Oregon

[palmspringsbum]

Thoughts on Keizer's Controversial Medical Marijuana Case

<span class=postbigbold>The biggest issue in this case is how Oregon's medical marijuana laws are interpreted.</span>

by Tim King, Salem News
November 1st, 2007


<table class=posttable align=right width=310><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg src="bin/kuhns_jeff.jpg" alt="Captain Jeff Kuhns of Keizer Police."></td></tr></table>(KEIZER, Ore.) - The Keizer medical marijuana case against Anthony Beasely has been a hot topic in the local community. Salem-News.com's Neal Feldman wrote a commentary this week (Keizer Medical Marijuana Case Ignores Oregon Law) that lays blame on the city of Keizer for not upholding the rules authorized by the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.

Keizer Police Captain Jeff Kuhns, a person I have known and worked with on stories for many years, says he disagrees with several points in Neal's article. Regular visitors to the site know that Kuhns is not a police officer who normally deals with this type of controversy, and I believed that is worth clearing the air over.

I think it is fair to say that Oregon's medical marijuana laws lack a degree of clarity. In this case the grower was located close to a public high school. That Kuhns says, is where the problems begin that set this case aside from others. "I don't think those who drafted this law gave enough thought to all of the details," he pointed out, explaining that there are a number of issues with this particular case that make it unique.

The biggest issue in this case and the center point of the argument is how Oregon's medical marijuana laws are interpreted.

Kuhns says it is a winnable case and he believes that Oregon's Medical Marijuana laws need to be adjusted. Advocates on the other hand, while making similar statements about the lack of clarity in the state's laws, say the rules pertaining to making hash oil are clear, and that the law does allow it.

A recent Keizertimes article stated: "No authorities, or the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program's director, have so far been able to point to a statute, rule or case law indicating explicitly whether making hash oil is actually legal or illegal for medical marijuana patients."

Kuhns says that if this aspect is legal under current rules, they would explicitly state that. "If 'hash oil' was really something the authors of this law intended users be allowed to possess, why doesn't the law state how much hash oil they can have? The law doesn't discuss liquid ounces."

The Oregon Revised Statutes define "usable marijuana" as "the dried leaves and flowers of the plant Cannabis family Moraceae, and any mixture or preparation thereof, that are appropriate for medical use." Some say that the wording, "and any mixture or preparation thereof" is clear, and that it means it is legal.

This debate over medical marijuana in Oregon that began at the calling of a local attorney named Kevin Mannix, is dividing and polarizing the community if it is doing anything at all. Patients are mad, they feel their rights are being trampled upon and that law enforcement should do more to back patients. But police officers like Jeff Kuhns say their enforcement of the law is being misinterpreted. I would say that as somebody who has known Kuhns for a long time, he is doing what he believes to be right.

"Marijuana is a Schedule I, and so is hash and hash oil, but they're completely different drugs in separate categories," Kuhns stated. "I've had plenty of card holders call to personally tell me they think Mr. Beasely crossed the line."

Kuhns cites other issues he has over the law as well. He says there is too much gray area, and that is what he would like to see resolved.

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Grand jury says no to prosecuting medical pot user on hash charge

Oregonlive.com
November 9th, 2007


A grand jury has refused to indict a man police suspected was making hashish or hash oil from his medical marijuana.

The arrest of Anthony Beasley, 28, in October caused anger among some residents of Keizer. His 24-plant garden abutted a parking lot at McNary High School.

Beasley was evicted from the rental property the day of his arrest.

Police said they found PVC pipes in his home with a concentrate of marijuana, leading them to believe he was producing hashish, or hash oil.

He told police he was extracting the active ingredient of marijuana, known by the initials THC.

The grand jury considered a felony charge of manufacturing a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school.

Its refusal means the case is all but dead, said Marion County Deputy District Attorney Courtland Geyer.

But he said prosecutors believe that distilling hash oil from marijuana is illegal, even for medical users.

"It would be a very bad mistake to interpret the result of this case as some broad declaration statewide of legality," Geyer said. "We have other indictments on this issue in Marion County, and we will continue to prosecute."

A lawyer who specializes in medical marijuana cases said the outcome was not surprising, and police bias against the legal users doesn't change the fact that the medical uses are legal.

"The grand jury was instituted as a civilian bulwark against out-of-control, executive authority as a protection," said Leland Berger, who didn't represent Beasley in the case. "When it issues a 'not true bill,' it's performing that historic function."

Keizer police Capt. Jeff Kuhns said the state's medical marijuana law is vague.

"There are people who have dug their heels in on both sides of this," Kuhns said. "I think the Legislature or whoever, needs to take a look at this law and better define some areas, this being one of them."

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Changes to state marijuana law could expand drug growth, possession rights

by Carly Nairn, Daily Vanguard
November 13th, 2007


A drafter of Oregon's marijuana law visited Portland State yesterday, advocating law changes, including increased rights to possess the drug as well as its limited legalization, which could be presented to the state legislature this session.

Leland Berger, who helped draft the state law for medical marijuana, presented an initiative on behalf of the pro-marijuana group Voter Power that would give legal rights as well as cost reimbursements to patients who privately grow the drug for medical use. The initiative also calls for the creation of a regulated and licensed dispensary system and the legalization of the drug for adults.

Berger talked with students at PSU on Tuesday about these initiatives, as well as options that will be presented to the state legislature by the pro-marijuana group in the upcoming session.

The group's plan, called Initiative 124, would provide safe access, choice and reimbursement to growers, patients and nonprofit organizations, according to the group's campaign literature.

Berger said he understands marijuana can be a medical necessity for patients, particularly for pain relief.

"It isn't like 'I would rather have this medicine,' but more like 'I have to have the medicine because it treats my aliments,'" Berger said.

In 2003, a poll was taken by Voter Power, and 90 percent of the Oregonians polled were aware of the state law, and 90 percent approved of its existence, Berger said.

"This proves that the people are ahead of their government," he said.

Anthony Johnson, the political director of the group, said he sees the importance of these initiatives outside the scope of marijuana.

"I see it as important because it has to do with civil rights, and it's a personal freedom and personal choice issue," he said.

Currently, there are three clinics in Portland where people can have physicians prescribe the drug based on medical conditions, one of which is operated by the group, Berger said.

There are also over 2,000 private physicians in the state that have prescribed medical marijuana to their patients, he said.

In opposition to the group is Kevin Mannix, a former state gubernatorial candidate and chairman of the Oregon Republican Party.

Mannix, currently a defense attorney, is trying to re-criminalize medical marijuana by repealing the state's current law on the drug.

If passed, Mannix's counter-initiative could ban patients currently under the protection of the state's medical marijuana law from being able to grow or use the drug starting March 31, 2009, making prescribed patients use synthetic THC pills such as Marinol. THC is the main chemical compound present in marijuana.

Lissa Kaufman, director of PSU's Student Legal and Mediation Services, said knowing the laws about marijuana use and possession are important to students because it could affect their student aid.

Any drug conviction can suspend financial aid if the student was convicted while receiving aid, according to the federal Higher Education Act. Inability to obtain aid after that is suspended for up to a year.

"It is part of the mission of legal and mediation services to present topical legal issues that affect the student body," said Kaufman.

For more information, visit www.voterpower.org.

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Oregon's medical pot gets high ratings

<span class=postbigbold>Cannabis Awards - At a Portland event, the crop is called "consistently consistent. . . . There were no 10s. Lots of nines" </span>

Sunday, December 16, 2007
JESSICA BRUDER
The Oregonian


David Verstoppen is worried.

The 52-year-old licensed marijuana grower has just left a private smoking area at the sixth annual Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards. But it's not the smoke, which wafts around the entrance to the Ambridge Event Center on Saturday afternoon, that's making him feel a little anxious.

It's the competition. Verstoppen traveled 300 miles to Portland from Long Creek in Grant County to be here. In the past two years, his entries have taken top honors. This year, three of his medical marijuana strains -- nicknamed "Medicine Man," "Medicine Woman" and "Purple Erkel" -- are among 28 entries vying for recognition.

"I'm not used to all the people, the fame of it, almost," Verstoppen says, smiling beneath his gray moustache and offering a tense shrug. "I'm always nervous at this event."

For the past month, 28 judges -- all medical marijuana cardholders -- have been sampling entries from Verstoppen and 12 other licensed Oregon growers. Judges rate each strain of marijuana, on a scale of 1 to 10, in six categories: appearance, aroma, smoothness, taste, potency and "medicinal effect," or how well it soothes what ails them.

("I finished the last of them this morning on my way up here," said 53-year-old Larry Macdonald of Dallas with a chuckle.)

The awards began in 2002, four years after state voters legalized medical marijuana. As of October, 14,831 Oregonians were medical marijuana cardholders and 7,178 growers, called caregivers, were approved to supply them.

And though cannabis advocates have plenty of things to worry about right now -- in particular, a ballot initiative from former state legislator Kevin Mannix that would dismantle the state's medical marijuana program -- the mood Saturday was light.

Volunteer models strutted in hemp sweatshirts and wedding dresses, while a Vietnam vet from Cornelius sold quilted "pot holders" with marijuana leaf designs. ("You can flip them over when your parents come over," he explained.)

Baking trays bore a rainbow of chocolate truffles with undisclosed ingredients and flavors labeled raspberry, almond and "kid-friendly." Shoppers posed for pictures with a four-foot bong.

Guests breezed in and out of a smoking room. Oregon's medicinal marijuana law forbids smoking the drug in public view. Windows onto the smoking courtyard were covered with paper, and the room was off-limits to everyone but medical marijuana cardholders.

Despite his fears, Verstoppen again took first place when the winners were announced. Second place went to Peter Stark of Eagle Point, and third place was given to D. Paul Stanford of Portland. Overall, how did this year's crop measure up?

"It was consistently consistent, moderate to very good," said Macdonald, who was judging for his fifth time.

"There were no bad ones," he mused. "There were no 10s. Lots of nines."

The event's organizers -- leaders of the advocacy group Oregon NORML -- were quick to tout the contest's contributions to medical research. But some people came for the spectacle.

"They always had the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. I thought it was cool that Portland had its own version of it." said Dan Buchman, a 46-year-old landscaper and caregiver from Molalla. "It's a lot cheaper coming here than going to Amsterdam."

Jessica Bruder: 503-294-5915; jessicabruder@news.oregonian.com

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MONDAY DECEMBER 24, 2007
Last modified: Thursday, December 20, 2007 12:59 PM PST

Vale attorney takes Old School case

By William Lundquist
Argus Observer

Ontario — The owner of Old School, the downtown Ontario business the City of Ontario is suing for allegedly selling drug paraphernalia, has retained Vale attorney Brian Zanotelli to represent her side of the case in court.

“It’s a pretty lame case,” Zanotelli said Wednesday of the suit against his client, Victoria Miller.

He said the city delivered the civil suit to Miller Dec. 4 or Dec. 5, and she has 30 days to respond. Zanotelli said he is still preparing the response, but said he will deliver it in a week or so.

“We will just say it (the city’s suit) is crazy. It’s wrong. They don’t have a leg to stand on,” Zanotelli said. “They will have to have some hard evidence that Victoria knew she was selling things to be used illegally, and I can’t wait to see what that is.”

He said restaurants in some Portland neighborhoods serve flavored tobacco in glass water pipes to customers at outside tables. He said he wondered how the city could show that is not what Miller sells her pipes for. Then there is the whole issue of medical marijuana in Oregon, where some people can legally use Miller’s pipes for marijuana, he said.

Ultimately, Zanotelli said, this suit will be an embarrassment for Ontario. He said Nyssa sued a strip club and that case went all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court. Nyssa not only lost, he said, but spent a fortune doing it.

“I feel sad for Ontario,” Zanotelli said. “This could wind up in the Supreme Court.”

While he feels bad that Ontario’s reputation may suffer statewide, Zanotelli said, he and Miller have no plans at this point to file a countersuit and hurt the city or its citizens.

“Victoria doesn’t want to get rich on this,” he said. “She just wants it to go away. We’ve got a little fire going here. Our response will be to pour water on it, not gasoline.”

Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris, who is leading the city’s legal effort against Old School, recently said the chief catalyst for his involvement in the civil suit was Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee and his concern that Old School was facilitating the use of illegal drugs in the area.

Norris said he then volunteered the resources of his office to assist the city. The goal of the suit, he said, is to force Miller into compliance with Oregon law. He asserted prominent display of the marijuana leaf symbol in the store, plus the sale of items like synthetic urine to help drug users pass drug tests, marks Old School as a drug paraphernalia shop.

“We take into consideration the marketing of the product,” he said, pointing out Miller’s radio advertising leaves little doubt as to what her products are to be used for.

Norris said Ontario City Attorney Larry Sullivan will do the bulk of the work preparing the case because of his expertise in civil law. One of Norris’ senior deputy district attorneys, Lung Hung, will present the case in court.

