I just got back from a long weekend in Chicago, and I’ve apparently missed out on a few local medical marijuana cases. Here’s a quick roundup:
– A medical marijuana patient named Alex Morris, who is suffering from Crohn’s disease, is serving a 30-day jail sentence and is unable to use the medicine a doctor has authorized him to use. He’s lost 10 pounds in 8 days. Even under the Washington State law approved by the voters, his medicine is not legally available to him while in prison.
I’m not able to find out if Morris was sent to jail for marijuana-related charges or something else, but the effects that his lack of medicine is having on him should make us question having a person in his condition serving a 30-day jail sentence in a state where the prisons are already overcrowded.
– Another Crohn’s patient named Steve Senn was sentenced to one year in jail today, although he will be out on bail awaiting appeal. A Snohomish County judge has ordered Senn not to use his medicine while under Department of Corrections supervision. Even though Senn had already served his deferred prosecution for a refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test, the judge cited failed drug tests due to his legal medical marijuana use as the reason to invalidate the deferred prosecution.
– Bruce Olson, the husband of Pam Olson, had a pre-trial hearing today in Kitsap County. The case may be postponed until after July 1, when the state Department of Health is expected to announce the quantity guidelines for medical marijuana patients. As with all cases, showing up at the courthouse to show your support for the patients is always appreciated.
Lee and Goldy,
I know that this blog is about expressing opinions and it rare that anyone is censored, considering the number of posters and their mental acuity, but I am not sure that this blog is the place for stories about marijuana, medical or otherwise.
I am not saying I disagree with Lee, I know that a lot of people find relief with the drug. I am wondering if these stories might not make it easier for people to make the usual judgments about liberals.
I don’t mean to offend. I just kind of wonder what others might think.
MLF
Hi MLF,
Please be assured that those of us who are seriously disabled medical marijuana patients will try not to influence, or offend, anyone or interfere with the agenda of “liberal” politicians in the State of Washington. We don’t want to interfere with the normal process of electing the same old politicos that will continue to not represent us and tax us to death.
By the way…where can I find true liberals in the Washington State legislature and how would you ever locate them? (besides the “D” after their name) I might like to vote for one if I could find one. Is Rick Larsen even a democrat? And he represents us in Congress.
Sorry for the rant…but I’m a medical marijuana patient and I’m not to concerned if anyone knows that…including the democrats in the legislature. :-) I hope they are willing to WORK for my vote. If not,they can pound sand. I’m not giving MY vote to ANY party that wants to throw an elderly disabled guy in prison for his legal use of medical marijuana.
MLF is apparently willing to sacrifice all of the disabled people in Washington if it will get “Liberals” elected. Perhaps we should describe what the “liberal agenda” is before we kick the seriously disabled to the curb in Washington State…in trade for party politics.
Steve Sarich
Executive Director
CannaCare
steve@cannacare.org
Steve Sarich
Executive Director
CannaCare
steve@cannacare.org
MLF:
I think it’s pretty damn important. My wife’s pain would be eased tremendously with medically prescribed marijuana. How do I know this? It already has, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. When we were last up in Washington, we turned up at the Halloween party of my old rugby club. Every year, someone always manages to bring a batch of ‘magic’ brownies to the party, and this time around my wife tried one. She didn’t need her pain pills for about a day and a half after just one brownie, when she normally takes about two a day, and functioned at a level she hadn’t in quite some time, i.e. like a normal woman in her mid-to-late forties.
(Note: for the record, my wife has a host of autoimmune disorders, including fibromyalgia, sarcoidosis, and an unknown rheumatic disorder that the best minds at UWMC were at a loss to describe, among others. She is in constant pain, and is frequently bedridden for days at a time because of it.)
Marijuana HAS beneficial uses for a variety of ailments, yet our politicians on both sides of the aisle refuse to see that, kinda like a man who refuses to acknowledge the cliff he’s about to walk off of. We NEED to elect politicians who will enact sensible drug policies that will end this foolish Prohibition-esque escapade. Even some of the trolls who haunt this board recognize that. So it’s important to this board. Abso-fucking-lutely! This ain’t Cheech & Chong, this is my wife we’re talking about here.
Here is a far more serious drug issue .. Vioxx. Vioxx is a very useful drug that hjeps people in severe pain. The drug was withdrawn because of a legal, that is dollar, driven effort based on a true but small risk,
MJ has a different problem as a drug. Many of its proponeents insist that the impure stuff, the green vegi stuff, is preferable t THC. BUT in this country we do not approve chenically ndefined “drugs.”
