the media. But I ask: what will it take in our country to mirror this? We do have a shred of the first amendment left, so we may speak our minds and protest. Has our government, though, actually lessened the impact of our protests by giving us the right to? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 16:51:46 -0700 From: Steve Kubby To: "Kubby Announce" Subject: SB 848 corrections Message-ID: Tue 7/13/99 Friends, In my recent post to you about SB 848, I told you that law enforcement had demanded the deletion of all references to the world voluntary, which is true. Most law enforcement people live in their own closed world where medical marijuana is still considered a hoax. However, I must point out that the word voluntary has been retained in at least one section. From the text of the bill itself: Section 1(d)(2): "With respect to individuals, the registry identification system established pursuant to this act must be wholly voluntary, and a patient entitled to the protections of Section 11362.5 of the Health and Safety Code need not possess a registry identification card in order to claim the protections afforded by that section." Need I remind you that the Federal Income Tax is also "voluntary." In addition, I told you that the City and County of San Francisco oppose SB 848 as unnecessary. Since then, my source has informed me: "I gave you some misinformation the other day regarding San Francisco's position on the bill. The City and County of San Francisco do NOT oppose the bill; rather, the Mayor, the Director of Public Health, and the District Attorney oppose the idea of a registry, as being unnecessary. However, they still support the bill because they believe, on balance, it is beneficial, even with the registry." Does this change anything? Not at all. Thousands of Americans have given their lives to protect our inalienable rights and the freedoms guaranteed to us by the Bill of Rights. No law or government has the right to treat sick people as criminals who must register with the state and show identification upon demand to law enforcement. To paraphrase the deputies in Placer County, "That might fly in Soviet Russia or North Korea, but not here in America." SB 848 is a cowardly act of appeasement, shamefully constructed on the backs of sick, disabled and dying people, to protect the selfish interests and drug war bloated budgets of California's corrupt law enforcement agencies. Let freedom grow, Steve -------------------------------------------- -THE KUBBY FILES- http://www.kubby.com Monarch Bay Plaza #375 Dana Point, Ca 92629 DON'T GET LEFT OUT OF THE LOOP: Subscribe: Kubby-Announce-on@list.kubby.org Unsubscribe: Kubby-Announce-off@list.kubby.org -------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 20:21:02 -0400 From: Richard Lake To: cowboy@jug-or-not.com, restore@crrh.org Cc: dpffl@drugsense.org, cp@telelists.org Subject: Re: Look What I get From Kampia Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19990713202102.0347e320@mapinc.org> At 03:07 AM 7/13/99 -0400, CRRH mailing list wrote: >>>> Dear folks, Recently you got an e-mail explaining the joe tacl case to you in Florida. And our plans to hold mass demonstrations for joe, who uses cannabis instead of morphine because he has a shattered spine and two metal rods in its place. Thinking that Mr Kampia from MPP would be interested to know what we are doing or to cover the story in thier organization, I got a note back from Kampia saying this: Please remove RKampia@mpp.org from your e-mail list. Please send future correspondence to mpp@mpp.org instead. Thank you. cowboy@jug-or-not.com wrote: > > IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!!!!!!! > ACTION ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sincerely, Robert D. Kampia Executive Director Mister Kampia, why are you not reading your e-mails And if you are then why do you not care what happens to joe? Or Floridians? Thank you Robert for your support!!!!!! Scott Bledsoe Scott, I think you are being much to hard on a busy and hard working activist. I know of very few full time folks who can begin to personally handle all of the email folks want to send them personally each day. If they set up a generic address, rather than their personal address, that reaches the organization then this is a far better process to insure your post is handled by the organization well. Whoever is responsible for screening the messages will insure that it is called to the attention of those with the need to receive it, I am sure. I personally receive over 200 emails a day. I do my best to keep on top of it all, but fail at times. I am just a volunteer, with a full time real job, and I can not handle more than I am receiving, for sure. I give considerable thought before I send a personal message about anything to any of the full time folks, Joe, Keith, Kevin, etc. etc. I know they have systems in place to insure that they receive information they need. I try to respect their wishes and use organization addresses as appropriate. We ask the organizations who support us to do missions, keep track of what is going on in congress, and lobby, in this case, (with an important hearing tomorrow) and then we are critical if they are, as individuals, unable to handle each email themselves that we wish