Tribune: So, Calvina Fay is outraged? That's a good thing. Why? Because when she says she supports a sound drug policy, she forgets to mention that every major drug policy study ever done recommends decriminalization of marijuana possession, many outright legalization. That would be 25 reports done over the past century. Recommendation No. 6 of the Institute of Medicine Report on Medical Marijuana recommended allowing medical access to marijuana on a limited basis. They did not say what the sick and dying should do after six months if their symptoms continued, other reports predating the IOM Report recommended allowing access to medical marijuana and to treat it like any other drug. [continues 141 words]
After reading the letter from Calvina L. Fay in the June 11 edition of the Tribune, I can only say that I am extremely thankful that I live in Canada, the TRUE NORTH STRONG AND FREE. It is rabid, narrow-minded people like her who have taken what was initially a free nation with the highest ideals of personal freedom and responsibility and thrown it away. The U.S. is now not a free country any more than is Afghanistan, Iraq or any of the other countries which your country has seen fit to interfere with, attack and invade. I just hope that the politicians in my own country will have the testicular fortitude to stand up for what is right, and say NO to the egregious and misplaced assaults on our freedom propagated by your government on us. Bruce Symington Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada [end]
Tribune: This is a letter in response to the idiot who called Ed a Drug Kingpin. He grew marijuana, and will still grow, for sick people under California law. Just because the federal government thinks it knows best, it usually does not. Pot and medical marijuana are prime examples. Local communities should have the right to make certain laws. I bet you have never seen someone sick and dying of HIV/AIDS, or cancer? Instead of doping them up on morphine-based drugs, why not use natural marijuana? It has been tested over THOUSANDS of years. Medical marijuana has been passed by 17 states and will eventually lead, hopefully, to a change in or failed drug war, which we lost before we started. Ed just got pushed around by the Feds and California, thank goodness, pushed back. Laura Brown, Burlington, Vt. [end]
Tribune: I must say I was shocked by the bold statements made by Ms. Fay in her letter, published on June 11, regarding Ed Rosenthal. She called him a "drug kingpin." The DEA and prosecutors tried to paint the "drug kingpin" image on Rosenthal for the jury. After the trial, when the jury learned that he was actually working to provide medicine for the sick and dying, with permission from the city of Oakland, the majority of them came out and publicly stated that they would not have convicted him if they had known the truth. Ms. Fay claims that Rosenthal is working to "demoralize" our children. I think even a child can see the moral difference between pushing illicit drugs and providing medicine for AIDS and cancer patients. Jed Denlea, Boulder, Colo. [end]
In reference to the recent sentencing of drug kingpin Ed Rosenthal, it is obvious that he is immune to the Supreme Court ruling that marijuana has not been accepted for medical use in the United States, and that it is not a legal defense. Justice did not prevail; it completely failed leaving all of us who support sound drug policy outraged. For the sake of our children's future, we need answers now! How could Ed Rosenthal, who should have received a mandatory minimum of 5 years, get a downward departure of sentencing guidelines to one day, which he never served? How could a downward departure be considered because Judge Charles Breyer felt Rosenthal genuinely believed what he was doing was not against the law? Perhaps Judge Breyer needs to read Mr. Rosenthal's book, Marijuana: The Law and You, a Guide to Minimizing Legal Consequences. It must only be a mere coincidence that this book is designed, "to keep you out or get you out of trouble." The back cover of his book claims that it has "saved people thousands of years of jail time." [continues 119 words]
Considering recent California Supreme Court decisions regarding Proposition 215 one wonders if El Dorado County officials are blind and deaf to the law. To wit, even the legislature cannot overturn or amend a ballot initiative without a 3/4 majority. The California Constitution makes no provision for counties to change a ballot initiative under any circumstances. Proposition 215 does not specify the amount of marijuana a patient or caregiver can grow or possess. Moreover the California Supreme Court has specifically stated that the counties have no right to put limits on medical marijuana use. This means that the El Dorado County six plant limit is unenforceable as a matter of law. [continues 125 words]
More than a year after meetings began to revise El Dorado County guidelines for medical marijuana, new policies for possession and cultivation are being enforced this week by authorities. The new policy has been used by investigators for months but service training for patrol officers was finished this week, El Dorado County Sheriff Jeff Neves said. Broken into four areas, the revised policy replaces the one instituted in 1996 that allowed caregivers and users the possession of 2 processed pounds and/or six plants. [continues 471 words]
