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Medical Marijuana Wins in San Francisco by Carol Miller

This past fall showed a fruitful harvest for the struggling Marijuana movement in Northern California. First the Northern California Hemp Council was formed with sister organizations in 12 counties from Santa Cruz in the South to Humboldt in the North. Representatives from 11 of the 12 counties met in Sonoma County in September to discuss our work for the coming year. The Council agreed to use consensus process and the affinity group/ cluster model developed by the anti-nuclear movement. Besides sharing information, especially regarding the development of new hemp products which are aiding us all in our funds and consciousness raising efforts, the group agreed to honor the need for many affinity group members and supporters to remain anonymous to the larger marijuana legalization network; and the group developed a method of informing groups of important activities, needs or issues thru an information tree .

The Council discussed many of the new developments in hemp industrial and nutritional products which have evolved this past year, especially with the lifting of the iron curtain, and the discovery that active hemp industries exist in most previously Communist nations. Ed Rosenthal of HIGH TIMES is researching hemp fabric and oil through the Eastern Block countries, while Steve Orgle of Portland, Oregon's HOUSE OF HEMP has brought us beautiful hemp fabric from China and is researching oil production in that country. Sonoma County activists are discussing hemp trade with our sister city of Cherkasky in the Ukraine.

Probably the most significant advance made toward marijuana legalization , however , was San Francisco's successful Medical Marijuana Ordinance, "Prop. "P" which won in November by 80% of the vote, an unprecedented landslide victory for Dennis Peron and his Bay area organization. Medical cannabis has been totally unavailable, even by prescription since May of 1991, when the DEA terminated its experimental medical marijuana program because of a flood of applications for use to alleviate the suffering associated with cancer and HIV therapies. The Hemp Council agreed to focus on Medical Marijuana for the coming year and several counties are following suit in the filing of county wide propositions similar to San Francisco's successful initiative.

Since the November election, Peron and the Medical Marijuana activists of San Francisco have worked out an astounding program which looks like it will make a significant difference in the health and lives of many citizens who suffer from diseases and/or treatments which can be relieved by the medical use of marijuana. The pseudo-prescription program being developed there will not only allow physicians to prescribe marijuana, but will allow for patients to cultivate up to 6 plants for their medical use. The Proposition also sends a message to eh California Medical Association and State Legislature, asking that they make an effort to return Cannabis to the list of substances which can be legally prescribed by physicians and to make an effort to legalize the personal use and cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes.

January 7th, Sonoma County Citizens for Compassionate Use, (a coalition of the Sonoma Hemp Council, Santa Rosa businessmen, your SCRAP friends, and Sonoma County students) filed a proposition based on a combination of the San Francisco Prop. P. wording, and the medical proposition wording filed in Santa Cruz County in December. Enclosed in this issue of the FREE PRESS is a copy of the exact wording of the proposition which should be ready for circulation early in February and which must collect 14,000 valid signatures by June to qualify for the November 92 general election.

The proponents of the Sonoma Medical Marijuana Ordinance feel hopeful that you will all be willing help circulate petitions. They need funding immediately to make this campaign a reality in Sonoma County. Please donations to CITIZENS FOR COMPASSIONATE USE , c/o SCRAP, Box 410, Cazadero, CA 95421. For more information or to volunteer help, call Amy or Carol at 847-3642 or Randy at 539-5352.

January 1992

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