Pubdate: Fri, 21 Nov 2003
Source: San Bernardino Sun (CA)
Copyright: 2003 MediaNews Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sbsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1417
Cited: Americans for Safe Access ( http://safeaccessnow.org/ )
Author: Scott Vanhorne, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ocbc.htm (Oakland Cannabis Court Case)

ADVOCACY GROUP TARGETS ANTI-POT HOUSE MEMBERS

SAN BERNARDINO -- Medical marijuana advocates are telling voters to call a 
local congressman and others who didn't support a measure to end federal 
raids on patients who use and grow pot.

We are educating their districts about their voting record, so they can 
educate their congressmen about compassion,' said Step Sherer, executive 
director of Americans for Safe Access, on Thursday. Rep. Joe Baca, 
D-Rialto, and two other California congressmen were targeted for voting 
against an appropriations amendment that failed by a 273-to-152 vote in 
July. The legislation called for an end to federal investigations of pot 
patients in states with medical marijuana laws.

Even if the measure had passed, it would have needed Senate and 
presidential approval before becoming law.

It would have been a very steep hill to climb for this legislation,' said 
Aaron Lewis, a spokesman for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, who 
sponsored the amendment.

Americans for Safe Access, a Berkeley-based medical marijuana advocacy 
group, plans to call about 600,000 voters and urge them to contact 
representatives who voted against the amendment.

Michael Townsend, Baca's chief of staff, said the office has already 
received some calls about the legislation, but it will take more than that 
to convince Baca that medicinal pot is a worthy cause. Generally speaking, 
he is not supportive of medical marijuana,' he said. Baca set up a meeting 
with some medical marijuana advocates, but they didn't show up, he said.

Townsend said Baca doesn't support the carte blanche' use of medical 
marijuana that came when Californians passed Proposition 215 in 1996. The 
initiative allows doctors to prescribe marijuana for any illness if the 
drug provides relief.

Federal law, however, defines marijuana as an illegal drug with no medical 
use. The Drug Enforcement Administration has raided numerous 
medical-marijuana distribution centers in the state. Ten other states 
including Colorado, Nevada, Alaska and Maryland have passed similar medical 
marijuana laws.

DEA agents targeted medical marijuana patients Gary and Anna Barrett of 
Barstow in May. Their arrest came days after a San Bernardino County 
Superior Court judge dismissed pot-cultivation charges because the two have 
a doctor's recommendation to use the drug.

Now they are charged with the exact things that have already been dealt 
with in the local court,' said Daniel Halpern, the couple's attorney. Gary 
Barrett, 35, said he used marijuana to treat Crohn's disease, a painful 
bowel disorder. His wife, 32, used pot to ease pain and muscle spasms she's 
suffered since falling from a five-story ledge in 1995.

The two were forced to stop using marijuana after posting bond on federal 
drug charges that could put them in prison for 22 years. Now, they use 
Marinol, a synthetic form of the active ingredient in marijuana, to treat 
their illnesses.

It provides some relief, but it's ineffective consistently,' Gary Barrett said.
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