“Larry is a great trial lawyer,” Norris said, “But our deputies here have far more trial experience because they do this every day.”

He described Hung as a very experienced trial lawyer. He said it does not really make any difference that this is a civil suit.

“Trial work is trial work,” Norris said. He said preparing the case would be a lengthy process.

Sullivan said a similar case was the civil suit of Jackson County v. Roark, decided against Steve Roark, owner of North Country Music, in late 1993. That case was also a civil proceeding brought against Roark under Oregon’s drug paraphernalia statutes. Civil proceedings require only a preponderance of evidence as the burden of proof, instead of the proof beyond a reasonable doubt required in criminal cases.

Roark argued unsuccessfully that the case had really been a criminal prosecution. The court did not agree and Roark was fined $10,000, the maximum penalty, and forfeited his inventory. The jury found that all of the items in evidence qualified as drug paraphernalia, and actually fined Roark $20,000 because it found him guilty of violating two counts of the statute, but the county requested that penalty be reduced. Jackson County noted that during the three-month period covered in the suit, Roark had received more than $13,000 from the sale of drug paraphernalia.

The decision said selling drug paraphernalia was not the type of interest protected under the state or federal constitutions.

[palmspringsbum]

kptv.com


Man Robbed Of Medical Marijuana At Gunpoint

<table class=posttable align=right width=240><tr><td class=postcell><a class=postlink href=http://mfile.akamai.com/25578/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2008/0101/14956288.200k.asx><img class=postimg src=http://www.kptv.com/2008/0101/14956341_240X180.jpg alt="click to view"></a></td></tr></table>POSTED: 7:00 am PST January 1, 2008
UPDATED: 7:07 am PST January 1, 2008


PORTLAND, Ore. -- A man in North Portland said he and his children were robbed at gunpoint on New Year's Eve for the medical marijuana in their home.

Portland police were called to a home on North Allegheny Avenue around 8:30 p.m. Monday night to investigate a home invasion.

The victim, Gary Schneider, told police two men came into his yard, showed a gun and forced him back into his home.

Schneider said the men tied him and his two children up and stole about three pounds of medical marijuana.

"They held the guns like right here and I asked them several times not to hurt the kids and we would cooperate and give them what they were looking for. We have good ideas of who this is already and we are just sitting back and letting police do their work," said Schneider.

Portland police are not releasing any information about the suspects, but they did say the culprits are likely family members or someone who had inside information about the home.

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Off-job pot use up for debate

The Seattle Times
January 6, 2008


SALEM, Ore. — A construction-industry group wants companies to have the legal right to bar users of medical marijuana from working in potentially hazardous jobs such as operating heavy machinery.

It is an issue that state lawmakers will likely take up during a monthlong session that begins Feb. 4, and one that will produce vigorous debate over whether people's right to legally use medical marijuana can be trumped by issues such as workplace safety.

Under Oregon's 1998 medical-marijuana law, employers don't have to let patients with medical-marijuana cards smoke it in the workplace.

But the law left it unclear whether employers must accommodate workers who smoke medical marijuana off the job.

Negotiations are being conducted at the State Capitol over a bill sought by Associated General Contractors specifying that medical-marijuana users who work in dangerous or "safety-sensitive" jobs could be fired or disciplined if they test positive.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

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‘Care Giver’ Charged With Selling Marijuana


Fox 12 KPTV Portland
UPDATED: 11:28 am PST January 17, 2008


McMINNVILLE, Ore. -- Yamhill County authorities arrested a man they said was selling marijuana to people outside of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.

Yamhill County Interagency Narcotics Team officials said they arrested 46-year-old Anthony Narveson after a two-month-long marijuana distribution investigation.

Narveson is listed as a “care giver” under the OMMP and is allowed to grow and deliver marijuana for free to registered patients of the program.

Officials said Narveson was selling marijuana to people outside of the program.

According to officials, Narveson was taken into custody Wednesday night in a Lowe’s parking lot after he attempted to deliver 3 ounces of marijuana.

Narveson was booked into the Yamhill County Correction Facility on five counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance.

[palmspringsbum]

Jan-21-2008 18:02

Sweeping Changes to Medical Marijuana
from Lawyer for Federal Contractor?

The Salem News
Tim King Salem-News.com

<span class=postbold>A meeting will be held Tuesday morning at the state capitol. We understand this will take place at 9:00 AM in Hearing Room B.</span>


<table class=posttable align=right width=300><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg width=300 src=bin/patient_old_in-wheelchair.jpg></td></tr><tr><td class=postcell><span class=postbold>One physician told Salem-News that the average age of the Oregon medical marijuana patient is 47. Few are under 25, and many are considerably older.</span></td></tr></table>(SALEM, Ore.) - Advocates for medical marijuana say a lawyer who often represents huge federal contractors is seeking to radically modify Oregon's Medical Marijuana Program.

Oregon already has the most restrictive medical marijuana program in the nation. Advocate Dan Keys says Dan Harmon, an attorney with Hoffman Corporation, is trying to implement sweeping changes that would limit patients to possession of only two ounces and three plants.

And he says the lawyer tried to do it quietly. One of the proposed changes we are told, would exempt employees from collective bargaining.

Patients are not allowed to buy or sell marijuana in Oregon, even for legal marijuana use, so growing or having another person grow for them is one of the only options for actually possessing the herb.

Keys cites recent announcements and advancements in the medical world about medical marijuana use. It was announced recently by German researchers that marijuana helps slow and reverse cancer, (See this article from January 11th 2008: Breakthrough Discovered in Medical Marijuana Cancer Treatment) and that even kids are not affected by marijuana the way the federal government would have you believe. (See this article from November 8th 2007: Study Shows Surprisingly Few Negative Impacts on Kids Who Use Marijuana.

The two main groups that want to use the idea of the "drug free workplace" against medical marijuana are the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry.

If they read the news, then they, along with the attorney Dan Harmon from Hoffman Construction, know that marijuana is not a harmful substance, and that a person's use at home is their private business, only subject to legal ramifications because these companies have infiltrated our general privacy so soundly that they regularly inspect an individual's urine.

One of the founding business owners in the "drug screening" or "urinalysis" industry is a woman who lives in Salem, Oregon. I won't use her name because while not off the record, she never intended for her words to be published I'm sure. This was prior to the first employer versus medical marijuana patient lawsuits which went in the favor of the employer.

This drug testing founder talked about how a few people created the idea of drug testing employees during the 1980's and how they were able to work with insurance companies in order to ratchet up business.

She clearly stated that her industry would face extinction if laws that allow this practice were ever banished or reversed. Of course it is an industry that is worth billions now. She undoubtedly has been happy as courts have continued to side with employers in other cases.

I often wonder how the G.I.'s who stormed the beaches at Normandy or the Marines at Iwo Jima, would have felt about peeing in a bottle so that the government knew what they did last Saturday night. In my humble opinion and that of many others, our privacy has been ransacked by this practice.

A meeting will be held Tuesday morning, January 22nd, at the state capitol we are told, that will see this issue brought forward by attorney Dan Harmon.

We understand this will take place at 9:00 AM in Hearing Room B at the state capitol in Salem. Dan Keys explains that this move from Harmon, who is not a state legislator, has flown under the radar and that Kevin Mannix's efforts to bring forth legislation to eliminate the state, voter endorsed program was just a smokescreen to allow Harmon's plan to gain ground.

"Our understanding is that this attorney's plan will almost eliminate our state program. By telling people they can only have three plants, they are saying that an already overly restrictive program will be made impossible."

Keys says he believes that the corporate world is masking an attempt to practically end the program because they know the election will bring a different feeling to the federal government and it is likely the federal restrictions will ease along with the change in leadership.

That will mean that more patients will grow without harassment from federal agents, known now for dragging sick old ladies out of their wheelchairs for possessing something that grows naturally out of the ground and has been an effective treatment for almost countless ailments for thousands of years.

It will mean people will buy fewer addictive narcotics from the greedy but not stupid pharmaceutical industry, and they are not happy about it. Keys says Harmon's goals are consistent with those of a government and system that are nearing their final days.

He hopes advocates join him in attending the hearing and any other events related to the attempt at passing modifications that would greatly affect the state program. Keys adds that Harmon's bill allegedly carries stronger legal penalties for users who cross the legal limit.

Salem-News.com will be there, it is no secret that we have respect for Oregon voters' wishes and rights and we are on the record. Medical marijuana is legal in Oregon, marijuana has never caused a death. It is time that people move past the old propaganda from the "Reefer Madness" days of the 1930's and into the 21st Century where simple natural remedies are acceptable to most people, in a world that has much bigger problems.

If there is anything about marijuana that is truly harmful and if it has ever been caused a death and you know about it, they by all means visit this story, Giuliani, McCain, Romney Offered $20,000 to Prove Medical Marijuana Claims and file your claim. This serious offer has been made several times in recent years and in spite of the federal government's position, it always goes unclaimed.

[palmspringsbum]

Letters: Oregon's medical marijuana law

Posted by The Oregonian February 09, 2008 12:00PM
Categories: Letters

Your Feb. 4 editorial in favor of Senate Bill 465 instead of the compromise bill introduced this special session ("Don't make a bad marijuana law worse") shows a very uneducated view of this issue. All Oregonians want impaired workers off of hazardous worksites, but SB465 doesn't address impairment.

SB465 merely allows employers to fire medical cannabis patients for testing positive for marijuana, even though a positive test may result if the patient used the medicine four weeks before the test. This bill will simply discourage medical marijuana use and encourage workers to use more intoxicating and addictive drugs, such as Oxycontin and Vicodin.

If we are concerned about workplace safety, we should address impairment on the job -- impairment from any drug and from any reason. SB465 does not address impairment, it only discriminates against medical cannabis patients and encourages the use of other drugs, doing nothing to make our worksites any safer.

JULIE FIASCA
Southeast Portland

___________________________________________________________________________

Oregon Self Insurers Association is dedicated to providing a safe work environment for all Oregon workers. We could not agree more with your position on Feb. 4, "Don't make a bad marijuana law worse."

Medical marijuana advocates claim that no cardholder has ever been hurt on the job and this is not true. Because cardholders do not have to disclose the card, they are often difficult to identify. However, it took only one e-mail to our association membership to document multiple cases of medical marijuana cardholders getting hurt on the job.

Medical marijuana advocates also are trying to take credit for a drop in the work accident rate in Oregon. This ignores all of the proactive safety programs put in place by employers throughout Oregon. Anyone who thinks giving employees in any job a one-year prescription to smoke as much pot as they want is actually going to help workplace safety must be smoking something.

ANTHONY MILLER
Legislative Co-Chair, Oregon Self Insurers Association
Southwest Portland

____________________________________________________________________________

Your editorial indicating that marijuana is used by more Oregonians than the average in the United States misses the point. While I don't personally use marijuana, I have seen firsthand the benefit (a relative) received during his second, and final, bout with melanoma.

Morphine would keep some of the pain away, at the cost of clarity of thought and action, but only marijuana relieved his symptoms in a way that permitted him to temporarily alleviate his pain and suffering. One toke from a marijuana cigarette did more than any amount of morphine.

To indicate that some abuse is a deciding factor in removing the option for those who are suffering could be used to declare all drugs "off the market." Marijuana is unique among drugs in that testing only reveals past usage, not the current level of "intoxication." Until that wrong is corrected to identify the level currently in the user's system, all workplace testing should be suspended and declared unconstitutional.

MARK BROWN
Southeast Portland

________________________________________________________________________

The Oregonian claims that the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act is abused because "nearly 16,000 Oregonians hold patient cards entitling them to use marijuana." However, the Oregon Department of Human Services reports that 16,706 Oregonians were diagnosed with invasive cancer in 2005 alone. All cancer patients could legally qualify for the program; thus 16,000 patients does not demonstrate abuse.

Further, the fact that nearly 16,000 patients use medical marijuana is not a reason to pass a bill that would allow employers to fire medical marijuana patients even if their use did not impair them on the job. If a cancer patient wishes to keep working and uses medical marijuana to help him or her survive through chemotherapy treatments, it would be unfair and arbitrarily discriminatory to fire that patient, while allowing another patient to use other more impairing drugs, such as Oxycontin and vicodin.

SARAH DUFF
Southeast Portland

____________________________________________________________________________

Apparently The Oregonian does not realize that marijuana is less addictive than alcohol, nicotine and caffeine, as well as all available prescription painkillers. Additionally, as long as it is not smoked, it is much less harmful to overall health than any of the four.

Marijuana is the safest, most effective way for many patients to control their pain. Any patient who could benefit should be permitted to use marijuana for medical purposes, not just "terminally ill cancer patients." The fact that so many patients use medical marijuana is
proof of the law's success, not its failure.

It would be silly to permit employers to terminate employees based on off-duty medical marijuana use. Employers don't fire people for off-duty use of other prescribed painkillers, so why for marijuana?