to send them? I thought the request was reasonable, and see no reason to get upset about it. Richard ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 19:23:59 -0500 (EST) From: "Bill D'Amico" To: restore@crrh.org (CRRH mailing list) Subject: Re: Goreisms..... Message-ID: <199907140024.TAA29996@sheepskin.cs.indiana.edu> These are Quayle quotes. Some republican repackaged them... note the lack of a soruce in the cited dates. SOme of them aren't actually verifiable as something Dan said either. -- Bill D'Amico | Suits are a fungus that grows around money. damico@cs.indiana.edu | --Anita Larimer ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 21:03:41 -0400 From: Marijuana Policy Project To: cowboy@jug-or-not.com Cc: restore@crrh.org, dpffl@drugsense.org, cp@telelists.org Subject: Re: Look What I get From Kampia Message-ID: <378BE1DA.D8BB1D08@MPP.ORG> cowboy@jug-or-not.com wrote: > > Thinking that Mr Kampia from MPP would be interested to know what we are > doing or to cover the story in thier organization, > I got a note back from Kampia saying this: > >> Please remove RKampia@mpp.org from your e-mail list. Please send future >> correspondence to mpp@mpp.org instead. Thank you. > > Mister Kampia, why are you not reading your e-mails > And if you are then why do you not care what happens to joe? > Or Floridians? > > Thank you Robert for your support!!!!!! > > Scott Bledsoe Scott - I am MPP's contact point for ALL e-mail, with the exception of direct correspondence to/from Robert Kampia or Chuck Thomas. That is why Robert, as he explained to you earlier this afternoon (in a reply you must not have received before sending out your current message) asked you to put me (mpp@mpp.org) on your list in his place. Sending e-mail to me ensures that it will be read ASAP and replied to, filed, and/or passed along to the appropriate person. Please re-send your message about Joe Tacl so I can make sure that I didn't miss anything. Thanks. -- Michael Kirshner, Production Manager -- Marijuana Policy Project -- P.O. Box 77492 -- Capitol Hill -- Washington, D.C. 20013 -- http://www.mpp.org -- MPP@MPP.ORG -- phone 202-462-5747 -- fax 202-232-0442 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 21:38:44 -0500 From: "Church/University of the Universe" To: "GoodNews List" Subject: Good News On-line Message-ID: <00f201becda2$505caf00$3a81b7d1@A.M.M> GOOD NEWS ***************** FEATURE ARTICLE... The Hamilton Spectator, July 12, 1999 BROTHERS EXPECT RUN-IN WITH POLICE "Naked marijuana smokers not wanted at creek site" @ http://www.iamm.com/clearwater/harris/run-in.htm ***************** National Post, June 10, 1999 NUDIST POT-SMOKERS SEEK FEDERAL GROWING CONTRACT "Church proposes to convert jail into farm to grow pot for sick "Brother Kornelis" @ ***************** GOOD NEWS RELEASE - July 13, 1999 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BROTHER KORNELIS KLEVERING'S APPEAL TO SENTENCE ALLOWED @ http://www.iamm.com/uni-uni/cases/kornelis/judgment-on-appeal.htm Shortly after making his application to convert a Guelph jail to grow pot for sick, on June 18, 1999 The Court of Appeal for Ontario allowed Brother Kornelis's appeal from sentence for production of "300 fully mature marijuana/chanvre/tree of life plants valued at $87,500.00" and reduced his fifteen month sentence to five months improsonment and released him from prison. In pronouncing its judgment the Court gave the following reasons: [7] Theree were a number of unusual mitigating factors in this case. The apellant was not motivated by greed but by a genuine religious belief. As the trial judge pointed out, that religious belief did not relieve Brother Klevering of criminal liability, but it did put his case in a different category than most other offences of this type. The sentence imposed by the trial judge in this case is one that would ordinarily be imposed on a person growing substantial quantities of marijuana for profit. [10] The court was faced with a similar problem in January 1997 in the case of Brother Michael Baldasaro, also a member of the Church of the Universe. Brother Baldasaro had been sentenced to nine months' imprisonment for two counts of trafficking in narcotics. This court reduced his sentence to one day in jail. The cricumstances of this case are more serious than the circumstances of the case of Brother Baldasaro. Most importantly, the quantity involved is much larger. The full Judgment may be read on line @ http://www.iamm.com/uni-uni/cases/kornelis/judgment-on-appeal.htm ***************** Be well and prosper. In peace, bless you, bless us all. Reverend Brother Walter A. Tucker Reverend Brother Michael J. Baldasaro Church/University of the Universe http://www.iamm.