Time to Extinguish Political Interference in Medical Process

Dear editor,

It is disturbing to read that Gov. Christine Gregoire has asked the Department of Health to review its newly developed rules regarding the amount medical marijuana patients may possess, apparently because she simply didn't like them ("Medical marijuana: How much is enough?" 5/21).

Contrary to some assertions, law enforcement had ample opportunities to give input as the guidelines were developed. Arguably, they've already had too much input: Since when do we let cops with no medical training determine medication dosages?

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EAST WENATCHEE - High-schooler Luis Ramirez has seen the effects of methamphetamine firsthand through a family member.

When his cousin began taking meth, 16-year-old Ramirez noticed a change in his attitude and decided to stay away.

"I think at this point, there's nothing I can really do for him," he said.

Dr. Lucas Mesdag, DDS, gave a lecture at Eastmont High School in East Wenatchee Friday to inform students about meth, hopefully before they try it.

Mesdag began giving the presentations two years ago because he didn't know much about methamphetamine use when he arrived in Wenatchee. He said he saw many patients who used meth, so he wanted to inform himself and others about the effects, he said.

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Medical Marijuana Is Legal. So Why Are Hospitals Using It To Justify Denying Transplants?

Sitting in the lobby of the University of Washington Medical Center on the UW campus, Jonathan Simchen pulls up his shirt to reveal three deep scars in his abdomen from a botched kidney operation that took place when he was 9 years old. Doctors in Colorado, where Simchen grew up, accidentally punctured his large intestine while attempting a biopsy on his kidney to determine why he was urinating blood--filling his body cavity with feces.

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I agree with the statement by letter writer Sandra S. Bennett ("Don't legalize drugs," May 13) that, "as society changes, so do laws." We changed the law to end prohibition of alcohol. The change stopped the killings in turf wars. It saved kids from the temptation of fast money and a life of crime. When laws don't work for 60 years, it is time to consider a new plan for victory.

Legalization and regulation of all drugs will lead to victory. Dealers would not be shooting each other to sell to our kids.

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As soon as I saw the May 13 letter "Don't Legalize Drugs," I knew it had to be from Sandra Bennett. Bennett again misses the mark on our drug laws.

The history of our drug laws is fundamentally racist, spawned from xenophobic hysteria.

These laws (dating back to the Harrison Tax Act) have failed in the extreme.

We gift to the cartels and gangs absolute control over the illegal drugs market, just as alcohol prohibition turned control of booze over to the criminal syndicates.

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A state Health Department proposal that medical-marijuana patients be allowed more than 2 pounds of pot every two months took law enforcement by surprise and prompted the governor to tell health officials to start over.

Faced with a legislative mandate to spell out what constitutes a "60-day supply" by July 1, the department in February briefed Gov. Christine Gregoire's office on its recommendation: Patients or caregivers could possess up to 35 ounces of cultivated marijuana and be allowed a plant-growing area of 100 square feet.

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Police Dogs, Handlers Conduct Training in Everett

EVERETT -- Her mouth closed and her breathing quickened.

Lola, a 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever police dog, reached out her blond paw and scratched at a duffle bag, where training officers had hidden five pounds of marijuana.

During a weeklong training program at four locations around Snohomish County, 42 police dogs sniffed and scratched as they practiced hunting down cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and pot.

The dogs were led through a barn and a home near Bothell and around a variety of cars and commercial trucks in a parking lot off Casino Road in south Everett.

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Second-degree robbery is considered non-violent because no weapons are involved and no injuries are incurred. Second-degree assault can be an offense ranging from a monumental barroom brawl to a simple shoving of someone out of the way. If we hadn't taken the discretion away from our judges by tying their hands in "3-strikes-you're-out" cases, they would/could know who is deserving of spending their life in prison and who is not. Of the 280 now incarcerated under "3-strikes," about 200 were convicted of low-level crimes, such as second-degree robbery and second-degree assault, that do not merit life imprisonment.

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Kirk Muse (in his April 28 letter, "License illegal drugs,") wants us to believe that all of today's drug problems stem from a 1914 law making certain psychoactive and addictive drugs illegal. So? What's the point? As society changes, so do laws.

Mind-altering and addictive drugs are a huge problem, not because they are illegal but because many are dangerous and users create enormous social problems.

The United States has only about 5 percent of the world's population but our citizens consume more than 60 percent of the world's supply of illicit drugs. Most of the people in our prisons today committed crimes while under the influence of drugs, and most of these crimes were crimes of violence.

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When Cindy Roemer started using marijuana five years ago to treat her chronic arthritis pain, she was plagued with guilt. "I felt like I was breaking the law," she said.

The former school-bus driver from Longview still worries about the stigma medical marijuana carries, even though it's been legal in Washington to use the drug with a doctor's approval since voters passed a 1998 initiative.

Roemer, who uses a wheelchair and a cane because of the pain in one leg, was among more than 100 people who marched from Capitol Hill to Westlake Park in downtown Seattle on Saturday in support of liberalizing marijuana laws. She thinks it should be legal for anyone to use.

