A recent federal decision determining that marijuana has no accepted medical use and should be classified as dangerous as heroin may prove to be another obstacle for Berkeley’s Medical Cannabis Commission as it prepares for its first meeting.
The commission, which will meet July 21 for the first time since its reconstitution, is responsible for making recommendations to the Berkeley City Council regarding the implementation of Measure T. The measure was approved by 64 percent of voters last November and allows for the opening of six 30,000-square-foot cultivation sites as well as a fourth dispensary while also calling for the commission’s reconstitution.
However, the commission’s plans may come into conflict with the position of the federal government.
On Friday, the Drug Enforcement Administration concluded that marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no currently accepted medical treatment use in the United States and lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision. The decision comes nearly nine years after supporters of medical marijuana requested that the government reclassify the drug.
Similarly, a June 29 letter from the U.S. Department of Justice opened the door for a potential federal crackdown on marijuana, stating that those who are involved with the cultivation, sale and distribution of marijuana violate the Controlled Substances Act “regardless of state law.”
Councilmember Jesse Arreguin said the decision will give the commission and the council “some degree of caution” on how to proceed.
“As the commission is considering how to move forward with the dispensary and the six sites for cultivation, this decision is going to hang over the heads of all the commissioners in terms of what it really means and whether the federal government will really crack down,” Arreguin said.
He added that the decision is a step back not only for providing safe access to medical marijuana but also for the ability of local governments to regulate and ensure access to marijuana.
“I was really disappointed in hearing about this memo and the new policy of the Department of Justice,” he said. “I think it goes against what many of us thought was the position the Obama administration would take.”
In terms of the extent to which the decision will affect the commission’s future actions, Arreguin said the commission should still move forward on implementing medical marijuana policies in the city “to ensure that patients have safe access to this medicine.”
Dale Gieringer, the state coordinator of California National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the decision has no scientific merit.
“The government has created a Catch-22 situation,” Gieringer said. “What the DEA said was that ‘we aren’t going to look at any evidence without FDA-approved studies.’ The problem with that response is that the FDA has also deliberately prevented any FDA-approved studies.”
Despite the federal government’s opinion, James Benno, chief executive director of Northern California NORML, said that the decision “is not going to stop anybody.”
“They can put a law on paper, but enforcing it will be an entirely different aspect,” Benno said. “The federal government does not have time to eradicate marijuana.”
According to a statement from California NORML, medical marijuana advocates are planning to challenge the DEA decision with a bill by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., which could let states regulate marijuana’s medical availability and end its classification as a dangerous drug.
Patient advocate Bill Britt, a court-qualified cannabis expert and founder of the Association of Patient Advocates for Medical Marijuana, said the federal government should “back off” and is in favor of states’ rights supporting the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes.
“I’ve heard so many horror stories about people who are suffering and could be helped by cannabis,” Britt said. “It’s not a miracle drug, but it’s pretty damn close.”
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If Boxer, Pelosi, and Lee, for example, would feel more pressure (from us, the true rulers of this land) in this down economy to stimulate the senate to vote on an initiative for nationwide standards, we would all benefit. From the farmers to the patients, and everyone in between.(and we would be making money and jobs, and not stupidly wasting it prosecuting the ill and their caregivers). My opinion is that Berkeley used to be a bastion of freedom and democracy, we can be again. Grassroots is where it starts, unite and conquer.*
*use apple products with care. They can be used to forward a Republican agenda if not used carefully! Sexting not applicable.
Funny how Barry is all “States Rights” about gay marriage but when it comes to practicing medicine, not so much.
Why is that, do you suppose and isn’t it too bad that he kept all of this a secret until after he got himself elected? Perhaps if we ask nicely, Hillary will forgive us and send this miserable excuse for a Democrat back from whence he came.
First, the Village Idiot and now Obama. I’m thinking that Harvard isn’t what it used to be. Perhaps we should pass some sort of no-Harvard POTUS law because they’ve done enough damage to this nation
Maybe I read it wrong but I thought the article read that Frank’s bill is on our side and against the DEA. If I misunderstood, yes you are right. With almost all politicians state’s rights are only important when the state right in question is something they approve of. Consevatives talk about state’s rights until they are blue in the face when they want to put restrictions on abortion but when they want to regulate cannibus they are all aboutthe fed.
