The big face off in Modesto Tonight!

Hi,
Well it looks like the ModBee decided to post some stories from the mmj
comunity this time. Here are a few of the responses that got published,
and thanks to everyone who wrote in reponse to the ignorance and the fear
of the truth. Hope to se you in Motownt tonight. Even if you don't speak,
just showing up for support can help too, don't forget.

Thanks,
Nick Osborne
MercCountyPC [at] aol.com
Nick [at] compasionatecoalition.org


The truth about medical marijuana


Last Updated: December 6, 2005, 05:30:21 AM PST


In response to the letter "Planners suckered by compassion" (Nov. 29): It
was good example of the fear, anger and ignorance surrounding the topic of
medical cannabis. She should save her "anti-drug activist" speech for a
different day and a different topic.
The decision of the Planning Commission to allow the cannabis dispensaries
to remain open was based on facts and performance. This "furious and
outraged" letter is a product of propaganda.

To vilify a natural herb that provides relief to those who suffer from
chronic pain and nausea is an overreaction. It's more correct to say that
the method of obtaining medical cannabis without dispensaries would force
people into potentially unreasonable or dangerous situations.

The Modesto City Council needs to agree that citizens should have safe
access to medical cannabis as part of the overall community effort to
ensure access to medical help for its citizens.

MONICA EBERT

Modesto



At crossroad over cannabis
Modesto City Council must decide if medical marijuana sales continue


By GARTH STAPLEY
BEE STAFF WRITER


Last Updated: December 5, 2005, 05:10:39 AM PST


A public struggle over medical marijuana in Modesto is expected to come to
a point at Tuesday's City Council meeting.
At issue is whether city leaders should ban retail sales of the drug or
allow a McHenry Avenue cannabis store to continue.

Past hearings have been packed, mostly by patients who say marijuana is
more effective at controlling pain and nausea than prescribed narcotics.
Opponents say Modesto has no business allowing sales of an illicit drug,
especially to people who might abuse state law to get their kicks.

"These people are concerned about driving to the Bay Area" to buy
marijuana, said Lynelle Hains, 51, of Modesto. "I'm concerned about them
driving down McHenry Avenue. I don't think people on medical marijuana
should have a driver's license."

Meanwhile, people such as Danielle Bradley, 36, of Delhi ask for sympathy.
She was among about 20 people waiting for California Healthcare Collective
at 1009 McHenry Ave. to reopen after a recent lunch hour.

More waited in cars. One yelled, "The line's too long," to a security
guard checking identification at the door.

"It helps," said Bradley of marijuana. She is a leukemia survivor recently
diagnosed with breast cancer. "It gives me an appetite."

A majority of city planning commissioners on Nov. 21 declined to recommend
an outright ban to the council, but asked for legal research on zoning
options. That could allow officials to say where marijuana sellers are
permitted to set up shop, and where they can't.

But council members, who have the final say, earlier this year placed a
moratorium against new dispensaries and leaned toward a full ban. If they
adopt a suggestion by the city attorney's office, California Healthcare
Collective would have to shut in six months.

"This is your last chance!!" reads the latest sign on the shop's window —
just below a "No Smoking" placard.

"This is the final stance for your right to safely access your medication
in Modesto," the sign continues. It urges patients to speak at Tuesday's
council meeting.

Planning Commissioner Kristin Ol-sen, a council candidate, publicly urged
people opposed to medical marijuana to voice opinions as well. No
opponents spoke at the commission meeting, among more than 100 in the
audience.

Olsen voted in the minority that night, against medical marijuana.

Her opponent in the Dec. 13 runoff, Councilman Denny Jackman, after the
meeting accused her and fellow commissioner Dave Cogdill Jr. of lacking
compassion.

"We act like we're removed from humanity because we sit in this position.
We're not," Jackman said recently. "All those people who came before us
and the Planning Commission, who said this is the only solution for their
suffering, are they liars?"

Doctor influences commission

Local officials bemoan conflicting law on the drug. California voters in
1996 approved medical marijuana, but the U.S. Supreme Court in June
allowed agents to continue enforcing a federal ban.

"You have a conflict, right there," said Alita Roberts, who presided over
the commission hearing. She said she and other commissioners went to the
meeting expecting to zone out the drug, but were swayed by dozens of
pleading patients and the testimony of Dr. John Fichtenkort, a longtime
Modesto physician.

He said he wrote four letters in a recent one-year period on behalf of
patients relying on medical marijuana and renewed only one the next year.
The other three, Fichtenkort said, had died.

"When people state that marijuana is dangerous over the long term, well,
this is for people who are very sick and in very difficult situations,"
Roberts said. "This is what swayed the commission."

Commissioner Tom Berglund said he previously fought against a
drugtreatment center in Antioch that relied on methadone because of his
"ultraconservative" bent. Antioch police, like Modesto's, predicted
neighborhood problems, he said.

"A year and a half later, it never surfaced to be a problem," Berglund said.

A few California cities have issued a limited number of seller permits.
Others allow such sales in certain zones, and others adopted strict
prohibitions. Some of the latter have been sued by Americans for Safe
Access, an Oakland group that has threatened to sue Modesto.

Tuesday's Modesto City Council meeting is to start at 5:30 p.m. in the
basement chamber at Tenth Street Place.

Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at(209) 578-2390 or
gstapley [at] modbee.com.



Group only wants to legalize marijuana
Last Updated: December 6, 2005, 05:30:21 AM PST


The letter "Planners suckered by compassion" (Nov. 29) misstated several
key facts about medical marijuana and about the Marijuana Policy Project.
Our purpose is not "to legalize all drugs." We have no position on any
substance other than marijuana.
Smoking a marijuana cigarette is not "the same as smoking 10 tobacco
cigarettes." Unlike tobacco, marijuana has never been shown to increase
rates of lung cancer or emphysema or to increase one's risk of death.
Indeed, in a 60,000-patient study done at Kaiser Permanente, marijuana
smokers who didn't smoke tobacco had a lower rate of lung cancer than
nonsmokers.

Marijuana is a medicine, with 5,000 years of safe, effective use
documented in medical literature. That's why the California Medical
Association, American Public Health Association, American Academy of
Family Physicians, American Nurses Association and dozens of other medical
and public health organizations have stated that marijuana can have
therapeutic value when used under medical supervision.

As for the "message to young people," use of marijuana by California teens
has dropped dramatically since Proposition 215 passed in 1996. What kind
of message do we send to our kids by depriving the sick and suffering of
relief?

BRUCE MIRKEN

director of communications, Marijuana Policy Project

San Francisco