Medical Marijuana Update: New Threat to California Access; Activist Peron Qualifies for Governor's Race; New Scientist Ba
New Threat to California Patients' Access
Thousands of patients who urgently need marijuana for major medical problems are again facing a possible cutoff of their supplies from the buyers' clubs. The immediate problem is that on February 25 the California Supreme Court refused to review a decision of a California appeals court against the clubs. In December the appeals court had ruled on a 2-1 vote that a patient cannot designate a club as "primary caregiver" under Proposition 215, the voter-approved initiative to allow medical marijuana under California law. This ruling occurred in the case of a single club--the Cannabis Cultivators Club run by Dennis Peron--but has now become binding on lower courts throughout California. There are about 20 marijuana buyers' clubs in the state, and all are now seriously threatened.
The appeals court decision means that patients can legally obtain marijuana only by growing it themselves, or having their primary caregiver grow it for them; they can reimburse their caregiver for expenses. There is no legal way to obtain the seeds, however. And there are thousands of patients with wasting syndrome, or using chemotherapy, or with other serious conditions, who could not wait for the six months required to grow a flowering plant. Many could not grow their own due to their health status, or their living situation, due to the threat of eviction or arrest. In much of California police routinely arrest and charge patients for growing marijuana, despite medical documentation, following instructions from California Attorney General Dan Lungren, the major opponent of medical marijuana in the state.
The patients affected are those for whom no other treatment has worked, since doctors have been threatened and are unlikely to provide medical documentation unless there is no workable alternative. While it may seem easy to obtain marijuana illegally for recreational use, patients who need it medically are usually not part of that culture, and may be unable to find someone who would risk felony charges by providing it to them.
No one knows what will happen. The Cannabis Cultivators Club has said it will remain open, not to sell marijuana but to provide help in cultivation; it could face a raid or a civil injunction. There is widespread concern that closing the remaining clubs will create a medical emergency, as patients who urgently need the drug are forced to seek it from the worst source of supply, strangers on the street.
Meanwhile, Peron and five other cannabis clubs filed a legal brief responding to separate Federal action against them. The 34-page brief, submitted on February 27, is available at http://www.marijuana.org. (Several legal filings and court decisions on this Web site are useful for journalists and others seeking background on these issues.)
See also The New York Times, "Moving to Semantical High Ground: California Marijuana Club Stands Firm Against Court Rulings," March 1, 1998, page 14 of the national edition. On the human impact, see the San Francisco Examiner, "Wracked by Pain, but Defiant," March 3, 1998, page 1.
Peron Qualifies As Republican Candidate for Governor
Marijuana activist Dennis Peron has officially qualified as a candidate for governor of California, running against California Attorney General Dan Lungren in the Republican primary in June. This election will be the first one under California's new "open primary" system--meaning that any voter can vote in the Republican primary, even if they are registered Democrats or in other parties, or are independent (they can vote in only one party's primary, however). Peron could obtain a significant vote as a protest against Lungren.
For bumper stickers ("Hope, Empowerment, Compassion--For A Better World"), buttons, literature, and other material, contact the Peron for Governor campaign, 415-621-3986, or see http://www.marijuana.org.
New Scientist Publishes Major Marijuana Report, Exposes Suppression of WHO Study Findings
"Marijuana Special Report," published February 21 in New Scientist, includes 10 articles on marijuana. This report, a backgrounder not focused on medical use, is available at http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/drugs-alcohol/.
One of the articles, "High Anxieties: What the WHO Doesn't Want You to Know About Cannabis," revealed that a major World Health Organization report on marijuana, published last December, was supposed to contain an analysis showing that this drug is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. This section was excluded after pressure from drug-war officials in the U.S. and the UN.
The suppressed analysis, which compared different kinds of harm caused by the different drugs, stated that the comparisons were "not to promote one drug over another but rather to minimize the double standards that have operated in appraising the health effects of cannabis." We do not know if the censored text has become public.
Apparently no U.S. newspaper reported this story, although it was carried in Reuters and published in newspapers elsewhere.
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