MARDI GRAS, ROUND TWO
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dailycardinal.com
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Health-care amendment faces long road By Adam Wollner The Daily Cardinal
kathryn weenig/the daily cardinal
The UW Horticultural Society presented a lecture to students about benefits of medical marijuana and its current position in state politics.
Speakers discuss benefits, cultivation of medical marijuana at presentation By Ben Siegel The Daily Cardinal
Members of the UW community attended a lecture to learn about the legal, medical and physical environment of medical marijuana at an event sponsored by the UW Horticultural Society. Gary Storck, president of the Madison chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, spoke about the historical and scientific backgrounds of medical cannabis before delving into recent medical and legal developments. Storck said using marijuana for medical purposes is not a recent development. “A Chinese emperor’s stash was recently discovered in his tomb: two pounds of herbal cannabis that still contained THC,” Storck said. Storck described various conditions that medical cannabis can treat, such as multiple sclerosis and post-traumatic stress disorder. A 40-year user of medical marijuana, he reflected on his own experiences.
“I’ve had glaucoma my entire life, and although my vision has greatly decreased, I can still see, and that’s a tribute to the medicinal power of cannabis,” Storck said.
“The common misconception of growing is that it’s easy to do.”
Troy Sedlak author ‘Anarco Grow’
Present local policy has its origins in Madison City Ordinance 2320, which, in 1977, decriminalized possession and allowed for marijuana use with proper certification. Storck said Republicans have frustrated recent attempts to forward marijuana legislation in the state Legislature but also mentioned the success of the cannabis referendum on November ballots in Dane County and River Falls.
“Medical marijuana is something that residents support,” Storck said, “Unfortunately, with the legislative changes, people in control could care less about medical marijuana.” Troy Sedlak, the author of “Anarco Grow,” a fiction novel about a Costa Rican-American marijuana pipeline, spoke about the basics of indoor marijuana cultivation. Sedlak took the audience through the basics of growing, identifying ideal conditions and practices employed during stages of cultivation. He described the process from planting through the vegetation, flowering and drying stages. After debating the merits of various light sources and growing techniques, Sedlak said growing marijuana is more difficult than is commonly thought. “The common misconception of growing is that it’s easy to do,” Sedlak said. “People think, ‘Cool, I’m going to grow and have pounds and pounds of pot.’ It’s not that easy. It takes a lot of time to learn how to do it the right way. It’s really an art form.”
DA asks to continue injunction on repair bill A Dane County District Attorney filed a brief Tuesday asking to continue the injunction on the Budget Repair Bill following an appeal by the State Department of Justice. In the brief, Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi’s restraining order on publishing the bill responds to a violation of the Open Meetings Law, not the content of the bill itself. Ozanne said the court case cited by the DOJ in its appeal does not apply to this case because that case attempted to stop the publication of a bill due to
the its unconstitutionality, unlike the current case. “The District Attorney here does not seek to block publication simply to prevent an allegedly unconstitutional bill from becoming law,” Ozanne wrote in the brief. “Rather, he seeks to redress past violations of the rights of the public to sufficient prior notice of and meaningful access to the March 9, 2011 Joint Committee of Conference meeting.” The current injunction delays Secretary of State Doug LaFollette’s ability to publish the bill.
The bill passed on March 10, and LaFollette originally said he would take the full 10 business days allowed before he published it. Before LaFollette published, and Sumi found on March 18 that the Joint Committee violated the law. In the DOJ appeal, state lawyers said Sumi does not have the authority to issue such an injunction and argued the open meetings law is a legislative rule and therefore not in the jurisdiction of the courts. —Scott Girard
One year after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, state Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, and state Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, proposed a constitutional amendment to make Wisconsin exempt from the law. Leibham and Vos introduced the Health Care Freedom Amendment Monday, saying there are still “serious questions” remaining about the constitutionality of the law. In a joint statement, Leibham and Vos said the amendment would protect the rights of individuals to decide what kind of health care they want. They said it would also prohibit the government from requiring individuals to partici-
pate in any health-care program, public or private. “The Health Care Freedom Amendment will protect citizens from the unconstitutional takeover of health care,” Vos said in a statement. “ObamaCare is an assault on our precious freedom to choose the right doctor and health insurance.” The amendment must be adopted by two successive legislatures and approved by the citizens of Wisconsin through referendum to take effect. Wisconsin is one of 26 states currently suing the federal government over the constitutionality of the health-care law. Eight states have already passed legislation against it. Leibham and Vos said they health care page 3
kathryn weenig/the daily cardinal
ASM candidates shared opinions on diversity, segregated fees and student government outreach at a Q&A session Wednesday.
ASM candidates share positions on student issues in Q&A session By Anna Duffin The Daily Cardinal
Students gathered to ask the Associated Students of Madison’s spring electoral candidates questions regarding their vision for the university and the student government Wednesday night. Candidates are running for 29 seats on student council and five seats on the Student Services
Finance Committee. Some candidates agreed that while issues such as finances and safety are important for ASM members to address, it is equally as important to inform students that these problems exist. Letters and Sciences candidate Dan Shanahan said student awareq&a page 3
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”