Below is another hyperbolic story about another law enforcement officer that is out of step with reality. All over the state we are seeing wild claims that the only way a patient can get medicine is through being part of a “community garden” (San Diego, Jovan Jackson case this week) or growing their own. This ill-informed “press release” from the LA County Sheriff, the rhetoric of Attorney General Candidate Steve Cooley, and the narrowest interpretations from District Attorneys and Law Enforcers from around the state seem to forget the principle goals of the medical cannabis laws in our state- to get people medicine. Currently hundreds of thousands of patients have access to a safe and clean place to get their cannabis medicine. This is a GREAT THING. Rolling this back seems incredibly short-sighted and not in-step with what the citizenry wants. What they want is a well-regulated system that levels the playing field and ensures that patients have access under certain terms and that standards for quality and service are being met. Forcing ill-people to become socially networked with a “community garden” in some form just seems like a horrible way to go about accessing medicine.
If a person is diagnosed with cancer, they do not have weeks or months to wait for the harvest to come in. They need medicine now. By having a closed loop circuit such as a dispensing collective that enables patients to choose from varieties produced by collective members promotes well-being and the big deal- IT GIVES PATIENTS MEDICINE WHEN THEY NEED MEDICINE. This is the goal of the Medical Cannabis Community, and thus far we have been successful. There have been some bad behaviors by a select few that make it hard for the rest, but overall there is a very professiona;l network of distribution points for patients to choose from in many areas of the State. That is a good thing.
Prop 215 calls for the legislature to:
“implement a plan for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana.” And we have the word of at least one of the principal co-authors that distribution was integral to the intent of the Medical Marijuana Program Act of 2003 (SB420).
In his amicus brief in the Anaheim case, Sen. Mark Leno states that “[t]he intent … was to prevent government entities from seeking to target medical marijuana collectives for sanctions of any kind based on nuisance law, since this would interfere with the practical implementation of the distribution system envisioned by the MMPA.”
http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/Leno_Amicus_Anaheim.pdf
Mark Leno
Source: William Dolphin
So the real problem lies in the unclarity of the law, SB420, which allowed for the collective cultivation of cannabis in a not-for-profit manner for patients to access their medicine, and according to AG Jerry Brown, a storefront collective can be facilitated under this circumstance if structured and operated correctly. What we need is for our lawmakers to revisit and amend SB420 to set forth guidelines and standards for the distribution of cannabis through private member not-for-profit dispensing collective organizations and also to set forth guidelines for the production of cannabis medicines. Failure to do so will only result in added chaos and confusion, of which this community has had plenty….
Be sure to get the vote out to DEFEAT COOLEY AND WHITTMAN IN NOVEMBER or we may be mired in chaos and experience a backlash like never before.
LA sheriff says almost all pot clinics criminal
LA Sheriff Leroy Baca
By THOMAS WATKINS (AP)
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County sheriff has escalated his war of words against California medical marijuana dispensaries, saying as many as 97 percent operate as criminal enterprises.
Some of the pot shops get marijuana from Mexican drug cartels, and most dole out pot to people with no medical need for it, Sheriff Lee Baca said.
“Millions of dollars are being made for profit, and it’s all illegal,” the sheriff said this week.
Baca presented no evidence to support his claim. His comments coincided with a recent announcement that he would lead efforts against a November ballot measure to legalize marijuana for personal use in California.
Critics said his claims about the dispensaries were politically motivated and untrue.
“When they run out of scare tactics, they come out with stuff like this,” said Michael Backes, a board member of the Cornerstone Research Collective, which provides marijuana to patients in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles.
Backes stressed there was no need to buy pot from Mexican cartels because more than enough quality marijuana is legally grown in California to supply the dispensaries.
Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Casey McEnry, who works in the San Francisco office, said it was difficult to substantiate or refute Baca’s claims because of challenges in determining where pot found in dispensaries was produced.
Baca, however, said chemical analyses of pot confiscated during drug raids against street dealers showed similar pesticide content and other characteristics as marijuana sold in dispensaries.
Allegations of criminal activity involving pot shops increased after a string of deaths, including the Aug. 26 slaying of three men in West Hollywood who police suspect had been buying up bulk quantities of high-grade marijuana from dispensaries and reselling it on the street.
A suspect in that case confessed to killing the men when he didn’t have enough cash to complete a transaction, police said.
In addition, two workers at different dispensaries have been killed during robberies in recent weeks.
“It is no surprise that people are going to get killed … drugs and violence go together,” Baca said.
The ballot measure that would legalize marijuana is Proposition 19. Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said his department had not taken a position on the measure, but he was personally opposed to it.
“We already have enough … substances that cause issues with people’s lives,” Beck said. “We already have enough misery.”
Despite his concerns about the way dispensaries operate, Baca has been a longtime advocate of medical marijuana use by AIDS patients and people with other chronic conditions.
The 1996 law approved by California voters allows collectives to grow medicinal marijuana, though they are not supposed to make profits and can only charge enough to cover operating expenses.
Baca said the intent of the law was good but had been corrupted almost beyond recognition with most “patients” producing spurious notes from doctors describing vague ailments that don’t need to be treated with marijuana.
“People (are) going into these dispensaries with silly notes from the doctors saying they have a headache or a sore toe,” Baca said.
Thirteen other states have legalized medical marijuana, and many jurisdictions around the country have decriminalized marijuana to the point that low-level possession offenses aren’t prosecuted.
Craig Reinarman, professor of sociology and legal studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said law enforcement officials usually oppose drug legalization efforts because they are interested in maintaining the status quo and holding onto federal drug-fighting money associated with it.
“They have to use rhetorical strategies of invoking the frightening specter of Mexican drug cartels,” Reinarman said. “I don’t see any reason to see this as anything other than a completely self-interested claim that can’t be substantiated.”
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ivITtYUr75IGIfoXchrJeppHU6BwD9I0ODC00
