Medical marijuana group buds with Oregon's new top cop
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — When Ellen Rosenblum walked into a gathering of some of Oregon's most ardent medical marijuana advocates, the new attorney general was greeted like an old friend.
Don Morse, director of a Washington County medical marijuana dispensary, hugged the 61-year-old former judge. More than once, participants referred to the state's top law enforcement official simply by her first name, the Oregonian newspaper reported.
The response at the meeting Wednesday of the advisory committee to the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program showed how much backers of the program hope they have found an ally in Rosenblum.
Pro-marijuana groups donated $200,000 to her campaign, about a third of her fundraising total against Dwight Holton, the former U.S. attorney in Oregon.
Rosenblum said she'd make marijuana enforcement a low priority.
It was the first time an Oregon attorney general had met with the advisory panel, created by the Legislature it in 2005.
Rosenblum made no promises on policy changes sought by the committee.
"Hopefully there is a message in my being here," she said.
"I think the most important thing is to have trust, and hopefully there is at least some level of that," she said. "Trust doesn't come with a title. It comes with actions and, to a degree, with words."
Ben Mackaness, a panel member, wept as he spoke about his father's use of medical marijuana to cope with symptoms of cancer. "I want to know that you have our back," he said.
He called the committee members "toothless wonders," because they lack influence on medical marijuana policies, failing to get post-traumatic stress disorder added to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana or to stop an increase in patient fees proposed by state officials.
"At every turn, the goal is just to quiet us and put us in a corner, and it just doesn't work anymore," Mackaness told Rosenblum. "I am begging for your help."
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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
we can continue to wast money on this war or stop this civil war now.
I don't particularly have a problem with medical marijauna as long as it is kept away from kids. I do care and think that the Attorney General of this state has no business taking one position or the other on this matter. If, If you pay taxes, you should be concerned. This attorney general is a retired judge drawing over 100K in PERS paid for by the taxpayer, and now she is drawing (unless she is working for free) another 100K plus as the AG. There is just something rotten in Denmark (or should I say Oregon) about so much unemployment, malfeasance, nonfeasance or whatever going on, with the Department of Revenue, Paying out unemployment to fraud, PERS trying to collect back their huge mistake. I wonder what is next with this non functional bunch of goons that are trying to run this state.
Maybe I should make myself more clear for you Joey, I don't have a problem with medical marijuana for some uses. I that giving a discount to people for the card is crazy. We don't provide discounts for people with no insurance for medication. I do have a problem with being able to pay a Dr and have a "medical" reason for a medical marijuana card. If your head, back, knee, or big toe hurts, take an Advil like the rest of us and move on. Â
People need to calm down, I'm happy she won (and I'm a life long republican), but I'd hold off on the parade until she actually DOES SOMETHING. She attended a meeting, nothing more. No promises, no goals set, nothing. All she did was shine a blinding light on the incompetent idiot that came before her. Medical marijuana cuts across party lines, it has massive support and it's growing. Any idiot who wouldn't even sit down and have a meeting with the leaders of such a movement shouldn't be in charge of a taco bell.
@Joey Ismail RINO
@Joey Ismail I believe that Taco Bell drug tests also
If she is true to her word and there is no reason why she shouldn't because she obviously has support and she can also see which way the wind is blowing, then this a wonderful moment and a portent of better things to come. Support for reform has grown to the point that it can elect officials. It's obvious the time has come to change the law as well.  Legalization will be on the ballot in 3 states Colorado, Oregon and Washington) and medical will be on the ballot in 4 states Arkansas, Montana, Massachusettsa and North Dakota and decriminalization in Detroit MI. A strong vote to end the drug war will null and void federal and international law and other nations will quickly follow suit and legalize marijuana. So don't miss out on being a part of history and register to vote for the ballot to legalize this November. War is Over! 2012!Â
@Paulpot This is the government we are talking about, the IRS, the BAT&F, the war may be over, but the bureaucracy will begin, and that will pose a greater threat.
oh and i should have added "pot heads" make people like fancy jack waste 30 minutes of their life typing to defend their views to my list.ha ha oh how i love starting s@%t.
@The way out  I'm sure that you have no job and no life. Some people have worthwhile points to make and actually have a life with experiences to back it up.
We're headed in the right direction with marijuana. Slowly, but surely. It makes me proud to live in Oregon.
@PleaseBeSmart Don't set the bar too high.
 @Fancy Jack Well you just have something to say to everyone tonight, don't ya? *sigh* My bar for government is quite high, though obviously not in the same way as yours. Anything else?
@PleaseBeSmart Yes
if u do not like Oregon go back to California.hate to tell u Sam and fancy jack there are a lot of "pot heads" that run your towns ,local business,and a lot of far smarter people than u do it under the influence.