JACKSON R. HOWA
Southwest Portland

_________________________________________________________________________


In regard to "Don't make bad marijuana law worse," I (was) proud to be a compassionate Oregonian when we passed the 1998 Medical Marijuana Act. It was intended to be used by terminally ill Oregonians.

However, this program has quickly morphed into the abuse predicted by the critics. If our Legislature must further regulate employers into making accommodations for medical marijuana users, I challenge them to define jobs that they can be employed in without risk to themselves, their coworkers or the general public. I believe this list will be much smaller than identifying jobs they can't perform safely when using an unregulated dose of medical marijuana.

MARK J. DAVISON
King City
_________________________________________________________________________

Apparently your editorial board disapproves of medical marijuana. I can't imagine why. The cancer patients and the AIDS patients are getting relief from this ancient, harmless and beneficial herbal remedy. These are people who didn't get relief from any other drug - they were dying from wasting syndrome and now they're not. How is that not a good thing?

I personally couldn't possibly care less if some old hippie manages to get a card for a bad back and smokes a doobie. It affects me, and you, not a bit.

Rather than advocate for more expensive, onerous regulations on this extremely successful program, why not advocate for eliminating all state laws against The Devil's Herb? The money we save, we could put into schools. Or we could just give it back to the taxpayers.

CURT ERICKSON
Southeast Portland

_____________________________________________________________________________

Regarding your editorial concerning a compromise proposal to appease construction employers, I write to raise three points.

First, 2007's Senate Bill 465 (which your editorial describes as "sensible legislation") would have allowed employers to discriminate against medical marijuana patients based solely on their status. It is a peculiar form of economic slavery that allows an employer to dictate
which medication the employees are allowed to use.

Second, this is a solution in search of a problem. Very few medical marijuana patients are healthy enough to work and there are no reported workplace injuries attributable to the therapeutic use of medical cannabis. Fears of employees misusing this medication are simply reefer madness.

Lastly, everyone on all sides of this issue shares workplace safety as a common value. None of the proposed bills would accomplish this. Urine testing measures off-site use and does not test on-site impairment.

LELAND R. BERGER
Legal Counsel, Voter Power
Northeast Portland

__________________________________________________________________________

It's time that Oregon legislators get serious about the state's out-of-control medical marijuana situation and reverse the trend that is getting worse in a hurry. Let's not wait until we see more traffic fatalities and workplace injuries caused by those who obtain medical marijuana cards under false pretenses. This is a problem that is fixable, so let's fix it now.

PETE SCHULBERG
Oregon Partnership
Southwest Portland

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Lowen's story is one of many when it comes to problems associated with MySpace. Silbernagel says hundreds of thousands of investigations linked to activity on MySpace are underway.

"Those are all being investigated while we speak, and the public doesn't know yet." In fact he says that police, probation departments and courts use MySpace frequently to learn about the personal side of people they are dealing with.

And he says the people adversely affected by MySpace accounts at Polk County Parole and Probation are not all probationers.

"There are cases where famous people, government people, have MySpace accounts that come back to haunt them. In fact, I was ready to offer a position to a person who had a MySpace account that advocated marijuana use. When I saw that, a decision was made to not bring her aboard."

Salem-News.com (Feb-20-2008 15:10)

MySpace, Medical Marijuana and Biker Gangs

Tim King Salem-News.com

<span class=postbigbold>Can MySpace friends equate to biker gang affiliation? </span>


<table class=posttable align=right width=290><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg src=bin/lowen_les.jpg alt="Les Lowen"></td></tr></table>(DALLAS, Ore.) - A Dallas Oregon man says he never expected to be in trouble for the company he keeps, especially at the age of 51. But some of Les Lowen's MySpace friends may have ties to biker clubs or "gangs," and he says the presence of those friends on his "top friends" list nearly landed him in jail.

Lowen was picked up on a drunk driving charge last year and the conviction meant a probation term. He says there is little in the way of delineation at the Polk County, Oregon Parole and Probation Office.

"Every time I go in there is a new probation officer. The last one threatened to throw me in jail for the people listed as top friends on MySpace. Heck, the person they referred to lives in New York."

Lowen says the amount of continual criminal profiling is out of line and he says that each time he checks in with his PO, he feels like he is being regarded as a hardened criminal, rather than a citizen with a fairly clean record, spare the DUII charge.

He also says it is ironic, "Each time I go in there they have no idea who I am. They just need to read the paperwork that goes along with the case to know I'm only there over a single DUII offense."

Les Lowen used to work hard every day, but his life changed dramatically last year, when he was involved in a serious, motorcycle crash.

"I lost three vertebrae in my back. I don't think I can ever ride again. My neck bothers me constantly."

And this leads to Lowen's second ongoing problem with the state of Oregon and Polk County in particular. Chronic pain from the motorcycle crash led to Lowen to become a legal, Oregon medical marijuana patient. He says it is one of the few things that brings relief to the lingering pain from the motorcycle crash.

But his pain has no sympathy from the Oregon court system in Dallas. The judge in the case allowed no provision for Lowen's pain management, they told him he can not use medical marijuana or he will be arrested and prosecuted. That, in spite of the fact that Oregon voters have not just once but twice to legalize medical marijuana for sick people.

Lowen says there is no answer in sight, so he simply quit using marijuana and his life is more painful than ever.

Marty Silbernagel, the head of Parole and Probation in Polk County, says the first point deals with the central law that medical marijuana is not legal on a federal level. State courts may or may not follow suit with the federal law, but in Polk County, Oregon, he says, they do.

"In Polk County medical marijuana is not allowed by our department staff and if anyone would like to take this up further with the court they can do so."

Silbernagel says one of their probationary clients just had a run in with authorities in a neighboring county, where he ended up in front of a judge.

"That court clearly and directly told the offender and his attorney that the state court would not authorize him to use marijuana. They said the man's doctor would need to go to court and be fully examined and cross examined on the witness stand, testifying as to why this patient needs medical marijuana."

"That individual was told that if he uses marijuana again, his probation will be revoked and then he will be back in front of a Polk County judge."

The riff between Lowen and Silbernagel's office is actually taking place on MySpace, where Lowen is soliciting help from people to get back on the road.

Lowen says it is a matter of respecting people, and about probation officers knowing who it is they are dealing with.

"In the 8 months I have been on probation, I have seen 6 different probation officers, so it has been impossible to establish any kind of working relationship with my probation officer."

"The PO knows nothing of my case, and nothing about me. I am treated as though I am a convicted felon each time I report, but my experience with Cindy Morse was a bit different. Ms. Morse had apparently looked up my MySpace page, and decided that, because I had some people on my friends list that belong to motorcycle clubs, I was a gang member (or at least affiliated). Ms. Morse immediately launched a verbal attack on me, accusing me of being a gang member, or an affiliate, no less than 6 times."

Silbernagel stands behind the statement. "If he thinks we do not have a right to oppose his views, as stated on his MySpace account, I disagree. Many of our offenders are regularly checked to see if they have a MySpace account."

He added that, "Several offenders have been in trouble for photos showing them using alcohol, using illegal drugs."

While Lowen's site did not show drug use or illegal activity, it does show his life as a motorcycle rider. That however by most people's accounts, does not equate to anything illegal. But Silbernagel sees it differently.

"If they have a friend who is a Hells Angel, a group invested in illegal activity, then that is a direct tie to illegal activity."

Lowen stresses though, that he is not and never has been involved in a criminal lifestyle, other than minor offenses like the DUII charge.

"I'm just a guy who was born and raised in Dallas, Oregon. I've never lived a criminal life."

He says the people that comprise his friend's list are from all over the country. Many of them are people he has never physically seen, but they all have a common interest in Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Lowen's story is one of many when it comes to problems associated with MySpace. Silbernagel says hundreds of thousands of investigations linked to activity on MySpace are underway.

"Those are all being investigated while we speak, and the public doesn't know yet." In fact he says that police, probation departments and courts use MySpace frequently to learn about the personal side of people they are dealing with.

And he says the people adversely affected by MySpace accounts at Polk County Parole and Probation are not all probationers.

"There are cases where famous people, government people, have MySpace accounts that come back to haunt them. In fact, I was ready to offer a position to a person who had a MySpace account that advocated marijuana use. When I saw that, a decision was made to not bring her aboard."

He finished by saying, "What is on your MySpace account, we go with."

Lowen and Silbernagel seem to agree on one thing; that is that people who use MySpace sometimes do not know what they are getting themselves into.

[palmspringsbum]

Friday, February 29, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

States must tackle medical-marijuana issue

The Seattle Times


States must tackle medical-marijuana issue
State legislatures around the nation have avoided approving medical marijuana laws — mostly out of fear they would be labeled as soft on crime.

Yet it's pretty clear the public has sympathy for those who truly need marijuana to treat diseases such as glaucoma or to ease the suffering caused by cancer. As a result, voters in 10 states — including Washington and Oregon — have taken the law into their own hands and approved medical-marijuana initiatives.Unfortunately, as can often be the case with voter-approved laws, there can be some unintended consequences. Sure, that happens when laws are made by elected legislators, but it happens less often. The legislative process provides for a debate on the issues that can expose potential problems.

One of the areas not always fully considered with voter-approved medical marijuana laws is the impact on workplace safety. It's now become an issue in Oregon.

Under Oregon's 1998 medical-marijuana law, employers do not have to allow workers with approved medical-marijuana cards to smoke on the job. However, there is no mention about accommodation of workers who smoke the drug at home before coming to work. What if these workers have dangerous jobs in which being physically and mentally sharp is critical to keeping themselves and their co-workers alive?

Two years ago, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled against a registered medical-marijuana user who was fired from his job after failing a urine test. However, the court's decision was extremely narrow and did not fully answer the question about the use of marijuana outside of the physical workplace.

This is clearly a tricky issue. The will of the voters as well as the needs of those with serious health problems need to be juxtaposed against worker safety. Oregon's Legislature took a run at coming to a consensus but failed. The matter will be looked at again next year.

Frankly, this is an issue that would be best addressed by Congress and federal agencies. We believe medical marijuana should be treated the same as any prescription medication. If the drug has side effects that put workers at greater risk of injury or death, workers should be reassigned to a safer job while on that medication.

We can't see that happening in the near future. Congress doesn't have the political courage needed to take action.

So, until that day comes, states will have to tackle the issue. Workplace safety has to be the top priority.

— Union-Bulletin, Walla Walla, Feb. 26

A small price to pay for a big investment

For a modest investment of $3 million, state lawmakers could help ease the shortage of primary-care physicians across Washington.

The South Sound, like Eastern Washington and other sectors of the state, has a shortage of primary-care doctors. New physicians can make more money by going into a specialty.

The shortage of primary-care doctors reduces the quality of care in a community, and it fills emergency rooms with uninsured patients who turn to the ER for primary-care needs such as sore throats and earaches. Cost of treating those patients is expensive, and the cost is shifted to patients with medical insurance.

Everybody loses.

Leaders of the Healthy Washington Coalition, a statewide lobbying group of 65 health-care agencies and associations, want to increase funding for the Washington State Health Professional Loan Repayment and Scholarship Program. With an investment of $3 million, the state would add opportunities for 100 physicians to receive school-loan repayment grants of up to $25,000 a year for three years. In exchange for having a portion of their medical-school costs covered, the new physicians would have to agree to serve as a family-care physician in an underserved portion of the state for three years. Experience shows most graduates of the program serve for six years.

That's a huge benefit for a small investment of state dollars. The $3 million wasn't in the original House budget. The Legislature should look favorably upon this proposal.

— The Olympian, Feb. 25

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

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State should sell pot and tax it, legislators say

by Janie Har, The Oregonian
Wednesday March 11, 2009, 10:38 AM


A renegade group of legislators in the House wants the state to grow, dispense and assess a tax on medical marijuana.

"Oregonians have voted to authorize the use of medical marijuana, yet the Legislature has failed to provide adequate safeguards for citizens who have a legitimate need for it," said Rep. Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, in a prepared statement.

House Bill 3274 would levy a $98 per ounce tax on marijuana, to cover the state's production and distribution costs.

"Many patients have no assurance that their marijuana is not laced with pesticides or other toxic chemicals," said Rep. Jim Thompson, R-Dallas. "If passed into law, this legislation will implement safe standards to dispense the drug through a tightly-controlled system."

Rep. Ron Maurer, R-Grants Pass, and Rep. Chris Harker, D-Beaverton, are also sponsors of the bill.

Now that's what we call bipartisanship.

-- Janie Har; janiehar@news.oregonian.com

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Ore. needs to clarify medical marijuana laws, activists say


By Andrea Calcagno
ABC News Watch 12
March 10, 2009

MEDFORD, Ore. - Medical marijuana activists are encouraged by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement last month that the Drug Enforcement Administration will no long raid state-approved marijuana dispensaries.

