VASCO'S FIASCO: THE SMOKING GUN

When Dan Lungren led the fight against Prop. 215, he repeatedly warned voters that "Prop 215 will legalize marijuana!"  Voters heard Lungren's warnings and soundly rejected his message.  Over 5.3 million voters passed Prop. 215 and sent a clear message--it's time for law enforcement to BACK OFF of marijuana enforcement.

Instead of upholding the new law, Lungren immediately issued an 11 point summary to all law enforcement agencies that Prop. 215 does NOT make marijuana legal for patients--unless they can prove they conform to Lungren's illegal 11 point summary.

Read Prop. 215 and you'll see that it says that patients and caregivers are EXEMPT from state marijuana laws.  Prop. 215 also says the government should start taking steps to make medical marijuana easily available to patients.  It does NOT say that patients must carry documents or photo IDs or answer to law enforcement.

Senator Vasconcellos and his group want to change that.  They want to create a "law enforcement model" of Prop. 215 to appease Lungren and others who are already in violation of Prop. 215.  To that end, they are holding a "Medical Marijuana Summit" and they are refusing to include me because I led the successful fight to oppose a previous Vasconcellos bill which would have gutted Prop. 215.

If Senator Vasconcellos really wants to impliment Prop. 215, I suggest he hold hearings to investigate the illegal actions of Dan Lungren and state law enforcement agencies in opposing the will of the voters.

Check out the article below and you'll see the "Smoking Gun," that shows the real agenda for the Medical Marijuana Summit.  The third paragraph says, "The proposal would be added to a medical marijuana bill currently under consideration at the state level, a Vasconcellos aide said."

That's the same bill which we defeated several months ago.  Vasco used a parliamentary procedure to keep it "under consideration."  Vasconcellos has gathered a hand picked assortment of law enforcement and D.A.s to create the appearance of a consensus for his gutting of Prop. 215.

Vasconcellos and his groups plan will force patients to carry photo IDs, answer to law enforcement, limit their supplies and severely restrict who can qualify as a patient.

As a patient and a leader in the Prop. 215 campaign, I consider Vasco's Fiasco is a bigger threat than the federal government and  I will actively oppose this fraudulent attempt to appease law enforcement at the cost of endangering sick people.

--sk

Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/
Tue, 19 May 1998

SAN FRANCISCO -- With California's network of medical marijuana clubs on the verge of total collapse, a coalition of elected officials wants the state to take over distribution of the plant.

The coalition, led by state Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara, will try to hammer out a concrete proposal for a state-sponsored medical marijuana distribution program during a May 26 summit at the state Capitol, Vasconcellos said Monday.

The proposal would be added to a medical marijuana bill currently under consideration at the state level, a Vasconcellos aide said.

"The hope is to forge an agreement on the best possible situation, to get something on the table," Vasconcellos said during a conference call with reporters and coalition members. The planned summit, to be held as a regular hearing of the State Committee on Public Safety, will include
testimony from the San Francisco and Santa Clara district attorneys, several city health officers and medical marijuana advocates.

A representative of state Attorney General Dan Lungren, the most vocal critic of medical marijuana, will also speak at the hearing, organizers said. Representatives of the federal government, which is seeking to shut down six Northern California marijuana clubs, declined to take part, a Vasconcellos aide said.

San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan said he will meet Monday with San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to discuss a plan to give that city's health department authority to distribute marijuana to qualified patients.

"I very much resent the attorney general and the federal government sticking their nose in local business," Hallinan said during the conference call. "The people in our county clearly support access to medical marijuana."

A federal judge issued an injunction May 14 closing six Northern California marijuana outlets as part of a civil suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The club owners have vowed to stay open, hoping their defiance will force a jury trial on the legality of the clubs.

In November 1996, Californians passed Proposition 215, which legalized marijuana possession for the seriously ill and their caregivers. The law urged government officials to propose a workable distribution system for the plant, which is still illegal to buy and sell.

In the absence of a state-sponsored distribution system, a network of at least 20 marijuana clubs sprang up to provide medical marijuana. But since the law passed, most of the clubs have been driven out of business or are facing serious civil and criminal charges.

"Without standards, we are going to see the same kind of chaos we've seen for the last 18 months," said Scott Imler, founder of a marijuana club in West Hollywood. "Some of the prosecutions have been legitimate; others have been attacks on 215."

Last week, a jury in Orange County convicted the co-founder of a club there. On Friday, the Drug Enforcement Administration raided a farm rented by the San Francisco club now called the Cannabis Healing Center. That club is also a co-defendant in the federal case, and faces criminal and civil charges brought by Lungren.