medical marijuana

[traveler]

Does anyone,besides me, think that it is wrong for the federal government to prosecute(persecute) people who have a legitimate medical need and prescription for marijuana in states where medical marijuana has been 'legalized'?It is beyond reason that this crap is still being tolerated by the citizens of this country.I know that this is a never ending discussion,but,please.How can it be okay to consume alcohol and tobacco and not cannabis?It is insane and so frustrating.I have been to Europe and it is not a big deal there.I am aware of all the 'reasons' for its illegality in the first place,but we are supposed to be a bit more enlightened now.The FDA approves drugs for use these days that have side-effects that are worse than the illnesses they are supposed to treat(I know form experience)Not to mention that no one knows what the long term effects of these 'meds' will have on the human body.Is it ever going to end?How in the hell can educated people be so ignorant?The drug war has not been a very big success,nor will it ever be.On top of that,there are terminally ill people who have to suffer needlessly through the remainder of there lives,because doctors wont prescribe proper pain medication.They are afraid the DEA will cause their licenses' to be revoked.Lord knows,we would not want  dying people to become addicted to painkillers before they die.How stupid can anyone possibly be for this to seem reasonable?Anyone with any thoughts?Just needed to vent after todays supreme court decision.

[AlanM]

Think you'll find a lot of agreement from the folks here, traveller.
And welcome to the Underground! 

[KBCraig]

Does anyone,besides me, think that it is wrong for the federal government to prosecute(persecute) people who have a legitimate medical need and prescription for marijuana in states where medical marijuana has been 'legalized'?

No.  No one at all. 

Welcome to the Underground, where we'd never dream of disagreeing with the official government version of How Things Must Be. 

Kevin

[Kat Kanning]

Welcome Traveler!

My father is a person who could be helped by medical marijuana.  He's in constant pain and has no appetite.  He doesn't do it out of fear of the government.  This ruling sucked in so many ways!

How can those $%^$ers on the Supreme Court read the Constitution and come up with "Federal law supercedes State Law" on something the constitution doesn't give the Feds the right to regulate??     The constitution is truly dead.  It is not controlling government one bit.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Alcohol and cigarettes can't be far off....

They will never make cigs and alcohol ilegal.? They get too much tax money from their sale. There is also a lot of alcohol use by members of congress.

Americans are never going to get upset about this, because, most of them have no interest in Pot, and, even more have been educated to believe that states get their rights from the federal government.

The states that have legalized med pot will not fight this, because they are afraid of loosing 1000 different types of funding from the feds.

The only way any of this will ever change is when a Free State has all of its citizens put all federal taxes in an escrow fund and hold them until the feds start operating in a Constitutional manner, and allow it's citizens to ignore, arbitrary federal law, and protect them from the feds.

This is why we should consentrate on freeing a state and spend less time trying to change federal stuff.

[danhynes]

I agree with LLoyd. And actually if you look at it his way, it can be beneficial when the fed government keeps getting bigger until it gets to a point where people will refuse to take it and hopefully move to a  free state.

[Kat Kanning]

Feds Target Calif. Marijuana Dispensaries

By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 23, 4:35 AM ET

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Federal drug agents launched a wide-ranging crackdown on medical marijuana providers in northern California, raiding pot clubs, homes and businesses in San Francisco and arresting a husband and wife in Sacramento.

Officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. attorney's office would not say how many people were arrested or give other details, pending a news conference Thursday.

An attorney for the Sacramento couple said he believed Wednesday's arrests and sweep may have been prompted by the
U.S. Supreme Court's medical marijuana ruling two weeks ago. The high court said federal law prohibiting the sale and distribution of narcotics supersedes state medical marijuana laws.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown in Sacramento said the Supreme Court ruling "lays to rest any question whether federal authorities have jurisdiction."

California is one of 10 states that allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

In San Francisco, drug agents conducted searches of three pot clubs and more than 20 homes and businesses Wednesday, capping a more than two-year investigation into an alleged marijuana trafficking ring.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that at least 13 people were arrested as part of an alleged organized crime operation that used the clubs as a front to launder money.

In Sacramento, Dr. Marion Fry, 48, and her husband, attorney Dale C. Schafer, 50, were arrested on a sealed indictment handed down a week ago. It charged them with conspiracy to grow and distribute marijuana between August 1999 and September 2001 from their storefront California Medical Research Center in Cool, a Sierra foothill community northeast of Sacramento.

"Marijuana was legal in this part of the United States until this month, so any attempt to hold them as serious criminals would have been, I think, inappropriate," said their attorney, Laurence Lichter. "They are charged with violating the old marijuana laws, which are now back in effect, and I'm hoping that the jury will see ... that Dr. Fry was acting as a physician."

Law enforcement officials in Sacramento and San Francisco said the actions were unrelated and were part of independent, long-running investigations.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer supports the state's medical marijuana law, but his Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement was involved in the San Francisco investigation, spokeswoman Teresa Schilling said.

"It's more than medical marijuana. This was an illegal marijuana operation," she said.

Gordon Taylor, the assistant special agent in charge of the Sacramento DEA office, said the indictment states the couple was growing more than 100 plants during the period in question.

Both were freed without posting bond after an initial court hearing Wednesday.

In September 2001, the DEA seized 28 filing cabinets full of patient records from the Medical Research Center, which doubled as Fry's doctor's office. That raid triggered a legal battle over patient privacy.

The DEA ended Fry's registration to dispense controlled substances in December 2002 based on the investigation, but no charges were filed until the indictments last week.

[Michael Fisher]

The Fed is insanely trampling on a state's laws.  This is great news if those involved refuse to cooperate with federal demands and continue to openly defy them regardless of the consequences.

But if they give in, then all is lost.

[KBCraig]

This is one of those areas where government concentrated at the right level can be part of the solution: a ballsy sheriff deputizing a large posse, and arresting every federal agent who participates in one of these raids.

Kevin