Pubdate: Fri, 17 Feb 2012
Source: Sammamish Review (WA)
Copyright: {2011} Sammamish Review
Contact:  http://sammamishreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5274
Author: Caleb Heeringa

SAMMAMISH URGES REDUCING MARIJUANA'S CLASSIFICATION

The Sammamish City Council threw their support behind Gov. Chris
Gregoire's push to have the federal government reclassify marijuana --
a potential step forward for its medical use.

By a 6-1 vote, the council voted to have Mayor Tom Odell sign a letter
prepared by the Association of Washington Cities supporting the
reclassification of marijuana as a "Schedule II" drug, meaning it has
accepted medicinal uses. The federal government currently classifies
it as a "Schedule I" drug, without medicinal value and on par with
heroin and LSD.

Moving the drug down the ladder would be a win for the state's medical
marijuana law, passed by initiative in 1998 and augmented by the state
legislature over the years. Medical marijuana users and cities are
currently in legal limbo between state and federal law.

Sammamish has instituted a moratorium on collective gardens --
designated cooperatives that grow and dispense the drug to licensed
users. City staff share Gregoire's concerns that employees who process
an application for a collective garden could be held liable under
federal law.

Odell agreed to sign the letter as a member of the council, though he
was the lone dissenting vote on the matter. Odell said he believed
marijuana use was a "precursor" to harder drugs and that moving the
drug down the Drug Enforcement Agency's ladder might increase the
momentum towards legalization. He said the matter hit close to home
for his family.

"Personally, I'm struggling with this," he said. "I had a cousin who
started off using marijuana and ended up on LSD and he fried his
brain. As a consequence he was in and out of mental hospitals for most
of his life. That's a load not only on families but on society in general."

Schedule II drugs include many pharmaceuticals and pain killers that
are heavily regulated and only available by prescription, such as
morphine, oxycodone, Adderall and Ritalin. The Association of
Washington Cities letter supports marijuana being dispensed by
pharmacies in a similar fashion.

The council's discussion drifted to its own ban on collective gardens,
which extends into July. Issaquah and several other cities in the
region have set up licensing and zoning regulations for the gardens.

Though there have not yet been any applications for the gardens in the
city, Police Chief Nate Elledge said he was opposed to opening the
door to them in the future.

"The question is do we as a council or a city, if we approve aE&
collective gardens are we sending the message to our youth that
marijuana use is okay," Elledge said. "I'm very conservative in my
views on this and I believe it's important to protect our youth from
easy access to anything."

Deputy Mayor John James said he thought a more regulated system for
getting medical marijuana to patients was better than the current
unregulated system.

"I'm struggling with this, but in a couple ways I can see the benefit
too," he said. "Right now we have people dealing marijuana out of
their homes."
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