NOW if wee wee just legal ??????????
@1
MLF,
For years, people have been afraid to speak up about this issue for fear that it’s bad to do so politically. Those days and coming to an end.
What you may not realize is that among independent voters, the drug war is an issue that many of them get and care about. The old narratives about liberals being “soft on drugs” are outdated. Polling shows that even nationwide, the support for medical marijuana laws is over 70%. People are starting to make the connection between the drug war and the effect that prison overcrowding is having on state budgets. As we continue to speak up, people will be able to make the connections between the drug war and why we’re having serious problems in Afghanistan, why so many Mexicans are fleeing their homes to come here, and why there’s so much violence on American streets. And when they make those connections, the war will quickly be over.
Lee,
True enough, but legalization is not a viable cnmapaign stand.
BTW
Skeptical Brotha, a black activist blogger, has suggested our own senior senator as VEEP.
I doubt his. Patty seems to me to be a very effective, happy senator, still it would be one way of moving on from the Hillary era.
The old saying “you catch more flies with sugar” represents a positive attitude that receives a positive response. That is a lesson we should remember while negotiating with authorities. I spent almost two years fighting in court for my right to possess marijuana for medical use. During that time, I was working very diligently for social approval. I felt I had attained some degree of social approval when 60% of voters approved The Medical Use Act of 1998. But I was screwed by the system and had to “go negative”, lambasting the prosecutor’s office with a bombardment of supportive public comments. The important point to remember is, without public support, my protest would not have worked to free me from the clutches of archaic law. 6 out of 10 voters, or in the case of my jury, 8 out of 12 WA voters do support the use of medical marijuana. The problem is, many of the minority who oppose us are in positions of power. When we sat in a circle at the library on 4-20, I happened to be sitting next to Joanna with Steve Sarich diametrically opposite us in the circle. I noted that it was great progress to see us all sitting down together because several of us had been in conflict in the previous year. Then I took an empty chair and placed it in the center of the circle. I said, “imagine that we all want to sit in this chair, or that the chair represents a common goal of objective.” I looked across the circle and said, “Steve and I are actually going in opposite directions, even though we are both headed for the same objective.” I respect his right to his opinion, even though he seems to think he can dictate his ideas to others. I can respect the opinion of other people, even when I disagree. But that does not make me a “goofy guy” as Sarich recently wrote. I replied to that insult by pointing out, “You and I do not agree on many issues. I doubt that will change.” In fact, I strongly disagree with most of what Sarich has written in the last two years. I especially do not think Steve Sarich’s aggressive proactive attitude is productive. I think it is better to affect positive change. From my perspective, any sudden change is violent by its very nature. Any time you want to make a sudden drastic change, there will be wounding and bloodshed somewhere along the line. Life takes repeated efforts to develop with good health. That takes time. That takes patience and dedication. To answer Sarich’s demand, “Martin should explain why he supported the bill that banned this patient from having his meds”, I must repeat, I do not agree with most of what Sarich has written. His position is false. SB 6032 does not ban marijuana as medicine, that ban has been in effect for over 70 years. What we have in WA is called an “affirmative defense” to those charges which are still in full force. Ben and his friends helped to make sure that the ban on marijuana is the lowest priority in Seattle. The reason why Ben and Charlie and Robert, Abi, and other I-75 organizers did not try to outright legalize marijuana is simply because that is not legally possible at this time. The laws surrounding marijuana are so complex and so insidious, the rest of our laws play second fiddle, which is precisely what the Supreme Court told me, Jeff Jones, and 13 other marijuana patients in OCBC vs. Walters. Congress is the only authority to change the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Until that is accomplished, there can be no legal marijuana in the US, medical or otherwise. I have tried to explain these details to Sarich, but he is apparently only interested in harassing people with the pretense of great achievements that never materialize. Sarich was busted with 1500 plants–that is where he lost my support by making us all look like profiteers. Sarich is a self-interested capitalist. Using the term “stakeholders” to describe people with terminal illnesses is one of the telling features of his rhetoric. Sarich has no right to attack me, or the Governor, or Senator Kohl-Welles, or Ben, or any of the other people he has alienated. I think he should learn some manners. To whom it may concern, our Attorney General sent a memo affecting all DOC offices last summer after 6032 was signed into law. That memo states that since convicts sign a paper saying they will not brake any laws, and since marijuana is illegal under state law, then marijuana patients can be convicted of violating probation for using marijuana even with a doctor’s recommendation. 6032 is a small step in the right direction. Next year we can do better. Impeaching the Governor is a rediculous response to our situation, in my opinion. The heroes in Olympia who have done their best to help change the status quo are not our enemies. And please don’t forget to smile for the camera. Martin Martinez
@6
True enough, but legalization is not a viable cnmapaign stand.
