MEDICINAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS' LOST JUSTICE

The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning in February,
2000 when researchers in Madrid, Spain announced they had destroyed
incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the most
psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Curing cancer with THC might seem hard to believe, but the Madrid
study wasn't the first time that THC had successfully dissolved tumors
in mice; the first was a U.S. investigation 30 years ago.

In 1974, researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been
funded by the National Institute of Health to find evidence that
marijuana damages the immune system, found instead that THC slowed the
growth of three kinds of cancer in mice -- lung and breast cancer, and
a virus-induced leukemia. Since then, dozens of other peer-reviewed
scientific studies have confirmed that THC and other canabinoids
shrink tumors, cut off their blood supply and program cancer cells to
die.

Because news of such advances in our understanding of medical
marijuana has been suppressed, serious opposition still exists within
the law enforcement community. They claim that the Compassionate Use
Act of 1996 was some sort of hoax, or worse, not a law to be obeyed
because federal marijuana laws trump state laws.

As a result, seven years after voters approved Prop. 215, sick,
disabled and dying people are still being arrested, jailed, exposed to
opportunistic infections, indicted, humiliated, bankrupted and worse,
simply because an ideology of Zero Tolerance has deprived medical
marijuana patients not only of justice but of life itself.

Contrary to assertions by police and U.S. officials, federal law does
not trump state medical marijuana laws, according to the 9th Circuit
Court decision on December 16, 2003. In that decision, the Court found
that "the appellants have demonstrated a strong likelihood of success
on their claim that, as applied to them, the CSA [Controlled
Substances Act of 1970] is an unconstitutional exercise of Congress'
Commerce Clause authority."

In the case of County of Santa Cruz et al. v. Ashcroft, U.S. District
Judge Jeremy Fogel issued a temporary injunction barring the federal
government from raiding the marijuana gardens of the Wo/Men's Alliance
for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM.

The ruling allows the collective to resume cultivation free from the
fear of further federal prosecution. This comes 18 months after a Drug
Enforcement Administration raid on WAMM in Santa Cruz, and a year
after the collective's members filed suit against the federal
government to stop the law enforcement harassment.

Both the Raich and WAMM cases have been appealed by Attorney General
Ashcroft and a decision by the US Supreme Court is expected early next
winter

In 2002, the California Supreme Court, in People v. Mower, ruled that
the only quantity limit or requirement in California's medical
marijuana law is that a patient is not limited in how much marijuana
they possess, so long as it is "for personal medical use."

Most narcotics officers claim that more than a few ounces of marijuana
per month would be "too much for personal use." In contrast, the U.S.
government allows their legally licensed patients to consume a pound
per month. In Canada, patients such as myself are licensed to grow and
consume up to two pounds per month.

Law enforcement refuses to accept these levels of medical usage, but
patients can and do consume these amounts of cannabis and still lead
productive lives. Indeed, many need it to be able to live at all.

If respect for the law is to mean anything in our society, our elected
officials must set aside their Zero Tolerance ideology and uphold
California's medical marijuana law -- exactly as it was written and
passed by the people of California.

It wasn't difficult for the voters to understand medical marijuana,
they voted by a whopping 56 percent to 44 percent to pass the law.
Juries don't seem to have a problem understanding medical marijuana
either. Only police, prosecutors, and politicians seem to have
difficulty comprehending that medical marijuana is real and it is the
law.

Medical marijuana patients need real justice. They need police and
prosecutors who will respect their rights, their dignity and protect
them from real criminals.

Steve Kubby, who lives in British Columbia, played a key role in the
Proposition 215 campaign in 1996 and was the 1996 Libertarian Party
nominee for California governor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------(fontfamily)(param)Arial(/param)URL:
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Pubdate: Thursday, July 22, 2004

Source: Auburn Journal (CA)

Copyright: 2004 Auburn Journal

Contact:
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Website:
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Details:
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Author: Steve Kubby, guest columnist

Bookmark:
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(Kubby, Steve)

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS' LOST JUSTICE

By Steve Kubby, guest columnist

The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning in February,
2000 when researchers in Madrid, Spain announced they had destroyed
incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the most
psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Curing cancer with THC might seem hard to believe, but the Madrid
study wasn't the first time that THC had successfully dissolved tumors
in mice; the first was a U.S. investigation 30 years ago.

In 1974, researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been
funded by the National Institute of Health to find evidence that
marijuana damages the immune system, found instead that THC slowed the
growth of three kinds of cancer in mice -- lung and breast cancer, and
a virus-induced leukemia. Since then, dozens of other peer-reviewed
scientific studies have confirmed that THC and other canabinoids
shrink tumors, cut off their blood supply and program cancer cells to
die.

Because news of such advances in our understanding of medical
marijuana has been suppressed, serious opposition still exists within
the law enforcement community. They claim that the Compassionate Use
Act of 1996 was some sort of hoax, or worse, not a law to be obeyed
because federal marijuana laws trump state laws.

As a result, seven years after voters approved Prop. 215, sick,
disabled and dying people are still being arrested, jailed, exposed to
opportunistic infections, indicted, humiliated, bankrupted and worse,
simply because an ideology of Zero Tolerance has deprived medical
marijuana patients not only of justice but of life itself.

Contrary to assertions by police and U.S. officials, federal law does
not trump state medical marijuana laws, according to the 9th Circuit
Court decision on December 16, 2003. In that decision, the Court found
that "the appellants have demonstrated a strong likelihood of success
on their claim that, as applied to them, the CSA [Controlled
Substances Act of 1970] is an unconstitutional exercise of Congress'
Commerce Clause authority."

In the case of County of Santa Cruz et al. v. Ashcroft, U.S. District
Judge Jeremy Fogel issued a temporary injunction barring the federal
government from raiding the marijuana gardens of the Wo/Men's Alliance
for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM.

The ruling allows the collective to resume cultivation free from the
fear of further federal prosecution. This comes 18 months after a Drug
Enforcement Administration raid on WAMM in Santa Cruz, and a year
after the collective's members filed suit against the federal
government to stop the law enforcement harassment.

Both the Raich and WAMM cases have been appealed by Attorney General
Ashcroft and a decision by the US Supreme Court is expected early next
winter

In 2002, the California Supreme Court, in People v. Mower, ruled that
the only quantity limit or requirement in California's medical
marijuana law is that a patient is not limited in how much marijuana
they possess, so long as it is "for personal medical use."

Most narcotics officers claim that more than a few ounces of marijuana
per month would be "too much for personal use." In contrast, the U.S.
government allows their legally licensed patients to consume a pound
per month. In Canada, patients such as myself are licensed to grow and
consume up to two pounds per month.

Law enforcement refuses to accept these levels of medical usage, but
patients can and do consume these amounts of cannabis and still lead
productive lives. Indeed, many need it to be able to live at all.

If respect for the law is to mean anything in our society, our elected
officials must set aside their Zero Tolerance ideology and uphold
California's medical marijuana law -- exactly as it was written and
passed by the people of California.

It wasn't difficult for the voters to understand medical marijuana,
they voted by a whopping 56 percent to 44 percent to pass the law.
Juries don't seem to have a problem understanding medical marijuana
either. Only police, prosecutors, and politicians seem to have
difficulty comprehending that medical marijuana is real and it is the
law.

Medical marijuana patients need real justice. They need police and
prosecutors who will respect their rights, their dignity and protect
them from real criminals.