Forces
Lined
Up
For
and
Against
I-59
10/30/98
As noted above, DC's I-59 has already met opposition in Congress, with Election Day still four days away. Supporters of the initiative are considering how they will assure that I-59 is counted and enacted, despite anti-democratic forces in Capitol Hill. I-59, like the other medical marijuana bills, provides protection from arrest and prosecution to seriously ill or dying patients whose doctors have recommended it for primary treatment or as a mitigation against side effects of other treatments. It would prohibit discrimination or retaliation of any form against any physician who recommended the use of marijuana, and protects their identities, and would permit possession, acquisition and cultivation of small amounts of marijuana destined to be used solely by the patient for their medical needs. The bill allows patients to designate up to four primary caregivers to act as their agents in securing marijuana solely for the patient's medical needs, as well as to organize and operate not-for-profit corporations for the express purpose of providing patients with their medically-necessary marijuana. I-59 also provides that the use of medical marijuana will be no defense against any criminal actions of violence, driving under the influence, or public endangerment, would require that the District's Director of the Department of Health submit a plan within 90 days that for providing safe and affordable marijuana to Medicaid patients, and asks that the District Mayor formally request, on behalf of District citizens, the development of a federal framework for legal provision of medical marijuana. I-59 has been endorsed by the Democratic, Republican and Statehood party candidates for Mayor, and by most of the City Council members, with the exception of the member from Ward Six in troubled Southeast Washingtonm who has said she believes that medical marijuana would increase problems with the already-pervasive open-air drug markets of Washington. Perhaps predictably, DC Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey has voiced his opposition to the initiative, stating that he felt it was inappropriate to allow voters to decide medical issues best left to scientific regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration. But in a surprising announcement this week, the National Black Police Association publicly endorsed the measure. Though there has been little organized public opposition to the bill, a rider attached to the 1999 DC budget, by Congressman Robert Barr, a Georgia Republican, prohibits the use of District funds to conduct and certify a vote on medical marijuana. The ballots had already been printed when the provision went into effect; however, there is still concern that the District government could be prevented from certifying a count of the votes next week. Wayne Turner of ACT-UP DC, the sponsors of the initiative, told The Week Online, "We'll be filing our case against the federal government tomorrow (Friday, 10/30). The ACLU has taken the case, and I want everyone to know that the votes will be counted. So we want everyone to go to the polls on Tuesday and cast their votes in favor of self-rule and the rights of patients. How dare they try to take away the rights of District residents to vote on this issue. If they thought they would win, the federal legislators would be down here certifying the votes themselves. But the fact is that they are going to lose, and lose badly, and so, being bereft of good arguments for their side, they have adopted a dictatorial strategy. 'To hell with the people, they can only vote if we agree with them.' But this is America, and it just doesn't work that way."
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