The federal government does not recognize medical marijuana, but many states have laws allowing doctors to prescribe the drug to patients who have severe chronic pain.

Medical marijuana activists say the federal government's decision to let up on state medical marijuana laws is window of opportunity for Oregon to clarify its own law.

Oregon law currently allows doctors to prescribe the drug, but it remains illegal for the patient to pay someone to grow it.

California makes medical marijuana available to licensed holders through dispensaries around the state that are regulated by local governments.

Southern Oregon representatives with the activist group Voter Power say the federal government's announcement will make it easier to redefine Oregon's medical marijuana law.

"The Obama administration's announcement that they are going to allow the states to regulate medical marijuana is probably the biggest news in the history of medical marijuana because for 10 years, Oregon has been struggling, and the biggest problem with medical marijuana has been the conflict between the state laws which allow it and the federal law that prohibits it," says Voter Power director John Sajo.

Voter Power has proposed a bill to the Oregon legislature to offer regulated dispensaries for medical marijuana license holders. The group proposes that the dispensaries be overseen by the health department and taxed by state government.

There are also proposed bills in the legislature in favor of restricting marijuana laws.

One bill proposed to the Senate by the Associated Oregon Industries allow employers to remove any employees who has medical marijuana cards for safety reasons.

[palmspringsbum]

Bill introduced allowing State to grow marijuana

Mar 11,2009 00:00 by Bend_Weekly_News_Sources

<span class=postbigbold>Bi-partisan Bill Would Take Away Medical Marijuana Cardholder’s Ability to Grow Their Own Pot; Would Cost $98 per ounce</span>


SALEM, Ore. — A bi-partisan group of legislators have introduced legislation to improve the safety of patients participating in Oregon’s Medical Marijuana program. House Bill 3274 transfers more of the program’s responsibilities from patients and caregivers to the state, which would be solely charged with growing and dispensing the marijuana.

“Oregonians have voted to authorize the use of medical marijuana, yet the Legislature has failed to provide adequate safeguards for citizens who have a legitimate need for it,” said Rep. Carolyn Tomei (D-Milwaukie).

Rep. Ron Maurer (R-Grants Pass) agrees, “Our current system isn’t working, and we need to move quickly to protect patient safety.”

HB 3274 directs the State to establish and operate a marijuana production facility and distribute the drug to pharmacies for dispensing to cardholders and primary caregivers. The bill imposes a $98 per ounce tax on marijuana, which would cover the state’s costs of operating and securing the production center.

“Many patients have no assurance that their marijuana is not laced with pesticides or other toxic chemicals,” said Rep. Jim Thompson (R-Dallas). “If passed into law, this legislation will implement safe standards to dispense the drug through a tightly-controlled system.”

The legislators also believe that HB 3274 will improve public safety by eliminating private medical marijuana grow sites. Some private growers have been accused of illegally selling the marijuana to non-cardholders, while other sites have been targeted by burglaries and home invasions.

“There are growing concerns that private grow sites are being misused for illegal marijuana sales, threatening the safety and well-being of legitimate participants in the program,” said Rep. Chris Harker (D-Beaverton). “HB 3274 takes medical marijuana off the streets and into a safer and more secure environment.”

[palmspringsbum]

Oregon House bill would tax medical marijuana
<span class=postbigbold>A Republican lawmaker offers another suggestion: have state grow it</span>
Thursday, March 12, 2009
JANIE HAR
The Oregonian Staff

SALEM -- Here's the latest money-raising proposal to come from lawmakers: a $98 tax on every ounce of medical marijuana sold.

Better yet, says Republican Rep. Ron Maurer, the state should grow the drug and dispense it to authorized users through pharmacies.

Radical? For sure. Even California, a state where dope dispensaries run rampant, doesn't have government workers growing pot.

Maurer knows exactly how outrageous his idea sounds. That's why the health care clinic owner from Grants Pass coaxed two Democrats and a fellow Republican to sponsor House Bill 3274 with him.

"I'm not a pot guy, but the water's under the bridge. That's not the issue," Maurer said. "Let's not even discuss that. Let's discuss is the program working? The answer is unequivocally no, that the program is not working."

Oregon voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 1998, saying terminally ill patients should be able to smoke the drug to relieve their pain. More than 20,000 people hold cards to do so in Oregon, according to the latest numbers from the Department of Human Services, which administers the program.

Patients can't buy the drug legally in Oregon -- smoking marijuana recreationally is not legal in any state -- but can have it grown for their own use.

Maurer says that's led to a murky situation where the state doesn't really know who's growing for whom. Patients also don't know if their marijuana is safe.

The tax would pay for the costs of the program, with a portion to cities and counties near grow sites. His fellow sponsors are Reps. Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, Chris Harker, D-Beaverton, and Jim Thompson, R-Dallas.

Likely, the proposal won't go anywhere, but it will get an airing in committee.

"When we have bipartisan support like that for a bill," says Geoff Sugerman, spokesman for House Speaker Dave Hunt, "it is typical that it will at least get the courtesy of a hearing."

Maurer hopes so. He says liberal Democrats like the idea, because they don't mind taxes and they want to fix the system. And Republicans?

"The most conservative people I've talked to stop and say, 'I don't like the taxation, but I can tax that.' "
<small>
Janie Har: 503-221-8213; janiehar@news.oregonian.com
</small>

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Marijuana activist gets her supply from unusual source: Uncle Sam

BY NAT LEVY
The Register-Guard - 15 Mar 2009

In 2007, more than 775,000 people were arrested in the United States for possession of marijuana. In that same year, four people received their supply of the very same drug from the U.S. government.

Elvy Musikka was one of them.

Musikka, a 66-year-old Eugene resident by way of Florida, each year receives several tins, each containing 300 marijuana cigarettes grown by the federal government at the University of Mississippi.

She was the third person, and the first woman, to qualify to receive the government-grown product.

She did so following an arrest for growing marijuana, and a subsequent court case where her doctors testified that, unless Musikka was allowed access to marijuana, she would go blind.

“I wanted to go to court because I really don’t believe there is any government that has the right to demand blindness and suffering from their patients,” Musikka said. “That’s who they’re supposed to protect.”

Since moving to Oregon in 2005, Musikka has participated in the public debate over Oregon’s medical marijuana law. In this year’s legislative session, 14 bills are up for consideration in the House and Senate.

Musikka first encountered the medicinal effects of marijuana in 1975, when she was diagnosed with glaucoma. A doctor advised Musikka, who was born with congenital cataracts, to try using marijuana after she reacted poorly to other available treatments.

Initially, the thought of using marijuana medicinally frightened Musikka. She had never used the drug because she considered it dangerous. But soon after getting some, she found that it helped ease her pain more than any other treatment.

She continued to smoke it, but lack of funds made it difficult for her to always have a supply on hand.

So she decided to start growing.

With regular use of the drug, Musikka saw her intraocular pressures — the amount of fluid that nourishes an eye’s cornea, iris and lens — fall to a low enough level that she was able to undergo a successful corneal transplant. She continued to smoke the marijuana to help ease the pain associated with her glaucoma.

A pesky neighbor disrupted her recovery.

“There was only one kid I ever got accosted by. He lived right next door to me, jumped the fence and stole my plants every time I was growing something,” she said, referring to when she lived in Florida. “He knew if I called the cops I’d be the one going to jail.”

After smoking marijuana illegally for 12 years, Musikka in 1987 went in for one of her many eye surgeries. This one, she said, went horribly wrong. She lost vision in her left eye, her better eye.

The next year, she was arrested for growing marijuana. Her arrest came around the time she applied to the Compassionate Investigative New Drug Program, run by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the time, only two patients had taken advantage of the program. Robert Randall beat charges of marijuana cultivation after his legal team argued that marijuana was a medical necessity to help with his glaucoma. After a successful defense in 1976, Randall sued the federal government in a case that ultimately led to the creation of the Compassionate IND Program.

Irvin Rosenfeld entered the program in 1983 to combat a rare congenital disease.

Following her trial, Musikka in 1988 became the first woman in the program. The National Institute on Drug Abuse ran the Mississippi-based operation.

The institute “has continued to grow cannabis in order to provide a contamination-free source of cannabis material with consistent and predictable potency for use in biomedical research,” spokeswoman Stephanie Older said in an e-mail. “NIDA has remained its only legal source.”

Four years after Musikka joined the program, it was suspended by the first Bush administration. But existing participants still received medicine from the government.

Musikka said her dissatisfaction with the quality of the product she received from the federal government, along with Oregon’s liberal medical marijuana law, brought her out West. She first visited in 1998 when Measure 67, which allows patients with certain medical needs to grow and consume marijuana, was placed on the ballot. It passed with 56 percent of the vote, and today provides 21,500 Oregonians with legal access to marijuana to ease their pain or debilitating medical conditions.

The upcoming bills range from those that would toughen the requirements for medical marijuana to those that would relax them further.

Medical marijuana law in the state could change a lot this year, said Don Bishoff, an aide to Springfield Sen. Bill Morrisette. “Things are in a giant state of flux,” he said. Morrisette is chairman of the Senate Human Services Committee and sponsor of Senate Bill 388, which would tighten up rules on caregivers of medical marijuana patients, and further clarify the quantities of marijuana plants and their more concentrated derivative, hashish, that patients can possess.

Musikka, who has toured the United States and Europe as a speaker for medical marijuana laws, is primarily concerned with two bills that designate who in the state could grow medical marijuana for patients. She opposes a state-operated growing operation, like the one proposed in House Bill 3247, because of the poor quality of marijuana she said she received from the federal government.

She said the product she receives from the government is out of date: Her current tin has a production date of 1996 on the label.

She prefers a series of dispensaries that would be cultivated by licensed growers. Voter Power, an organization that lobbies for marijuana policies, proposes a similar kind of dispensary system in Senate Bill 812. No matter how the bills turn out, Musikka said she will continue to speak out for the rights of people whose illnesses can be combated with the use of medical marijuana.

“My whole fight is to make sure that patients have dignity, and most of all have their medicine — none of this having to grovel to everybody to get some pot because there’s nowhere to go,” she said.

<hr class=postrule>
<span class=postbold>ELVY MUSIKKA</span>

Favorite book: “The Benefits of Marijuana: Physical, Psychological and Spiritual” by Joan Bello

Favorite Movie: “Super High Me”

Hobbies: Walking and song-writing. She has released a CD called “Truth and Love Are One.”
<small>
Copyright © 2009 — The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA
</small>

[palmspringsbum]

Pot bills consider job rights

<span class=postbigbold>Employers want to ban the use of medical marijuana in the workplace, while patients want to prohibit discrimination</span>

BY DAVID STEVES
The Register-Guard
Posted to Web: Wednesday, Mar 18, 2009 11:02PM
Appeared in print: Thursday, Mar 19, 2009, page B3


SALEM — Businesses and medical marijuana patients faced off Wednesday over competing bills aimed at rebalancing each group’s workplace rights.

Employers pushed legislation during a hearing that would expand their legal rights to prohibit the use of medical marijuana in the workplace.

Patients, who oppose those bills, urged the House Business and Labor Committee to instead pass legislation prohibiting on-the-job discrimination based on a worker’s status as a medical marijuana user. It prevents employers from acting against workers who are medical marijuana cardholders for smoking pot off the work site during nonwork hours.

The committee also took up a bill introduced last week that puts state government in charge of growing and distributing medical marijuana for patients, who would pay a $98-per-ounce tax on their weed to cover the state-run pot farm’s expenses.

Oregon’s Medical Marijuana Act, passed by voters in 1998, allows Oregon residents to register with the state as medical marijuana patients, based on their doctors’ finding that pot may mitigate their symptoms or debilitating conditions, ranging from Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and HIV/AIDS to severe pain, severe nausea and persistent muscle spasms.

Rep. Mike Schaufler, D-Happy Valley, chairs the committee considering the workplace regulation bills on medical marijuana. Schaufler also is sponsoring a bill that would allow employers to prohibit medical marijuana cardholders from possessing, consuming or being impaired by pot while on the job.

Shaufler said employers should be able to prohibit medical marijuana for all workers, not just those, such as crane operators or school bus drivers, who can put the safety of others at risk.

“Do you want your claims adjuster to have marijuana in his system?” Schaufler asked rhetorically.

Cary Kuvaas, a vice president with FlexForce Staffing in Springfield, told lawmakers in written testimony that by requiring employers to accommodate medical marijuana cardholders, the state puts them at risk of being sued for injuries caused by impaired workers.

“I believe no Oregon employer should be required to accommodate medical marijuana,” she said.

Anthony Johnson from Voter Power, a nonprofit medical marijuana advocacy group, said workplace accidents and injuries have decreased since voters passed the state medical marijuana law 11 years ago.

Given that, he said, “the facts don’t support the notion that such a law is needed” to grant employers the power to fire or not hire people because they are medical marijuana patients.

