Showing posts with label medical marijuana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label medical marijuana. Show all posts
Saturday, November 13, 2010
News reports that Arizona prop 203, medical marijuana, ahs PASSED
Channel 5 news is reporting tonight that Arizona has now passed prop 203 which will legalize marijuana for people with certain medical conditions. This will help many patients find relief from their pain and emotional fatigue.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Arizona’s medical marijuana - About the Initiative
Right now, Arizona patients battling cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening diseases face prison for trying to relieve their pain. By passing this initiative, we can stop this cruel and unnecessary policy.
What would Arizona’s medical marijuana initiative do?
- Allow terminally and seriously ill patients who find relief from marijuana to use it with their doctors’ approval.
- Protect these seriously ill patients from arrest and prosecution for the simple act of taking their doctor-recommended medicine.
- Permit qualifying patients or their caregivers to legally purchase their medicine from tightly regulated clinics, as they would any other medicine -- so they need not purchase it from the criminal market.
- Permit qualifying patients or their caregivers to cultivate their own marijuana for medical use if a regulated medical marijuana clinic is not located within 25 miles of the qualifying patient.
- Create registry identification cards, so that law enforcement officials could easily tell who was a registered patient, and establish penalties for false statements and fraudulent ID cards.
- Allow patients and their caregivers who are arrested to discuss their medical use in court.
- Keep commonsense restrictions on the medical use of marijuana, including prohibitions on public use of marijuana and driving under the influence of marijuana.
About The Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project (AMMPP)
The Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project (AMMPP) is a grassroots organization devoted to passing a medical marijuana initiative in Arizona in November 2010. Currently, seriously ill people who use marijuana on the advice of their doctor to treat illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, and multiple sclerosis are subject to arrest and imprisonment, simply for trying to stimulate their appetite or alleviate their pain.
We can change this. On November 2, 2010, Arizona voters could have a chance to vote to protect Arizona’s medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail. But voters will not have that chance unless we collect more than 150,000 valid signatures to get the initiative on the ballot.
Our signature drive is now underway! Please volunteer, sign up to collect signatures, or donate today. And please check back with us often for updates about our progress as the campaign develops.
We can’t win without your help! Thanks for your support!
We can change this. On November 2, 2010, Arizona voters could have a chance to vote to protect Arizona’s medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail. But voters will not have that chance unless we collect more than 150,000 valid signatures to get the initiative on the ballot.
Our signature drive is now underway! Please volunteer, sign up to collect signatures, or donate today. And please check back with us often for updates about our progress as the campaign develops.
We can’t win without your help! Thanks for your support!
Medical marijuana users could get legal anti-discrimination protections
An initiative drive launched recently would give some people who are prescribed marijuana and test positive for the drug on the job the same legal anti-discrimination protections against getting fired as women and minorities.
The measure, dubbed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, would allow doctors to essentially prescribe marijuana to patients who are suffering from any one of a specific set of conditions. It also would allow creation of a network of nonprofit shops that would sell marijuana to those who have those prescriptions and allow those not within 25 miles of a shop to grow their own.
Backers need to gather 153,365 valid signatures by July 1, 2010, to put the measure on the ballot that year. The plan, modeled after similar laws in other states, requires only "written certification" from a doctor to get up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. The drugs would come from nonprofit dispensaries, though the question of where they get their plants or seeds is not addressed.
Campaign manager Andrew Meyers said there are differences in this plan designed to make it less subject to abuse than the California model, like distance restrictions of these shops from schools.
There also is a list of medical conditions that could be treated with marijuana, ranging from glaucoma and AIDS to chronic or debilitating conditions that lead to severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, or severe and persistent muscle spasms.
What it also contains, though, are anti-discrimination provisions, including one that an employer cannot make hiring, firing and disciplinary conditions based on a person's status as the holder of a medical marijuana card. Potentially more significant, that protection extends to someone who tests positive for drugs unless the person used or possessed marijuana on the job or was "impaired" during work hours.
Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall said the problem is proving what constitutes impairment. With alcohol, she said, it's easy. Tests determine a blood- alcohol level. And there are standards in both state and federal laws that determine what level constitutes impairment. That doesn't exist for marijuana.
Attorney Don Johnsen, who specializes in labor law, said the language, similar to laws that prohibit discrimination on race, religion or gender, will lead to a lawsuit every time a company fires or refuses to hire someone with a medical marijuana card if he or she is found positive. Johnsen said each side will hire medical experts to argue to a jury whether a specific reading of a metabolite of marijuana shows the person was impaired.
Meyers agreed that the question of what happens to a worker who tests positive "becomes a question for the courts." But Meyers said he's not concerned about employer rights in these cases.
"We don't believe that someone that is using a medication that their doctor recommends to them should be fired because they're following a doctor's advice," he said, adding marijuana should not be treated different from other prescriptions.
Johnsen, however, pointed out that employers are now free to fire people for virtually any reason at all, including showing up at work under the influence of other legal drugs.
