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posted by martyb on Friday December 07 2018, @10:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the everyone-should-just-chill-out dept.

Medical cannabis advocates suing the state over Prop 2 override have a bigger goal: challenging the Legislature's disregard of the peoples' will

The medical cannabis advocates suing the state after Monday's passage of a Proposition 2 replacement bill are seeking to overturn that law, yes — but they also want to contest what they see as government overreach in muting the voice of the people in an election.

In the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in 3rd District Court by former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, the heads of the Epilepsy Association of Utah (EAU) and Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education (TRUCE) accuse the Legislature of abridging the rights of voters in an effort to appease The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And they argue that the Utah Medical Cannabis Act violates the state constitution's provision for ballot initiatives by sweeping aside the plan approved by a majority of voters.

"For three years, we advocated on the Hill," said Christine Stenquist, president of TRUCE. "For two years, we've been in a campaign for the proposition. And when I saw it undermined so quickly on the first business day, I started to wonder: Is the initiative process in Utah just a suggestion box? Are our votes really meaning anything in this political process? How long do we just have to let politics happen to us?"

The state constitution vests legislative power equally in the Legislature and "the people of the State of Utah." Some of the architects of the Proposition 2 replacement law, however, say the lawsuit stands on shaky legal ground.

Previously: Mormon Church, Politicians, and Advocates Back Medical Cannabis Compromise in Utah


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @11:09PM (20 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @11:09PM (#771329)

    I support this lawsuit. The so called compromise means that a Dr cannot simply give their patient a prescription and be done with it.
    The patient must also appear in front of a so called "compasionate review board" to plead for the right to treat their pain with something other than dangerous opiates.
    Sure their doctor can prescribe them opiates all he wants, but to give them a plant, well that takes a compassionate review board staffed with the same people who rejected the original proposition.
    How many cases can a review board really hear in a year? And if it's anything like some of the other boards in Utah, they will have late start days, long lunches and "early out days", making it impossible to even get in line with years worth of backlog.

    The state has no business intervening in the medical decisions between a doctor and a patient unless they are going to review every dangerous script.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @11:23PM (18 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @11:23PM (#771335)

    The state has no business intervening in the medical decisions between a doctor and a patient unless they are going to review every dangerous script.

    That's what you get if you vote for socialized medicine, the state has an excuse to put every aspect of your life under a microscope. Unless my mind messed up my memory, half the people in the US are all about the state intervening between doctor and patient.

    • (Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @11:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @11:27PM (#771337)

      The state would intervene regardless of whether or not they were paying for the medical care. That's just what authoritarian governments do.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by NewNic on Friday December 07 2018, @11:36PM (8 children)

      by NewNic (6420) on Friday December 07 2018, @11:36PM (#771342) Journal

      That's what you get if you vote for socialized medicine, the state has an excuse to put every aspect of your life under a microscope.

      You haven't actually lived in a country with socialized medicine. All you know is what you have been fed by right-wing media outlets.

      --
      lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @11:44PM (7 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 07 2018, @11:44PM (#771344)

        I worked at a VA and had full access to it. So, yes I have.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:32AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:32AM (#771354)

          Not every socialized medicine country acts with the same lack of discretion.

        • (Score: 5, Informative) by edIII on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:36AM (5 children)

          by edIII (791) on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:36AM (#771356)

          That's not socialized medicine. It's a goddamn travesty, but it ain't socialized medicine. It is the go-to reason to rail against socialized medicine in the US, because the opposition always points to the VA and says, "This is what it looks like when government takes control".

          Bullshit. It doesn't have to be that way, and the VA is a special case for the complete disregard of our veteran's health care. That's not medicine, but fucking torture for every soldier that has to put up with the shit. Socialized medicine, unlike the VA, cannot direct you take these shots under orders.

          --
          Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @01:16AM (4 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @01:16AM (#771372)

            Good argument. Very persuasive.

            I've lived under socialised medicine. And yes, the government did use it as an excuse to be intrusive, and to make limited-formulary decisions based on expedience, cost and moral decisions.

            I was lucky and didn't suffer personal damage as a result. Family members weren't so lucky.

            Socialised medicine is at its best when it's kept honest by the provision of unsocialised medicine, but even then it tends to be intrusive and obnoxious.

            • (Score: 5, Interesting) by NewNic on Saturday December 08 2018, @01:25AM (1 child)

              by NewNic (6420) on Saturday December 08 2018, @01:25AM (#771379) Journal

              There is a huge difference between a limited formulary and the government intruding into your individual healthcare.

              My family's experience of socialized medicine is that it is better than the privatized scheme that exists in the USA.

              --
              lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @05:12PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @05:12PM (#771575)

                US healthcare is just a scam held in place by the government. A few years ago the scammers (insurance companies) even got the government to pass a law to force people to pay them.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @01:47PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @01:47PM (#771522)

              You have a shitty goverment and you blame it on socialized health care. And then you wonder why you still have a shitty government. Well done, with such deductive capabilities of their constituents no wonder lying is such an attractive way to "solve" problems for politicians!

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @04:04PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @04:04PM (#771552)

                Seems as if the good news behind this observation is that americans have a shitty government (we can all agree on that, right?) but haven't entirely turned healthcare over to it, just yet.

    • (Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:07AM (4 children)

      by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:07AM (#771348)

      Funny, marijuana has been illegal for more than fifty years. I guess we've had socialized medicine all along.

      I'm against authoritarianism. Socialism doesn't have to be authoritarian.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:15AM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:15AM (#771353)

        Funny, marijuana has been illegal for more than fifty years. I guess we've had socialized medicine all along.

        Yes, they were introduced together:

        Medicare is a national health insurance program in the United States, begun in 1966

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States) [wikipedia.org]

        In the United States, the use and possession of cannabis is illegal under federal law for any purpose, by way of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis_by_U.S._jurisdiction [wikipedia.org]

        • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:56AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:56AM (#771363)

          wat

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @05:14PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @05:14PM (#771576)

            For the dense: The controlled substances act was in the works at the same time as the introduction of socialized medicine in the US.

        • (Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday December 08 2018, @06:10PM

          by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Saturday December 08 2018, @06:10PM (#771609)

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_history_of_cannabis_in_the_United_States [wikipedia.org] "Increased restrictions and labeling of cannabis as a poison began in many states from 1906 onward, and outright prohibitions began in the 1920s."

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:15AM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday December 08 2018, @12:15AM (#771352) Journal

      It has nothing to do with socialized medicine and everything to do with the Controlled Substances Act.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @05:17PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @05:17PM (#771578)

        And why do you assume those are independent of each other.

        • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:31PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @09:31PM (#771674)

          Because we aren't drooling idiots.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday December 08 2018, @06:16PM

    by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Saturday December 08 2018, @06:16PM (#771611)

    I would take things much further. The Prohibition of alcohol in the US was all the evidence anyone should need that making certain substances illegal does more harm to society and more harm to users and also costs more in taxpayer money than keeping them legal. Legalize them all, and then tax them and use the money to support rehab clinics and other medical care.

    And further, one of the biggest reasons we have a flood of immigrants from central and southern America is that their own countries are drug gang war zones. If the US manufactured its own drugs and junkies were paying $100 per week for a heroin prescription under the monitoring of a doctor instead of who knows what every day, the drug kingpins would have no high value product to fund their armies.