cannabisnews.com: I-148 Blowing Smoke, Vote No on Medical Marijuana 





I-148 Blowing Smoke, Vote No on Medical Marijuana 
Posted by CN Staff on October 29, 2004 at 07:52:53 PT
By Judy Martz, Montana Governor 
Source: Billings Gazette
On Tuesday, Montana voters will cast their vote on many issues, including Initiative I-148, the Montana Medical Marijuana Act. I would encourage a no vote on this initiative. Ballot initiatives such as this ignore the prevention efforts of the many community anti-drug coalitions throughout the state, give the false impression that marijuana is a benign drug, and discount the medicinal alternatives available.
Most of us know a loved one who has suffered from chronic illness, and wouldn't want to deny them any possible relief. You can obtain legally and without guilt, a pill containing marijuana's active ingredient. It's called Marinol and was approved by the FDA in 1985. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration even lowered the scheduling on Marinol to make it easier for doctors to prescribe the drug. Smoking 'Crude Weed' We support the right of doctors to prescribe this drug if they feel it would best serve their patients' needs. This fact leaves the marijuana legalizers in the awkward and exposed position of trying to explain why smoking a crude weed is superior to a pill or other nonsmoking delivery systems in development. To quote Andrea Barthwell, M.D., deputy director for demand reduction, Office of National Drug Control Policy, "In light of these scientifically proven medicinal alternatives, the idea of telling suffering patients that the best we can do for them is to encourage them to inhale the hot smoke of a burning weed seems medieval at best." Efforts to promote the myth of "medical" marijuana severely dilute the message that marijuana is dangerous and can have serious consequences. Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in America. It is much more powerful today than it was 30 years ago, and so are its mind-altering effects. In fact, according to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 52 percent of youth treatment cases were for marijuana use. Further, results from a Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey Report of 2003 shows that 44 percent of high school students have used marijuana at some point in their lives. And, the same survey reports that the median age of first use of marijuana was 11-12 years old. This is unacceptable, and passage of I-148 will only exacerbate this problem. Pressure-Group Politics Since 1996, nine states have passed medical marijuana laws. According to the 2002 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, all of these states are well above the national average in terms of drug addiction and use and occupy three of the top four slots, and six of the top 10 slots in ranking of drug addiction and abuse. Why is it so important that Montanans reject this proposal? The reasons go to the very foundation of our medical system, which relies on science, not easily manipulated public opinion, to determine what medicines are safe and effective. Endorsing smoked marijuana turns our modern, hundred-year-old medical system on its head, allowing pressure group politics rather than medical judgment to determine what is safe and effective, and sends a misleading and dangerous message about marijuana to our children. Simply stated there is no compelling scientific evidence that smoking marijuana relieves the myriad of ailments that its proponents claim. Further, proponents often cite the 1999 Institute of Medicine Report to validate their claim that marijuana has medicinal uses. However, the IOM report also states that in spite of any medicinal value that marijuana may have, "because of the health risks associated with smoking, smoking marijuana should generally not be recommended for long-term medicinal use ... we see little future in smoked marijuana as a medicine." Montana voters want to make decisions that are right for their communities, but to do so they must have accurate information. Please check the facts on I-148. Legalizing the use of medicinal marijuana ignores prevention and public safety issues and will have a deleterious effect on youth and communities throughout the state. I would urge you to vote no on Initiative I-148. Newshawk: MayanSource: Billings Gazette, The (MT)Author:  Judy Martz, Montana Governor Published: October 29, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Billings GazetteContact: speakup billingsgazette.comWebsite: http://www.billingsgazette.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Montana Careshttp://montanacares.org/Medical Marijuana Debate a Smoking Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19718.shtmlMarijuana Should Be in The Toolboxhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19664.shtmlTheir Lips are Movinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19643.shtml
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Comment #8 posted by afterburner on October 29, 2004 at 20:26:00 PT
Thanks, sukoi
I just sent my post as an LTE to The Billings Gazette website. Let us hope it helps the cause in Montana.
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Comment #7 posted by sukoi on October 29, 2004 at 15:25:59 PT
afterburner (comment #4)
You should consider sending your comment in as a LTE in rebuttal to the Governors ignorant rant. Excellent rebuttal!
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Comment #6 posted by siege on October 29, 2004 at 11:29:10 PT
Andrea Barthwell, Mad Derange 
To quote Andrea Barthwell, Mad Derange deputy director is the MEDIEVAL ONE  U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration **even lowered** the scheduling on** Marinol **to make it easier for doctors to prescribe the drug that DON'T WORKon Lot's OF PEOPLE.   T he F D A and D E A to kill off the people of there country or let the drug stores make from $300 to $1300 a month from each person when a lot of them don't get but $350.00 to $1000.00 so they can not get there **medicinal neads** coverd and go fu*king hungry because of the sh*t thats runs out of some peoples mouth like [Andrea Barthwell, Mad Derange]. 
