Washington and Rhode Island petitioning the DEA

yup , its been a long row to hoe

at our state meeting tuesday we were informed of such an pending announcement !
Governors Christine Gregoire (D-WA) and Lincoln Chafee (I-RI) announced at a press conference today that they were jointly filing a federal petition to reclassify marijuana for medical use. Under the Controlled Substances Act, the federal government considers marijuana a Schedule I substance, a dangerous drug with no medical value. The rescheduling petition filed by Governors Gregoire and Chafee comes after their administrations were sent letters threatening medical marijuana producers and distributors and the implementation of state laws. In April, Governor Gregoire vetoed sections of a bill that would have permitted dispensaries in Washington because of federal threats, and in September, Governor Chafee suspended implementation of Rhode Island’s dispensary licensing law.

At today’s press conference, Governor Gregoire said, “Many medical marijuana patients are too sick to grow their own,” but also said that “there is still not clear and safe access.” Gregoire also stressed that patients “often feel like law-breakers.” In the rescheduling petition, the governors cite as many as 700 peer-reviewed research studies and reports on medical marijuana, and according to Gregoire asked for public hearings “so that the government can hear from doctors and scientists.”

“It is time to show compassion and common sense,” said Gregoire. “The people getting hurt in all of this are patients,” continued Gregoire. “They have a prescription from a doctor but they can’t get it filled.” Governor Chafee called today’s filing a “bi-coastal, bipartisan effort.” Gregoire and Chafee have also briefed other governors on their strategy and urged them to join the petition. The governors seemed confident more would come on board.

“We strongly applaud the leadership of Governors Gregoire and Chafee in urging the Obama Administration to reclassify medical marijuana,” said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. “With the help of these governors, and likely others, it is only a matter of time before marijuana is rescheduled for medical use,” continued Sherer. “We look forward to a time when patients do not have to live in fear.” Meanwhile, advocates are encouraging the States of Washington and Rhode Island to join other states in implementing production and distribution programs for their patients.

The Gregoire/Chafee rescheduling petition also follows a similar petition was denied by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in July of this year. Americans for Safe Access, in collaboration with the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC), has appealed the federal government’s denial and the case is currently pending in the D.C. Circuit. The CRC filed its petition in 2002 and had not received a response until ASA sued the Obama Administration for unreasonable delay. Less than two months later, the DEA denied the petition.

I guess all our ball busting paid off . That and the fact that hes into it .Rumor aslso has it that Barney Frank will work with this group .

Glad something is being put into motion. It will be shot down tho like all the other attempts.

I would like to see a more proactive petition. How about starting an online email petition as follows

Should Marijuana Be Legal for Voting Age People?

Would you vote against any person seeking public office (city, state or federal) who does not support legalization of mj for personal use?

A couple million responses should get the attention of city, state and federal politicans

You might go a step further for care-givers, but once it's legal foe all that seems moot, although licensing might be required to grow for others, with some sort of documentation to prove who you are growing for.

Tonedef1 said:

Glad something is being put into motion. It will be shot down tho like all the other attempts.

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all good things come to those who try and try again.

hoss12781 said:

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all good things come to those who try and try again.

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True but pharma companies have to much to lose when it comes to mmj, since it helps with so many things. The federal government gets alot of kickbacks and taxes from big pharm so they wont move an inch. I wish things were different but money taints people.

So do alcohol companies. Anheuser Busch made a 100k contribution (tax deductible of course to the pupet non profit set up to beat down CA legilzation efforts) to stomp down laws intended to promote access for sick patients.

I also heard a scientific study on NPR this morning that found states who remove MJ prohibition have less traffic accidents and incidents of alcohol related fatalities. Our feds are totally owned by Big Pharma, agree with you on that front, but hey if we don't keep speaking up no forward progress will be made.

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-09-17/news/30056817_1_marijuana-legalization-california-budget-prop 10 grand my bad. But there plenty of other instances of this same type of mentality in Big Alcohol companies. AB is also the single largest funder of the partnership for a drug free america. Which, of course, is also a non profit they can use to promote policies in line with their own best interests while getting healty tax breaks for their influence money.

I agree we should stand up no matter how many times we are knocked down. But we need a total government revamp from the core to get anything good done. First thing to go would be lobbyists, our government needs to put the focus back on the people.

Hobie said:

Longest Journey starts with first step . . .

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First step was taken in 1972 to allow cannabis to be legally prescribed by physicians. The journey started before my birth and will most likley continue after my death. Not being a downer as I am glad at least someone is trying.

Here is a good read about the trials of rescheduling cannabis.

This is not as good of a thing as it may appear, If and that is a huge if. this petition goes through, we will loose our grow rights. In order to produce a class 2 narcotic you need a DEA license. In order to distribute a class 2 you need to be a licensed pharmacist . This is better news for big pharma, then it is for patients! This also will delay any progress on our compassion centers, as now we will have to "wait to see what the feds do". And if it goes through we will never see a compassion center.

I would agree with Mike. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a good direction. All this will do is benifit the pharmaceutical companies and put many helpful caregivers, and many self reliant patients out of there right to grow. I vote no, and strongly urge anyone else to do the same. The last thing this country needs is to fork over MORE money and more control to pharmaceutical companies. Stay small, stay local, keep big corparations away.

Good Ol Linc at it again......

clandestine forever! weather legal or not, i,ll never tell em im growin...fuk them

I think a lot of our future will unfold as to what the Feds do in Cali` and Colorado . I hope the Harborside Health center in Oakland -Cali`survives the federal attack . Lets be real anyone whos growing will always grow . I just went from outside to inside and that was 8 years ago . Started Outside circa 1972 .