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Excerpts from the California Voter's Pamphlet
Proposition 215: Medical Use of Marijuana
Official Title and Summary Prepared by the Attorney General
Exempts patients and defined care givers who possess or cultivate marijuana for medical treatment recommended by a physician from criminal laws which otherwise prohibit possession or cultivation of marijuana.
Provides physicians who recommend use of marijuana for medical treatment shall not be punished or denied any right or privilege.
Declares that measure not be construed to supersede prohibitions of conduct endangering others or to condone diversion of marijuana for non-medical purposes.
Contains severability clause
BACKGROUND
Under current state law, it is a crime to grow or possess marijuana, regardless of whether the marijuana is used to ease pain or other symptoms associated with illness. Criminal penalties vary, depending on the amount of marijuana involved. It is also a crime to transport, import into the state, sell, or give away marijuana.
Licensed physicians and certain other health care providers routinely prescribe drugs for medical purposes, including relieving pain and easing symptoms accompanying illness. These drugs are dispensed by pharmacists. Both the physician and pharmacist are required to keep written records and the prescriptions.
PROPOSAL
This measure amends state law to allow persons to grow or possess marijuana for medical use when recommended by a physician. The measure provides for the use of marijuana when a physician has determined that the person's health would benefit from its use in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or "any other illness for which marijuana provides relief." The physician's recommendation may be oral or written. No prescriptions or other record-keeping is required by the measure.
The measure states that no physician shall be punished for having recommended marijuana for medical purposes. Furthermore, the measure specifies that is is not intended to overrule any law that prohibits the use of marijuana for non-medical purposes.
ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF PROPOSITION 215
Proposition 215 Helps Terminally Ill Patients
by Richard J. Cohen, M.D., Consulting Medical Oncologist, California-Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco; Ivan Silverberg, M.D., Medical Oncologist, San Francisco; and Anna T. Boyce, Registered Nurse, Orange County
Proposition 215 will allow serious and terminally ill patients to legally use marijuana, if, and only if, they have he approval of a licensed physician. We are physicians and nurses who have witnessed firsthand the medical benefits of marijuana. Yet today in California, medical use of marijuana is illegal. Doctors cannot prescribe marijuana, and terminally ill patients must break the law to use it.
Marijuana is not a cure, but it can help cancer patients. Most have severe reactions to the disease and chemotherapy--commonly, severe nausea and vomiting. One in three patients discontinues treatment despite a 50% chance of improvement. When standard anti-nausea drugs fail, marijuana often eases patients' and permits continued treatment. It can be either smoked or baked into foods.
Marijuana Doesn't Just Help Cancer Patients
University doctors and researchers have found that marijuana is also effective in: lowering internal eye pressure associated with glaucoma, slowing the onset of blindness; reducing the pain of AIDS patients, and stimulating the appetites of those suffering malnutrition because of AIDS wasting syndrome; and alleviating muscle spasticity and chronic pain due to multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and spinal cord injuries.
When one in five Americans will have cancer, and 20 million may develop glaucoma, shouldn't our government let physicians prescribe any medicine capable of relieving suffering?
The federal government stopped supplying marijuana to patients in 1991. Now it tells patients to take Marinol, a synthetic substitute for marijuana that can cost $30,000 a year and is often less reliable and less effective.
Marijuana is not magic. But often it is the only way to get relief. A Harvard University survey found that almost one-half of cancer doctors surveyed would prescribe marijuana to some of their patients if it were legal.
If Doctors Can Prescribe Morphine, Why Not Marijuana?
Today, physicians are allowed to prescribe powerful drugs like morphine and codeine. It doesn't make sense that they can prescribe marijuana, too.
Proposition 215 allows physicians to recommend marijuana in writing or verbally, but if the recommendation is verbal, the doctor can be required to verify it under oath. Proposition 215 would also protect patients from criminal penalties for marijuana, but ONLY if they have a doctor's recommendation for its use.
Marijuana Will Still Be Illegal for Non-Medical Use
Proposition 215 does not permit non-medical use of marijuana. Recreational use would still be against the law. Proposition 215 does not permit anyone to drive under the influence of marijuana.
Proposition 215 allows patients to cultivate their own marijuana simply because federal laws prevent the sale of marijuana, and a state initiative cannot overrule those laws.
Proposition 215 is based on legislation passed twice by both houses of the California Legislature with support from Democrats and Republicans. Each time, the legislation was vetoed by Governor Wilson.
Polls show that majority of Californians support Proposition 215. Please join us to relieve suffering and protect your rights. VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 215.
On the American Tradition of Voting
Quoted from the Associated Press following the Nov. 1996 election:
Clara Lucca, 101, knows the importance of voting. She was alive when women first got the right to do it in 1919. And she hasn't missed a November contest since.
"Always vote," the Buffalo, N.Y., resident said Tuesday as she made her way to the polls. "We want the best people for the positions."
Prayers:
Om Shiva Shankara namo namah
Oh Lord Shiva, I salute you
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
Continuous chanting of the names of the
Personality of Godhead and the Goddess Hari
vancha-kalpatarubhyas ca
kripa-sindhubhya eva ca
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaisnavebhyo namo namah
I ask humble forgiveness for any bad karma I
may have started. I worship the servants of Vishnu
and ask forgiveness for my mistakes.
aham kratur aham yajnah
svadhaham aham ausadham
mantro'ham aham evajyam
aham agnir aham hutam
Lord Krishna said: It is I who am the ritual, I
the sacrifice, the offering to the ancestors, the
healing herb, the transcendental chant. I am the
butter and the fire and the offering. --Bhagavad Gita 9.16
Pray for Peace News est. 1995
Pray for Peace News was founded to spread awareness, education and devotion to the Great and Holy Mystery that is God. We accept all paths as true; all religions are but branches of the same tree. We promote interfaith dialogue and exchange programs to develop tolerance between religions.
Pray for Peace News is dedicated to nonviolence (vegetarian diet) and daily meditation. Pray for Peace News editors are committed to the legalization of sacred natural medicines for spiritual healing, for all people.
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