RAMSEY SKEPTICAL OF NEW MED-POT GUIDELINES
by Ginger McGuire, (Source:Chico News & Review)
04 Sep 2008
California
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DA Doesn't Believe They Will Do Much to Stop Illegal Activity
Last week state Attorney General Jerry Brown issued new guidelines
clarifying California's medical-marijuana laws, but Butte County
District Attorney Mike Ramsey is skeptical. The guidelines won't do
much to deter illegal drug activity, he said.
The guidelines are the first attempt by a state agency to define the
types of organizations that are legally permitted to dispense
marijuana, according to a press release. They specify that only
medicinal collectives and cooperatives may sell the herb, and only
among their own members. The collectives cannot be operated for
profit, may not purchase marijuana from unlawful sources and must have
a defined organizational structure that includes detailed records
proving that users are legitimate patients.
A major component of the guidelines is their contention that
storefront dispensaries that sell to anyone with a doctor's
recommendation are illegal because they don't fit the definition of a
collective.
That guideline, Ramsey said, is "great" because other district
attorneys have "felt they are probably illegal" but didn't enforce any
state laws to close the operations down.
"California voters approved an initiative legalizing medical
marijuana, not street drugs," Brown said in a press release.
"Marijuana intended for medicinal use should not be sold to
nonpatients or on illicit markets."
Brown said these guidelines will help law enforcement agencies perform
their duties in accordance with California law and help patients
understand their rights under Proposition 215. Law enforcement
agencies had requested the guidelines in response to the belief that
individuals and cartels, under the cover of Proposition 215, have
expanded illegal cultivation and sales of marijuana.
"It's a nice summary of what the law is," Ramsey said. "Will it
change those folks who want to use marijuana for illicit trafficking?
Probably not."
However, Americans for Safe Access attorney Joe Elford said in a press
release that compliance with these guidelines will result in fewer
unnecessary arrests, citations and seizures of medicine from qualified
patients and their primary caregivers. The state has more than
200,000 doctor-qualified medical-cannabis users, according to the
group.
California voters approved Proposition 215, which exempts patients and
their primary caregivers from criminal liability under state law for
the possession and cultivation of marijuana, in 1996. In 2004, the
Legislature enacted the Medical Marijuana Program Act, which
established a voluntary statewide identification-card system, specific
limits on the amount of medicinal marijuana each cardholder could
possess and rules for cultivation by collectives and cooperatives.
Still, Ramsey said Proposition 215 was and still is "a very confusing
law ... purposefully written to be vague and confusing." He said
that, since Proposition 215 passed, high school statistics show an
increase in smoking marijuana or an increase in having access to
marijuana--a diversion from medical marijuana.
Although the guidelines were issued not necessarily to deter illicit
behavior, but to clear up the confusion associated with Proposition
215, Ramsey believes those who illegally smoke or cultivate will just
try that much harder to "fit in" with the guidelines.
A re****t titled Marijuana Production in the United States, by drug-
policy researcher Jon Gettman, estimated that in 2006 more than 21
million pot plants were grown in California at a street value of up to
$14 billion. That would make it the largest agricultural industry in
the state.
Ramsey said he is in full sup****t of 215 for "the purposes it was
intended for--folks who are seriously ill.
"However, I find a lot of folks use it as an excuse to smoke dope," he
continued. "Obviously, some of the medical reasons that are given are
a bit laughable." He said he has seen recommendations for marijuana to
cure alcoholism, "shortened-leg syndrome" ( one leg shorter than the
other ) and stress caused by the fear that police would confiscate
marijuana being grown illegally. The most popular reason is a bad
back, Ramsey continued.
He said some people don't want any limits at all, and he sees problems
with violence and increased robberies with "people that trade in large
quantities of marijuana" who may be attempting to illegally use or
cultivate it "saying it is medical marijuana."
Typically, the small growers who may have some plants growing indoors
or in a back yard are usually not a problem, he continued.
With these guidelines in place, Ramsey said he would like to see a
double-blind scientific study to evaluate whether marijuana is really
useful medicinally, rather than the anecdotal evidence that has been
inconclusive--the study Ramsey says was promised when Proposition 215
was passed.
If marijuana is proved to be truly effective, Ramsey said he would
like to see it rescheduled from a Schedule 1 drug, the most tightly
restricted type of drug, to a Schedule 2 drug that can be prescribed
and controlled.
See www.buttecounty.net/da for a description of the medicinal
marijuana guidelines specific to Butte County. To view the state
guidelines, go to www.ag.ca.gov.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
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Pubdate: Thu, 4 Sep 2008
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2008 Chico Community Publi****ng, Inc.
Contact: chicoletters@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.newsreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Ginger McGuire
Cited: District Attorney Mike Ramsey http://www.buttecounty.net/da/
Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org/
Referenced: The Attorney General's guidelines
http://drugsense.org/url/kKMJ=
R2lu
Referenced: Marijuana Production in the United States
http://www.drugscience.org/bcr/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Jerry+Brown
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Proposition+215
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115
(Marijuana - California)
Sup****t NORML
=A9 2006 NORML
NORML and the NORML Foundation: 1600 K Street NW, Suite 501,
Wa****ngton DC, 20006-2832
Tel: (202) 483-5500 =95 Fax: (202) 483-0057 =95 Email: norml@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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