cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Therapy for an 8-Year-Old
Marijuana Therapy for an 8-Year-Old
Posted by CN Staff on May 08, 2002 at 15:54:20 PT
By Wayne Wilson, Sacramento Bee
Source: Sacramento Bee
Life just got more complicated for an 8-year-old boy and his mother who has had great success battling his mental disorders with a doctor-approved marijuana therapy.The youngster's medical condition has improved so dramatically that he can now attend public school, but school officials won't permit a school nurse to administer his cannabis capsules and won't let him take the pills himself on campus, the child's mother said.
"Other kids get their medication," she complained. But the drug her son needs daily at 1 p.m. must be delivered by her personally, off the school grounds, she said."It makes him feel he's not normal, that he's being treated differently. He wonders why he's being targeted. He just wants to be normal," she said.She hopes to persuade school officials to change their minds and allow the capsules to be given on campus.The woman, whose name is being withheld to protect the boy's identity, has been treating her son with medical cannabis for the past year, at home and at the private school he had been attending.But in April, they moved. She presented her son's new school with the required permission slip for students who need medication at school, a form she and the boy's doctor signed.The day before the boy was to report to his new school, however, a message left on the family answering machine informed the mother that her son's recommended medication could not be administered on campus.So, she says, she's been forced to drive a round trip of 26 miles each noontime to remove him from the school grounds, give him his capsules, and return him to class.Vicki Barber, superintendent of the El Dorado County Office of Education, said she state law permits schools to dispense drugs only when they are formally "prescribed" by a physician. The boy's doctor made a "recommendation," and there is a difference, Barber added, between a "prescription" and a doctor's "recommendation."Because the district has a zero-tolerance policy, students are not permitted to have in their possession or to self-administer drugs of any kind, she said.Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)Author: Wayne Wilson, Sacramento BeePublished: Tuesday, May 07, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Sacramento BeeContact: opinion sacbee.comWebsite: http://www.sacbee.com/Related Article & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmIs It A Crime? - 48 Hourshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12170.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Mariuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by kaptinemo on May 09, 2002 at 09:47:15 PT:
4Q, here's some more...
Lara Marlowe: 'US efforts to make peace summed up by 'oil''
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=6450&mode=thread&order=0Jason Leopold: 'White should go - now'
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=6453&mode=thread&order=0I make it a habit to visit The Smirking Chimp http://www.smirkingchimp.com/ ; I am guaranteed to learn something interesting every day...
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Comment #8 posted by qqqq on May 09, 2002 at 00:03:39 PT
I have RPCD
Really Pissed Californian Disorder FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Public Citizen
MAY 8, 2002 202-588-7742
3:25 PM Memo Shows Enron Division Headed by Army Secretary Thomas White
Manipulated California Electricity Market
Public Citizen Calls on White to Resign, Justice Department to
Launch Criminal Probe WASHINGTON - May 8 - In light of a memo indicating that Army
Secretary Thomas White’s former Enron division was involved in
market manipulation and price-gouging during the California
electricity crisis, Public Citizen today called for White to
resign immediately and the Justice Department to initiate a
criminal probe. The internal company memo describes how White’s division, Enron
Energy Services, lied to California officials, enabling the
company to charge prices far higher than should have been
allowed. As a direct result of his division’s fraud, White is a
multimillionaire and California consumers still are paying far
too much for their electricity. The Dec. 6, 2000, memo from Enron attorneys describes how Enron
Energy Services deliberately sought from the state’s power broker
far more electricity capacity than it needed. By doing so, Enron
Energy Services, which was colluding with other Enron divisions,
deceived the state into thinking that transmission capacity was
full, enabling Enron to charge prices far higher than if capacity
was not full. That and other memos, released this week as a result of an
ongoing investigation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC), confirm charges Public Citizen has made for more than a
year in reports and in testimony before Congress. The memos are
available on the FERC Web site. "These documents show manipulation and deception so extreme that
it borders on maniacal," said Public Citizen President Joan
Claybrook. "Thomas White was in charge when California was being
gouged by Enron. If he directed this activity, he shouldn’t be
head of the Army. And if this was going on under his nose and he
didn’t know, he’s a terrible manager and also shouldn’t be head
of the Army. He should resign immediately." When the memos are combined with data available in Power Marketer
Quarterly Reports that Enron filed with FERC, it is clear that
White’s division was colluding with Enron’s power marketing
divisions to fool state and federal regulators. In the first
three months of 2001 – the height of skyrocketing prices and
rolling blackouts – White’s division traded more than 11 million
megawatts of electricity in the California market alone, making
nearly 98 percent of these trades with other Enron divisions at
astronomical prices up to $2,500 a megawatt hour (the standard
price at the time was less than $340 a megawatt hour). By selling power to itself at inflated prices, Enron helped cause
prices to skyrocket in California’s deregulated market.