A proposal that the state grow pot for medical marijuana users and tax it was heard in committee as a courtesy to its sponsor, according to a spokesman for the House speaker’s office, who said it wasn’t expected to become law.

Opponents said they don’t want the responsibility of cultivating pot shift from medical marijuana patients and designated growers, with the state Department of Human Services in charge of growing and distributing their medicine.

“What you are proposing is to discriminate against people who cannot afford to pay for their medicine,” said Madeline Martinez, the Oregon executive director of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws. “Please don’t take away our right to grow our own medicine.”

[palmspringsbum]

March 19, 2009

16 bills aim to reform medical marijuana program

<span class=postbigbold>Among proposals is having state grow, tax and sell it in pharmacies</span>

By Tracy Loew
Statesman Journal

Oregon's medical marijuana program needs improvement, dozens of people testified during a three-hour legislative hearing Wednesday.

But there's little agreement on how exactly to fix it.

Lawmakers are considering more than a dozen bills that would tweak the decade-old law.

"The system that we have today is out of control," Rep. Ron Maurer, R-Grants Pass, said.

The most controversial proposal: Barring patients and caregivers from growing their own medical marijuana. Instead, the state would take over that role, supplying pharmacies. Patients would pay a state tax of $98 per ounce.

It is estimated that 10,000 pounds of medical marijuana are used per month, Maurer said, which potentially could bring in $188 million per year for the state.

"That could create jobs," he said.

But patients said they worry about pesticides and other contaminants. Many are on disability and could not afford the tax. And different strains and strengths of the plant are needed for various ailments, they said.

"One kind of marijuana would not work with all patients," said Melodie Silverwolf, with Oregon NORML.

Other bills would clarify employee and employer rights.

Employers often are caught between state and federal drug-free workplace laws and the medical marijuana law, industry representatives said.

"We're being forced to accommodate something that is federally illegal," said J.L. Wilson of Associated Oregon Industries.

Oregon's share of the federal stimulus money could even be at risk because the money comes with strict drug-free workplace rules, employment lawyer Paula Barran said.

Employees, meanwhile, want assurance they won't be the targets of discrimination because they are in the medical marijuana program.

Patients also complained that there isn't enough medical marijuana available, forcing them to go to the black market. And many doctors refuse to consider prescribing medical marijuana, they said.

Lawmakers plan to set up a work group to hash out differences on House Bill 3274, which would set up the state production facility, said committee chair Rep. Mike Schaufler, D-Happy Valley.

"My intention here is to legitimize this substance and get it into the hands of those who need it and not to those who don't, and to maintain privacy," Schaufler said.

tloew@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6779

Bill finder: http://www.leg.state.or.us/searchmeas.html

<span class=postbold>Medical marijuana bills</span>

House Bill 2497 expands employers' ability to prohibit the use of medical marijuana in the workplace.

House Bill 2503 prohibits employment discrimination based on a person's status as a medical marijuana registry card holder or use of medical marijuana off employment site or during non-employment hours.

House Bill 2881 establishes procedures for employment-related marijuana drug testing and review of results by a medical review officer.

House Bill 3052 allows employers to prohibit the use of medical marijuana at Oregon work sites.

House Bill 3274 Directs the state Department of Human Services to establish and operate a marijuana production facility and distribute marijuana to pharmacies for dispensing to patients and caregivers.

Senate Bill 285 classifies marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance.

Senate Bill 388 changes the amounts of marijuana that patients and caregivers can possess.

Senate Bill 426 expands the ability of employers to prohibit the use of medical marijuana in the workplace.

Senate Bill 427 requires applicant for medical marijuana registry card to notify employer before using marijuana and provides that employers are not required to make workplace accommodations regardless of where marijuana use occurs.

Senate Bill 812 creates registered medical marijuana dispensaries, creates a state program to assist low-income patients obtain marijuana, and allows the state to conduct research on efficacy and safety of medical marijuana.

Senate Bill 893 prohibits employment discrimination based on status as medical marijuana card holder or use of medical marijuana off employment premises or during non-work hours.

Senate Bill 956 modifies definitions related to marijuana for certain criminal laws.

Senate Bill 957 modifies provisions of the medical marijuana law, including a requirement to report the address of grow sites.

Senate Bill 958 modifies the medical marijuana law relating to caregivers.

Senate Bill 959 prohibits medical marijuana grow sites within 1,000 feet of a school.

Senate Bill 960 requires patients and caregivers to allow inspections of grow sites.

[palmspringsbum]

Drug-testing proposal debated

<span class=postbigbold>Oregon House - A bill sets procedures for pre-employment or random worker testing</span>

Thursday, March 19, 2009
MICHELLE COLE
The Oregonian Staff

SALEM -- Medical marijuana users, growers and a number of Oregon employer groups jammed a House hearing room Wednesday to debate proposed changes to state law.

Not likely to happen this year: A proposed $98 state tax on every ounce of medical marijuana sold.

What may have a chance: A bill setting procedures for pre-employment or random drug testing of workers.

House Bill 2881 proposes sending drug test results to a physician who would review positive results with the applicant or employee. The bill is still being amended, but one version calls for the physician to report a positive test to the employer if there is reason to believe the worker's drug use poses a job safety risk.

Under current law, employers argue that they have no way to evaluate whether a person is abusing marijuana. And they say the state's medical marijuana law makes it difficult for them to enforce drug-free policies.

Rep. Mike Schaufler, a Happy Valley Democrat and chairman of the Business and Labor committee, acknowledged that the Legislature has grappled with the medical marijuana law every year since 2001. But he said he's optimistic that some changes long sought by employers may happen in 2009.

"I think we need to clarify the law," Schaufler said Wednesday. "I want employers to be able to manage their risk and employees to be treated fairly."

Without the change, employers will continue to be caught between federal drug-free workplace rules and the state's medical marijuana law, said Gary Conkling, lobbyist for the Associated General Contractors.

The state's contractors want to maintain a safe workplace, Conkling said. And they also want to be sure the roads and buildings their workers construct are safe.

Lee Briney, president-elect of the Columbia Willamette Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers, urged legislators to pass an even tougher law.

The state's medical marijuana law has "morphed into a get out of jail free card for the indiscriminate use of marijuana," he said. "I urge you, as representatives of Oregon employers, to help maintain safe workplaces by outlawing acceptance of marijuana use by employees."

Currently, more than 20,000 people in Oregon hold medical marijuana cards.

Advocates, some who appeared before the committee in wheelchairs, argued that there's no evidence that the state's decade-old law has led to increased on-the-job injuries.

"All of us need our jobs right now," said Madeline Martinez, executive director of the Oregon chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "All we're asking is to be treated with dignity and respect."

<small>Michelle Cole: 503-294-5143; michellecole@news.oregonian.com

©2009 Oregonian</small>

[palmspringsbum]

Salem-News.com (Mar-20-2009 10:38 )

Cirque du Cannabis

Erin Hildebrandt Salem-News.com
An open letter to Oregon legislators.


<span class="postbigbold">Are marijuana laws a big circus at the end of the day?</span>


(SALEM, Ore.) - You have on your schedule many cannabis related issues this session, and I'm writing to ask you to please toss them all into the circular file where they belong. First and foremost, gardening the medicine my doctor recommends should not be grounds for you to take away my fourth amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. If I'm doing something wrong, then the police should have no trouble getting a warrant to search my home. It is not American to consider me guilty until proven innocent!

Politicians and law enforcement officers are not always above corruption, and news reports and public perception often portray you in a very bad light. How would you feel if the public demanded that you allow us to inspect your homes and/or offices at will, just to make sure you're not doing anything wrong? Would it change your answer if I told you that this might curtail the corruption among your unscrupulous colleagues? No? You'd still want to see a warrant before you let your home be "inspected?" Now you know how I feel.

As for the idea of a state garden, while I believe there are aspects of the concept that have potential, again, I ask you to please take it off the table for this session. You are rushing into this with what seem to be good, but naive intentions. While I tend to receive at least some small benefit from even the least helpful strains of cannabis, I would be mostly bedridden if I didn't have access to the better strains for me. All cannabis is not created equal, and patients will be hurt if you rush into a state garden without understanding the complexities and challenges that are inherent to producing quality herbal medicine.

Instead, I'd like to ask you to consider setting this plan aside for a couple of years, while you gather a panel of botanists, horticulturists, and other scientists to determine the best ways to start a supplemental system that would help patients avoid the black market when their gardens don't produce enough. That is a legitimate problem, and I have had to under-medicate too often for just that reason. At the same time, invest in surveying all OMMP patients about what works and doesn't work for them, before attempting to "fix" the OMMA.

In the meantime, if you really want to help patients, then why not institute something similar to the old Oregon law that was supposed to turn over all of the cannabis confiscated by law enforcement to patients in need? This could be an excellent starting point for a supplemental system, and it could help you to work out the bugs before trying a wider approach that would involve cultivation. Additionally, it would save the state the cost of destroying and wasting the vast majority of that medicine.

As for all of the rest of the cannabis issues, I just want to say that I'm angry. I feel bitter, jaded, frustrated, and most of all angry. It seems to me that, instead of committing to serious research and the best science has to offer, you rely on the handfuls of us who show up to your hearings or write in, to give you information about how to best help more than 20,000 suffering Oregonians who all have different diseases and different needs. What results is band-aid legislation at best, no serious problems get solved, and, as was the case with SB 1085, sometimes you end up hurting patients like me. This has become a biennial Cirque du Cannabis.

It's time to get serious about ending the cannabis corruption on all sides -- patients, gardeners, and police alike. The best way to do this will be to make cannabis as easy and inexpensive to procure as St. John's Wort or Valerian (which, for me, produces a "high" similar to cannabis, though it doesn't help with the pain and nausea). There are many reasons little old ladies can garden their other medicinal herbs in their backyards without fear of robbery or worse, but the main reason is that these medicines are not illegal, and their prices are not artificially inflated by prohibition.

When you grow tired of the biennial Cirque du Cannabis, and when you grow tired of continuing to fund organized criminals through your prohibition of cannabis, please consider finally allowing free trade and showing the courage of taking on the worthy and noble responsibility of taxing and regulating Oregon's lucrative cannabis industry. It's simply the right thing to do.

<hr class="postrule">

<small>Erin Hildebrandt wears many hats. She's wife to Bill Hildebrandt, mom to five beautiful kids, activist, artist, legally registered Oregon medical marijuana patient, public speaker, and an internationally published writer. She co-founded Parents Ending Prohibition, and her writing has been printed in Mothering Magazine, New York's Newsday, and Canada's National Post, among many others. Erin has been interviewed for a front page story in USA Today, and she has been published in the American Bar Association Journal. Speaking as a survivor of child sexual abuse, Erin also appeared on the Geraldo Rivera show. She has also testified before Oregon Senate and House committees, and Maryland Senate and House committees. We are very pleased to feature the work of Erin Hildebrandt on Salem-News.com.</small>

[palmspringsbum]

Ore. employers find medical marijuana difficult

3/21/2009, 12:58 p.m. PT
The Associated Press


SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon employers are telling lawmakers that medical marijuana puts them in a tough spot between conflicting state and federal laws.

The Daily Journal of Commerce reported that a lobbyist for one of the largest trade groups in the state told the Oregon House Business and Labor Committee this week the conflict makes it nearly impossible for employers to comply.

"We believe employers are caught in the crosshairs of state and federal laws," said Gary Conklin of Associated General Contractors of Oregon.

When Oregon voters in 1998 decided to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, it was in defiance of federal drug laws.

Marijuana remains illegal under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act, which was upheld in 2005 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a result, Oregon walks a legal tightrope. State authorities don't prosecute people for medical marijuana use, but they stay out of the way if federal authorities decide to bust patients or caregivers under federal drug laws.

But Conklin says employers can't perform that kind of balancing act.

The federal Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988 requires many federal contractors and all recipients of federal grants to agree they will abide by federal law.

But it's next to impossible to comply with federal regulations while honoring Oregon's medical marijuana law, Conklin said.

State Rep. Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg, says employers need protection. He has sponsored the legislation that enables them to fire or punish workers who use medical marijuana to the extent that it threatens safety or productivity.

His bill also states that employers don't have to do anything to accommodate medical marijuana users. "Medical marijuana is the leading threat to workplace safety in Oregon," Hanna said.

But workplace accidents in Oregon have decreased since the medical marijuana law passed in 1998, said marijuana activist Larry Funk

He also notes there are no records linking accidents to marijuana, which stays in the body for such a long period that there is no way to establish a cause-and-effect relationship.

Medical marijuana is the subject of five bills this session, including Hanna's proposal.

Two of the bills, including Hanna's, say employers don't have to accommodate workers for medical marijuana.

Another bill puts Oregon in the business of growing and distributing marijuana while two other bills are designed to protect patients.