Another provision says schools could not refuse to enroll and landlords could not refuse to rent to those entitled to use medical marijuana unless they would lose dollars or licensing because of federal laws.
And the use of marijuana for medical purposes could not be taken into account in child custody or visitation disputes, nor would it be evidence of neglect or child endangerment "unless the person's behavior creates an unreasonable danger to the safety of the minor as established by clear and convincing evidence."
Nothing in the Arizona proposal, like those approved in other states, would immunize anyone from prosecution under federal drug possession laws. But the record so far has been federal agents have shown little interest in going after individuals for possessing small amounts of marijuana.
The measure, dubbed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, would allow doctors to essentially prescribe marijuana to patients who are suffering from any one of a specific set of conditions. It also would allow creation of a network of nonprofit shops that would sell marijuana to those who have those prescriptions and allow those not within 25 miles of a shop to grow their own.
Backers need to gather 153,365 valid signatures by July 1, 2010, to put the measure on the ballot that year. The plan, modeled after similar laws in other states, requires only "written certification" from a doctor to get up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. The drugs would come from nonprofit dispensaries, though the question of where they get their plants or seeds is not addressed.
Campaign manager Andrew Meyers said there are differences in this plan designed to make it less subject to abuse than the California model, like distance restrictions of these shops from schools.
There also is a list of medical conditions that could be treated with marijuana, ranging from glaucoma and AIDS to chronic or debilitating conditions that lead to severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, or severe and persistent muscle spasms.
What it also contains, though, are anti-discrimination provisions, including one that an employer cannot make hiring, firing and disciplinary conditions based on a person's status as the holder of a medical marijuana card. Potentially more significant, that protection extends to someone who tests positive for drugs unless the person used or possessed marijuana on the job or was "impaired" during work hours.
Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall said the problem is proving what constitutes impairment. With alcohol, she said, it's easy. Tests determine a blood- alcohol level. And there are standards in both state and federal laws that determine what level constitutes impairment. That doesn't exist for marijuana.
Attorney Don Johnsen, who specializes in labor law, said the language, similar to laws that prohibit discrimination on race, religion or gender, will lead to a lawsuit every time a company fires or refuses to hire someone with a medical marijuana card if he or she is found positive. Johnsen said each side will hire medical experts to argue to a jury whether a specific reading of a metabolite of marijuana shows the person was impaired.
Meyers agreed that the question of what happens to a worker who tests positive "becomes a question for the courts." But Meyers said he's not concerned about employer rights in these cases.
"We don't believe that someone that is using a medication that their doctor recommends to them should be fired because they're following a doctor's advice," he said, adding marijuana should not be treated different from other prescriptions.
Johnsen, however, pointed out that employers are now free to fire people for virtually any reason at all, including showing up at work under the influence of other legal drugs.
Another provision says schools could not refuse to enroll and landlords could not refuse to rent to those entitled to use medical marijuana unless they would lose dollars or licensing because of federal laws.
And the use of marijuana for medical purposes could not be taken into account in child custody or visitation disputes, nor would it be evidence of neglect or child endangerment "unless the person's behavior creates an unreasonable danger to the safety of the minor as established by clear and convincing evidence."
Nothing in the Arizona proposal, like those approved in other states, would immunize anyone from prosecution under federal drug possession laws. But the record so far has been federal agents have shown little interest in going after individuals for possessing small amounts of marijuana.
Information on the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project
The issue of legalizing medical marijuana in Arizona has seen a long, slow burn in Arizona.
Voters have approved ballot intiatives several times over the past 13 years, but legal challenges have snuffed-out the practice.
Now, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project (AMMPP) is collecting signatures to get pot for pain and other purposes on the ballot in November 2010.
The group needs to get more than 150-thousand certified signatures by July of next year to qualify.
If passed, severely ill patients would be able to possess a small amount of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. Growers and dispensaries would be heavily-regulated by the state, most-likely the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS). Patients living 25 miles or more from a dispensary would be able to cultivate up to 12 marijuana plants for personal use.
Voters have approved ballot intiatives several times over the past 13 years, but legal challenges have snuffed-out the practice.
Now, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project (AMMPP) is collecting signatures to get pot for pain and other purposes on the ballot in November 2010.
The group needs to get more than 150-thousand certified signatures by July of next year to qualify.
If passed, severely ill patients would be able to possess a small amount of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. Growers and dispensaries would be heavily-regulated by the state, most-likely the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS). Patients living 25 miles or more from a dispensary would be able to cultivate up to 12 marijuana plants for personal use.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Most Arizonans support medical marijuana use
Arizona could soon be the next state to allow medical marijuana use.
The Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project is pushing for the issue to be on the 2010 ballot.
The initiative would make possessing and using a limited amount of marijuana legal under Arizona law for certain illnesses.
Marijuana has been shown to relieve nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy treatments and to relieve nerve pain for those suffering from multiple sclerosis.
A poll taken this year showed 65% of Arizona supports the proposed medical marijuana law.
I would have to agree that seeing it help many cancer patients, marijuana can be a very helpful part of treatment.
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