215 ten year BLOWOUT

Babbabud said:

what are the dates for this ??

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Medical pot advocates celebrate Prop. 215

by Heather Cassell
Published 11/02/2006
The Bay Area Reporter Online

Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Issue: Vol. 36 / No. 44 / 2 November 2006

http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1298

Dennis Peron, shown being greeted by David Nash at his birthday party in
April 2000, will be on hand at this weekend's 10-year anniversary of the
passage of Proposition 215. Photo: Rick Gerharter

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the passage of Proposition 215,
the Compassionate Care Act, which received 56 percent of California
voters' support in 1996. Since that time, 10 other states have passed
similar laws, and support for medical cannabis is growing, according to
a report by the Marijuana Policy Project.

The report, "Proposition 215: Ten Years Later," finds that legalization
of medical marijuana is overwhelmingly supported by the public, but
continues to face significant opposition from the federal government,
despite the fact that 11 states, including California, passed medical
marijuana legislation during the last decade. South Dakota has an
initiative on the November ballot and if passed will make it the 12th
state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes.

"It's a kind of bittersweet anniversary," said Supervisor Tom Ammiano,
who is working on legislation that will be presented to the board's city
operations committee on November 6 to make possession of medical
marijuana a low priority for arrests in San Francisco. "We still
encounter 10 years later the same blind prejudice."

"There's been a lack of leadership from our California elected officials
on this," said Bruce Mirken, director of communications of the Marijuana
Policy Project. "[Senator Dianne] Feinstein was actively opposed and
sort of has moved to neutral over the years. [Senator Barbara] Boxer,
despite pleas from patients, has been continually missing in action, not
overtly working against it, but not being helpful with our ongoing
problems with the feds."

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) is the only elected
official in Congress who consistently supports marijuana laws for
medical use and the protection of patients. She has defended Proposition
215 and other legislation supporting medical marijuana as well as
patient rights to safely acquire and possess marijuana on the House
floor on four separate occasions.

Dennis Peron, who wrote Proposition 215 as a eulogy for his deceased
partner, Jonathan, and for patients suffering from life-threatening
diseases who use marijuana for medical purposes, said that after 10
years, "A lot of people are getting medical marijuana and are not going
to jail. I wrote it so sick people wouldn't have to be hassled, go to
jail and have to hire lawyers when they're ill."

"It's made it possible for sick people to obtain relief better than they
used to. They haven't had to be paranoid about being arrested. They
don't have to go to the park to buy marijuana any longer; they can go to
a safe dispensary," stated Terence Hallinan, former district attorney.

Despite the legal status of Proposition 215 in California, using
marijuana for medical purposes remains in a complex paradigm between
federal, state, and local laws depending mostly on law enforcement
attitudes toward cannabis. Patients are often caught in the middle.

In an attempt to assist law enforcement with identifying valid patients
of medical marijuana, California developed the Medical Marijuana Program
to issue identification cards to patients who have proper prescriptions
for medical cannabis. In January, San Francisco implemented the state
program through the Department of Public Health at San Francisco General
Hospital. Since January, 2,500 cards have been issued. Prior to that,
the city had its own medical marijuana ID card, which has now been
incorporated into the state program.

According to Dr. Joshua Bamberger, medical director of the health
department's Housing and Urban Health program and adviser to the state,
"The main objective of the card program is to identify medical marijuana
users to peace officers, police departments, sheriffs, and so forth so
if someone is carrying marijuana for medical purposes the police might
be less likely to arrest them for possession," he said.

He added that law enforcement officials, however, may make their own
determination whether to arrest someone. Right now, he added, he
believes the program is working well in San Francisco.

While some activists are surprised that 10 years later with increased
public support and scientific knowledge about the benefits of medical
marijuana more progress hasn't been made, Peron isn't. "I'm not
surprised that it has taken this long, but I'm also optimistic that it
will happen and I know it will happen in my lifetime."

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Proposition 215, a party is
being held on Saturday, November 4, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the LGBT
Community Center, 1800 Market Street in San Francisco. For more
information contact Wayne Justmann at (415) 441-3859.

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minds_I said:

Hello all,

I am a med patient and I have to say that the bolded statement above begs the question of the legitimacy of medical mj.

After all, people do not get together for a trippy night of crestor taking or prozac.

I am not trying to be an ass- it just smacks in the face of common sense.

minds_I

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scrappy420 said:

God bless that city.

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