In response to the letter writer and her views of Tahoe's justice system: If our system is laying down harsher sentences to those who drive drunk rather than to medicinal marijuana growers and users, we as a community are taking a step in the right direction. Your son and others like him, as intoxicated drivers, put my life and the life of everyone on the road in danger. Unlike the actions of your son, medicinal marijuana is in no way threatening my life. It is helping to improve lives. [continues 58 words]
I can't believe our justice system up here at Tahoe. This pot guy gets not even a year in El Dorado jail. He has been in and out of jail. ... For medical use my butt. But he somehow got a lawyer and the money to beat it. My son is doing 18 months in Folsom Prison with murderers and rapists for DUIs. He actually had one but the other three were harrassment by a highway patrolman who had it out for him. Our lawyer said we could take it to trial, he could put the officer on the stand and show he had it in for my son, and we could win. But it would cost me $10,000.00, so because I did not have the money, my son is behind bars with murderers and rapists. [continues 186 words]
El Dorado County medical marijuana advocates lauded a federal appeals court decision Tuesday that for the first time ruled the government cannot revoke the prescription drug licenses of doctors who recommend marijuana to sick patients. The court also ruled that the Justice Department may not investigate doctors merely for recommending marijuana, because this would interfere with the free-speech rights of doctors and patients. "This is awesome," said Shelly Arnold, a South Lake Tahoe cannabis caregiver, who is also known as "the green goddess" among medical marijuana proponents. "This should give our doctors more confidence in their recommendation for cannabis and, hopefully, encourage them to go to more symposiums and conferences that will educate them on cannabis therapy." [continues 830 words]
With a handful of marijuana-related initiatives on ballots across the nation, Nevada's Question 9 is seen as the most far-reaching, controversial and aggressive during a time of escalating pro-marijuana discussion. Question 9 was placed on the November ballot when Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement representatives collected about 109,000 signatures. It states an adult can possess up to 3 ounces of the leafy drug which could be bought at state-licensed shops. Critics have said the initiative, which would need to pass this November and again in November 2004 to legally change the state's Constitution, would transform the state into a quasi-Amsterdam while attracting the wrong kind of tourists. [continues 677 words]
Retired South Lake Tahoe police Officer Paul Huard treats elementary students like he did criminals: he wants them to learn, respect him and themselves. Huard, known as "Officer Paul," has taken over the DARE program. In the process, he has renamed, restructured and expanded it to the SMART program. But he still drives the same purple paddy wagon. Officer Paul, 56, the original South Lake Tahoe DARE officer in the 1980s, has viewed the evolution of students while the school drug program remained static. [continues 384 words]
It may be a tad ironic that Gary Lacy, the El Dorado County district attorney, plays on a softball team sponsored by a pest control business. Holding the position of district attorney since 1994, Lacy said he was surprised at March's election results where he finished a slim 465 votes behind former friend, roommate and campaign aid Erik Schlueter, a deputy district attorney for the county. Lacy has made few changes to his campaign since March. He was forced to get a new campaign manager after his former top adviser, John McGinness, became undersheriff for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. [continues 639 words]
Keith Whitaker, a Garden Valley man who has appeared in El Dorado County Superior Court numerous times on marijuana charges, committed suicide by hanging himself on a tree branch, authorities said. Shelly Arnold, a South Lake Tahoe medical marijuana proponent, said she was surprised to get a call from Whitaker on Wednesday because she thought he was still in jail. "He said no matter what, he was facing prison time," Arnold said. "He was pretty bummed. He called to say hello and let me know his trial was starting (this week). I think that was pretty much him saying he was outta here." [continues 502 words]
A recent unanimous decision by the California Supreme Court will cut the number of medical marijuana cases sent to trial and lower the degree of proof for defenders, attorneys say. The ruling allows users of medical marijuana who are arrested on drug charges to file pretrial motions that could lead to dismissal of their cases. Prosecutors and defense attorneys read the 31-page decision and came to their own conclusions. "If we can resolve these closer cases in a court, it will not only be quicker but it will also be a much cheaper way to go as far as taxpayers are concerned," said Gary Lacy, district attorney for El Dorado County. "It will also relieve prosecutors and defenders the rigors of going to a jury trial." [continues 391 words]
I am very disappointed in the failure of our Supreme Court to uphold the 4th Amendment of the Constitution ("Supreme Court says it's OK to drug test students," June 27). No longer can we say "Innocent until proven guilty." Now our children must face random searches of their bodily fluids as a part of their education! By submitting kids to demeaning, dignity-robbing drug tests, we are doing far more harm than good. Adam Wiggins Pasadena, Calif. [end]
