cannabisnews.com: Drug Czar Stumps Against I-148





Drug Czar Stumps Against I-148
Posted by CN Staff on October 07, 2004 at 09:09:13 PT
By Allison Farrell - IR State Bureau
Source: Helena Independent Record 
Helena -- A visit from U.S. Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns Wednesday brought out a dozen protesters from around the state, who said his anti-marijuana message takes aim at Montana's sick and dying patients. Burns, who made a stop in Helena while on a multi-city Montana tour, spent most of his brief time talking against Initiative 148, a measure on the Nov. 2 ballot that would permit some patients to smoke marijuana for medical purposes. 
‘‘I'm not here to tell everyone how to vote,'' Burns said. ‘‘But I am here to talk to you about the realities of marijuana.''Burns said medical marijuana laws send the wrong message to children about the drug, since no ‘‘credible'' medical authority, such as the American Medical Association, has ever reported that marijuana is an effective medicine.Burns said he doesn't doubt that marijuana makes terminally ill patients ‘‘feel better,'' but said the logic doesn't hold, since other illicit drugs would have the same effect. ‘‘That doesn't mean we prescribe crack cocaine,'' Burns said. ‘‘There are better and more effective treatments than marijuana.''But supporters of the medical marijuana initiative said Burns' isn't telling — or doesn't know — the whole story.Proponents say smoking the plant relieves nausea, increases appetite, reduces muscle spasms, relieves chronic pain and reduces pressure in the eyes. It can be used to treat the symptoms of AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma, among other diseases, they say.Protester Teresa Michalski of Helena said marijuana was the only substance that could calm the stomach of her 29-year-old son, Travis Michalski, after he underwent chemotherapy to treat the rare blood cancer known as Hodgkin's disease. Smoking marijuana was the only way he kept his pain pills down, she said.And marijuana also helped ease the incredible anxiety her son faced every day, knowing he would die a young father, she added.‘‘You could see the relief in his eyes,'' Teresa Michalski said. Her son died in December 2003.Burns said it's his job to travel the country and talk to people ‘‘in the trenches'' of the drug war. Wednesday, Burns met with addiction professionals from the Boyd Andrew Community Service Center.As he spoke and said marijuana has become a rite of passage for middle-school students, the drug counselors nodded their heads in agreement.Nationwide, there are more people under the age of 18 getting treatment for marijuana addiction than for all other illicit drugs combined, he said. And it's easier for young children to get marijuana than it is for them to get alcohol, he added.Tracy Moseman, a prevention specialist with Boyd-Andrew, agreed with Burns' message. She said the youths she works with ‘‘almost always'' point to marijuana as the gateway drug that led them to try harder substances, such as methamphetamine.‘‘Once they've broken that threshold, it's easier for them to say 'I'll try a little cocaine','' Moseman said in an interview after the press conference.And while Burns said youth drug use has risen in states that have passed medical marijuana laws, marijuana supporters say otherwise.A new California study shows that teen use of marijuana has dropped since a medical marijuana law was adopted there in 1996. The study reports that the number of ninth-graders using marijuana dropped 45 percent over the last eight years, from 34.2 percent of ninth-graders reported using marijuana in 1996 to 18.8 percent this year.Burns, however, cautioned that federal law trumps state law, and said no state initiative permitting the medical use of marijuana can circumvent the federal law prohibiting the possession and use of marijuana.‘‘There's no safe harbor,'' Burns said.Medical marijuana was approved by voters in Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. In Hawaii, a law was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor in 2000. In Vermont, a law was passed by the legislature and allowed to become law without the governor's signature in May 2004, the Marijuana Policy Project reports. Source: Helena Independent Record (MT)Author: Allison Farrell - IR State BureauPublished: Thursday, October 07, 2004Copyright: 2004 Helena Independent RecordContact: irstaff helenair.comWebsite: http://www.helenair.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Montana Careshttp://www.montanacares.org/Deputy Drug Czar Sees MMJ as Dangeroushttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19608.shtmlDeputy Drug Czar Will Visit Billings http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19597.shtmlMontana To Vote on Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19528.shtmlMedical Marijuana Vote About Legalizing Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19431.shtml 
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 07, 2004 at 11:34:43 PT
duzt 
Thank you. I did see that article. 