One prohibits employers from discriminating against medical marijuana patients, and the other sets up a review process if drug testing discovers marijuana in a worker's system.

Madeline Martinez, the executive director of NORML of Oregon, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, says it is likely some people abuse the medical marijuana law. But she says that is true of most laws.

"People rob banks every day," Martinez said. "We don't close down the banks."

Jessica Barber of Portland, a medical marijuana patient, said there also is the potential for employers to abuse the law.

"I see these bills as a perfect way for employers to get rid of sick employees," Barber said.

___
<small>
Information from: Daily Journal of Commerce, http://www.djc-or.com/

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
</small>

[palmspringsbum]

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Bill revives marijuana debate

<span class="postbigbold">Program leaves room for illegal sale</span>

By ERIC FLORIP
The East Oregonian

Sunday, March 22, 2009


It's no secret to most Oregon law enforcement officials: The state's medical marijuana law doesn't always work.

"The current system that we have is in shambles," said state Rep. Ron Maurer, a Republican from Grants Pass. "We've got two problems - the issues of patient safety and public safety."

The program now allows patients to grow their own plants, or find caregivers to do it for them. But growers often illegally sell their product. They grow more than the allowed amount. And in Eastern Oregon, where medical marijuana patients are few and far between, it can be a major challenge to find a legitimate source without resorting to illegal dealers.

That's why Maurer this month introduced a bill that would drastically change the system, putting more control into the state's hands. The new proposal would put state in charge of all growing and distributing of marijuana.

Maurer said he introduced the idea as a "starting point" to spark discussion on how to fix the system. People immediately spoke out strongly on both sides of the issue, he said.

"The point was to start a conversation, and boy did it start a conversation," Maurer said.

<span class="postbold">Few options</span>

At least one Morrow County resident would like to see the idea become law. A medical marijuana user for years, she said the lack of legitimate growers nearby has forced her to buy from "black market" dealers at $250 an ounce - an amount that lasts her about a month, she said. She inhales marijuana through a vaporizer every day.

The woman, who suffers from degeneration and chronic pain in her shoulders, said she started using marijuana long before she became a registered card-holder. Fatigue and pain has been a problem since she was hit by a car at age 15. Several years ago, the woman registered for medical marijuana after trying pain pills for 10 years.

"Basically, marijuana helps me with the spasms that I have, because I have a lot of spasms and a lot of pain," she said, her raspy voice cracking as a cigarette smoldered in her hand.

The patient admits the risk of buying under the table. But she says that's her only option now, unable to grow her own because she lives in a federal housing unit. She'd be happy to see the state step in and take over.

"I think it would be a lot better because I wouldn't have to go through all the problems I'm going through now. Just trying to get my medical stuff, it's hard," she said. "I'd rather have the state in charge of it than the people, because people rip you off."

The state Department of Human Services, which oversees the medical marijuana program, can't refer someone to a physician - a required step for approval - to get them registered. It also can't refer someone to an approved grower, leaving patients on their own to find a legitimate source.

<span class="postbold">Starting a debate</span>

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of medical marijuana card-holders live in western Oregon. Of the more than 20,000 registered patients in the state, only 173 lived in Umatilla County as of Jan. 1, according to DHS.

In Morrow, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Sherman and Wheeler counties combined, only 113 residents hold medical marijuana cards.

But that doesn't mean it hasn't been an issue, said Umatilla County Sheriff John Trumbo. He said it's extremely rare for patients to fully comply with the law. More often they grow too much or illegally sell it, he said.

"It's just a poor, poor system," he said.

Trumbo came down conflicted on the subject:

"One side of me says that marijuana should be totally out of the picture," he said. "The other side of me says that if I were in extreme pain and discomfort ... would I use it? I probably would."

Rep. Maurer said he's heard plenty of differing opinions in response to his plan. Many advocates decry changing the system at all, he said. Others want to leave growing in the hands of individuals, but establish "co-ops" to tighten regulation of it.

Maurer said he doesn't want to do away with medical marijuana completely, as voters themselves put it into place in the 1990s.

According to Trumbo, one thing is clear: Something needs to change because of the widespread abuse going on now.

"I don't think the state should be in that business," Trumbo said. "But given the alternatives, I don't think that we have another choice."


<small>Content © 2009 East Oregonian
Software © 1998-2009 1up! Software, All Rights Reserved</small>

[palmspringsbum]

<small><a class="postlink" href="http://www.salem-news.com/articles/march232009/rob_kampia_tv_3-23-09.php" target="_blank">Salem-News.com</a> (Mar-23-2009 02:02)</small>

Are Former Homeland Security Undersecretary Hutchinson's Words a Death Sentence for American Kids?

Political Perspective by Tim King Salem-News.com

<span class=postbigbold>Telling people a white drug like methamphetamine is the same as pot is a dirty lie, why would the Arkansas legislator do it?</span>

<span class=postbold>Hutchinson would rather give kids deadly information than relent in his position over voter-approved medical marijuana.</span>

(SALEM, Ore.) - The turning of the tables on the anti-marijuana crowd is a fascinating lesson in the evolution of American culture.

Misinformation and paranoia are the trademarks of anti-pot hysteria. It is sad in many ways because police officers are told many things about marijuana in training that are not true. They believe what they are told, who in their shoes wouldn't?

But the half truths and outward lies generated by the Just Say No crowd create an environment where truth is constantly at battle with fiction and it is time for it all to stop.

The sin is that as the federal government continues its embarrassing crusade against marijuana, they are leading kids to their deaths, quite literally.

Honestly, it is nothing short of criminal for pot foe Asa Hutchinson, a former homeland security undersecretary and Republican congressman from Arkansas, to lump marijuana in with methamphetamines.

But he does it and you will see it in the video posted below. His feeble and outdated fantasy jargon about pot being "dangerous" leaves confused parents and kids thinking that meth and pot must be about the same. Damn you Hutchinson for your deceptive informational ploy, and for playing with the minds of people who deserve and need credible and solid information so they can raise their kids and have them turn out to be productive people.

He should be exposed for the liar he is; Asa Hutchinson is trying to tell kids that a flower that makes them stoned and hungry is the same thing as using meth and I am angry as Hell about it. Methamphetamine makes people become haggard wrecks sometimes within just weeks from the time they start using it. The drug contains things like Drano and sulfur from match heads. It ruins lives and leads to death and always the break up of families.

Hutchinson is as dumb as a rock and about as much good, seriously. You can't do what he does and get away with it, or can you? Has the government's propaganda machine that came to life from the hand of Nancy Reagan given him a liar's pass?

People like this are THE reason that there is drug abuse in this country, and pot isn't even a drug. If I didn't know better I'd say this man doesn't have an honest bone in his body. People like Hutchinson create things like the "Gateway Theory" that specifically programs kids to instinctively want to move on to harder drugs in some cases, because that is what everyone told them they would do.

The only kids who know better are the kids of people who actually understand how all of this works. That would put marijuana using parents at the top of the list of people who will give their kids the straight scoop on everything when it comes to drugs.

Nobody wants their minor child to do anything they shouldn't do, especially if it is illegal, but time and time again, year after year and now decade after decade, I see the same dynamic repeat itself over and over.

That is the overly sheltered kid who seeks out opportunities to behave like a lunatic every time their parents are out of sight, versus the kid whose parents have a more relaxed and less paranoid approach to parenting. The second group are the ones who aren't as driven to explore taboos. That kind of exploration can lead to tragic circumstances for kids. They are often the kids of extremely straight and "religious" parents who end up in the worst circumstances.

I know from experience that talking to your kid about pot and not necessarily demonizing it in the process, does not lead to a pot smoking youth.

We should all hang our heads in shame for the ridiculous BS that we as a society has allowed to progress.

<span class=postbold>Truth Does Exist</span>

The list is long, but the first thing that sets marijuana apart from every other substance is that it is natural. Completely and utterly natural. There are various treatments and products used in the growing stage, but the end product is not something that evolves from a laboratory.

It doesn't cause cancer according to all credible sources, and cannabis use probably prolongs the lives of cigarette smokers who also use it.

While growing techniques have been refined and people as a rule are better agriculturists today than twenty or thirty years ago, the police and anti-marijuana groups constantly tell kids and even church congregations that "marijuana is much stronger than in the past."

I try to give these misinformationalists a break, because they think they know what they are talking about, but they don't.

<span class=postbold>Marijuana history</span>

In the 1970's Americans on the west coast and beyond, were sold "lids" of pot called "Commercial" and that was about an ounce. It cost ten bucks and was measured as being about three and a half fingers tall in a bag. That was a lid.

What did it bring the user? A headache most of the time. This product was the non-desirable part of the pot plant, but people didn't really understand very much about it back then. For the record, the leaf is not the part of the plant a smoker wants, they want the bud or flower.

If a person in the 70's had good connections then they scoffed at Commercial and bought Acapulco Gold, Oaxacan spears, Thai stick, or the whole series of "Colombians" which came in shades of gold and red and even "Rainbow Colombian".

Then there was Michoacan and lots of extremely high quality pot coming back from Vietnam. The police are completely inaccurate when they preach about pot being "stronger". They simply don't know, and why would they? They're cops, and unless they are tricking people and pretending to be someone they aren't as in an undercover "narc" or something like that, they would never have a chance to really understand how the culture works, especially in regard to past generations.

Marijuana has never caused a death and that in and of itself attests to the overall safety of marijuana use. There are many people who used to be anti-pot but became sick and ended up needing it to keep food down. Cancer treatment and wasting diseases like HIV/AIDS are very real examples, but the list of things that marijuana can treat goes on and on.

The cannabis or marijuana plant can be used to generate food, rope, paper, clothing, fuel for automobiles, shoes, art, energy; you name it. The plant bears the strongest natural fiber known to man.

We have been so stupid; beaten by a joke of a movie called Reefer Madness that our physician/writer Dr. Phil Leveque considers to be the primary source of propaganda that brainwashed a nation into believing that marijuana smokers became killers who murder their families with axes.

While this non-fatal plant has remained criminally classified by the feds right alongside meth and heroin, the Food and Drug Administration has approved so many drugs that hurt and killed people that you could scarcely name them all on a page.

These are the businesses that want marijuana to remain illegal because it is going to put them out of business. We're talking about the big pharmaceutical industry that has helped run the U.S. economy into the ground from greed and greed alone. People are at the end of their ropes and sick of watching loved ones die who can't afford the outlandish prices of drugs.

Marijuana is not an answer for everything, but it is a partial answer for helping the economy and freeing up prisons so dangerous, violent offenders currently walking our streets and threatening our families can again be locked up, and most importantly so sick people can exist with a better quality of life.

<span class=postbold>Elected Officials Ignore Law</span>

At the time of this writing, two substantial medical marijuana cases are taking place in the states directly above and below Oregon.

The case against Morro Bay medical dispensary owner Charles Lynch has attracted support from Drew Carrie and Melissa Etheridge, but Lynch is still being railroaded on trumped charges by a California sheriff because a security guard who worked for Lynch sold pot to a DEA narc when he was off work and miles from Lynch's dispensary. Soon black outfitted federal police "thugs" as they are frequently called these days, knocked down his door and put a gun to his head.

Now he's looking at five years in a California prison even though he followed every law in the book and in reality violated not a single state law. Even though AG Holder and President Obama say those days of DEA raiding businesses legal in the medical marijuana states are over, Lynch still faces a hefty sentence.

None of it restores faith in America, if anyone cares about that. It isn't about pot, it is about state's rights.

<span class=postbold>Russ Hauge in Kitsap</span>

Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge in Washington, like San Luis Obispo, California Sheriff Pat Hedges, simply doesn't seem to care about what the voters in their states want. They are men who operate on their own; political powerhouses on small levels who don't believe they need to be bound by things like voter-approved state law.

They say the slogan in Kitsap County, Washington, is "Come on Vacation and Leave on Probation"

That isn't the only slogan though; "Kidnap County" is the other new reference for this strange place in Washington state which closely resembles a police state most days of the week anyway. Police here sneak around in unmarked cars, often driving erratically, and they treat people with zero respect. I can't say this represents all of them, but the stories from Oregon motorists who deal with Washington cops are often ugly.

I'm going to keep going on this for one moment; it is important to help understand a particular story when you have some amount of background on the culture of thought taking place in certain regions and in this case, law enforcement agencies.

I know a woman here in Salem who works for one of our sponsors, that was pulled over by what she described as a "creepy cop" in an unmarked pick up truck just north of the Oregon/Washington border. This cop treated this Christian woman like an ass and that is putting it nicely, and the week before her very ill baby had died. So there was the Washington state trooper in his unmarked car reading her the riot act after tailgating her for miles, right on her bumper.

I swear, these cops and their unmarked cars literally pave the way for criminals to strap on a red light and pull over people so they can victimize and brutalize them.

