Herb Ninja

Cannabis activist calls court decision ‘ludicrous'

6-06-2005 | Dennis Gale | Rapid City Journal

SIOUX FALLS — Bob Newland of Hermosa, who is bicycling across the state gathering signatures to put a medical marijuana measure on the 2006 ballot, said Monday's United States Supreme Court decision on medical marijuana is "ludicrous."

The decision said that people who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to reduce pain and ease illness symptoms can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws — as can those who grow the substance for them. The United States Constitution allows federal regulation of homegrown marijuana as interstate commerce, according to Justice John Paul Stevens.

The decision affects laws in 10 states.

"How ludicrous can it be to say that if a state makes it legal to use a medicine in that state that the feds can go in and take medicine away from sick people and put them in jail when nothing else works," Newland, reached by cell phone during his bicycle ride, said. "They got it wrong."

Charlie McGuigan, an assistant state attorney general who argued against a medical marijuana bill in the 2005 Legislature, read the summary of Monday's Supreme Court opinion.

It "reinforces the fact that even if we legalize it in South Dakota, it's going to remain a federal offense. And both doctors who prescribe and patients who may use would still be subject to federal prosecution," McGuigan said.

On Sunday, Newland, a longtime cannabis activist, started his bicycle trek east from Rapid City on S.D. Highway 44 as part of a signature-gathering effort called the Matthew Ducheneaux Trail to Safe Access Bicycle Tour Across South Dakota.

Ducheneaux, a quadriplegic from Eagle Butte who used marijuana to ease chronic pain from muscle spasms, died May 23 after choking on a device designed to prevent him from grinding his teeth while sleeping, Newland said.

In 2000, Sioux Falls police arrested Ducheneaux for marijuana possession. A magistrate judge had agreed to let him argue that he needed the substance for medical reasons, but a circuit court judge overruled that decision. The state Supreme Court unanimously upheld his conviction in 2003.

Newland called Ducheneaux a classic example of the type of person who can benefit from medical marijuana. His muscle spasms were life-threatening, according to Newland.

"In 1988, a friend turned him on to smoking a doobie during a spasm, and it worked immediately," Newland said. He said that prescription medications were shortening Ducheneaux's life.

Ducheneaux was using marijuana until his death, Newland said. He had moved from Sioux Falls to Eagle Butte, where "nobody was going to bother him for smoking weed," Newland said.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling is probably the end of the line for medical marijuana in the federal court system, he said. But action can occur in legislatures and through the petition process, Newland said.

He said that under the initiative he wants to put on the ballot, people suffering from specified medical conditions would qualify for marijuana therapy. If they and their doctors agree that the benefits outweigh the risks, the doctors can sign recommendations for marijuana therapy, Newland said.

Also, it would allow a medical marijuana defense in court and would bar authorities from arresting people who have medical-marijuana registry cards for cannabis possession, he said.

The petitions require about 17,000 signatures by May 2006 to get on the 2006 ballot.

"I'll guarantee you we'll get it on the ballot. I haven't been turned down by anybody signing this, and neither has anybody else who has been passing this petition."

The South Dakota medical marijuana bill was killed 11-1 in a House committee in January. At the time, McGuigan testified that his office opposes any attempt to legalize marijuana in any form.

The federal government has determined that the substance has no medical use and is highly addictive, he said.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in South Dakota and leads to other illegal drug use, McGuigan testified.

Newland said the people who know about medical marijuana and need it already are using it and are not going to stop. "This is a question of making the law reflect reality, and it's irrelevant what the feds want to do," he said.

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"Truth is treason in an empire of lies." -Ron Paul

Buzzby

Isn't everyone who votes in favor of state medical marijuana laws guilty of conspiracy to violate federal marijuana laws? The entire electorate should be subpoenaed and required to reveal their vote in a federal court. Those who voted for medical marijuana could then be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Just goofing. We are still protected from being required to incriminate ourselves. So far. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if the feds subpoenaed state registries of medical marijuana patients...

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killer12382

Secret ballots will still protect us so we're safe. Safer than those people who are on those registries.
Mr. Newland just doesn't get it and that's why I feel so sorry for him. Those who are not in touch with reality are unable to change the circumstances of their reality.
Or as Mr. T says "I pity the fool."