Handling and Reporting Of
Medical Marijuana Issue In Berkeley
Gives Insight Into How Marijuana Prohibition Really Works -- 4 Items
(Marijuananews note: The following items offer
an interesting insight into the workings of international prohibitionism. Background:
The supporters of medical marijuana and more humane marijuana laws on the Berkeley City
Counsel prepared a bill called the "Kinder Safer Streets Act of 1999" to get
Berkeley to catch up with its Bay Area neighbors in its marijuana policies. The City
Counsel submitted it to the City Manager for comments, which he seemed to get exclusively
from the police.
This did not please the Counsel, but it did please the prohibitionists. The Counsel
responded to the City Manager by creating a three person committee, at least two of whom
are pro-medical marijuana, to move the issue forward.
The first article below is from the excellent UC Berkeley campus paper. [The
"grown-up" papers in the area seem to have ignored this.] Then there is a short
item from the City’s website describing the counsel’s actions. Read the fine
print: They are on our side.
Finally, there are two articles that give a great insight into international
prohibitionism.
I had heard about the Kinder Safer Streets Act of 1999 from friends in the Bay area,
but – believe it or not – the first I read about it was from Hassela, the
Swedish prohibitionist propaganda site.
For another example of their views See
Swedish
Prohibitionists Say That World Health Organization
Will Launch Global Propaganda Campaign
Against "'Medical Excuse Marijuana' Deception"
There is also another article from the UC Berkeley paper about the local
prohibitionists, just so you can know that this is real.
All of this demonstrates two points.
First – incredibly -- the city government in one of the most "liberal"
places in the country is controlled by a prohibitionist city manager and a former nark
police chief. Prop 215 passed in Berkeley with 85% of the votes, an astonishing margin,
but the City Manager is more concerned about the police view than he is about the sick and
dying. There are medical marijuana clubs in other Bay Area cities and around the state,
but not in the "Peoples’ Republic of Berkeley."
Second, prohibitionism is an international ideology. Its adherents, like the
prohibitionist student leader at Berkeley, are perfectly sincere. And perfectly
delusional. The greatest advantage that we have over the prohibitionists is that we know
what they are saying, but they have to make up what they think that we must be saying,
since we are so depraved that we oppose arresting sick people.
The motto of this site: "Freedom has nothing to fear from the truth" is not
just a philosophy, it is a political reality.)
From The Daily Cal Staff Writer
By Ty Tosdal
opinion@dailycal.org
http://www.dailycal.org/
December 7, 1999
Page 1
Report Addresses Issues of Medicinal Marijuana Use
City manager responds to proposals
The Berkeley city manager issued a report Friday that outlines a series of problems
with proposals to relax constraints on medicinal marijuana use.
Council members Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington originally referred "The Kinder
and Safer Streets Act of 1999" to City Manager James Keene for review on June 22.
Written by Berkeley activists, the act proposes ways the city can
implement Proposition 215, the state measure that legalized the medicinal use of
marijuana. The document also suggests ways Berkeley law-enforcement officials should
handle enforcement of marijuana-related offenses, both for medicinal and recreational
reasons.
Councilmember Dona Spring amended the proposal to include items that would have eased
the operation of clubs providing medicinal marijuana.
But in his analysis of the proposed ordinance, Keene indicated that, on Sept. 29, the
city attorney decided all elements of the ordinance relating to non-medicinal use of
marijuana — particularly the regulation of law enforcement — are illegal.
Furthermore, Keene suggested in his report that moving forward with the ordinance and
supporting medicinal marijuana clubs would not be prudent because of legal constraints.
"(Medicinal marijuana clubs) have been ruled illegal under state law," he
wrote. "The status of medicinal marijuana clubs under federal law is unclear, but
will likely be resolved shortly. As such, it is premature to implement an ordinance
directly supporting such clubs."
