--part0_892067193_boundary
Content-ID: <0_892067193(AT)inet_out.mail.aol.com.1>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
I donno bout this one, but sending it anyway. Maybe you can use it as a
liniment? LOL
--part0_892067193_boundary
Content-ID: <0_892067193(AT)inet_out.mail.aol.com.2>
Content-type: message/rfc822
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Content-disposition: inline
Return-Path: <scipin-l(AT)health.state.ny.us>
Received: from relay22.mx.aol.com (relay22.mail.aol.com [172.31.106.68]) by
air08.mail.aol.com (v40.19) with SMTP; Wed, 08 Apr 1998 16:24:20
-0400
Received: from gate1.health.state.ny.us (gate.health.state.ny.us
[192.135.176.62])
by relay22.mx.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0)
with SMTP id QAA01290;
Wed, 8 Apr 1998 16:23:38 -0400 (EDT)
Received: by gate1.health.state.ny.us id AA29779
(InterLock SMTP Gateway 3.0); Wed, 8 Apr 1998 16:18:52 -0400
Message-Id: <199804082018.AA29779(AT)gate1.health.state.ny.us>
Received: by gate1.health.state.ny.us (Internal Mail Agent-2);
Wed, 8 Apr 1998 16:18:52 -0400
Received: by gate1.health.state.ny.us (Internal Mail Agent-1);
Wed, 8 Apr 1998 16:18:52 -0400
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1998 16:18:20 -0400
Reply-To: Spinal Cord Injury Peer Net <scipin-l(AT)health.state.ny.us>
Sender: Spinal Cord Injury Peer Net <scipin-l(AT)health.state.ny.us>
From: Spinal Cord Injury Peer Net <scipin-l(AT)health.state.ny.us>
X-From: Maxim Bily <imax(AT)ODYSSEE.NET>
Subject: Don't Bar a Pain Killer OKd by Voters
X-To: Spinal Cord Injury <quad-list(AT)eskimo.com>,
Spinal Cord Injury Peer Net
<scipin-l(AT)albnydh2.health.state.ny.us>
To: Multiple recipients of list SCIPIN-L <scipin-l(AT)health.state.ny.us>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Wednesday, April
8, 1998
Don't Bar a Pain Killer OKd by Voters
Marijuana: U.S. action would deprive sufferers of AIDS,
cancer and other
illnesses of a beneficial substance.
By WILLIE L. BROWN JR.
or San Francisco resident Dixie Romagno,
something as
simple as taking a shower or climbing stairs
can make her
double over in excruciating pain.
Dixie is in her 20th year of chronic multiple
sclerosis. To alleviate
the agonizing bone pain, spasms and spinal cord
problems that wrack
her body, this 46-year-old grandmother of two uses
marijuana. Five
million Californians backed her right to do so
when they approved a
1996 ballot measure that allows the use of
marijuana for people who
suffer from AIDS, cancer and other serious
illnesses.
In San Francisco, we've worked hard to honor
that right by
making marijuana obtainable through a dispensary
clinic that operates
with the cooperation of local authorities. But now
the federal
government wants to take away that right. In
January, the Justice
Department filed a civil suit to shut down six
medical marijuana
dispensaries in Northern California, including the
San Francisco
Marijuana Cultivators Club, which Dixie, along
with 8,000 other ailing
Californians, depend on for their medicine.
The Justice Department views the suit as a
simple case of state
law tangling with the supremacy of federal law.
"The issue is not the
medical use of marijuana," U.S. Atty. Michael
Yamaguchi has said.
"It's about the persistent violation of federal
law."
But as mayor of a city that has seen more
than its share of people
suffering and dying from AIDS, I know that's not
the end of the
issue. The debate over medical marijuana is, above
all else, about
compassion for people in pain.
Enforcing a law for its own sake can still
cause unintended harm
to innocent persons. The closure of cannabis
patient clubs would
force individuals like Dixie to suffer needless
agony. Many will be
compelled to buy their medicine from the streets.
This would
endanger their lives and place undue burden on
local law
enforcement whose time would be better spent
pursuing real
criminals, not desperate patients.
In San Francisco and in cities across the
state, local health and
police officials have worked with medical
marijuana dispensaries to
ensure that they operate in the spirit of the law.
Controls have been
encouraged and implemented to guard against abuse,
including the
use of standardized medical forms from doctors and
photo
identification cards certifying legitimate
patients.
The current system isn't perfect. But until
marijuana is approved
by the Federal Drug Administration as a
prescription drug,
California's medical marijuana dispensaries are a
viable medical
alternative. Many of the tens of thousands of
patients who use
marijuana do so often as a last resort when all
other prescribed
medicines have failed, or produce side effects
that cancel out their
benefits. Most of them can't cultivate their own
marijuana; that's why
they rely on the clubs.
Rather than censure this public health crisis
with a lawsuit, the
Justice Department should urge the Clinton
administration to work
with local and state governments to implement a
plan for distributing
medical marijuana that complies with both federal
and state law and
that puts the needs of patients first.
The California Senate is reviewing a bill to
establish a task force
that would research and make recommendations about
the safe and
affordable distribution of marijuana to patients
in medical need. In
December, the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy
is expected to release the results of a study that
will report on
marijuana's medical effectiveness. These
initiatives are promising, but
the process will take time.
In the interim, the federal government should
impose a
moratorium on enforcement of marijuana laws that
interfere with the
locally regulated operation of cannabis patient
clubs and allow
patients access to their medicine.
Californians with life-threatening diseases
shouldn't have to suffer
while their elected representatives work to find a
middle ground
between local discretion and federal supremacy.
- - -
Willie L. Brown Jr. Is the Mayor of San Francisco
-- Maksim (Max) Bilymail to: imax(AT)odyssee.net
--part0_892067193_boundary--