|
Viewpoint
Letters to the
Editor
Thinks Gray reduced to
mean-spirited name-calling
To the editor:
Regarding the comments of Altoona police chief John L. Gray
("Marijuana not humorous" Dec. 25), I was disappointed that your newspaper would
print such a mean-spirited, ad hominem attack. If Gray had any evidence that someone
was smoking pot, it would be his duty to arrest that person, not call him or her names in
the newspaper. Once again, Gray demonstrates that he will not investigate the facts,
and that he has a complete disregard for the truth. The people of Altoona would be
well-served to find a law enforcement officer with a better sense of justice and fair
play.
Regarding Chief Gray's personal attack printed under the headline
"Head shops don't help patients" (Dec. 11):
Here are more facts that Chief Gray needs to know. While it is
true that the voters in California approved a broad medical marijuana initative in
November of 1996, this only happened because for two years in a row California's Gov. Pete
Wilson vetoed more conservative medical marijuana bills passed by the California State
Legislature. Medical marijuana activists were left with no choice but to take the
issue directly to the voters, and they made the law as broad as it could possibly be made.
The law approved by the voters in California allows patients and their
immediate caregivers to grow and possess marijuana on the oral or written recommendation
of a doctor. Since federal law prohibits the growing or possession of marijuana, as
well as the prescription of marijuana, the initiative only protects patients and doctors
from prosecution in state courts. The federal government can still theoretically
prosecute anyone for possession of any amount of marijuana for any reason, although there
is a question of states' rights currently being considered in federal court in Washington,
D.C. Pearson v. McCaffrey, Case No. 97-CV-00462 (WBB) ("http://pw2.netcom.com/~zeno7/complain1.html").
Interestingly, a federal court in San Francisco has recently ruled that the federal
government may not threaten doctors who simply recommend (not precribe) the use of
marijuana to their patients. Conant v. McCaffrey, Case No. C97-0139 FMS
("http://www.lindesmith.org/mmjsuit/order.html").
Chief Gray is mistaken in his comments regarding the recent article in
the Dec. 8 issue of TIME magazine "Too High in California" regarding the San
Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club. Just this past week, a San Francisco, California
appellate court found that the club did not fit the definition of an "immediate"
caregiver and ordered the club to shut down. Because the club was in full operation
for several years prior to the passage of last year's medical marijuana iniative, Chief
Gray's comments about the club being the result of the initiative are highly misleading.
I'm certainly delighted to know that Chief Gray has not violated Iowa's
medical marijuana law by arresting doctors for recommending marijuana to their patients,
as this would place him in violate of both state and federal law. However, he would
do well to stop referring to Iowa's medical marijuana law as some scheme to sell crack
cocaine to kids in candy stores. Such tactics are worthy only of a runaway police
state.
As for clearing the air in my room, I submit that the air in my room is
cleaner than the hot air Chief Gray is blowing from his bully pulpit as chief of Altoona's
police department.
Carl E. Olsen
Des Moines
The Altoona Herald - Mitchellville Index
Thursday, January 1, 1998, Page 4A
Post Office Box 427
Altoona, Iowa 50009
Phone 515-967-4224
Fax 515-967-0553
|