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 01:24:04 EDT From: Phillizy@aol.com To: jph13@psu.edu, restore@crrh.org Subject: Re: Marijuana Arts Festival Demonstration Message-ID: In a message dated 7/13/99 7:32:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jph13@psu.edu writes: << In State College, PA, we have just completed a 4-day marijuana prohibition protest demonstration at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Our protest went without incident. The police were polite and did not interfere in anyway, even though we used a bullhorn in defiance of the municipal anti-bullhorn law and Penn State University policy. Our protest was a huge success. We reached over 100,000 people. Carla Moquin and Julian Heicklen are candidates for Centre County Commissioner on the Libertarian Party ticket in the forthcoming November election. Over 500 people at the Arts Festival signed an advertisement endorsing our candidacy. This advertisement will appear in the local press this fall. Best wishes-Julian Heicklen >> Good Luck, Commissioner. Lizy ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 23:45:31 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: HI: The Other Side Of Bread And Puna Butter Hawaiian Paradise Park Message-ID: <4.1.19990713234501.01a01740@mail.olywa.net> Newshawk: WallyB41@aol.com Pubdate: Sun, July 11, 1999 Source: Honolulu Advertiser (HI) Contact: 76322.2016@compuserve.com Address: P.O. Box 3110 Honolulu, Hawai'i 96802 Fax: (808)-525-8037 Section: page A8 Author: Dan Nakaso, Advertiser staff writer THE OTHER SIDE OF BREAD AND PUNA BUTTER HAWAIIAN PARADISE PARK, Hawaii -- Out of the fertile Puna soil, Jonathan Adler is building what he hopes will be the mecca of medical marijuana. As he finishes construction, Adler dreams of making the house ground zero in the effort to legalize marijuana someday. And once marijuana is legal, Adler believes, Puna's economy will take off as outlaw growers become legal businessmen and demand grows. Then crime and social problems linked to heroin, cocaine and "ice" will begin to ease in Puna, Adler said. He used to make thousands smuggling 20 to 30 pounds of “Puna butter” marijuana each month on airplanes. Now he's a minister in the Religion of Jesus Church who uses marijuana for prayer, healing, worship and marriage ceremonies. Adler grows marijuana plants openly on his property and challenges authorities over his right to do so for medical and religious purposes. "Just a minute, let me take my medication," Adler said as he lighted a koa pipe holding a pinch of marijuana. Adler pushes his views more forcefully than most people in Puna, but he's hardly alone in dreaming of a day when marijuana is legal. Throughout the sprawling district, even some of those who oppose illegal drugs would like to see marijuana money flowing again through businesses such as Hilo car dealerships that have suffered, said Councilman Al Smith, who represents the bulk of the Puna district. A lot of others simply don't like helicopters buzzing around looking for plants and spraying pesticides on water sources and legal crops. Adler, 47, said he has two doctors' prescriptions for marijuana to help his asthma and insomnia. But his definition of who should be allowed to use marijuana for medical reasons knows no limits. "My feeling is every use of marijuana is medical," he said. "If you're changing your body chemistry. And I'm in favor of every adult over age 18 to have the right to self-medicate. "This community needs marijuana for every reason you can conceive of. Once it's legalized, people will flock here by the hundreds of thousands to witness the medical marijuana miracle." It may be too simple to connect Puna's problems directly to the multi-agency marijuana crackdown involving plant seizures, helicopter overflights and arrests that began in the 1970s, as many of the area's people argue. Other factors can't be ignored, said Councilwoman Julie Jacobsen, whose district includes part of upper Puna. Too many people have moved into the district, and Hawaii's economy continues to struggle. But she's among the people who wonder whether marijuana policies should be changed. "It's a little too global to associate each and every problem in Puna to the eradication," she said. "But the eradication is a waste of resources, and it's not solving the problem. Police Maj. David Kawauchi, who is responsible for the eastern side of the Big Island that includes Puna, said police worry about harder drugs, but cannot forget about marijuana. "I can't see just ignoring it," he said. "As long as we're doing something to control it, it's one less drug on the street." In the center of the article we find a nice picture of Jonathan and his favorite plants with the caption: Jonathan Adler makes no secret of his use of marijuana for healing and in religious practices. If marijuana were legalized, he says, Puna's economy would take off and drug-related crime would drop off. __________________________________________________________________________ Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 23:46:44 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: UK: Scotland's Going To Pot Message-ID: <4.1.19990713234618.01a08100@mail.olywa.net> Newshawk: Martin Cooke Pubdate: Tue, 13 July 1999 Source: Independent, The (UK) Copyright: 1999 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd. Contact: letters@independent.co.uk Address: 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5DL Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/ SCOTLAND'S GOING TO POT JUST TWO months into the Scottish Parliament and the entire nation is going to pot. The latest in a long line of public figures to declare himself in favour of the legalisation of cannabis is Lord McCluskey, a senior Scottish judge. Speaking at the Law Society of Scotland's 50th anniversary conference in Edinburgh, he