Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 07/08/2005 2:29:04 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Citing uncertainty prompted by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, California health officials suspended a program on Friday that had begun providing patients who smoke marijuana for medicinal reasons with state-issued identification cards.
State Health Director Sandra Shewry has asked the state Attorney General's office to review the court ruling to determine whether the ID program would put patients and state employees at risk of federal prosecution.
"I am concerned about unintended potential consequences of issuing medical marijuana ID cards that could affect medical marijuana users, their families and staff of the California Department of Health Services," Shewry said.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a 6-3 decision that people who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain or other conditions can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws. The ruling did not strike down laws in California and nine other states that permit medical cannabis use, but said federal drug laws take precedence.
The state health department in May launched a pilot pot card program in three Northern California counties - Amador, Del Norte and Mendocino. One purpose of the cards is to give medical pot users a way to show they have a legitimate reason for possessing pot if they are stopped by law enforcement.
So far, cards have been issued to 123 people under the pilot program, which was due to expand statewide by the end of the summer. Following Friday's move, officials in the three counties already issuing the cards were told not to process any more applications. The health department also has postponed processing requests from other counties that wanted to start issuing the cards.
Other counties and cities that issue their own cards, such as San Francisco, are unaffected by the state's action.
Besides being worried that state or local government workers could be charged with aiding and abetting individuals in committing federal crimes, Shewry said she was concerned that information gathered to produce the cards might be seized by federal authorities to identify and prosecute medical marijuana patients.
Tough for the dopers.
A little harsh for those really sick and dying with no intention of selling or passing it around.
Had all the dopers not tried to ride this alone with the dying, I think this would not have been such a highlighted issue as it is.
Not to worry. Pot is plentiful in California. The suffering can get as much as they need.
How so? An ID card isn't necessary now to receive medical marijuana. The pilot ID card program, currently covering a little over 100 patients, is all that is being supsended. Patients may still present a doctor's recommendation as proof their marijuana is legal under State law. California is doing its best to protect its citizens by de-centralizing the program. Will this move make it harder to keep tabs on medical use? Probably. But that's hardly a win for the Prohibitionists.
The philosophy of "medical" marijuana advocacy:
"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it."
The philosophy of "medical" marijuana advocacy:
"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it."
Oh yes. My friend who is undergoing chemo and throwing her guts up certainly is a serpent.
Too bad she didn't listen to the righteous healthy people here and actually got some relief. She should suffer and take it for the good of their morals.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Though I am for those dying of cancers getting to smoke what they want to if they don't pass it on or sell it and such, dopers (illegal drug activists) have been jumping on the backs of dying people for their recreational drugs and this makes it tougher to do with any suggestion of legitimacy.
No, anti-drug activists have been stomping on their faces.
Morality is based entirely upon the belief some higher power defines what human behavior is correct...
I think marijuana should be legalized completely for adults. I don't care to hear your appeal to sympathy (argumentum misericordian), it is an illogical, informal fallacy...
With that said, now you understand, or at least have seen my political position on pot...
Now go stick your head back in the hole you are talking out of...
Exactly my previous point... legalize it for adults, with mandatory ten year prison terms upon conviction for supplying minors and mandatory drug testing in employment as Occupational Health and Safety standards. I am sick of the dopers and drunks...
How superior of you. You first.
No, tough for all of us who are trying to get the federal government behemoth out of our lives. That ruling basically says that if the feds want to prohibit me from growing tomatoes in my backyard, they can Constitutionally do so using the interstate commerce clause. This ruling is the feds' attempt to finally kill off states' rights for good.
Get back to me when they ban you growing tomatoes then, but growing your own medications is quite another issue.
F--k the Feds on this issue. Happiness for me would be a bunch of ATF employees getting their pink slips.
Law enforcement of illegal drugs is good. It's just a shame all the dopers had to try and jump on the backs of cancer patients to get their addictions fed.
Most don't care if a dying person wants to smoke some pot. They care if every doper tries to get a doctor friend to hook them up for recreational use.
If all the dopers would fall into a nice big hole and could get covered up with a few tons of earth, the whole world would be a better place IMO.
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