@The way out Never met a smart pothead, Pot and intelligence are mutually exclusive, one destroys the other, met and treated a lot of dependent folks who had pot in common, they were going no where slowly, as for fellow employees, in the mines and mills the pot guys stood out, we had one fellow extending a boom on a boom truck, he needed to know when the holes lined up so stuck his finger in, sheared it right off, another was cutting a hose, held the hose in his hand and shoved the knife right through the hose and his hand, my favorite was the guy working in the skull plant, he climbed up on the bearing caps of the ball mill while it was running and stuck a bar down the feed chute to clear it, the bar hit him on the side of the head and he fell 18 feet and crushed the back of his skull, when we picked him up the foreman cradled his head and his fingers slipped through his skull, pot guys stand out in industrial situations, they are usually missing fingers or are on light duty because they hurt themselves. Our accident rate was four times the national average for our industry until we implemented drug testing.  In nursing we do random drug testing, it appears that the patients have little tolerance for impaired providers, you know there is a problem when you tell your nurse you are having chest pain and she wants to know what color it is, many nurses get into the detox game so they can make drug connections through their patients. They get fired and their licenses get suspended and no one is suprised, because dopers stand out, As a Union man easily 50% of the folks I represented, drugs were an issue. So, over the years I have endured those that abuse drugs for what ever reason, I was never struck by their intelligence, but I have had a chuckle or two over some of the stupid stuff they done and the drug logic they used to justify their actions. Smart dop[ers do not exist, it is an oxymoron, like you, but without the oxy.
 @Fancy Jack Right, so Bill Gates is an idiot and Steve Jobs was a moron. Put that beer down and try again Einstein.
@Iam1woody @Joey Ismail It is a conundrum
 @Joey Ismail  @Fancy Jack arguing with jack will make you as nuts as jack
@Joey Ismail So, you are suggesting that they both were chronic drug abusers? I knew Albert, he was only drunk once in his life, it was in the 1905, in the summer as I recall, as for myself, I do not drink or smoke. Mister Gates, I find him contemptable, so idiot is too harsh a term and Steve is dead, would not it be ironic if the toxins in the pot he smoked killed him? That would be hilarious and sweet. Microsoft is one of the biggest drug testers in the nation and when the question was posed to Apple, they responded, do you want drug impaired people assembling your equipment? Pot will keep you from being hired at either company, so try again Forrest.
@The way out  Hate to tell you that I was born in Oregon and have lived here my whole life. Just because I am not a pot head doesn't mean I am from California. If there people who are running our towns and local business where so smart they would not be doing it under the influence. Have you seen the state our country is in? It speaks volumes that you have to resort to nasty comments to try to get your point across.
 @Sam If you were any smarter you wouldn't be making less than a kid who cuts grass in his spare time.
@Joey Ismail @Sam Deans list, graduated with Honors, retired when I was 53, knocking down 100K a year in retirement, only $11,400 is taxable income, so I get all the low income breaks, I get steady increases which add to my taxable income and IÂ have dual overlapping insurance coverage not counting medicare or medicaid. One of the sweetest perks is that I get a new vehicle every 2 years, I prefer Fords, getting a new one in a couple of weeks, it cost $72,000 and I pay ZERO, I am trading in a 2010 with 31,000 miles. Good to know that kids who mow grass are doing well, I mow my own grass, I did not know it was so lucrative. Did I mention that I was a Teetotaler and never smoked? Surprising what you can accomplish with a little effort and no vices.
Wonderful! How great that a third of your campaign funds came from pot heads, proud you should be. What I love is that I make under $16,000 a year and I make to much money for me or my son to be on the Oregon Health Plan. However, if I get food stamps and want to get my medical marijuana card I can get a discount. I don't see anyone offering a discount for antibiotics or asthma inhalers for my child. We need to rethink our priorities in Oregon.
Relax sam, if you can't get a better job you need to look in the mirror. People donate money to causes they believe in. That's called "democracy". I'm not trying to be insulting, but if you worried a little more about your life and a little less about mine, you might actually have a real job and then you wouldn't have to ask me "would you like fries with that sir"....
@Joey Ismail I haven't worked fast food since I was 16, but thanks. I am also a student. I am not worried about your life in the least and I am a 4.0 college student and my 9 year old son is an honor student and is a gifted athlete. We are active in our community. It is about values and morals. Democracy is for the people by the people and I have the right to voice my opinions. I however do not have to be insulting or rude.
@Joey Ismail @Sam "Pothead" is harsh and subjective, he should have refered to them as illegal drug abusing reprobates, a factual statement, when dealing with miscreants, it is never necessary to resort to insults, regardless of its efficiency, you simply outline the losers behavior and that in itself is all that is needed to identify the dregs of our society.Â
 @Sam The very first sentence of your post contained the term described anyone who supports medical marijuana as a "pothead". Who was being rude again?
Just what we need, an Attorney General that is for sale to the dopers
@Fancy Jack She is for sale to more than dopers.
 @Fancy Jack No one is "for sale" jack. She is meeting with the leaders of a movement that is sweeping the state, just as she should. That's what a "republic" means. You literally "represent" the people who put you in office. It's much better than watching another politician who suffers from "reefer madness" try and pretend to represent the people.
@Joey Ismail Looks bought and paid for to me.
@Joey Ismail You are correct in that regard, she is not much
 @Fancy Jack Because she attended a meeting? I guess "bought and paid for" doesn't get you much in 2012....