It is all out of control from the last eight years and from the ignorance before that. Unmarked police, DA's and sheriff's who think they are above their own state laws... it is all going to change very soon.

In the video below, Rob Kampia Discusses Marijuana Tax and Regulation on CNBC's Power Lunch, along with Asa Hutchinson on the other side of the aisle. Watch Hutchinson group a harmless plant in with heroin and methamphetamine and then if you have the time, call or email his office and tell him what you think of him.

Hutchinson said last September that he plans to open a law firm in Arkansas with his son. I don't have the information on the office but I imagine somebody does, and that would be excellent to post in our comment section.

<hr class=postrule>
<small>Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 in Afghanistan with Oregon troops. Tim recently returned from Iraq where he covered the war there while embedded with an Oregon Guard aviation unit. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com</small>

[palmspringsbum]

Salem-News.com (Mar-25-2009 02:55)

Asa Hutchinson Disagrees With Portrayal in Salem-News Political Perspective Article

Political Perspetive by Tim King Salem-News.com

<span class=postbigbold>There appears to be a huge difference between the federal interpretation of truth, and the reality of what is taking place.</span>


(SALEM, Ore.) - Former Homeland Security Undersecretary, DEA Administrator and Congressman, Asa Hutchinson, contacted Salem-News.com Tuesday with a complaint over a political perspective report that I wrote March 23rd 2009.

The article was extremely critical of Hutchinson's lumping marijuana in with "dangerous drugs" like "cocaine" and "methamphetamine" on MSNBC's Power Lunch program. (see: Are Former Homeland Security Undersecretary Hutchinson's Words a Death Sentence for American Kids? - Political Perspective by Tim King Salem-News.com)

The problem is that we aren't supposed to compare apples and oranges. Meth is a deadly, addictive chemical that contains ingredients almost too nasty to write about. The brain chemistry of meth addicts who use the drug over and over again actually changes, because this particular substance destroys the wiring in the brain's pleasure centers and making it increasingly impossible to experience any pleasure at all when the user is out.

Dopamine levels in the brain are raised by the use of drugs, as it is by pleasurable activity like a wonderful dinner, a walk on the beach or great sex. Former Salem, Oregon Police Chief Walt Myers showed me a chart a few years ago, that showed how activities and substances affected dopamine levels.

Alcohol and marijuana both elevate dopamine levels, but not drastically. If I recall correctly, they can raise the levels to over 200. Cocaine raises dopamine levels to around 350. Crystal meth raises them to 1050 and literally burns out the receptors in the brain's pleasure center, as referenced above.

It is important to remember that the medical use of marijuana is anything but a small subject. Hutchinson claims in the video that smoking it causes cancer, and in reality there is no proof of that. One of our most visited articles month after month from January 11th 2008, describes the progress doctors in Germany are having using an extract from this plant for actually treating cancer cells. (see: Breakthrough Discovered in Medical Marijuana Cancer Treatment - Tim King Salem-News.com)

I wrote in the March 23rd article that Hutchinson's wording sounded like he was describing methamphetamine on a level with marijuana, as a "dangerous drug".

Hutchinson wrote in the Tuesday email, "I wanted to assure you that I fully understand the dangers of meth and I agree that meth is a much more dangerous drug than marijuana."

That is good, Hutchinson demonstrates that in spite of his wording during the interview, he does realize that pot and meth are extremely different in terms of any threat they pose to our population.

This is the specific quote from Hutchinson that sparked my somewhat angry article, "The question is whether it (marijuana) should be expanded or legalized, absolutely not. If you look at harmful drugs, whether it is tobacco or other hard drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, the objective of society is to reduce the use of harmful drugs."

My brain sees and hears "other hard drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine" and that is why all of this started.

I just think that with respect to the massive amount of mind-numbing ignorance generated by half or more of the nation's anti-drug campaigns up until now, it is time to stop all of the nonsense.

His statement "hard drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine", I truly believe, would cause a parent who has never experimented with drugs to fail to understand the vast and even deadly difference that exists between meth and pot.

Hutchinson continued in his email response to the article, "While the statement might not be the most artful, it is clear I am not equating the level of danger from harmful drugs. Medical science supports the harmful effects of tobacco. Medical science supports the harmful of effects of marijuana. And the same is true for the other drugs that are mentioned. It does not claim that the harmful effects are equal."

Again in response, it was not clear during the MSNBC program but perhaps it is now. But the part about how "Medical science supports the harmful of effects of marijuana" is another fabrication, sorry if that can't be worded more kindly.

Going back as far as the 1972 with Nixon's Shaffer Commission, which favored ending marijuana prohibition and adopting other methods to discourage use, large numbers of doctors have agreed that marijuana is not especially harmful for people.

But the doctors in more recent years have faced sanctions and much worse for advocating that marijuana is useful and should be legalized.

In addition to being a WWII combat veteran, Dr Phil Leveque's a Physician,Toxicologist & Pharmacologist

Another problem, as our medical writer Dr. Phillip Leveque points out, is that all too often, the minds of aspiring doctors are poisoned during medical school as they are provided information that is strictly anti-marijuana in nature. Leveque cites the strong ties that exist between these institutions and the out-of-control pharmaceutical industry, with their endless cash that supports their endless stream of commercials on TV that cause patients to seek out and self prescribe drugs; all FDA approved even if the stuff kills you.

In spite of that, since well before that commission report, medical marijuana has been getting a basic green light from a large part of the medical community. No person has ever died from using marijuana.

The aspect of the medical community that disagrees with the scientific and medical evidence and fights the legalization is the part connected again, to the pharmaceutical industry. They are a powerful lobby if there ever was one.

As Dr. Leveque has demonstrated in dozens of articles and video segments on Salem-News.com, marijuana's usefulness is extremely wide-ranging and the figures cited against marijuana by groups like NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) are almost entirely fiction, if you believe doctors and scientists, rather than an agency that has been under the watchful command of a Presidential administration that was very friendly and helpful for the big pharmaceutical industry. It really isn't hard to put together.

What I do want to do is extend to Mr. Hutchinson that if nothing else, I'm sure he is sincere in his efforts. But he is wrong and it is time to change and accept that marijuana has not been regarded fairly in his statements, or throughout the last several decades of U.S. history for that matter.

Ever heard of the former federal prosecutor and Congressman Bob Barr? He sounded an awful lot like Hutchinson back in his Republican heyday. Barr was regarded as one of the most conservative members of Congress. He was described in 2002 as "the idol of the gun-toting, abortion-fighting, IRS-hating hard right wing of American politics".

Barr's strong stance against medical marijuana in Congress put him at odds with marijuana policy reformers such as the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). Despite this historic antagonism, in March 2007, Barr reversed his stance on medical marijuana and began lobbying on behalf of MPP. This new partnership saw Barr working to repeal his very own "Barr Amendment" — the amendment that overturned a voter-approved medical marijuana initiative in Washington, D.C., mentioned below, and also prohibits consideration of similar initiatives.

In spite of Hutchinson's logical agreement that a plant millions use regularly isn't nearly as dangerous as meth, he hails from a government that decided long ago that marijuana should be placed in a Schedule I category.

According to Americans for Safe Access: Under federal law, "marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, which means that the federal government views marijuana as highly addictive and having no medical value."

It is important to note that the entire federal government position that they do not legally recognize marijuana's medicinal value is not true. There are several patients who were part of a federal medical marijuana program started and then disbanded several years ago. To this day they receive marijuana from Uncle Sam that is grown at the University of Mississippi.

The feds say the ongoing legally authorized federal marijuana program doesn't count because they changed the rules, and these existing federal marijuana patients were just grandfathered in, so to speak.

But those very people going on as part of the program, say there is a huge difference between the federal interpretation of truth, and the reality of what is taking place.

Asa, can I offer you a bit of irony? Do you know what your name means in Japanese? It means hemp sir, and that is the truth. It is something our nation's forefathers farmed and that is also the truth. Hemp generally refers to the cannabis/marijuana plant that yields a strong industrial product and it used to be Kentucky's number one state crop. Today the non-industrial version of this plant is the nation's number one crop. But until more changes take place, our money-strapped country won't receive its fair share of taxation from it, and it really could help so much in so many ways, not to mention that this is as "green" of a product as a person could ever find.

Beyond that, medical marijuana is only an aspect of the "movement" if it must be called that, and it is the most legitimate one. It has opened the door for everything that is marijuana related but that is just how it goes and believe me, it is not going to change any time soon.

In his letter, the former Undersecretary of Homeland Security and DEA Administrator wrote, "I am grateful for your service to our country and certainly respect your views and your right to advocate for your views. I would ask for the same respect in return."

Well I respect you too sir for serving your country. In my reply I sent you a link to a recent video with Dr. Leveque who I mentioned above. In addition to being a medical marijuana doctor who specialized in treating combat veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he is a WWII combat veteran who fought the Nazi's in Europe, landing in France in the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge. One day he and one other soldier captured 26 Nazi officers after finding them in a house, having a meeting. His words are worthy of everyone's respect and attention. (see: Medical Marijuana Q&A: The Doctor is In - Dr. Phillip Leveque & Bonnie King Salem-News.com)

In the end I believe that the medicinal value of cannabis is largely unknown and the advance has been slow because of the restrictive and archaic laws, and that if it finally can move forward in terms of research it will be a real favor for humanity.

Asa Hutchinson certainly is impressive in his ability and choice to address a criticism head-on and I commend him for that. Answering up shows that a politician is awake, paying attention, and perhaps looking for answers they haven't found yet or been willing to accept.

He concluded his letter to me by saying, "We disagree on the legalization issue and that is okay. The public ultimately decides through the ballot box and thus far the voters have wisely rejected efforts to legalize marijuana and other harmful drugs."

I think that would strongly depend on which voters you are talking about, or maybe by once again referencing "marijuana" with "other harmful drugs", Asa eliminates his ability to say something closer to the truth.

Something that might begin with, "Other than the 13 states that have already voted to legalize the use of medical marijuana..."

[palmspringsbum]

Renters turn house into a pot farm--and a ruin
3/29/2009, 12:10 p.m. PT
The Register-Guard


EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — To Mike Florence, Shawn McGlynn and Vanessa Crump seemed like good tenants. The rent was always on time. They wanted the house for its nearness to a bus stop and a playground.

The house had been his family home until he left a year ago to care for an injured grandmother in Pendleton. To help with his mortgage, he rented the house.

But a recent police raid found that in the year he had been gone the house had become a flourishing marijuana growing operation — and a wreck.

McGlynn and Crump were cited on felony marijuana charges. Police seized more than 700 plants.

Police said McGlynn holds an Oregon medical marijuana card that entitles him to have up to 24 pot plants.

Police said the only room without marijuana plants or drug paraphernalia was an upstairs bedroom decorated with inflatable dinosaurs, glow-in-the-dark stars and a child's drawings.

The damage left by the plants and the raid may cost Florence, or his insurance company, plenty.

The house had been rewired to provide heat and light to grow more than 1,400 marijuana plants, police said. The necessary heat and humidity caused water damage and mold growth.

Soil-filled garbage bags piled up against the back door, and the floor was littered with potting soil and wilted marijuana leaves. The garage was full of upended shelving and dozens of pots filled with the root balls of marijuana plants.

He said he didn't know what to do with the leftover marijuana plant matter. "If I loaded it up and took it to the dump, I'd be breaking the law," he said.

Last week State Police Sgt. Rob Edwards said officers would help dispose of remaining plants.

Edwards said if the house has been used as a meth lab, a professional hazardous materials would have cleaned it up by law. There are no such provisions for marijuana houses.

Edwards said police took away six or seven truckloads of marijuana plants.

"When you're taking out 746 plants, leaves are going to fall off," he said. "We can't pick up every minuscule bit."

He said instead of yanking out every plant, officers lop off the leafy material and leave the root wads on the property.

Edwards told the Register Guard newspaper of Eugene that there were also 660 root balls left by the growers, evidence of previous harvests.

He said growers cut mature plants off at the base and hang them out to dry.

"It's not going to grow back. It's like cutting down a tree," Edwards said.

He said medical marijuana growers must register each grow site but that the Florence property hadn't been registered.

Florence said he did not know McGlynn was a registered cardholder. The registry is confidential.

"You should be able to find out if someone's going to grow marijuana in your house," Florence said.

A neighbor, Mike Drews, said in recent months the scent of marijuana could be overpowering.

He said just before the Fourth of July he was knocking on doors and inviting neighbors to a holiday barbeque.

At the house where McGlynn was staying, he smelled marijuana.

"I said, `Are you smoking in here?' He said, `Are you a cop?' "

Drew said he became increasingly irritated as the operation escalated.

He said the house had several window-mounted air conditioners and fans, apparently required by the intense heat generated by dozens of grow-lights inside.

The air conditioner was running during the snowstorm this winter, Drews said. "Only a moron wouldn't know what they were doing."

