cannabisnews.com: Scientists Say Marijuana Research Blocked 





Scientists Say Marijuana Research Blocked 
Posted by CN Staff on July 20, 2004 at 16:47:04 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press 
Washington -- The government is violating federal law by obstructing medical marijuana research, scientists contend in lawsuits seeking faster action on applications to grow the drug. In lawsuits to be filed Wednesday, researchers assert that Washington is refusing to act on legitimate research projects and delaying studies that could lead to marijuana's use as a prescription drug.
"There is an urgent need for an alternative supply of marijuana for medical research," said Lyle Craker, director of the Medicinal Plant Program at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the main force behind the lawsuits. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the Health and Human Services Department, "maintains a monopoly on research marijuana. Many researchers believe that NIDA's monopoly is an obstacle to getting needed studies done on a timely basis," Craker said in a statement. The lawsuits, which target the Drug Enforcement Administration, HHS, NIDA and the National Institutes of Health, are being filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Joining Craker in filing the suit are Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, and Valerie Corral, co-founder of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, Calif., who uses marijuana to control epileptic seizures. "As a patient, each day brings new struggles," she said in a statement. "Instead of providing relief for critically ill Americans, our government refuses to allow the research that would free sick and dying members of our collective from living in fear of an administration that views medical assistance as criminal activity." The case claims an unreasonable delay in acting on a three-year-old application by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to grow marijuana for federally approved researchers. Scientists also want the government to act on a year-old application by Chemic Laboratories in Canton, Mass., to import 10 grams of marijuana from Dutch authorities for research into a device called the Volcano Vaporizer. The device potentially offers a nonsmoking way to deliver the medicinal value of marijuana. "Every day DEA delays the applications necessary to initiate research is another day that the patients with illnesses susceptible to treatment using marijuana must either suffer otherwise remediable pain, or risk arrest to use marijuana as medicine," said the scientists behind the suits. DEA spokesman Ed Childress said the agency won't discuss pending lawsuits. All marijuana for research in the United States must come from a crop grown on a federally contracted farm in Mississippi. That product has been only "inconsistently available to researchers and is infamous for its low quality," the researchers contend. On the Net: Drug Enforcement Administration: http://www.dea.gov National Institute on Drug Abuse: http://www.nida.nih.gov/ University of Massachusetts-Amherst: http://www.umass.edu/ Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies: http://www.maps.org/ Source: Associated Press Published: July 20, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Associated Press Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Mike & Valerie Corral News & Pictureshttp://www.freedomtoexhale.com/valc.htmPipe Dream? - Fast Company http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18329.shtmlKerry: End Medical Marijuana Prosecutionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18114.shtml Senators Back UM Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17685.shtml 
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Comment #61 posted by gloovins on July 26, 2004 at 14:29:29 PT
This says it all...in re. to Wicca
"If you take the Christian Bible and put it out in the wind and the rain, soon the paper on which the words are printed will disintegrate and the words will be gone. Our bible IS the wind and the rain." Herbalist Carol McGrath as told to her by a Native-American womanReminds me of a time in 1999 when I was at Blunt Bros. cafe in Vancouver & I met a man from India named Madu who asked me: "Do you know what every religion tries to explain the answer to?" I told him I didn't know. He said it tries to answer the question: "Why are we here?". I thought about it and still to this day, remember him and that explanation of organized religion. It just rang so true, if you think about it. Basic existentionalism. Just a gloovy take on things...
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Comment #60 posted by FoM on July 22, 2004 at 16:01:27 PT
Hi Hope
I spent the day with my sister and we talked about things on this thread. My sister is 14 years older then I am and we are so different but we understand where we are coming from. I had a pastor one time that was very good and kind. He looked like a big burly truck driver but was very gentle even with his gruff voice. He said one time that it isn't what we say that will make someone listen but HOW we say it! I always thought that was great advice.
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Comment #59 posted by Hope on July 22, 2004 at 14:45:28 PT
FoM
I enjoyed talking to you on this thread so much that I decided to reread it to see if I missed anything. I did...I do understand what you mean about not wanting to retaliate for every wrong against you. Also, I should have "retracted" comment #25 instead of comment #44. It doesn't really matter, but I wanted to mention it before I left this thread behind. You know, "Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood."I like the way you think, FoM. Thank you for all you do.
