Morley Shafer reports on Proposition 215
60 Minutes
December 30, 2007
(CBS) Hindsight. One more image in the hall of mirrors that medical marijuana in California has become. The Supreme Court has upheld the DEA’s right to go after dispensaries, no matter what state law might say. And even one of the key proponents of medical marijuana says things have gotten out of hand.
“It’s just ridiculous the amount of money that’s going through these cannabis clubs. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” says Scott Imler, a minister in the United Methodist Church who has long been active in promoting medical marijuana.
Eleven years ago, he was working to pass proposition 215, the ballot measure that legalized it. Today, Imler has second thoughts.
“The purpose of proposition 215 was not to create a new industry. It was to protect legitimate patients from criminal prosecution,” Imler says.
The aim back then, reflected in television spots, was for a highly regulated system in which licensed pharmacies would dispense medical marijuana to the seriously ill. Proposition 215’s backers had people with AIDS, cancer, and glaucoma in mind.
“What happened when we were writing it was, as you can imagine, every patient group in the state and they all have their lobbies. You know, the kidney patients and the heart patient. Every patient group wanted to be included in the list,” Imler recalls. “And so we didn’t wanna get in the position of deciding what it could be used for and what it couldn’t be used for. We weren’t doctors. We weren’t scientists. We weren’t researchers. We were just patients with a problem.”
Imler says they were forced to make the proposition vague.
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California Looks to Put Reins on Medical Marijuana Sales
Oct 7
Posted by admin in California Dispensaries, Commentary, Cooperatives?, In The News, Other State's Dispensaries | No Comments
October 7, 2009
California officials are seeking greater control over medical-marijuana sales, as pot dispensaries have proliferated in cities like Los Angeles and concerns are rising about drug dealers posing as medical-marijuana providers.
USA Today reported Sept. 30 that the law on medical-marijuana sales remains vague 13 years after its passage. San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said that all of the dispensaries her office has investigated have been operating illegally, and some “appear to be run by drug dealers who see an opening in the market and a way to make a fast buck.”
State Attorney General Jerry Brown has issued guidelines stating that nonprofit cooperatives and collectives can legally sell marijuana to patients. But some programs are pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly profits. Meanwhile, some cities have had hundreds of storefront marijuana shops open since the law went into effect — 400 registered programs in Los Angeles alone, for example, with many more unregulated shops also in operation.
“The practical reality has proven to be these facilities have by and large opened without any kind of registration, application, nothing,” Jane Usher, special assistant city attorney in Los Angeles.
Source: JoinTogether.org – Article