Musique Gourmet serves up some classic dishes I 7
An independent newspaper at the University of Oregon
www. dailyemerald. com
Since 1900 | Volume 107, Issue 14 | Thursday, August 4, 2005
Bill adds provisions to Medical Marijuana Act
One of the clarifications under SB 1085 would establish a 24-hour
accessible database of registered marijuana grow sites and patients
BY TIM O'ROURKE
FREELANCE REPORTER
The smoke hasn’t yet cleared from the debate
surrounding a medical marijuana bill waiting to
be re-voted on by the Oregon Senate this week.
The House Committee on State and Federal
Affairs amended the original medical marijua
na bill, Senate Bill 1085, to include provisions
on workplace issues, and agencies like the
ACLU are fuming.
“When this bill passed the Senate it repre
sented a carefully crafted compromise. Unfor
tunately, the House State and Federal Affairs
Committee added a divisive amendment
pushed by some employers that undermines
the fragile balance of the bill,” the ACLU said in
a floor statement to members of the House.
“(It) would eliminate possible legal protec
tion for disabled workers who are registered
medical marijuana patients. ”
SB 1085 was originally passed in the Senate
last month and again with House amend
ments Aug. 2. The bill’s chief backer, Sen. Bill
Morrisette (D-Springfield), was unavailable
for comment.
The purpose of the bill was to clarify some
ambiguities in Oregon’s medical marijuana
law. It called for a 24-hour accessible database
and clarified size restrictions on marijuana
plants and grow-site definitions, among
other provisions.
With the House-added provisions, SB 1085
would, in part, allow employers to fire employ
ees because they have marijuana in their sys
tem, even when there is no evidence of on-the
job impairment.
At press time, the bill was expected to be
voted on by the Senate Wednesday night or
Thursday, if time allowed. If it passes, the bill
will head to the governor’s desk for a signa
ture or veto.
SB 1085, which originally passed in the Ore
gon Senate unanimously July 20, and 39-14 in
the House after amendments Aug. 2, clarifies
some sections and makes changes to others in
the voter-approved Oregon Medical Marijuana
Act, which went into effect Dec. 3,1998.
Many advocates are upset, not only because
of the recent amendments, but because the bill
eliminates the “affirmative defense” that pa
tients and caregivers found to be growing ille
gal amounts of marijuana have successfully
used in court.
Currently, a patient or caregiver can use the
“affirmative defense” to argue that they’re
growing more marijuana than is permitted by
law out of medical necessity, making the
MARIJUANA, page 4
Maimg Mating Turn
While he fi ves simply he gives geacwmh to his people
and though he is in exile he never stops sharing
fits heart and spirit with everyone he meets..
Mating Maune law lives
and wmks as a child care medic as
Dr. Cynthia's Mac Tao clink: on the Thai Burma border.
Originally an economic refugee of Burma,
his powerful paintings have made him
famous as m advocate for human rights
and now, a political refugee as well.
While Mating Mating Tam cams
enough money as a painter to live independently.
kt&goses instead to five txmmutnaliy
at the clinic arid use all the proceeds from his work
to help others less fortunate.
stating that his only wish in life is
to help his people
Curt and Cathy Bradner of Art Exiled sell packets of ^by-S-inch post cards that represent the work of exiled artists Maung Maung Tinn, Nay Thit and ZMO.
Courtesy
The Bradners support Burmese refugees through their program Art
Exiled, which markets the work of exiled artists internationally
BYGABE BRADLEY
NEWS EDITOR
Eugene residents Curt and Cathy Bradner
know what it’s like to leave everything behind.
“In 1998 we sold our house and our
business in hope that we’d bicycle around
the world in search of something more
meaningful than our previous careers,” Curt
Bradner said.
So in 1999 they found themselves in
Thailand — far from their Colorado-based me
chanical engineering firm.
By the time they reached Thailand,
the weather prevented them from bicycling
any further.
“We just needed to take a break,” Mr. Brad
ner said. “There was a woman who was run
ning a medical clinic and we heard she was
looking for help.”
The country of Burma has been under the
control of a military dictatorship since 1962. As
such, there are many refugees in neighboring
Thailand — refugees who ended up at the same
clinic as the Bradners.
The Bradners found themselves faced with
the task of keeping a group of refugee children
occupied during the days.
“We volunteered to work for a month
and we ended up staying for five years,” Mr.
Bradner said.
Mr. Bradner taught bicycle repair to the older
children while Cathy Bradner started giving the
younger children supplies for drawing
and painting.
“These kids had never had crayons in their
lives,” Mr. Bradner said. “So it was a big deal.
This was the birth of Art Exiled, a non-profit
group that uses art to help those who are forced
to leave their home countries.
“Art Exiled got started by accident in 1999
when my wife, Cathy, began giving crayons and
watercolors to children in a refugee camp,”
Bradner said.
The program really took off when the Brad
ners met Maung Maung Tinn, a Burmese
refugee in Thailand.
Tinn ended up working at the clinic with the
Bradners. He had little formal training in art.
“It would be the equivalent of high school art
classes,” Mr. Bradner said. “He used to paint just
EXILE, page 12
ASUO Executive gets active in budget preparations
This change will involve the ASUO Executive more in the budgeting
process for incidental-fee-funded departments and organizations
BY NICHOLAS WILBUR
NEWS REPORTER
The ASUO Executive recently decided
to take a larger role in preparing 2006-07 budget
recommendations for all of the
University's incidental-fee-funded departments
and organizations under contract with the
student government.
Fee-funded organizations with contracts, such
as Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group
(OSPIRG) and the Student Recreation Center, are
given an agreed upon amount of funding in ex
change for their sendee. Formerly, the seven
member Programs Finance Committee proposed
the amount of student incidental fees that would
be allocated to each organization, with the execu
tive making four or five of these budget
recommendations. The change will give ASUO
President Adam Walsh and Finance Coordinator
Nicholas Hudson a more active role in preparing
organizations' budgets before they are sent to the
ASUO Senate for a vote.
“As the represented voice of students, we’d like
to make sure we’re fulfilling the process put in
EXECUTIVE, page 4