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Comment #7 posted by duzt on October 07, 2004 at 11:31:38 PT
Pa. Police Chief Arrested on Drug Charges 
here's another story for you fom.http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=24&u=/ap/20041007/ap_on_re_us/chief_arrested
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on October 07, 2004 at 11:23:21 PT:
Unrelated: More about the Seymour Arm BC bust
It seems that the RCMP was just as overzealous in hitting the wrong houses as the DEA and their local brethren are:http://www.canada.com/vancouver/story.html?id=d9c73911-f0a9-4484-b8c4-373a927e28c3What's really funny is that the cops stayed the night at the home of the man they wrongly arrested. I'd have made them sleep outside after what they'd done; anyone acting like that belongs in muddy slop-pens, not houses.And needless to say, the bust is soon to have some very destructive impact on the local economy, as noted by the owner of the only store - who didn't have any qualms with accepting money from his neighbors, who were nobody's idea of Hell's Angels or Asian gangs, the two groups Canuck police blame the most for the cannabis trade.I expect some very hard times for Seymour Arm this winter and next year. If towns get tombstones, this one will read "Helped to death by the RCMP".
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Comment #5 posted by dongenero on October 07, 2004 at 11:15:23 PT
how the gateway works
There is a gateway because these substances are unregulated and illegal.You go to the black market to find cannabis. The same organized crime selling the cannabis wants to upsell you to meth, cocaine, heroin etc.
This is where the gateway exists. The guy wants to sell you these more profitable and addictive compounds for obvious reasons. Money and return customers at any cost.There is your gateway. Figure it out.
It is nothing inherent in cannabis.Prohibition/blackmarket = Gateway 
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Comment #4 posted by lilgrasshoppah77 on October 07, 2004 at 11:12:26 PT:
lies like a sidewalk
Lies from the get go.If you are not trying to tell people how to vote, why are you there? It's a variation on "we aren't trying to tell Canadians what to do, but if you diobey us, we'll punish you severely."Plus he lies about there being better medicines out there...
Like Vioxx, for example. Or Tylenol. Or Halcyon.The guy lies. and people die because of it!
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on October 07, 2004 at 11:06:09 PT:
Da, Tovarisch!
*As he spoke and said marijuana has become a rite of passage for middle-school students, the drug counselors nodded their heads in agreement...Tracy Moseman, a prevention specialist with Boyd-Andrew, agreed with Burns' message. She said the youths she works with ‘‘almost always'' point to marijuana as the gateway drug that led them to try harder substances, such as methamphetamine.*As if someone whose paycheck is dependent upon the continued internment of those who don't need her 'treatment' is going to say otherwise.Sometimes I think the Sovs actually won the Cold War, as the American government is becoming more and more like them every day, with mouthpieces like Mr. Burns spouting dreck more suitable for a Sov Five Year Plan.BTW...he could be out of a job *very* soon; he must have needed this gig REAL bad.
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Comment #2 posted by billos on October 07, 2004 at 10:14:40 PT
Same old, same old, same old.........
hey kids..........do not try pot. It leads to hard drugs and if we catch you we will ruin what's left of your life, and we'll also ostracize you from society.But Hey! There's plenty of legal drugs to try. Heck there's a new brew out there with loads of caffeine in it. Why don't you kids play it safe and use the "legal speedball" instead of the illicit one made out heroin and speed. Geez, that stuff will kill ya so stick with the booze and the caffeine.And the wheel goes 'round
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on October 07, 2004 at 09:30:34 PT
Everyone write them about Jonathan Magbie
Make them pay attention to his death so he won't have died in vain.
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