Economists refer to this manipulation as transfer pricing. By trading such large volumes of electricity at such high prices
with other Enron divisions, White’s division was able to
accomplish two things. First, it allowed the company to charge
California utilities and consumers astronomical prices, thereby
contributing to the Western electricity crisis. Federal and state
regulators found it very difficult to trace Enron’s trades
because the company had four separate divisions interacting in
the wholesale and retail markets, and with each other. Second, engaging in transfer pricing allowed these various Enron
divisions to overstate revenue and contribute to the accounting
gimmickry that inflated the company’s share price. It is important to note that at the same time that Enron Energy
Services was manipulating the California energy market, Enron
paid the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie &
Associates more than half a million dollars in the first seven
months of 2001 to lobby the "Executive Office of the President"
on the "California electric crisis" according to the lobbying
disclosure report filed with Congress on April 10, 2001. The firm’s co-founder, Ed Gillespie, was the former
communications director at the Republican National Committee and
a top Bush campaign advisor, and he ran the U.S. Department of
Commerce for the first 30 days of the Bush presidency. Enron was
lobbying against bipartisan efforts to re-regulate the Western
electricity market by imposing price controls. As Enron was
spending this money lobbying Congress and the White House against
price controls, the Bush administration aggressively took Enron’s
position. On numerous occasions, President Bush, Vice President
Dick Cheney, their various spokespeople and Cabinet officials
took an aggressive stance against price controls. White served as vice chairman of Enron Energy Services from 1998
until the Senate confirmed him as Army secretary in May 2001.
When Bush nominated White for the post, he cited White’s 11-year
experience as a top Enron executive as a primary qualification.
White earned tens of millions of dollars in salary,
incentive-based bonuses and stock options during his Enron
career. He earned $5.5 million in salary and cash bonus his last
year alone. As vice chairman, White was in charge of running day-to-day
operations, including managing and signing retail energy
contracts. During White’s tenure, Enron Energy Services became
one of Enron’s fastest growing subsidiaries by using questionable
accounting practices, with revenues climbing 330 percent from
1998 to 2000 (from $1 billion in 1998 to more than $4.6 billion
in 2000). Using "mark-to-market" bookkeeping, Enron booked much
of the revenue for long-term retail contracts up front —
providing the company with inflated revenues. White’s former employees have publicly stated that he knew of the
fraudulent accounting employed by the division. Glenn Dickson, an
Enron Energy Services director laid off in December 2001, has
been quoted in media reports as saying that both White and Vice
Chairman Lou Pai "are definitely responsible for the fact that
[Enron Energy Services] sold huge contracts with little thought
as to how we were going to manage the risk or deliver the
service." ###
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Comment #7 posted by Dan B on May 08, 2002 at 23:25:26 PT:
You'll Have To Forgive SansSuperego
Sans gets a little confused from time to time, and this is no exception. What he thought was "intermittent explosive disorder" is actually "intermittent expulsive disorder, a terrible source of discomfort whereby his body, at irregular intervals, causes an expulsion of gaseous substances from regions heretofore unmentionable. I'm sure Sans is sorry for the mix-up.Seriously, though--this kid deserves to have his medicine,and it is an absolute travesty that the school is standing in the way of not only his medicine, but his health and his mother's right to live without the daily distraction of having to drive back and forth to school to do what her son should be allowed to do for himself.Back when I was in school--and that was only 16 years ago (1986)--I could bring prescription medication to class and expect to receive no hassles if I were to take said medication between classes at the drinking fountain. Today, kids are forced to relinquish their medications to the school nurse and hope that s/he will have the organizational skills and wherewithal to administer these medications properly. If that isn't bad enough, now the school says that this boy, for whom the only medication suitable to his needs is only legal by way of recommendation instead of prescription, cannot even enjoy the right to use his medication--a medicine that helps him to function like every other child, and a medicine that keeps the people around him safe as well. Shame on this school for its inflexibility, and shame on the system as a whole.Dan B
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Comment #6 posted by SansSuperego on May 08, 2002 at 23:04:24 PT
Intermittent Explosive Disorder
I have "intermittent explosive disorder," and I have to tell you that it's quite unnerving. Every once in awhile, I have what you might call a small explosion, followed by a foul odor. Sometimes it gets so bad I have to open a window. If cannabis can help me with this problem, I'd gladly smoke it night and day. My wife would sure appreciate it, too.SansSuperego
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on May 08, 2002 at 21:12:30 PT
el_toonces here you go!