Why not? Carter won in 1976 with that in his platform.
Steve at 2:
I was not willing to sacrifice anyone. I simply wanted to start a dialog and see what others were thinking. I stated that I did not disagree with Lee, I wondered about a different points of view.
Sticking to ones ideals is a wonderful thing. But at what point should one plank of a platform be allowed to weaken the entire deck? The Republicans have stuck by this failed war and poor economic strategy to the detriment of the “brand”.
The marijuana issue is just one of several issues that conservatives will use to point and say “see, I told you so”.
In my mind taking back our government is the first issue at hand. Using a back burner on some of the more “controversial” issues at this point might be a wiser course of action.
We are supposed to be a majority rules society, a free society and I have no problem with healthy dissent. I would like to think that the politically like minded souls on this blog would understand that better than anyone and not judge me for questioning an idea here. After all, that is what this blog has always been about…..challenging us to think and sharing different points of view.
MLF
I support full legalization for marijuana. In fact, I said so in open court when I was being considered for jury duty. The case was not a drug trial, but marijuana played a role in the business at hand.
Obviously, I was thrown off the jury by the prosecuting attorney.
Thank you Thank you Thank you, For the first time in quite awhile I can see more of the whole picture, I have tried in the past to understand what or who to believe. I believe you Martin. I have always checked with Damon A. or Douglas H. when totally confused mostly by Steve S. finger pointing and accusations. I am very sick at this time and am not well enough to travel to support all the patients that need us to make a showing in court. Thank you again Martin for all you have done and are doing for all of us patients. Cancer Patient, Medical Cannabis Advocate and DR. recommended user. James Johnson
@8 Lee
Lats just call it “the Majority Wins.” Everytime you more narrowly define the party or the presidency you slice off votes.
I want Obama elected and I want him to get there on a consistent set of principles. This mean prioritizg the issues.,
Alex Morris is wasting away in jail because Martin Martinez, and the ACLU, pushed through a bill, against the will of the vast majority of the medical marijuana patients in Washington. The bill included a provision that banned Alex Morris from using medical marijuana. The provision is unconstitutional, but now we will have to challenge it in court. Mr. Martinez has a lot of gaul to even bring up this issue since he was one of the only supporters of this bill.
Mr. Martinez slanders me regularly. Contrary to what Mr. Martinez posted, I have never been “busted” and I work for free. Unlike Mr. Martinez, I don’t sell pot.
@12
Lats just call it “the Majority Wins.” Everytime you more narrowly define the party or the presidency you slice off votes.
Every time? So the optimal platform to have is absolutely nothing?
@10:
Or maybe that was your ploy to get out of your duty as a citizen and serving jury duty. Guess it worked.
I have an idea. Since all the scientific evidence suggests that MJ is no more harmful than the vast majority of spices we use everyday, and probably less, I suggest a ne effort .. a sort of double negative campaign:
“Outlaw Demon Oreganao”
Oregano has NEVER been tested for its potential harmful effects even though it is widely consumed.
Before actually moving to ban this, we need to do some research. For example:
What is known about the content of oregano in terms of:
a. opiates
b. estrogen-like substances
c. carcinogens?
Man arosae in Aafrica, where did oregano arise?
Has anyone ever fed rats oregano at the elvel of, say, a typic addict of pizza?
Untill all these questions are answered, oregano should be banned.
Guilio Paticine
Oregano Growers of Californai
SJ:
Actually, I’d be more open to outlawing fenugreek myself, mostly because I have no fucking clue what to use it in.
SJ @ 16,
“Outlaw Demon Oregano”
Wait a minute, partner! I’ve just turned on the slow cooker, making spaghetti sauce for tonight, and I put a lot of fresh oregano in it. I don’t want the “spice police” crashing my door down to arrest me for “illegal spice possession and use!”
