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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It’s all about selling lots and lots of pot…
Dec 21
Posted by admin in Commentary, Cooperatives?, Marketing Illegal Drugs, Un-Permitted Retail Storefronts | No Comments
Wasn’t one of the intentions of laws regarding medical marijuana dispensaries intending to allow their members to save costs by growing and distributing their own marijuana? So, why is it these co-op’s of sick people are spending so much time and money marketing to gain new customers?
These groups are acting far more like marketers trying to gain walk-in new customers than a cost-saving non-profit trying to save money for it’s membership.
For instance:
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