Gun Grabbing | Punishing Druggies | Inhibiting Enterprise | Election Tampering | Puritanical Blue Laws | Stealing from the Poor | Prohibiting Common Activities Punishing Druggies Pataki is no friend of freedom. He lied about wanting to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Only Jeffrion Aubry's bills do that. Gottfried is also a fine representative, and we need to help his bill A05878 move forward in any way we can.

A05878 Medical Marijuana bill- This bill was introduced by Assemblyman Gottfried, Chairman of the Health Committee. It would legalize the "possession, manufacture, sale, administration, delievery, dispensing, and distribution of marihuana in connection with medical use thereof for certified patients". This bill would help thousands of patients obtain a medicine that their doctor feels would help alleviate their condition. Marijauna has been proven effective in treating the nausea and weight loss involved in cancer chemotherapy- in fact, it is the quickest and best way to relieve nausea for these patients. It is also effective in treating the weight loss and pain of AIDS, the damaging effects of glaucoma (the #1 cause of blindness in the U.S.) and the symptoms of MS.	GOOD Al: Assemblyman Gottfried has kept this bill in the Health committee until there is enough support to report it to the floor for a vote. Please write to your Assemblyman and ask them to cosponsor the bill.
A10275 Sets weekly medicaid rates for all methadone maintenance service and program providers	WRONG APPROACH Methadone should be an over-the-counter drug, available to anyone who feels they need it. This would end up decreasing the price, especially if other treatment paradigms were allowed to compete with methadone. However, this particular bill equalizes payments for non-hospital-based clinics (hospital-associated programs were getting more), so in the current context, it's good.
A06960 Requires substance abuse recovery houses to obtain an operating certificate from the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services A10637 Relates to the licensing and regulation of substance abuse houses	BAD These puts treament facilities under state control, limiting the ability of groups like churches and addict self-help groups to help recovering addicts.
A07226 Requires county jails to permit alcoholism and substance abuse services to state inmates so afflicted who are temporarily housed in county jails and request same	GOOD Doesn't require they pay for it, just PERMIT it. Need to find where they define an "approved" treatment center, but AA is mentioned as one of them.
A02823 SPONSOR Aubry ; New sentencing guidelines for offenses involving the possession and sale of controlled substances to eliminate the "Rockefeller drug laws" by removing non-violent felon classification from determinate sentences and allowing judicial discretion.	GOOD
A00292 SPONSOR Aubry ; "second chance" (sealing records) for some non-violent offenders	GOOD
A05488 SPONSOR Aubry ; release w/out bail for marihuana cases ACD (adjourned in contemplation of dismissal) S03510 Summary: companion bill to A05488; SPONSOR Volker	GOOD
A05428 Sponsor: Aubry; Requires bills or amendments affecting prisons to be accompanied by a prison impact note	SUPPORTABLE Information for voting legislators is good, and it's about how much what they are considering would cost. Not a significant bill for libertarians, but it might be for some of our allies.
A00634 SPONSOR Lentol ; increased penalties for drugs in parks	BAD
A01500 SPONSOR Weisenberg (Pataki Lacky); increases penalties for 2 oz of 'mixtures or compunds..containing marihuana' to a class E felony	HORRIBLE This was part of Pataki's alleged "reform" of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. This would make the penalty for a marijuana brownie or drink to be calculated as if it were all marijuana, for sentencing purposes.
A01577 SPONSOR Brodsky; increases penalties for sale or possession of controlled substances S00559 Summary: companion to A01577; SPONSOR Kruger	BAD
A02074 SPONSOR Kolb; makes an attempt to buy carry the same penalties as a sale	HORRIBLE
A03532 SPONSOR D`Andrea; requires revocation of driver's license of any person convicted of a drug or marihuana related offense	BAD
A04040 SPONSOR Straniere ; Makes civil asset forfeiture even less fair: burden of proof is on owner S02290 Summary: companion to A04040; SPONSOR Maltese	BAD
A01357 SPONSOR Lopez; mandates suspension or revocation of teaching certificates and attorney licenses for felony conviction involving marijuana, and any other conviction of any controlled substance	BAD
S03408 SPONSOR Vellela; 'three strikes you're out' with marihuana offenses of just under an ounce or more	BAD Velella: Making the Rockefeller Drug Laws worse.
A07509 Requires drug and alcohol testing for prospective foster parents	BAD The state's child welfare agencies are in enough trouble as it is. They take kids who shouldn't be taken, and miss kids who are in real danger. This would eliminate some good parents, but not all the bad parents, because they'd just use someone else's urine. Better to have close follow-up with foster kids to see if they are OK. Better yet to loosen up adoption regulations so that the kids can get a loving permanent home. What's next? AIDS tests for foster parents?
A08888 Enacts the "drug law reform, drug treatment and crime reduction act of 2001" It doesn't make the substance abuse treatment voluntary: THE REQUIREMENT THAT ALL OFFENDERS RELEASED FROM PRISON WITH A SUBSTANCE ABUSE DEPENDENCY BE REQUIRED TO UNDERGO A MANDATORY ALCOHOL OR SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAM. It seems it also denies pistol permits to convicted felons. Given that these felonies might be for drug offenses and other victimless crimes, this is not supportable. AND, it directs the superintendent of the division of state police, in consultation with the secretary of the treasury and the attorney general of the United States, to conduct ongoing tests and evaluations of pistols and revolvers manufactured in this country to determine the safety standards.	BAD It's another Aubry bill. Taken as a package, his others remove mandatory sentencing (retroactively), and provide treament instead of prison for some (not requiring it). This one is not like the others.
S07133 Creates the "keep kids drug free" distinctive license plate program Remember to tell people to vote against the little suckups who sponsored this one Sponsor: Fuschillo Co-sponsors: Hannon, Lack, Maltese, Marcellino, Morahan, Padavan, Rath, Skelos	BAD State propaganda. Need a libertarian reason to be against it, though--there are many trivial license plate designs available.
For additional information on Marijuana, Al recommends the following sites: Marijuana Policy Project, Drug Reform Coordination Network, and Reconsider. Recommended Reading: Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts by Zimmer and Morgan. This is an excellent book on the 20 myths about Marijuana, including: -Marijuana's harms have been proven scientifically -Marijuana has no medicinal value -Marijuana is highly addictive and other myths Drug Warriors use to perpetuate the failed War on Drugs. Click on the title to order this book.
For additional information on Treatment, a free market in which is an important corellary to full legalization...a flyer is in progress.