And yeah, Obama has shown himself over and over again (wars, Bush tax cuts, watered down stimulus, now this) to be a lying sack of shit.
For a teenager who friends have all tried pot and they see people using it with out any problems and since its a scheduled #1 drug and no big deal. So Heroin must not be a big deal either and they see US troops guarding mile and of opium and tree high Marijuana plant. So they know the DEA is a Fraud so lets try Heroin its the same as pot?
You
know, the people who wrote the California Compassionate Use Act (CUA)
which in 1996 was voted into California law as Prop 215 are really
starting to look like particularly intelligent people with long term
20/20 foresight which really is a rare commodity. All of the added
baggage that’s been tacked onto other State’s laws with progressively
more restrictions and registration with the government, and the last 3
legislative initiative laws not even allowing patient cultivation is
simply playing into the hands of the despicable, morally bankrupt Know
Nothing prohibitionists. All of these self appointed guardians of the
race chanting the mantra, “we don’t want to be like California” without
bothering to notice that California is at or very near the top of the
list for reducing their State’s addiction problem.
Illinois with a 565% increase in the number of Illinoisans in
“treatment” for opioid addiction between 1996 and 2009 doesn’t want to
be like California which has seen a 46.88% reduction in their cohort of
junkies during that time. Let’s not forget about Illinois increase of
just over 40% in the number of crackheads in “treatment” vs California’s
15.5% reduction.
New York State doesn’t want to be like California either. Well why would
they? With a population in 2009 that’s 52.87% of California’s
population there are 73.29% more New Yorkers in “treatment” for anything
than in California. They sure love their heroin/oxycontin in N.Y. Those
who were paying attention recall that California’s junkie in
“treatment” cohort fell 46.88% between 1996 and 2009, while New York’s
111.79% increase gave the Empire State a junkie cohort that’s 42.3% of
California’s total in “treatment” for anything cohort.
Between 1996 and 2009 California saw a nearly 10% reduction in the rate of Californians in “treatment” for anything.
In a SAMHSA study into impaired driving released on 12/10/2010 and
covering 2002-2009 California led the nation to a statistically
significant reduction in the rate of “drugged” driving along with 3
other States with medicinal cannabis patient protection laws, and this
during a time when the number of Californians claiming the protection of
the CUA and the Medical Marijuana Protection Act (MMPA aka SB-420)
increased by a factor of perhaps as much as 10.
Then there’s the California reduction in the crime rate between 1996 and
2009 that was just over 20% better than the nation as a whole.
Yet the only thing that the Know Nothing prohibitionists can see is
their anger at knowing where Jeff Spicoli wannabes buy their pot. For
the love of reality are there really people stew-pid enough to believe
that somebody’s going to have a hard time finding pot if there weren’t
dispensaries?? In flippin’ California? C’mon people let’s try to be real
for a change.
The crime rate is down much better than the nationwide reduction,
California’s one of a very few States that has seen a reduction in the
rate of people in “treatment”, and the incidence of drugged driving is
down significantly. Nah, no reason why anyone would want to be like
California.
Don’t forget Prop 36 passed in 2000. You know, the one that makes Judges
send people arrested for drugs to “treatment” instead of prison? Don’t
you think that would increase the number of Californians in “treatment”?
Toodles!
Tell your Congressional Representatives – It is time to “Change the Schedule of Cannabis, Cannabis Laws, and Drug Czar Laws” Read and Sign the petition at
http://www.change.org/petitions/change-the-schedule-of-cannabis-cannabis-laws-and-drug-czar-laws
After you sign the petition, email your friendlies, share on facebook, or twitter from the petition page. If you have a website grab the widget so your visitors can sign it without leaving your website.
This petition uses laws passed by Congress to point out that by their laws, the laws must change.
The federal government *starts* all marijuana discussion with the opinion that marijuana must forever remain illegal. There is no room in their ranks for open-mindedness or for examining whether the benefits (if any) created by the prohibition in any way outweigh the tragic harm that it causes.
This is the United States of America. We MUST demand better!