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Comment #58 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 21:54:22 PT
Hope
And thank you too! It was good. 
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Comment #57 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 21:41:09 PT
Our conversation
I've enjoyed it very much. I love it when I get a day to prowl through these threads and comment here and there. Today has been especially pleasant. Thank you for taking the time to read and post to me. 
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Comment #56 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 20:19:20 PT
Hope
I've really enjoyed talking about this issue. I don't usually have the opportunity to think along these lines and it's good to do. I am in a wait and see state like limbo. We only have a few months until we know who will be our next president. I thought Gore was going to win last time. I'm afraid to hope and yet I want to hope. Meanwhile I stay in suspended animation it seems. LOL!
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Comment #55 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 19:42:54 PT
Could it be?
Guuuuuvermint?
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Comment #54 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 19:40:23 PT
A true story
One of those stories that seem to mysteriously, suddenly, and completely drop out of the media. Hmmmm
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Comment #53 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 19:37:35 PT
I'd like to retract comment #44
I don't mean I want you necessarily to delete it, FoM. I mean I was too hasty to jump to judgment of this man. Being "wrong" once or twice or even nearly all the time doesn't mean he's the dreaded evil...the "false teacher". I haven't read anything else he's written therefore it would be wrong for me to assume he is a false teacher based on that one wrong “teaching”.I’m sorry I did and said that. I still think he was wrong...but I shouldn't have accused the man without knowing more about his other writings.
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Comment #52 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 18:48:36 PT
A Little True Story
Before CNews I was posting news articles on a message board because I loved doing news. This one time a strange article surfaced and I posted it. It was interesting to me but way out of line for the times we were currently in. It was about using I think it was LA to do a test and practice how they would act if martial law became active. I remember one comment from another poster that said nothing like that would ever happen in America. I thought it might not but it could. I won't forget the important parts of that article because it reminds me how far we have gone in that direction.
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Comment #51 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 18:10:59 PT
"drug war as a big boogey man" 
It is scary. The people we are up against seem to be mindless fanatics with no sense of conscience or reason.I told you that I gave some people George McMahon's book, Prescription Pot, as a gift. Some people are as afraid to have it in their possession, as they would be to have a joint. That's so sad. I never thought Americans would be such cowards...especially of other Americans. Oh...but it has a picture of a marijuana leaf on the cover and OH...my goodness...it says Pot...right there on the front cover. Horrors. I never thought Americans would ever persecute others the way they are doing with the drug war.They are always shouting, "If just one child is saved from drugs." Yet they considered Veronica Bowers and her child, Charity, and all the others they've wrongfully killed only worth a short lull in their shoot down tactics. They are liars, deceivers, and the true children of their true father...and I don't mean God.Evildoers and they just keep doing and doing it!I don’t like to get this angry and I do when I think about it. They scare me, too. But I have to stand against them. My children have to share this earth with them. I’d stand up to a rabid bear…I hope…to protect the life of freedom I want for my children. 
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Comment #50 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 17:52:32 PT
slowly
Ever so slowly, some of the believers are beginning to wake up and smell the stench of the drug war.
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Comment #49 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 17:41:14 PT
One More Thing
Yes we know the drug war is wrong but I don't know how many people who are active in a denomination even think much about it. That needs to change. It's not hard to look at the drug war as a big boogey man and they are afraid. The problem is that burying your head in the sand accomplishes nothing. The drug war connects the drug culture with church going people more often then we think. It's often a parent that winds up raising one of their grandchildren because their child is in jail for drugs. That's where the road meets. I wish churches would address this problem because it's long past due.
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Comment #48 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 17:22:56 PT
drug war is wrong
I feel that way, too...obviously. Early on in my understanding of the Drug War, I could kind of understand it. They were afraid and they, perhaps, really did want to protect people. But now, after all these years...we see the fruit of their plan. We know the truth. They are wrong. The Drug War is wrong. So wrong that it seems to me that anyone should be able to see that it is an evil pogrom.
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Comment #47 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 16:40:03 PT
Hope
I know what you mean. I believe very strongly that the drug war is wrong. I doubt my mind could be changed. I'm troubled by the drug war but I know that the drug war is destroying us from within. That is how I see it.