He said he also noticed McGlynn loading up a car at 2:30 a.m. or 3 a.m. "I tried to say something to him, but he'd run inside and shut his door," Drews said.

Florence had given Drews a key to the house, and he let the police in.

After officials cleared out the plants, Drews said he joined police for a celebratory pizza in the house. Florence said officers left the pizza boxes amid the other litter.

"I'm frustrated. I'm upset and I'm hurt," he said.

"I just want my house back to the way that it was. "

___

[palmspringsbum]

The taxman groweth?

<span class=postbigbold>Milwaukie legislator proposes state control of medical marijuana</span>

BY MATTHEW GRAHAM
The Clackamas Review, Apr 7, 2009


A bill authored by Milwaukie legislator Carolyn Tomei would allow the state to grow and tax medical marijuana.

State Rep. Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, has also gotten the ball rolling on a proposal for the state to grow its own marijuana for medicinal users, allowing it to control the quality and tax it for income.

“Several of us felt like it was time that we started this discussion,” Tomei said. “I had a town hall a few months ago – people in front who came early were very concerned about medical marijuana … people even in my community who grow their own, they’re afraid to grow it because once the word gets out that they’re growing, they’re afraid for their safety. So it’s a very difficult issue.”

Currently medicinal marijuana can be prescribed in Oregon, but legal users are supposed to grow their own — buying it is illegal and the state doesn’t sell it.

“I’ve got an e-mail from one of my constituents who says she has terminal cancer and she has a prescription to use medical marijuana, but she doesn’t know where to get it and she’s not going to grow her own because of her fear of her safety,” Tomei said. She explained that people who grow it are scared their homes will be broken into for the drug.

Tomei said businesses have been wary of the proposal because traces of marijuana stay in the blood longer, five days to a week. So while other medicines may leave the bloodstream within hours or a day, it would be almost impossible for an employer to test for marijuana use while on the job.

“We’re starting the discussion this legislative session, but it’s going to take more than one session to really iron this out and hear from everybody and see what the state is capable of to take control of this issue,” she said. “It really is out of control.”

<small>Copyright 2009 Pamplin Media Group, 6605 S.E. Lake Road, Portland, OR 97222 • 503-226-6397</small>

[palmspringsbum]

Driving under the influence in Oregon includes marijuana

The Mail Tribune | April 06, 2009 6:00 AM


<blockquote>I was just reading a story out of California regarding not revoking licenses for having a medical marijuana card. Now I am wondering, does that mean that if they have a card those drivers can in effect drive under the influence and still retain their licenses? How does it work here in Oregon? Should I just give up driving to keep from being hit by one of these under-the-influence drivers?

— Michelle, Medford.</blockquote>
I'd be surprised to learn that California is that lenient on impaired drivers. However, it is California and I'm not well-versed in its laws. But I can give you the scoop on how it works here in Oregon. Oregon Revised Statute 813.010 defines driving under the influence of intoxicants. It says a person commits the offense of driving while under the influence of intoxicants if the person drives a vehicle while the person:

1. Has 0.08 percent or more by weight of alcohol in the blood of the person as shown by chemical analysis of the breath or blood;
   
2. Is under the influence of intoxicating liquor, a controlled substance or an inhalant; or
   
3. Is under the influence of any combination of intoxicating liquor, an inhalant and a controlled substance.

You'll notice that nowhere in this definition is there an exemption that says something like "unless you're under the influence of marijuana and have a medical marijuana card." If an officer pulls someone over and determines they may be driving impaired due to marijuana, then the officer would treat the driver just the same as if the driver was impaired by alcohol. They'd be requested to perform field sobriety tests and if they failed the tests then they'd be arrested. They'd be taken to a location where an intoxilyzer was available and be given a chance to give a breath sample. Assuming nothing else is in their system, then the result of the breath sample would be .00 percent, at which point the officer would ask for a urine sample, to send to the crime lab for drug analysis, and call in a drug recognition expert to do additional evaluation on the driver. From that point the rest of the case finishes just like the case of a person who is impaired by alcohol.

As far as giving up your own driving just to avoid them, it might increase your odds of not being in a crash, but is it realistic to be unable to drive? You could bicycle or walk, but even those folks get hit by impaired and unimpaired drivers, so you have to weigh what works for your situation.

<small>Dace Cochran, a patrol sergeant with the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, writes a weekly Q&A column on police issues for the Mail Tribune. Have a question for him? Write to Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501, or e-mail cochradc@jacksoncounty.org.</small>

[palmspringsbum]

What do you think?

<span class="postbigbold">Marijuana</span>

The Daily Vanguard | Published: Friday, November 6, 2009


Marijuana has been making a number of headlines recently across our nation. With the Obama administration announcing that the federal government will hold off on prosecuting marijuana-related offenses in states allowing medical marijuana use, many users of the medicinal plant can take a smoke-filled sigh of relief. Medical marijuana is currently allowed in some form or another in 14 states.

In our own city of Portland, The Oregonian reports that two smoking lounges will open up for medical marijuana users. Of course, patrons must be medical marijuana cardholders, and also a member of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Many issues arise. How can we smoke marijuana in these lounges when we can’t smoke cigarettes at other lounges? Does a lounge promote recreational use rather than medicinal? Don’t people have to drive to these lounges, where they can become impaired?

Write a letter to the editor here at the Vanguard and tell us your thoughts on the medical marijuana issue that spans not only our state, but the country as well. What do you think of medical marijuana, or marijuana in general? How do you think the matter should be handled? Let us know!

[palmspringsbum]

Police seize 200 pounds of pot, arrest five

The Oregonian | By Lynne Terry
November 05, 2009, 3:44PM


What started as a traffic stop ended with the seizure of 200 pounds of pot and the arrest of five people, including two who are authorized to grow medicinal marijuana, police said today.

The stop was made last Thursday on Interstate 5 at about 6 a.m. An Oregon State Police trooper pulled over a 2000 Honda Civic with Nevada license plates south of Ashland 12 for a traffic violation. With the aid of a sniffing dog, police found 1 pound of marijuana in the car.

The driver, a 46-year-old man, and passenger, a 49-year-old woman, said they bought it from growers of medicinal marijuana. They said they paid in cash and by helping to prune pot plants.

The two, who are from Nevada and were not identified, face drug charges.

At the grow site, on Wilderville Lane in Grants Pass, officers found a large operation and the 200 pounds of marijuana. They arrested Brenda Thomas, 43; Susan Bryant, 48; and Thomas Bletko, 50, on drug charges.

OSP said two of them are authorized growers under the Oregon medical marijuana program and said they had 13 patients. That would give them the right to possess 9.5 pounds of marijuana, OSP said. The two were not identified.

[palmspringsbum]

Portland will soon have two medical-marijuana smoking lounges

By Anne Saker, The Oregonian

November 03, 2009, 8:50PM


As of next week, Oregon's medical-marijuana patients will have two smoke-easies in Portland in which to medicate and socialize, the first such places in the country to open since the federal government indicated that it will no longer arrest or prosecute patients and suppliers.

On Nov. 13, the Cannabis Cafe will open on the first floor of 700 N.E. Dekum St., to be operated by the state's chapter of NORMLGS.41MARI104.jpgView full size, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Executive Director Madeline Martinez said the space has been a dream of hers for years.

"We're pretty danged excited about it," Martinez said.

The Cannabis Cafe will be the second public place for medical-marijuana patients to get together. On Oct. 1, Steve Geiger opened Highway 420, a small lounge at the back of his pipe shop at 6418 S.E. Foster Road.

"We've been kind of discreet about it. It's not something that we put out on a sign," Geiger said as he rang up customers Tuesday. "We've had great response in the neighborhood from people who are just happy they don't have to go all the way to 39th and Hawthorne" to buy pipes.

The pot lounges are the first of their kind in the nation, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the national NORML. California has dispensaries where medical marijuana can be purchased, but only Oregon will have public places where people can socialize and use marijuana.

On Oct. 19, Attorney General Eric Holder reversed years of practice by announcing that federal authorities will not pursue marijuana users in states with medical-marijuana programs. Geiger, of Highway 420, pointed out that Holder had been saying for months that he would drop marijuana prosecutions, so Geiger felt safe enough to open his lounge.

Martinez said the need for an Oregon community center for program participants became clear to her when she heard from patients from all over the state who came to Portland to visit a doctor or a hospital and had no place to medicate afterward.

"Do they go out into an alley and hide in the back of their car?" Martinez said. "There needs to be a place, much like our meetings are, where people can socialize and network."

<span class="postbold">Cardholders only</span>

The cafe will open Nov. 13 at 4:20 p.m. -- the time being a cheeky reference to a code term for marijuana. Then the cafe will operate from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. To enter, a person must be a member of Oregon NORML and hold a card from the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program as a patient, caregiver or grower.

The cafe, in a restaurant space called Rumpspankers, is an extension of the twice-monthly cardholder meetings that Oregon NORML has hosted for seven years, first at the Mount Tabor Theater and for the last year upstairs at the Northeast Dekum address, in the Village Ballroom.

Martinez said she does not know how many people would visit the cafe. But at least 300 people attend the twice-monthly meetings. As of Oct. 1, 23,873 Oregonians are registered medical-marijuana patients, and another 12,245 people are registered caregivers.

Portland Police Bureau spokeswoman Mary Wheat said Tuesday that the police have had no reported criminal activity associated with the twice-monthly meetings.

Martinez said volunteers will staff the cafe and people will be able to get donated medical marijuana.

<span class="postbold">On-site monitoring</span>

In Oregon, only patients with a qualifying debilitating medical condition -- chronic pain, cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, among others -- can participate in the medical marijuana program. Patients are not permitted to buy marijuana, but they can chip in on the growers' costs. While in the cafe, patients will be monitored and not permitted to leave for at least two hours after using.

"We don't want anyone to get too medicated," Martinez said.

Oregon NORML is structuring the cafe to avoid having money change hands anywhere, Martinez said. Before entering the cafe, a cardholder can buy a gift card of any denomination to buy coffee, food or other goods inside.

Oregon was the second state in the nation, after California, to create a medical-marijuana program, and now a dozen other states allow medical marijuana in some form: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

On Tuesday, Maine residents voted 59 percent to 41 percent to approve changing the state's medical marijuana law, expanding the conditions under which people can be prescribed marijuana and allowing for marijuana dispensaries.

New Mexico already allows licensed dispensaries; Rhode Island is considering it. In 2010, Nevada voters will for a third time consider whether to simply legalize marijuana altogether.

-- Anne Saker

[palmspringsbum]

Social medication

<span class="postbigbold">Medical marijuana social clubs are a joke</span>

By Natalia Grozina
The Daily Vanguard
Published: Friday, November 13, 2009


Oregonians have always held the stereotype that they smoke more marijuana than in other states—that we are hippies, that we are all vegans or even that we might not have running water. Oregon often seems to be misjudged. But some recent news, sadly, reinforces some of the aforementioned stereotypes.

“As of next week, Oregon’s medical-marijuana patients will have two smoke-easies in Portland in which to medicate and socialize, the first such places in the country to open since the federal government indicated that it will no longer arrest or prosecute patients and suppliers,” according to an article in The Oregonian from Nov. 3.

Managed by Oregon’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the Cannabis Café will open in Northeast Portland on Nov. 13. It will be the second cafe of its kind after Club 420 opened early last month.

After reading this I was shocked. We can’t smoke cigarettes in a bar, but we can have lounges in which to smoke pot freely? Apparently, all people in the world can now label us as a “wacky state”—Amsterdam included.

What’s even worse is Madeline Martinez, executive director of NORML, saying the following quote in The Oregonian’s article about medical-marijuana cardholders.

“Do they go out into an alley and hide in the back of their car?” Martinez asked. “There needs to be a place, much like our meetings are, where people can socialize and network.”

And “network?” I can see crime rates go up as I am writing this article. It doesn’t help with the obesity rate either. Cannabis Café may not be selling marijuana but I am certain it sells the munchies. Besides, who is going to monitor these lounges so that other drugs don’t slip into them? The next thing we know there will be bongs for crack and glow sticks galore, all while we’re thinking diabetics are smoking “medical” marijuana. Yeah, right.

I don’t get the social aspect of it either. Are you that lonely that you must create a group to take medication together? Do you get together to take insulin too? If so, you might have social problems too, not just medical ones.

Perhaps that was harsh, but what I am trying to stress is that taking medications is supposed to be boring. I’ve never heard of it being something that should be a shared experience. But perhaps the 21st century demands that we must be over taking medication in the privacy of our own home. Now we have to pop pills together.

More so, if you read some of the comments that were posted online after the article, you get things like from “fixin2” who “clues” us on the fact that he smokes daily to help with pain. Yet I am sure that those who really do have medical marijuana cards for a legitimate reason don’t say things like “It’s 420. Hit it!!”