Recipe For Trouble
March 7, 2002
(CBS) Debbie Jeffries of Rocklin, Calif., and her mother, Lorraine, love to cook. Lorraine has even published a cookbook, "50 Years Of Our Favorite Family Recipes."
But what they are whipping up these days isn’t in your average cookbook, reports 48 Hours correspondent Harold Dow. They’re making marijuana - medical marijuana - for Debbie’s son, Jeff.
Using marijuana as a medicine is not unusual in California. Five years ago, voters passed a law allowing patients with serious illnesses, such as AIDS and cancer, to use marijuana for pain, if a doctor approves. But this case is unusual because the patient is 8 years old.
"Jeff has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which is ADHD; oppositional defiant disorder; conduct disorder; intermittent explosive disorder; bipolar disorder - any disorder you can think of," says Debbie, a single mother.
The disorders often lead Jeff to violent, uncontrollable outbursts.
"We’ve had to call the police," Debbie says. "I have woken up to a knife in my back. He used to stab the dogs next door. The teachers were afraid of Jeffrey. He picked up a chair and threw it at a teacher."
Complete Article: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/05/48hours/main503022.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by el_toonces on May 08, 2002 at 20:57:21 PT:
Diagnosis?
There is a lot of debate in some of the states with access laws or registries as to whether any psychiatric condition should qualify, so I am very curious as what this boy's might have been since he was obviously helped by medical cannabis.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on May 08, 2002 at 18:57:43 PT
Treatment plans
I work in child and adolescent mental health, for what was once an awesome clinic. (managed care has choked it to death and services are non-existant. That is another story)In my treatment plans for children who are having serious behaviors at school, one of the "measurable objectives" - something quantifiable that we can see change - I always use is " decrease or eliminate compliants from teachers".This child's cannabis therapy works, apparently, and can be easily "measured" - this is a big deal to managed care sorts - by where the child is capable of functioning in the structure of school (and where he used to be). Its not rocket science, but it does help keep everybody on track, working towards a common goal: educating the child with behavior and emotional problems.To bad it would be illegal to know why this works so well.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on May 08, 2002 at 18:38:18 PT
Rainbow More Details Here
After I posted this article I found one with more detail and put it in the archives. I recommend you're daughter use this one I'm posting now and check out WAMM's web site because that is the organization that the mom and son were and maybe still are affiliated with.
WAMM - Valerie Corral
http://www.wamm.org/
Ill Boy's New Hurdle: School Drug Rules
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread12777.shtml
The Secret Garden - WAMM:
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12358.shtmlTell your daughter good luck with her project!
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Comment #1 posted by Rainbow on May 08, 2002 at 18:23:11 PT
A speech
FoM this could not have come at a better time. My daughter signed up to do a speech on Medical marijuana. And I caught her looking for information on the net. We had a great talk and now I am looking for good information for her 10th grade class.
I think the school will be disappointed when they find out I am helping her HeHeHe.
Rainbow
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