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Comment #46 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 16:26:19 PT
Perhaps I cheated
For twenty years or more, I've had Steven B. Stevens reading the New International and sometimes the King James Version in the background and sometimes the foreground of my life and my family's lives, on tape and CD. I'm still amazed that things can still surprise me when I suddenly find myself understanding them, as though through a profound revelation, after reading and listening to them many, many times. I say, "as though"...because it's strange that the profound meaning I sometimes find is so obvious. Why couldn't I grasp it the first time I read or heard it? I don't know. I do know that sometimes he brings people in to my life that can explain something to me that I puzzle about...but sometimes it's not something I puzzled about...it just jumps out at me.Any question I've ever had, he always eventually leads me to an understanding. Like the one that says females are "sons of God", too. I loved that.Or the eternal, "Who made God?" I think he said it in the name he gave to Moses. "I Am That I Am"...I see that as how he created himself...."I Am". He is "THAT I AM".Weird...but it's "comfortable" to me and I know without a doubt...that my comfort zone doesn't include making my fellow humans miserable for any reason whatever.No, I don't think I’m "twisting" it for a meaning. It just opened up one day. Wham! like a bolt of lightening, I can suddenly see clearly an understanding that I didn't see before.
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Comment #45 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 16:14:11 PT
Personal Accountability
Yes they can become sloppy zones. People need to try very hard to think for themselves and not let a church tell them how to feel. It is easy to just listen but it isn't always right.
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Comment #44 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 16:07:32 PT
Comfort Zones can sometimes
lead to sloppy zones. That's where a lot of folks have slid to in their search for understanding of spiritual matters. Some leader is or turns into a "false teacher" and the sloppy, comfortable followers just take his word for it.
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Comment #43 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 15:51:30 PT
Religious Comfort Zones
Hope that's what came to mind when you made your last post. Everyone looks for comfort zones. That's normal and good. When religions try to make you your comfort zone then it becomes very easy to turn it to politics and make laws to protect that imaginery comfort zone that religious institutions try to create. The intentions might be to gather many people that have common ways of thinking and that builds up a church. Big churches get more money because of more contributions from people. That's just logical. There are problems any way you look at it I think.
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Comment #42 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 15:36:17 PT
and ultimately
I believe that is likely one of the central reasons that marijuana research is hindered. Religious fears and beliefs of politicians and other powerful people. Maybe…in this case you could even say pseudo religious fears. That and pure old greed and hatred.
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Comment #41 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 14:27:53 PT
That's It!
Hope, we've just proved why religion and politics shouldn't mix.
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Comment #40 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 14:23:25 PT
In a nutshell!
"We shouldn't have anyone with his background in the position he is in."
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Comment #39 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 14:11:09 PT
Ashcroft
He is in a denomination that is very legalistic even though they would beg to differ. We shouldn't have anyone with his background in the position he is in. It's unfair anyway you look at it. 
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Comment #38 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 14:01:30 PT
Ashcroft is afraid of them...Wiccans
I guess. Which is scary to me.He buy is rigid rules is practicing something not unlike Wicca. His religion is about rules, procedures, and rites. That could easily describe Wicca.I think faith is about hope and freedom...not rules...which are specifications to be followed to cause something to happen...sounds a bit like a spell to me. I think people can put a "spell" on children by merely screaming at them.
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Comment #37 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 14:00:13 PT
I Agree
I don't believe in retaliation if I am treated badly. I believe it isn't my job to do. Does that make sense?
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Comment #36 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 13:56:21 PT
"Vengeance is mine"
"sayeth the Lord".How do people get the idea that they are his vengeance personified? That's twisting the instruction to exactly backwards of what it is. 
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Comment #35 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 13:53:05 PT
Actually. To me.
The most disturbing of all the religious are the hypocritical and freaky souls who believe themselves to be some sort of sword of God. 
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Comment #34 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 13:46:48 PT
Wicca
I think...I may be wrong...that Wiccans often think of themselves as witches and that they (witches) are "good", not "bad" in the terms that the word seems to bring to mind in many. As a religion, the deity, in the case of Wicca, would be nature. I think. Any Wiccans who would like to explain this better or correct me…I won’t be “spiritually offended” and always…usually… I like to try and understand what’s happening as much as the next guy. Once again, I love and fear nature and am a part of it. It's beautiful and wondrous and powerful...but to worship it is not my cup of tea. Like I said, to me, it would be like worshiping his back only.