called for a Royal Commission to be set up to consider the decriminalisation of cannabis and to reassess the sentencing of drug offenders. His argument, couched in vivid terms which compared 25-year sentences for cannabis trafficking with five-year sentences for rape, is that prison terms are failing as a deterrent, and that since there is a large body of evidence suggesting that cannabis is not a danger to life, the police should be freed up to concentrate on bringing to justice hard drug dealers and users. The Labour MP and veteran pro-cannabis campaigner Paul Flynn backed up his view, asserting that the numbers of people convicted of cannabis offences were enough to fill four and a half prisons. While McCluskey's remarks would be notable enough in isolation, they come in the wake of a recent plethora of unorthodox statements on cannabis use from all kinds of interested professionals in Scotland. Last week the BMA conference rejected a motion from the Scottish Committee on Public Health Medicine which suggested that cannabis should be legalised for medical use. The BMA had voted last year for trials to be undertaken to research this very idea. Since these trials don't start until October, it would have been rather precipitate to carry this motion anyway. But, while this motion was defeated by just nine votes, it was the committeee's other motion that came as the real shocker. Led by chairman Dr George Venters, the BMA Scottish committe members became the first medical professionals to make an official call for cannabis to be legalised for recreational use. Their argument was quite different from that of Lord McCluskey, focusing as it did on the issue of drug education. Dr Venters believes that the classification of cannabis alongside Class A drugs as illegal leads young people into believing that "taking hard drugs is no more dangerous than smoking a joint." He suggested that the fight against drug use is only hampered by that inclusion of cannabis with other drugs, robustly declaring that "if we want to be listened to we cannot talk a lot of nonsense. This undermines our ability to engage with young people when we are trying to promote a strategy that will minimise the harmful effects of drugs." Even senior mavericks in the police force have been speaking up in Scotland over the last few weeks. During a recent conference attended by social workers, police and prison service professionals, Pat Chalmers, a Liberal Democrat councillor and the convenor of the Grampian Police Board, asserted that the "blunderbuss" anti-drugs message promoted by the Government was not working. Comparing the outlawing of cannabis to the prohibition of alcohol in the United States in the Twenties and Thirties, Chalmers said that he believed Government policy "shortchanged our young". He added: "To use the drug of their choice we oblige them - and that is now over 50 per cent of our teenagers - to risk violence, disease, undetermined quality and strength, and of course criminality." This stand inspired Lothian and Borders Deputy Chief Constable, Tom Wood to speak out in support. The senior police officers said that he hoped that the Scottish Parliament would have the "courage" to take a fresh approach, adding that the Parliament provided a "golden opportunity" for such a debate. He also added that "it is an academic point. No politician in the national forum has the courage or stomach to take on the fight". On that final point though, he is wrong. The fact is that Tom Wood's comments would have reached many sympathetic ears in the Scottish Parliament. For it too has already provoked controversy over this very issue. While the views of the Scottish Parliament's presiding officer are well-known - David Steel came out in favour of decriminalisation after his son Graeme was jailed for nine months for growing pounds 30,000 worth of cannabis - the deputy first minister, Liberal Democrat Jim Wallace, is also liberal in his opinions about cannabis. His views are couched in colourful terms - he compares putting drug offenders in prison to putting alcoholics in a brewery, asserting that "our prisons are so riddled with drugs that it is one place you can be sure drug offenders will be unable to kick their habits." While Wallace has unequivocably backed the legalisation of cannabis for medical use, he also wants an investigation into the outright legalisation of marijuana, in line with the official policy of his party which has long been calling for a Royal Commission into drug use. Since, in his role as justice minister, Jim Wallace presides over Scotland's drug policy, his influence in the Scottish parliament cannot be overestimated. It is difficult to see how Donald Dewar can continue to resist at least looking at a change in Scotland's anti-cannabis stance when so many senior figures in his coalition government are in favour of such a move. In Scotland even the Tories have form on the decriminalisation of cannabis. In 1994, Michael Forsyth, then Scottish Secretary, attempted to bring in a fixed penalty system whereby possession of cannabis would be treated no differently to minor traffic offences and would not be recorded on criminal records. The Thatcherite libertarian was blocked by Michael Howard, then Home Secretary, who instead amended the