On April 30, 1997, U.S. District Judge Fern Smith issued a preliminary injunction barring the Justice Department from taking any punitive actions against physicians who prescribed medical marijuana.
According to Ukiah Cannabis Buyers Club (UCBC) director, Cherrie Lovett, since the injunction, several Mendocino county physicians have begun to prescribe or recommend marijuana to their patients. Lovett said there are five local attorneys who have offered their services free to UCBC, their physicians, clients and their providers. UCBC is considered the care-giver for their clients and the herb growers are considered the care-givers for UCBC. Many growers have approached UCBC including several people who have never grown before. The Buyer's Club has so far signed only two contracts with growers. They prefer experienced, indoor, organic growers whose crop will be tested for pesticides and mold. They expect to sign 5 contracts this season. When I asked Cherrie how much she pays for a pound she answered, "Way too much!" She hopes to have the price down to $500 a pound by next year. She explained that many of her clients are on Social Security or SSI and can't afford the expensive medicine. UCBC is located inside the Forks Theater, 40A Pallini Lane, Ukiah, phone 462-0691. Their hours are Monday and Thursday 11:00-3:00, Tuesday and Friday 10:00-4:00 and Wednesday 3:00-7:00 p.m. The public is welcome to come check it out. They are working hard to make their facility comfortable and secure. The Community Garden Project has begun planting a wheel chair accessible meditation and community food garden. Operating on a hemp-string budget the UCBC is in need of donations. Items on their wish list are: a computer and printer, office phones, office supplies, chairs, couches, bean bag chairs, money and marijuana. They had an information table and a very educational display at MEC's birthday party where they sold non-medicinal brownies.
With everything coming up buds here on the home front, it has given the Feds a bad reaction. Congressional conservatives are backing several bills that would punish doctors who recommend the use of marijuana to seriously ill patients. According to NORMAL, Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is leading a Republican-backed coalition of 27 senators who have endorsed an anti-crime bill that includes language punishing physicians who recommend or prescribe marijuana to a patient. Section 1002 of Senate Bill 3 requires hospitals and HMOs that receive federal funds to certify that no professional at that hospital has or will prescribe or recommend a Schedule I substance - including marijuana - to any person. Physicians who do not comply will lose their federal license to prescribe controlled substances.
A second, potentially worse bill targeting doctors, Senate Bill 40, would punish physicians who "administer, dispense, or recommend the use of marijuana." Doctors who violate S.40 may be sentenced to up to eight years in prison and/or fined $60,000. Both Bills are currently before the Senate Judiciary Committee which is chaired by Senator Hatch. At hearings called by Hatch earlier this year, he blasted the drug reform propositions that were approved by the voters in California and Arizona. Hatch said the new state laws were the results of "pothead doctors... who want to legalize drugs." Write to Riggs, ask him to show some backbone and stand up to his lunatic, Republican brothers.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1997
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