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Comment #33 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 13:34:25 PT
Hope
This all is very interesting to learn. I'm content with what I believe and I hope that everyone is content with what they believe. Who am I to play God and say to anyone this is right and this is wrong? That's not something that is wise because I don't know what I don't know.
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Comment #32 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 13:33:40 PT
I agree, FoM.
"No one person has all the answers neither does one religion. Faith is personal and people should be allowed to believe what that want to believe. Even in the faith of Islam some of it makes sense to me. Some of it doesn't though. Religion is a belief system not actual faith to me."
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Comment #31 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 13:30:55 PT
Many people openly practice Wicca
Some of our fellow activists follow this spiritual path. I dabbled in it, to my great chagrin. But some people I really care about are quite content practicing Wicca. I'm not the Holy Spirit...although, I believe he dwells in me, but I'm not he, and I don't believe that I am supposed to think I, with my miserable words and actions, can do his job better than he.
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Comment #30 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 13:25:05 PT
Hope
When people talk about religion it can get as heated as politics. No one person has all the answers neither does one religion. Faith is personal and people should be allowed to believe what that want to believe. Even in the faith of Islam some of it makes sense to me. Some of it doesn't though. Religion is a belief system not actual faith to me.
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 13:20:41 PT
Thanks Hope
I appreciate the link. It's what was called a new age religion if I am connecting the dots right.
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Comment #28 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 13:20:16 PT
Whew! Do they ever!
You are so right, FoM."Personal beliefs vary from person to person and religion to religion." 
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Comment #27 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 13:15:54 PT
Wicca
http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 13:14:42 PT
Hope
I know it wasn't right. I just wanted to show what some people believe and maybe why they think that way. Personal beliefs vary from person to person and religion to religion. 
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Comment #25 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 13:11:10 PT
FoM...about that link you posted
http://www.lionofzion.com/faq/78da33b1040000a3006e/Sorcery+(The+Pharmakeia+Argument).htmlI want to sympathize with this person's astounding ability to rake up "darkness", but I have a hard time feeling sympathy for what I believe are "false teachers".There......you know.
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 13:06:46 PT
Hope 
You lost me. What is wicca? 
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Comment #23 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 13:03:25 PT
People and what they believe
I've heard that drug and witchcraft connection...nothing more than another scare tactic used to control others is what I think that is. I hope that any of our friends out there who practice Wicca are not offended by this thread. Brother John has got a Taliban mentality in my opinion. He seems to consider anyone who believes differently than he is an "infidel". Furthermore, he seems to believe it's his mission to deal with infidels and to do so as harshly as possible and that we, through taxes, should be forced to help to pay for carrying it out. Government actions against what it hypocritically calls "immoral" is like a sticky web that keeps sticking to people and keeping them from enjoying their freedom...cause they always are struggling to get the damned stuff off them. Therefore.....I pronounce them as criminally sinning, against the freedom that we have in Christ.Not really. I, unlike Ashcroft, can't 'pronounce' anything on anyone and I don't want to. There. I said it. I feel better now.*Smile*
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Comment #22 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 12:45:21 PT
Using or searching for medicines 
Using or searching for medical herbs, or compounds, or hot compresses, or soaking in a spa are NOT the same as casting a spell. I believe in spells and curses. And while, anything can be turned into a curse in the right hands...medicine and drugs and the search for new and old ones is not the same as casting a magical or witch's spell.Of course I could be wrong, but worshiping nature as a God is like worshiping just God's back.That seems as strange to me as testing him. 
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 12:25:41 PT
Hope
I remember being taught that using drugs is a form of witchcraft. In recent years I've wondered if it didn't mean Cannabis but prescription drugs or pharmaceutical companies. Sorcery (The Pharmakeia Argument)http://www.lionofzion.com/faq/78da33b1040000a3006e/Sorcery+(The+Pharmakeia+Argument).html
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 12:17:37 PT
PHARMAKEIA
I remember learning about that, now. It's basically to do with "the meaning of words".
I think if you look for "darkness"...you will find it. If you look for "light" you will find it. It's what your "heart" is inclined to look for. I choose to look for the "light".