Criminal Justice Bill to increase the maximum fine for possession from pounds 500 to pounds 2,500. Forsyth's solution continues to be an attractive one, at least in the short term. While it would dispense with the custodial sentences that only serve to clog our prisons and destroy otherwise blameless lives, it would also provide the strength of differentiation between hard and soft drugs that is necessary, as the BMA's Scottish regional committee pointed out, if we are to give young people drug advice that chimes with their own experience. While this measure of decriminalisation would not be at all satisfactory to many pro-cannabis campaigners, it would ensure that change came slowly, and would avoid some of the difficulties experienced by the Netherlands in their own legalisation experiment. This will not satisfy Lord McCluskey and others, who are keen to see tax revenues raised on the import and sale of cannabis - but many of Britain's 3 million users may well see that as an advantage. For the fact is that among those who are against the legalisation of marijuana, many of the most trenchant are the users themselves. While a little pot doesn't do much harm, users can be rather wedded to its illegality, particularly from the fiscal point of view. Cannabis prices haven't risen in 20 years, which is why no one will mind paying the occasional fine, rather than coughing up the kind of punitive taxes that have characterised the battle against cigarettes and alcohol. No politician is likely to champion the right of pot smokers to avoid paying tax on this little luxury, for it is the potential for revenue- raising that will eventually concentrate the political mind. It is estimated that around 800 tonnes of cannabis are consumed each year by British users, a figure that is expected to continue to rise. On the distant day when legalisation eventually does come, it will be the fiscal argument, more than any other, which will have driven this radical sea change in the political agenda. __________________________________________________________________________ Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 23:48:02 -0700 From: canorml@igc.apc.org (Dale Gieringer) (by way of "D. Paul Stanford" ) To: restore@crrh.org Subject: CA: Vasco Med MJ Bills Advance Message-ID: <4.1.19990713234704.01a02860@mail.olywa.net> Sen. Vasconcellos' medical mj bills, SB 848 (the Task Force bill) and SB 847 (research program bill), appeared headed for passage in the State Assembly Health Committee today, according to a late report from an observer. Dennis Peron was joined by the right-wing Committee on Moral Concerns in testifying against SB 848; in an unusual move, Attorney General Lockyer himself testified in its support. Although the final vote has not yet been tallied, SB 848 appeared to be attracting bipartisan support. The next step for the bills will be the Assembly Appropriations Committee. ---- Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.apc.org 2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 23:49:26 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: CA MEDICAL MARIJUANA TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS Message-ID: <4.1.19990713234830.01a09d30@mail.olywa.net> ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL LOCKYER, SENATOR JOHN VASCONCELLOS, SANTA CLARA DISTRICT ATTORNEY GEORGE KENNEDY AND OTHERS RELEASE MEDICAL MARIJUANA TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS July 12, 1999 99-056 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Sacramento) - Attorney General Bill Lockyer, State Senator John Vasconcellos, Santa Clara District Attorney George Kennedy and others today released the recommendations of the Attorney General's Medical Marijuana Task Force. In November of 1996 the voters of California approved Proposition 215, which permitted access to marijuana for medicinal purposes, with more than 55 percent of the vote. Since that time, the application and enforcement of the law has been erratic and the subject of intense criticism due to ambiguities and significant omissions in the language of the initiative. In January of this year the Attorney General formed the Medical Marijuana Task Force in order to develop recommendations for responsible implementation of Proposition 215. Co-chaired by Senator Vasconcellos and District Attorney Kennedy, the 29-member task force is comprised of a diverse group representing patients, police, sheriffs, narcotics officers, district attorneys, doctors and local government in California. Over the past six months, the task force has met regularly in an effort to reach the broadest possible agreement on a safe, fair and enforceable set of recommendations for the proper implementation of Proposition 215. "I am extremely impressed with and grateful for all of the hard work that the task force members have dedicated to this difficult public policy issue," Lockyer said. "This was not an easy issue. For the past three years law enforcement, doctors and seriously ill Californians have struggled to find an appropriate manner to respect the will of the voters and protect the public safety. Unfortunately, Proposition 215 was a poorly drafted initiative that raised more questions than it answered. The task force's recommendations will help legislators