If the state would reschedule medical marijuana then the state prisons would have no choice.
Too bad only two people and no press showed up at the BOP meeting to reschedule.
The next petition will be different.
The Non profits,and Sarich just want to grab headlines and attract customers that pay fees.
Unreported income is a wonderful thing even when you are on welfare ..right Steve..
Here he is on a blog accusing Martinez of selling pot,as if he isn’t making money off the movement.
From 2005 to 2007 Steve Sarich made money anyway he could off of medical marijuana…unreported.
He spent two weeks getting drunk on a train to San Francisco, went to Canada,flew to Ohio,Went to San Francisco again,went to Nevada,traveled all across washington went to Amsterdam.
Who do you think paid for those trips.
People with names like Jeff,Cristy,the lady in Kirkland,Sexton.People who I only know by face.
Sarich had so many deals with people to grow and share you couldn’t keep track.(from all corners of the state).
Cannaflimflam has been berry good to me.
Steve Sarich is grifting his way from one apple cart to the next,at the expense of the movement.
It is always somebody else’s fault,somebody else gets greedy,somebody else using the grift as their own piggy bank.
It is the same old song and dance.
The new players want their turn to go to San Francisco,Canada,Nevada,or Amsterdamn then Sarich cock blocks everybody else from spending the money,soon he is looking for new players for his grift.
This big advocacy group is nothing more than a revolving door of bit players waiting to get their turn to hold the gold key to the grift.
Sarich is nothing more than a second rate grifter,trying to puff up cannaflimflam to help Norml pump it up, to keep the pot clubs from having to scale down the ops,and keep The Hempire in unreported income heaven.
If you see him on a blog portraying himself as a savior of the movement,just picture some used car salesman hanging out at the THC clinic rounding up patients to sell pot to,Getting in a fight with a woman over money,getting kicked out of the THC clinic,Having his buddy Doug Hiatt punish THC clinic in the paper by calling him a doc in the box,then flimflaming another lady to set the apple cart up in Everett.Then the grift turns sour again that lady bails.Norml has to step in this time to man the grift in Seattle and Nevada,then deny it.. Then Yet another lady props up Sarich and Cannaflimflam.
Again the grift falls apart at the seams,and it is everyone else’s fault.
More people have quit cannaflimflam than have ever belonged to it.
Cannaflimflam is Norml trying to influence the movement with a used car grifter pretending to be this huge group of greedy patient after greedy patient..
Step up, step up next lady please..
Wanted:
Really stupid people to take all the risk and run the grift,while I travel all over spending unreported income that you will be held liable for..
Women encouraged to apply.
Apply at Jeff Steinborn’s office. Talk to the lady with the parrot sitting next to Doug Hiatt who is on the phone with Dominic Holden who is getting the thumbs up from Keith Stroup.
Mpp likes the idea too because it sure beats chasing ambulances.
We can cause the wreck and be right there without being blamed for the wreck.
We need to find suckers to take the blame for the wreck.
Weak , greedy ladies with money encouraged to apply to be manipulated.
CANNAFLIMFLAM For five thousand please Alex.
Wanted:
Really stupid people to take all the risk and run the grift,while I travel all over spending unreported income that you will be held liable for..
Women encouraged to apply.
Apply at Jeff Steinborn’s office. Talk to the lady with the parrot sitting next to Doug Hiatt who is on the phone with Dominic Holden who is getting the thumbs up from Keith Stroup.
Mpp likes the idea too because it sure beats chasing ambulances.
We can cause the wreck and be right there without being blamed for the wreck.
We need to find suckers to take the blame for the wreck.
Wak , greedy ladies with money encouraged to apply to be manipulated.
CANNAFLIMFLAM For five thousand please Alex.
I seriously doubt if our favorite stoner Lee is disabled by anything other than a low I.Q. Comparing medical use of pot to his habit is an unjustified low-blow. Comparing habitual stoners and people with chronic pain and horrible diseases releived by the drug hurt the whole cause. Try Cheech there Lee, and I wish you both live happily ever after in Amsterdam where you belong. Time to grow up already; and no I don’t have an extra bag of Cheetos.
@7,
Mr.Martinez has repeatedly asserted that only Congress can reschedule marijuana,and that the state’s can not.This is simply not true.
The goal of the CSA is to share the burden of enforcing controlled substances with the state’s.The state’s have the Authority in the state CSA’s to reschedule marijuana.Joyce Roper,the AG’s rep on the BOP,admitted as much.