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 11:52:09 PT
Snakes
I wanted to mention that snake handling isn't a common practice in the Assembly of God and that is what Ashcroft is I believe. I think it happens in the south in small churches but not in other areas of the country. Here's a link that might explain more.John Ashcroft & Pentecostalism http://www.beliefnet.com/story/61/story_6194_1.html
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 11:51:35 PT
snakes and poison
Besides Pentecostals, some of the snake handlers and poison drinkers have been an old, outlawed branch of the Baptist persuasion. It’s amazing how some of these groups can latch on to one piece of scripture, usually out of context, and run as far and fast and furious with it as they do. I remember some of the old time type Baptist preachers who would, I think they called it "preach in the spirit". They behaved strangely to me and left me, not learning about God or praising him...but checking to make sure I knew where all the exits were. Well maybe I did learn something about God from them. He loves us all…strange and unusual included.Agitated, seemingly out of control, people tend to cause me a sense of alarm. They seem like they could easily be dangerous to themselves or anyone else. I think God wants us to be self-controlled and joy and peace are high on his list of gifts to humans, but most people seem to want to ignore that and go for the ‘flashier’ stuff. Hence…they are the “super” religious…closer to God than the rest of us and elevated somehow. We are all close to him. We “live and breathe and have our being in him.”I get peace of mind and calmness from God. I wouldn’t like it if he made me frighten small children…and some grown ups.
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Comment #17 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 11:48:07 PT
beliefs
Ashcroft would probably like to burn "witches" to this day...but he isn't allowed to...so, maybe he 'burns' the people he fears are somehow "witches" any way he can. I've always had to fight the feeling that Pentecostals were rather alarming and somehow dangerous and, at the very least, past my understanding. Their rituals are a bit disturbing at times to say the least. I'd forgotten that you, FoM, attended Assemblies of God for a while. Now I have to keep an eye on you. (*Smile*)
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 11:36:06 PT
Pharmakeia
I did a search and found this link. This might help explain how drugs and witchcraft got put together for some religions.http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=192
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Comment #15 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 11:11:45 PT
It makes me think of this bit of scripture
"My people perish for lack of knowledge".
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Comment #14 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 11:04:30 PT
It's the same bunch that deplore dancing
If you dance...you go to hell...God's grace isn't big enough to cover that.Pooh.
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 11:00:07 PT
A prayer answered can mean
a visit to the doctor or a medicine that helps.The receivers of such answers sometimes seem to say, "No, I don't want that gift...I want something more spectacular. Prove to us all how spectacular you are, God"...a test.I think that's a lack of faith rather than faith. Religious snake handlers are another example. True, the chronicles of Paul tell that we can be immune to snake bites and poison as grace from God. It doesn't say go out and try to get bit and drink poison (which some of them do) as a test to show whether or not it is the truth or not.
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Comment #12 posted by Max Flowers on July 21, 2004 at 10:58:30 PT
Snake-ritual Pentecostals can't talk "witchcraft&q
What a bunch of hypocritical garbage! Pentecostals are the ones who do snake rituals and writhe around speaking in tongues!! Who are they to accuse anyone of "witchcraft"?? Now I've heard it all. 
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 10:54:21 PT
Hope
I agree. We shouldn't tempt God it says.
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 10:51:32 PT
my opinion...worthless as it is
Religions that "test" their God are no religion at all.
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on July 21, 2004 at 10:42:48 PT
Hope
Some of the Assembly of God do believe drugs are a form of witchcraft. Taking drugs is a bad thing in their eyes. Our old pastor's wife died from kidney failure because she wouldn't follow a doctors orders.
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on July 21, 2004 at 10:37:14 PT
need to research Pentecostals...the religion
Ashcroft is a Pentecostal.Recently, I learned through a friend of mine that his daughter, who married a Pentecostal, was forced to quit a job working in a pharmacy because her husband and his family somehow associate working in a pharmacy with being involved in 'witchcraft'. Might explain some of Ashcroft's behavior.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on July 20, 2004 at 19:19:40 PT
About Valerie Corral
We are a community of people. Many people are doing great jobs helping to bring change to the current laws concerning Cannabis but Valerie Corral is who I use as a role model when I try to figure out how to re-act or act on something. Valerie and Mike and those who stand with them see more death then most of us will see in a lifetime. That makes people look at life differently I believe. Valerie is a Hero to me and I've never met her but her work says it all to me. 
