MEDICAL MARIJUANA

To the editor:

Strange things are done under the midnight sun. An example: the ad
campaign by Alaskans for Marijuana Regulation and Control.

Their claim was the Alaska medicinal cannabis law was not working.
Part of the blame can be placed on the shoulders of the leadership in
the 1998 medical cannabis movement and not just the Alaska
Legislature.

The concepts now cited as problems areas were actually in the original
petition text.

Such as:

Section AS 17.35.010 of the initiative texts sets up the list and ID
card system.

Section AS 17.35.020 of the initiative text sets limits on the amounts
of medicinal cannabis that can be grown.

Section AS 17.35.070 (g) of the initiative text defined who a primary
care giver is.

Sections AS 17.35.030 and AS 17.35.070 of the initiative text gave
limits of who would qualify for the program.

I spent months debating these matters with the authors of the
initiative text. I felt it gave too many areas for "monkey business"
for either politicians or bureaucrats. A stripped down version of my
arguments went all the way to the Alaska Supreme Court. The initiative
sponsors had their own lawyers jump in to defend the text of the measure.

The initiative sponsor's attorney stayed in the fight even after the
proposed initiative became law. Did they feel that they had to teach
this penniless pro se a lesson in what happens to those who mess with
the powers that be?

There are things I could have done better. Still, I felt I had to do
something, I felt that key issues were at stake, i.e., the right to
fight for your life and well-being by all means possible.

Had the initiative sponsors helped instead of fought me, would the
effectiveness of the medical cannabis law be an issue now? Does the
leadership of the Measure 2 still suffer from selective memory loss?

Charles Rollins

North Pole