The city manager’s report does mention the efforts of Berkeley
police Chief Dash Butler, who revised the Berkeley Police Department’s training
guidelines to allow qualified medicinal marijuana patients to grow up to five plants and
possess up to 1 pound at any time.
Although some residents have said five plants are not sufficient, the city manager
argued in his report that giving patients the right to possess additional marijuana would
be potentially dangerous.
"Allowing a greater number of plants and/or amount of marijuana at one time, even
considering the growing cycle, is not necessary for ‘personal use’ authorized by
Proposition 215," Keene stated. "A greater number of plants and/or amount also
creates a substantial risk that criminal activity such as illegal sales and theft of
marijuana and/or plants will occur, and may create attractive nuisances in backyards that
will disrupt neighborhoods."
But some city officials said yesterday that the city manager’s report reveals a
lack of expertise on the issue.
"What this displays is a profound lack of knowledge about
medicine and gardening," Worthington said. "If we do what the city manager is
proposing, we would be taking a step backward. We don’t want people getting arrested
for medical marijuana."
In spite of Keene’s report, which she says prescribes "nothing," Spring
said she is optimistic that the council will eventually move to help medicinal users
obtain marijuana.
"I think we will pass some of (the original ordinance)," Spring said.
"With 85 percent of the voters of Berkeley approving of Proposition 215, we have got
to follow the will of the voters. We can’t shrug this off."
From the Oakland City website:
42. Proposed Marijuana Ordinance (Kinder Safer Streets Act of 1999) (to be
delivered)
From: City Manager
Contact: Dash Butler, Police, 644-6568
Action: Moved, seconded, carried (Spring/Maio) to refer to the City Manager the
eight items in Councilmember Spring's report; formed a subcommittee of Councilmembers Spring and Worthington and Mayor Dean to work with staff on the
Ordinance for review by the subcommittee in January; to go on record
that Council supports Proposition 215; directed staff to investigate Oakland and San
Francisco ordinances regarding number of allowed marijuana plants; See
The
Connection Between The Federal Case And The Kubby Case:
The Oakland Model Is Based On The Federal Government’s Own Medical Marijuana Program;
Steve Kubby Based His Level Of Marijuana Cultivation On Oakland’s
Councilmember Armstrong amended to add for the record that the Council wants the City to
do all in its power to allow the chronically and terminally ill to get the medicinal
marijuana they need; and amended by Councilmember Worthington to add that it is the sense
of Council to discourage felony charges for possession of small quantities of marijuana,
that Council does not condone open-air sale of marijuana.
From The Hassela Nordic Network
http://www.hnnsweden.com/hnn_latestnews_main.htm
Press release December 7, 1999
Anti-drug group gives City Manager A+ for medical marijuana report
The Berkeley chapter of International Students in Action http://www.emory.edu/NFIA/about/students/aboutsia.html
- a large, student-run anti-drug coalition dedicated to reducing drug use on college
campuses and countering the drug legalization movement at the
university level - gave Berkeley City Manager James Keene’s report on medical
marijuana resounding support today, in a letter to the City Manager that was signed by
students.
The Berkeley chapter of International Students in Action, formerly Citizens for a
Drug-Free Berkeley, has lobbied the council for the past 3 years to approach medical
marijuana measures with caution. The report, released Friday, marked the first time that
the Berkeley City Manager recommended to the council that medical marijuana in Berkeley
not be followed through.
"It cannot be emphasized enough how gigantic a setback this is for drug
legalization advocates," exclaimed Kevin Sabet, President of International
Students in Action and twice elected Student senator at Berkeley. "At the same
time, it’s a time of celebration for those who think medicine should be determined by
science instead of anecdote, for those who know all drug use to be destructive, and for
those who correctly saw this medical marijuana measure as a wolf in sheep’s
clothing."
In March of 1999, the National Institute of Health’s Institute of Medicine released a
report stating that because smoked marijuana is a harsh delivery system, "…marijuana
should generally not be recommended for medical use." U.S. Attorney General Janet
Reno, Health Secretary Donna Shalala, and "Drug Czar" General Barry McCaffrey
have all explicitly denounced the medical and recreational use of marijuana.