Mr.Martinez refuses to accept this as fact.
Mr.Martinez likes to say federal law trumps state law and that there is nothing anybody can do but plead guilty to a federal charge.
The fact is the feds are a two bit player in marijuana enforcement.For every one federal agent there are eight local law enforcement officers.The feds have never had the man power to enforce controlled substances or criminal cases in federal court for that matter.That is the reason that the feds did not ask the states to ratify the federal CSA,and why 903 of the federal CSA or 3231 of Article 18 has never been amended despite case law rulings that would allow them to do so..
As far as trumping state medical marijuana laws with Raich v Gonzales,that is a folk legend.Raich v Gonzales was never,and will never be implemented because it will strip the states of police power and require the feds to spend astronomical amounts of resources to regulate matters previously regulated by the states.
Congress chose to leave the laws that give the states authority over the CSA,and original jurisdiction intact and use federal grants to leverage states into compliance.This plan has been quite effective.The state now pays 60% of the cost of enforcing a federal drug control policy..that includes breaking its own medical marijuana law,just to get its grubby paws on the grant money.
A simple way of describing the situation would be to say the feds bribe the state to allow the feds to cherry pick cases from the states, if the states do not actually gift wrap and deliver the state medical marijuana cases to the federal courts themselves,As outlined in the Conant v Walters discovery documents.
The federal government(Congress) can not camandeer the local law enforcement to enforce federal laws.That would be a violation of the anti camandeering doctrine.The federal government can bribe the states to enforce federal laws,which is what the feds,and Washington State decided to do since 1996.
There are at least 6 federal DOJ contracts that enlist local law enforcement,WSP,Lt Governor,or the Governor to enforce a federal drug control policy.
The states law enforcement community has not only agreed to work directly for the department of Justice the state agreed to pay for 50% then 60% of the cost to undermine its own medical marijuana law.
At the center of these federal contracts is a one Christine Gregoire,whom as Attorney General certified all of these federal contracts.As AG she also fought to overturn a Tacoma judges ruling which would have allowed a man to use medical marijuana.Also as Governor,Gregoire agreed to run the DOJ counter drug program for the National guard to enforce a federal drug control policy so it would not be a violation of posse comitatus.
So when anyone attacks Gregoire on this issue it is justified.
Gregoire,Brad Owen or any other branch of law enforcement does not deserve a seat at the table for rule making for medical marijuana as long as they are under federal contract for the DOJ to enforce a federal drug control policy..
Nobody from the marijuana enforcement Industry deserves a seat at that table.Since Mr Martinez has been a working part of the marijuana enforcement industry at 10,000 bucks a pop as a expert witness,he too should not be allowed to sit at the rule making table.
It makes me sick to my stomach to see this “open” rule making process being sabotaged by a covert blue ribbon panel made up of either DOJ enforcement whores or marijuana enforcement industry dependants.
The legislature gave rule making authority to the DOH who has Mary Selecky in charge.
Mary Selecky has come thru for the marijuana enforcement industry before in 1996,and they expect her to do it again.
With some assistance from the marijuana enforcement industry of course.Right Mr Martinez.
John Worthington executive director of Cannacorn.
Norml helps set up these dog and pony court case shows(like the one Martinez was in and Raich) that go to the Supreme Court for rulings that Congress will never implement, just so the enforcement industry can have something to point to that says the marijuana enforcement industry is alive and well despite what state medical marijuana laws say.
It is funny to see the in house squabbling between Norml afflilates like Sarich and Martinez.
Martinez works for Steinborn ,while Sarich works for Hiatt.
Sarich represents the pot clubs and helps promote the pot club interests so that Douglas Hiatt Esquire the third,and Dominic Holden can continue to get the envelopes with cash and pot to sell from the various factions of the hempire..
Martinez is the legal go to guy for Steinborn that is there to frame the argument so that the marijuana enforcement industry can keep trotting to the bank with the cash.If you want to know why Steinborn needs 20,000 to represent you,ask Martin Martinez.
Like I said Martinez works for Steinborn ,while Sarich works for Hiatt.
It has become a battle of Quisp and Quake like proportions.
Steinborn,Hiatt,and Holden are Norml Board
members.They advertise annually at Hemfest man… peace out bro.
John Worthington
Executive Director
Cannagrift
John@cannagrift.org