LETTER OF THE WEEK

TAX DOLLARS BEING USED TO DEFY LAW

By Jon Palmer

My health and my ability to lead a normal life are in danger - from
my local police. Worse, they've disregarded state law in order to do it.

Allow me to explain:

Living in constant pain has become a way of life for me. I was born
with a rare genetic blood disorder called Factor V Leiden
thrombophilia. The condition is life-threatening and causes
spontaneous blood clotting throughout every blood vessel in my body.
The clots lead to acute and severe pain in my extremities.

The agony is so unbearable that at times I can't walk.

In order to manage this disease, I take 245 prescription pills each
week - including morphine to ease the pain. The side effects of my
pain-management regimen made living a semi-normal life impossible.
Besides the mental haze the high-dose morphine had me in, it caused
constant nausea - until one of my physicians suggested I try medical marijuana.

The medical marijuana eased my pain without any adverse side effects
and allowed me to significantly reduce my morphine dosage.
Fortunately, California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, and
10 years later, Kern County enacted an ordinance allowing regulated
medical-marijuana facilities just outside my hometown of Bakersfield.

I came to rely on Nature's Medicinal - one of the local
medical-marijuana collectives - as a clean, legitimate source for my
medicine. Most importantly, I felt safe there. After all, these
facilities were legal under state law, regulated by the county and
licensed by the Sheriff's Department.

I have always been aware that federal law treats medical-marijuana
patients like common criminals, but assumed that local law
enforcement officials would respect the state laws that allow me to
treat my pain in accordance with my doctor's advice. Sadly, I was mistaken.

Last May, Bakersfield police officers and Kern County sheriff's
deputies participated in a federal Drug Enforcement Administration
raid on Nature's Medicinal. They arrested my caregivers for
violations of federal drug laws, disregarding the fact that they were
operating in compliance with state and local law.

Shortly after the raid, other caregivers in the area ceased
operations for fear that they too would suffer the same fate. Faced
with the prospect of having to immediately double my morphine dosage
and take to the streets to find my medicine, I was devastated.

The most outrageous part of the ordeal is that local officials used
state and municipal tax dollars to arrest these individuals who were
in full compliance with state and municipal laws.

Perhaps the local officers were not sure whether their job was to
enforce state or federal law. If that was the case, fortunately the
Fourth District Court of Appeals has provided some pretty specific
guidance. Last November, the court unanimously ruled, "it is not the
job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws."

But federal officials seemingly don't like the fact that the voters
and the Legislature have decided to protect medical-marijuana
patients and caregivers from state prosecution and want to circumvent
those laws. Whatever the reason for their actions, it is clear that
voters in California never intended to pass a medical-marijuana law
and then allow their tax dollars to be used to undermine it.

Fortunately, there is a bill pending in the state Assembly that would
provide clear direction to state and local law enforcement in this
matter. AB 2743, by Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, D-San Diego, would
make it official policy that state and local law enforcement are not
to willfully assist in federal attempts to lock up patients and
providers who are acting in accordance with state law.

Hopefully the Legislature will approve this sensible legislation
before more patients like me are forced into the streets to obtain
their medicine. Our votes don't count for much if our tax dollars
can be used to thwart the very laws we enact.

Jon Palmer

Jon Palmer writes from Bakersfield.

Pubdate: Mon, 16 Jun 2008

Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)