Berkeley City Manager James Keene was commissioned by the Berkeley City Council on June 22nd
to offer recommendations to the council regarding the "Kinder and Safer Streets Act
of 1999," which Berkeley activists wrote to say that marijuana use recreational or
medicinal should be tolerated.
"The City Manager’s report, for the most part, is a courageous testament for
city policy that should be looked at seriously by the council, not discarded by those
pushing their own legalization agendas," Sabet said. "Medical
marijuana violates state and federal law,
See
Full Text of Proposition 215
Compassionate Use Act of 1996
and
California AG Lockyer
Asks Reno Not to Appeal Court Ruling Upholding Medical Necessity.
A Very Major Development!
ties the hands of law enforcement, See
Law
Enforcement Admits That Oregon Medical Marijuana Law
Not Causing Problems They Predicted – A Great Article
counteracts drug prevention efforts at the youth and adult levels, and - perhaps worst of
all -- gives AIDS and cancer patients the false impression that smoked marijuana is a
miracle drug. The science conclusively tells us it is not."
© Hassela Nordic Network "-a politically and religiously independent network for
international exchange of theoretical ideas and suggestions for practical action to
maintain a restrictive drugs policy and prevent the legalisation of illicit drugs."
December 8, 1999
From The Daily Californian
opinion@dailycal.org
http://www.dailycal.org/
ksabet@uclink4.berkeley.edu
CITY MANAGER'S MARIJUANA REPORT GAINS SUPPORT
A University of California-Berkeley student group that is working to diminish drug use on
college campuses gave the Berkeley city manager resounding support this week for his
report on medicinal marijuana use.
(Marijuananews note: They need to take a closer look if they think
that this organization is just trying to "diminish drug use on college
campuses." They are about much more than that.)
The Berkeley Chapter of International Students in Action http://www.emory.edu/NFIA/about/students/aboutsia.html
announced late Monday that it applauds City Manager James Keene for a report he wrote on
the various problems associated with implementing the proposed "Kinder and Safer
Streets Act of 1999." The measure, which was referred to Keene earlier this year,
recommended ways law enforcement officials should handle marijuana-related offenses and
outlined the steps that the city needed to take to implement Proposition 215, the state
measure that legalized the medicinal use of marijuana.
Kevin Sabet, the president of the anti-drug organization's Berkeley chapter, said in a
statement that medicinal marijuana needs to be approached with caution because authentication of the drug for medicinal use may lead to full legalization
for recreational purposes.
(Marijuananews note: Like morphine, barbituturates, cocaine,
amphetamine, etc?)
See
Is
medical marijuana just the opening wedge to legalize marijuana generally?
and
Isn't legalizing marijuana just the opening
wedge to legalizing all drugs?
"It cannot be emphasized enough how
gigantic a setback this is for drug legalization," Sabet said. (Marijuananews
note: Really?)
"At the same time, it is a time of celebration for
those who think medicine should be determined by science instead of anecdote, for those
who know all drug use to be destructive, and for those who correctly saw this medicinal
marijuana measure as a wolf in sheep's clothing."
See
The Party Line Versus
Reality On Medical Marijuana.
Prohibitionism Is Being Destroyed By Its Own Delusions.
Analysis By Richard Cowan and 1 Article
and links
Supporters of medicinal marijuana use, meanwhile, have said that the city manager's report
is not productive and does not address the appropriate issues.
"I was very disappointed (in the city manager's report),"
said Councilmember Dona Spring, who suffers from severe arthritis. "As a person
who has a chronic pain problem, it is just unacceptable."
See
New Study Shows How
Marijuana Eases Pain;
Will Someone Do A Study On How The Suppression of Medical Marijuana Causes Pain?
Copyright: 1999 The Daily Californian
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