and others clarify the shortcomings in Proposition 215 while protecting the interests of law enforcement and the seriously ill." Some of the major provisions of the task force's recommendations include: Establishes a registry identification program to be administered by the Department of Health Services in conjunction with county health departments for the purposes of identifying individuals authorized to engage in medical use of marijuana. Recommends that the Department of Health Services be responsible for determining what amount of medical marijuana is appropriate for patients. Permits regulated operation of cooperative cultivation projects and provides that regulations be developed for the operation and supervision of such cooperatives. Clarifies those cases where medical marijuana use may be authorized and requires that the patient's personal physician make the recommendation. The task force's recommendations have been amended into Senate Bill 848 (Vasconcellos) which is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday, July 13 in the Assembly Health Committee. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 23:56:01 -0700 From: MikkiBACH@aol.com (by way of "D. Paul Stanford" ) To: restore@crrh.org Subject: CA: Required text book -- Shattered Lives Message-ID: <4.1.19990713235507.01a012f0@mail.olywa.net> We are pleased to report that _Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War_ is becoming a required text book for an increasing number of sociology classes in California (UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Northridge, Ventura Campus). If any of you have contacts at college campuses of teachers who may be interested in using the book in their classrooms, please let us know or inform them about the book. It is quite the drug war primer and perfect for students of all ages. Thanks, Mikki Norris Co-author, Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 23:57:22 -0700 From: ekomp@earthlink.net (by way of "D. Paul Stanford" ) To: restore@crrh.org Subject: CA MEDICAL MARIJUANA TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS Message-ID: <4.1.19990713235617.019fee30@mail.olywa.net> ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL LOCKYER, SENATOR JOHN VASCONCELLOS, SANTA CLARA DISTRICT ATTORNEY GEORGE KENNEDY AND OTHERS RELEASE MEDICAL MARIJUANA TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS July 12, 1999 99-056 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Sacramento) - Attorney General Bill Lockyer, State Senator John Vasconcellos, Santa Clara District Attorney George Kennedy and others today released the recommendations of the Attorney General's Medical Marijuana Task Force. In November of 1996 the voters of California approved Proposition 215, which permitted access to marijuana for medicinal purposes, with more than 55 percent of the vote. Since that time, the application and enforcement of the law has been erratic and the subject of intense criticism due to ambiguities and significant omissions in the language of the initiative. In January of this year the Attorney General formed the Medical Marijuana Task Force in order to develop recommendations for responsible implementation of Proposition 215. Co-chaired by Senator Vasconcellos and District Attorney Kennedy, the 29-member task force is comprised of a diverse group representing patients, police, sheriffs, narcotics officers, district attorneys, doctors and local government in California. Over the past six months, the task force has met regularly in an effort to reach the broadest possible agreement on a safe, fair and enforceable set of recommendations for the proper implementation of Proposition 215. "I am extremely impressed with and grateful for all of the hard work that the task force members have dedicated to this difficult public policy issue," Lockyer said. "This was not an easy issue. For the past three years law enforcement, doctors and seriously ill Californians have struggled to find an appropriate manner to respect the will of the voters and protect the public safety. Unfortunately, Proposition 215 was a poorly drafted initiative that raised more questions than it answered. The task force's recommendations will help legislators and others clarify the shortcomings in Proposition 215 while protecting the interests of law enforcement and the seriously ill." Some of the major provisions of the task force's recommendations include: Establishes a registry identification program to be administered by the Department of Health Services in conjunction with county health departments for the purposes of identifying individuals authorized to engage in medical use of marijuana. Recommends that the Department of Health Services be responsible for determining what amount of medical marijuana is appropriate for patients. Permits regulated operation of cooperative cultivation projects and provides that regulations be developed for the operation and supervision of such cooperatives. Clarifies those cases where medical marijuana use may be authorized and requires that the patient's personal physician make the recommendation. The task force's recommendations have been amended into Senate Bill 848 (Vasconcellos) which is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday, July 13 in the Assembly Health Committee. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 23:58:40 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: CA: VENTURA MEDICAL MJ BUST Message-ID: <4.1.19990713235805.01a086d0@mail.olywa.net> VENTURA SWAT TEAM TERRORIZES MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENT CAMARILLO, CA: A Ventura County narcotics SWAT team invaded the house of medical marijuana patient Lisa Cordova Schwarz and her caregiver husband last Thursday, July 8, 1999. The couple were arrested and held in custody for 31 hours along with their 23-year old son Jason, who had come home to visit. "During that time I was in severe pain with a full blown headache, vomiting in a trash can," recounts Ms. Schwarz, "They shackled me at the ankle and laughed at me, calling me a flight risk. They transported me to an 'honor farm' where I was harassed, and refused treatment for my condition." Ms. Schwarz, who is disabled by a serious back injury, says she had a physician's recommendation to use marijuana and had previously informed the Ventura district attorney of her intent to avail herself of Prop. 215. The Schwarzes were released on $20,000 bond each. Their son was released on his own recognizance because he had not been named in the warrant. Some 60 marijuana plants were discovered in the Schwarz's home. "This is one more outrageous example of drug enforcement abuse," commented California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer. "It is a bad enough misuse of law enforcement resources to waste so much firepower on home marijuana growers. To do so against legal medical marijuana patients is inexcusable." ---- Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml@igc.apc.org 2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114 We are working to regulate and tax adult marijuana sales, allow doctors to prescribe cannabis and allow the unregulated production of industrial hemp! *Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp* CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 Phone:(503) 235-4606 Fax:(503) 235-0120 Web: http://www.crrh.org/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 23:59:36 -0700 From: "D. Paul Stanford" To: restore@crrh.org Subject: CA: Marijuana Task Force Offers a Workable Plan Message-ID: <4.1.19990713235906.01a07100@mail.olywa.net> Source: San Francisco Chronicle=20 Contact: chronletters@sfgate.com=20 Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Tuesday, July 13, 1999=20 =A91999 San Francisco Chronicle=20 MARIJUANA TASK FORCE OFFERS A WORKABLE PLAN=20 TWO AND A HALF years after California voters legalized medical marijuana with Proposition 215, a state Assembly committee will debate a bill today to establish a system to make the law work.=20 And it's about time.=20 The bill (SB848), by state Sen. John Vasconcellos, outlines a plan for a statewide registration system to immunize patients and their caregivers from being arrested for using, possessing or growing medical pot.=20 Unveiled yesterday in Sacramento, the measure is the product of the Medical Marijuana Task Force, convened by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to find creative ways to implement and oversee the state law.=20 Lockyer deserves credit for creating a balanced task force -- including police, prosecutors, drug experts, doctors, growers, pot advocates and opponents -- to seek a solution to the conflict between state and federal drug laws.=20 Proposition 215 passed overwhelmingly in 1996, but federal and state drug warriors have been fighting it ever since.=20 When Lockyer took office in January, he appointed the task force to clarify the law and seek compassionate and practical ways to allow patients to use medical pot legally.=20 Some so-called ``marijuana buyers' clubs'' are quietly distributing pot, but they are in violation of federal drug laws and could be busted anytime.=20 Today, the Assembly Health Committee will consider Vasconcellos' bill to set up a system permitting pot use for patients with serious conditions, including AIDS, chronic pain, cancer, glaucoma, migraines, muscle spasms and nausea.=20 The state Department of Health Services and county health departments would issue registration cards, with photo identification, to patients whose doctors certify they are suffering from one of the conditions. Qualified caregivers would also have cards. The Department of Health Services would determine appropriate amounts for medical use.=20 This is not just a way for dopers to get around the law. For centuries marijuana has been used as a palliative for a variety of ills. In March, the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine, after an 18-month study, reported that pot can help ease pain and nausea, and recommended further research.=20 SB848 is a good blueprint for a system to control the legal distribution of pot to patients who really need it.=20 =A91999 San Francisco Chronicle Page A20=20 ------------------------------ End of restore V1 #200 ********************** ------ To subscribe, unsubscribe or switch to immediate or digest mode, please send your instructions to . ------ *Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp* CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 Phone:(503) 235-4606 Fax:(503) 235-0120 Web: http://www.crrh.org/