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Comment #6 posted by BGreen on July 20, 2004 at 19:08:57 PT
You're Right, E_Johnson
I'd bet Valerie would be just as happy to have the government leave her alone and let her care for the sick, which is a very Christ-like action on her part.Persecuting the sick is the antithesis of Christ-like.Are you listening, brother ashcroft?The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on July 20, 2004 at 18:42:30 PT
Valerie Corral
should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
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Comment #4 posted by mayan on July 20, 2004 at 17:55:56 PT
The Best D Is Good O!
Now, just why would the government stifle research on cannabis unless they knew that the research would prove that cannabis has medicinal value? The remaining 20% of Americans who don't support medical cannabis will join the 80% who do...if they are at all interested in the truth! I agree with you, Gary. It is time to put these a**holes on their heels for good. The only way out...9/11 Truth:
http://www.911truth.org/9/11 For The Truth:
http://www.911forthetruth.com/ 9/11 Visibility Project:
http://www.septembereleventh.org/9/11 Citizens Watch:
http://www.911citizenswatch.org9/11 Prior Knowledge/Government Involvement Archive:
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/archiveprior_knowledge.html
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on July 20, 2004 at 17:45:39 PT
More Related Articles 
UMass Professor Seeks OK To Grow Marijuana: 
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17178.shtmlUMass Prof Seeks Pot Permit: 
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17170.shtmlPrivatizing Pot - Reason Magazine:
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16836.shtml 
MassCann
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 20, 2004 at 17:30:44 PT
DPFCA: Lawsuit Against DEA/HHS/NIDA 
DPFCA: Lawsuit Against DEA/HHS/NIDA Obstruction of MMJ Research Rick Doblin of MAPS reports:On Wednesday, July 21, MAPS, Valerie Corral and Prof. Lyle Craker filed a lawsuit against the DEA for obstructing medical marijuana research, claiming unreasonable delay under the Administrative Procedures Act. Prof. Craker's applied over three years ago for a license to establish a medical marijuana production facility at UMass Amherst and DEA hasn't issued a ruling yet. DEA is also being sued for not responding to an application to import 10 grams from the Dutch Office of Medicinal Cannabis, for MAPS/CaNORML vaporizer research.A second lawsuit, with MAPS and Valerie Corral as petitioners, was filed against HHS/NIH/NIDA for taking over a year and still not reviewing a protocol seeking to purchase 10 grams of NIDA marijuana for vaporizer research.We're being blocked from growing our own marijuana, importing it, or purchasing it from NIDA. Though we didn't mention it in the lawsuit, we also tried years ago to negotiate with Dr. ElSohly at the U. of Mississippi, who grows for NIDA, to grow under contract to MAPS, but he refused.This lawsuit was an excellent collaborative effort. Allen and Keith at NORML helped with legal advice and a referral, Bruce Mirken at MPP created the press release, Valerie Corral helped by adding her name to the lawsuit, and lawyer Michael Cutler and Allen Hopper did the bulk of the work on the suits themselves at: http://www.maps.org/mmj/dealawsuit.pdf and http://www.maps.org/mmj/hhs-nih-nidalawsuit.pdfI think the arguments in the suit can be quite helpful to people working on state and local medical marijuana reform efforts since they demonstrate quite clearly how the federal government is obstructing FDA-approved research. By this lawsuit, we are hoping to turn our failure to make progress into a successful effort to expose the hypocrisy of the administration in, yet again, putting ideology over science. For now, any help that anyone can offer in getting press coverage for this lawsuit would be most welcome.I'm proud of the quote from Barbara Roberts, ex-Senior Policy analyst and Acting Deputy-Director of Demand Reduction for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who left in September 2003 after 10 years at ONDCP.Ý I've been building a relationship with her for about that long and this is the first example I know of where she has spoken out in public with her dissent.Rick Doblin The text of the press release is below:FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JULY 20, 2004Scientists Sue Federal Government for Blocking Medical Marijuana ResearchSenators Kerry, Kennedy Support Research Project Blocked by DEACONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications...202-543-7972 or 415-668-6403 Rick Doblin, Ph.D., MAPS president..617-484-8711WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a pair of federal lawsuits to be filed on Wednesday, July 21, researchers charge the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, and National Institute on Drug Abuse with obstructing medical marijuana research in violation of federal law. They are joined in the legal action by patient Valerie Corral, co-founder of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) in Santa Cruz, California, who uses marijuana to control epileptic seizures.The legal complaints can be downloaded at http://www.maps.org/mmj/dealawsuit.pdf and http://www.maps.org/mmj/hhs-nih-nidalawsuit.pdf .On June 25, 2001, Lyle Craker, Ph.D., director