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Legal Medical Marijuana Use Bars Transplant

The death this week of a musician who was three times denied a liver transplant highlights a new ethical concern: When dying patients need a transplant, should it be held against them if they've used marijuana with a doctor's blessing?

Timothy Garon, 56, died Thursday at Bailey-Boushay House. He was the lead singer for Nearly Dan, a Steely Dan cover-band.

His lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, said that although no one told him why Garon was turned down for a transplant, he suspects it was because he used marijuana with medical approval, as allowed under state law, to ease the symptoms of advanced hepatitis C.

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The death this week of a musician who said he was denied a liver transplant because of his medical-marijuana use has highlighted a new ethical consideration: Should pot use with a doctor's blessing be held against a dying patient who needs an organ transplant?

Timothy Garon, 56, used marijuana to ease the symptoms of advanced hepatitis C. Dr. Brad Roter, the physician who authorized Garon to smoke pot to alleviate nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite -- a use authorized under a Washington state law approved by voters in 1998 -- said he had not known it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant.

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Jody Weller's April 22 letter, "Review sentencing laws," is on target. Imagine if the United States was once again the "Land of the Free" instead of one of the most incarcerated nations in the history of human civilization. Imagine if the American people could feel safe in their own homes and on the streets of our cities. Imagine if we had no drug-related crime. Imagine if our overall crime rate was a small fraction of our current crime rate.

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Anti-Drug Authorities Turn Their Focus to Firms That Sell Services and Goods Needed to Operate Illegal Indoor Farms.

TUKWILA, WASH. -- First they noticed a spike in home-based marijuana growing operations. Seattle-area authorities shuttered 450 indoor pot farms in two years.

Then they zeroed in on the supply chain, targeting businesses that provide goods and services needed to grow the illegal weed indoors.

Then they went after a mortgage loan company they say financed houses in which the plants were grown.

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A pair of medical marijuana cases were heard in Kitsap County Superior Court this week, both concerning patients taking the controlled substance for pain management under a doctor's supervision.

Pamela Olson of Ollala, who was arrested last May, and Robert of Bremerton, face prosecution for their use of the drug, for which they received doctor's approval. Robert's lawyer Douglas Hiatt requested that Robert's full name not be published, as it could endanger his employment.

Kitsap County prosecutors, who have turned a blind eye to several medical cases over the last several years, are pursuing these particular cases because, according to Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Kelly, "We have evidence in both cases that they were dealing."

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With one in every 100 American adults incarcerated, is it any wonder that our schools and other social services are in need of funds? Nationwide, there are budget deficits existing everywhere.

Our "tough on crime" policies for the past 20 years have boomeranged, and instead we have "dumb on crime" policies. We are no safer than ever before but we are a lot poorer.

It is time for our legislators to scrutinize some of our mandatory sentencing laws as well as our programs that are supposed to rehabilitate those who have been under the austere custody of the corrections department once, twice and, yes, three times and still returned to prison. It seems that instead of educating, treating or training them in marketable job skills, they have been simply warehoused and set up to fail.

Jody Weller,

Portland

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A former U.S. border guard convicted of letting drugs into the United States in exchange for sex with a British Columbian prostitute was sentenced to nearly three years in prison Monday.

Desmond Bastian, 31, a U.S. citizen who lived in Surrey, B.C., and worked as a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement inspector, allowed the woman to drive through the Blaine crossing while carrying large loads of marijuana and other drugs.

According to the woman's testimony at Bastian's trial, she would lift her skirt and bare her breasts while being waved through the border station, and would often meet Bastian afterward for sex.

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Desmone Bastian Traded Sex With Woman For A Free Pass Through Border

SEATTLE - A former U.S. border guard and Surrey resident who was convicted of exchanging sex with a Canadian prostitute for free passage into Washington state was sentenced Monday to 32 months in jail and two years of supervised release.

Desmone Bastian, 31, was convicted in January and could have faced up to 15 years in jail for accepting a bribe.

U.S. District Judge James Robart called Bastian's action "an incredibly serious offence."

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Last June, city officials came to Pike Place Market and heard frustrated business and condo owners complain about crime at Victor Steinbrueck Park that had become as much a staple as the flying fish a short walk away.

They responded by proposing improved lights with deflectors to deter drug dealers. City officials talked about installing new benches that could fold and lock when the park closed. The city worked with the Downtown Seattle Association, which brought comedians, dancers, poets and yoga groups -- all activities they hoped would keep criminals away.

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A 14-year-old boy upset that his mother threatened to send him to military school for skipping class turned her in Thursday for growing marijuana.

A Kitsap County deputy went to the residence on the 6400 block of NE Silver Springs Lane after the boy called 911 emergency dispatchers and said his mother was growing marijuana, reports said.

At the house, the boy told the deputy he was angry that his mother was trying to discipline him for skipping class and talking back, "and he decided to tell on his mother," the report said.

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