of the Medicinal Plant Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, filed an application with the DEA for approval to establish a facility that would produce marijuana for U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved research. Currently, all marijuana for research in the U.S. must come from a crop grown on a NIDA-contracted farm in Mississippi. NIDA's product has been only inconsistently available to researchers and is infamous for its low quality.Three years later, the DEA has yet to act on the UMass application, even though it has the backing of U.S. Senators John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, who sent a letter of support to the DEA in October 20, 2003. Craker and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), which would fund the UMass facility, charge that the DEA's refusal to act on the proposal has caused an unreasonable delay in violation of the federal Administrative Procedures Act, making it impossible for MAPS to conduct studies that could lead to FDA's approval of marijuana as a prescription drug."There is an urgent need for an alternative supply of marijuana for medical research," Craker said. "Independent sources are allowed to produce other Schedule I drugs -- including MDMA (ecstasy) -- for research, but NIDA maintains a monopoly on research marijuana. Many researchers believe that NIDA's monopoly is an obstacle to getting needed studies done on a timely basis." The suit filed by Craker. MAPS, and Valerie Corral against the DEA notes that NIDA has refused to supply marijuana for at least two FDA-approved research protocols submitted by respected scientists, one for treatment of AIDS wasting syndrome and another for treatment of migraine headaches."We first filed our application with the DEA on June 25, 2001," Craker explained. "After three years of waiting and repeated delays, we still don't have an answer.""Because NIDA's marijuana is only available for research and not for prescription use, no pharmaceutical company would ever use it for research aimed at the licensing of marijuana as a prescription drug," explained MAPS President Rick Doblin, Ph.D. "The FDA would need to review research conducted with the product that would actually be sold, and there is no prospect of that happening with NIDA's marijuana. The process of seeking FDA approval of marijuana cannot begin until an alternative source of research marijuana is available."The DEA is also charged in the suit with blocking a MAPS-sponsored study of vaporizer technology, which has the potential to reduce or eliminate smoking-related hazards associated with medical use of marijuana. The proposed study uses no human subjects and thus carries no possible risk of harm; it simply involves analyzing the vapor stream produced by the device for the presence of active marijuana components, called cannabinoids, and for the unwanted contaminants that occur in smoke.MAPS has sought to obtain 10 grams of marijuana for this study from the Dutch Office of Medicinal Cannabis, the Dutch government agency that supplies medical marijuana to pharmacies in the Netherlands. Such an action requires DEA approval, but this application, filed June 24, 2003, also remains in bureaucratic limbo, with the research unable to proceed. MAPS has also attempted to purchase 10 grams of NIDA marijuana for the vaporizer study, and that application -- also filed June 24, 2003 -- remains stalled as well, resulting in a separate suit filed by MAPS and Corral against HHS, NIH, and NIDA."We should welcome, rather than feel threatened by, scientific research into the medical uses of marijuana," says Dr. Barbara Roberts, former senior policy analyst and acting deputy director for demand reduction in the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who left in September 2003 after serving for 10 years. "DEA licensing of the UMass Amherst facility, importation, and timely reviews by HHS of protocols are solutions, not problems.""This litigation is necessary because of the federal government's obstructionism regarding medical marijuana research," said Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "The government regularly claims that if marijuana were really medicine, it would already have been approved by the FDA, and that more research is needed, yet they have not only failed to support medical research, they've actively obstructed it.""As a patient, each day brings new struggles," said Valerie Corral, founder of the WAMM medical marijuana collective raided by the DEA in 2002. "Instead of providing relief for critically ill Americans, our government refuses to allow the research that would free sick and dying members of our collective from living in fear of an administration that views medical assistance as criminal activity."With more than 15,000 members and 109,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. For more information, please visit http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org
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Comment #1 posted by Gary Storck on July 20, 2004 at 17:28:08 PT
Great offensive move!
Good to see patients and supporters going on the offense against this federal cruelty!These kind of offensive moves makes the feds play defense. We are winning and this just exposes more of this immoral war on the sick and dying.
Is My Medicine Legal YET?
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