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Comment #5 posted by dididadadidit on October 29, 2004 at 09:57:21 PT
Marinol and Costs: Barfwell and BS
The comments already posted refute the governors ignorance quite nicely with respect to both the medicinal benefits and the propaganda BS. I'd like to point out one additional aspect, COST.A $20 bump in the electric bill per month can grow a months needed medication, whereas a month supply of 10mg Marinol at 2 caps a day costs somebody just over a kilobuck a month. Marinol is 50 times as expensive as a grow your own approach. This is money few individuals can afford, and it is a helluva bill for our tax paying grandchildren to have to pay should the Marinol be subsidized at the rediculous subsidized price levels guaranteed by the plan to help seniors pay for their drugs.One other thing, the Marinol may be hard for a throwin' up chemo patient to keep down, to say nothing of regulating dosage, which is far easier when inhaled as smoke or through a vaporizer.One more other thing, if the governor is gonna quote Andrea Barfwell, ex of ONDCP, you know your in a stream of BS.Cheers?
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Comment #4 posted by afterburner on October 29, 2004 at 09:03:06 PT
They Send the Wrong Message to Children
All movies not rated family or general should be banned. They send the wrong message to children.All prescription pharmaceutical medicines used by adults should be banned. They send the wrong message to children.All extreme sports, contact sports, skiing, and driving should be banned. They send the wrong message to children.Alcohol and tobacco should be banned. They send the wrong message to children.All crude plants should be banned from the supermarket. They send the wrong message to children. And surely 21st century science can create a pill that contains all the necessary nutrition. Eating is such a waste of time, what with all the shopping, preparation, cooking, eating, and clean-up.Sex should be totally banned. It sends the wrong message to children. Oh, wait, without sex there would be no children. But surely 21st century science can create children in test tubes."Marijuana [sic] is the most widely used ..."Did you ever consider that the reason it's "most widely used" is due to its many beneficial qualities?"illicit drug"Only in the eyes of superstitious and bigoted politicians, who like to posture as "tough on crime" in order to get re-elected and continue their persecution of cannabis patients, spiritual seekers, and responsible adult social relaxers."explain why smoking a crude weed is superior to a pill or other nonsmoking delivery systems in development.""Crude weed" is a derogative expression designed to further demonize cannabis since the logical arguments against its use are increasingly wearing thin. The "nonsmoking delivery systems" are *"in development"* and therefore, not currently available to help patients suffering the pain of MS and the nausea of cancer chemotherapy, to name two groups that can benefit from the currently available *black market* of medical cannabis. Also, vaporizers, tinctures, and baked goods offer the same benefits as "nonsmoking delivery systems in development," except that they are already available on the *black market*. The pill referred to here is Marinol, a synthetic version of THC, based on the assumption that somehow chemical concocted in the laboratory are superior to God-given natural substances. But don't just take my word for it, let a real doctor of medicine, Dr. Andrew Weil, answer the question:' [Dr. Andrew] Weil's UCLA talk drew a crowd of about 200, including medical students and physicians who were getting Continuing Medical Education credit. The following excerpt seems particularly apt, given the neo-prohibitionist party line -repeated ad nauseum at the recent Souder subcommittee hearings- about marijuana containing one or more beneficial molecules that the pharmaceutical industry will, in due course, identify and produce for us in a form that is "pure." ' Weil[, MD] said, "One of the most dramatic advantages of learning to use plants in medicine is their relative lack of toxicity compared to isolated derivatives of plants. This should be obvious. If you find something in nature that has a biological effect, that affects animals, and you attempt to concentrate that therapeutic power, you inevitably concentrate toxicity because they're one and the same thing. ....' "...When you present the body with a complex array, you're giving it choice in how it responds. That's fundamentally a different kind of pharmaco-therapeutics from giving a person a purified, isolated molecule that's a shove in one direction. ' "I think both those kinds of medicine have their place. But I have to tell you, as somebody who's practiced botanical medicines for many years, there's often great value in using these natural mixtures. ' "The reason that pharmacologists and most physicians have such trouble with this concept is that we are strongly under the spell of reductionism. Reductionism is a useful tool. It makes life simpler. It is very difficult to study complex substances. How do you study a plant with 50 complex molecules, all of which might contribute to its activity? It is much simpler to say that one of these equals the whole, and to isolate that and study it. But you're missing out on the clinical relevance of the whole plant, which may be very different from that of the isolated molecule..." ' "In other areas of science -outside of medicine-there's a rising interest in complexity... If you want to describe changes in weather patterns or the shapes of clouds, you can't use simplistic, classical formulas, you have to use new mathematical models based in complexity. The rise of complexity theory and its success in physics, mathematics and other disciplines has not made the slightest inroad into medicine. Pharmacology is locked into reductionist ways of thinking, especially when it approaches natural products. We're dealing with the most complex phenomenon that nature has produced, the human organism. It seems to me it makes much more sense, if you're treating a complex thing, to treat it with a complementary complex thing." ' --US CA: Column: Honor Complexity by Fred Gardner, (19 May 2004) Anderson Valley Advertiser California http://www.mapinc.org/newscc/v04/n752/a08.html?397
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on October 29, 2004 at 08:27:51 PT
No kidding
Why on earth would anyone care what the governor says about a ballot initiative? Why don't you stick to getting your own votes, Martz? I'll bet $10 that medical marijuana gets more votes than Judy does. What a cruel b*tch. She wants sick people to suffer more. How horrrible when any politician comes out against medical MJ.Her public stance on this just proves that she is vested in the drug laws and continuing the drug war. Everyone know politicians are the most self-interest motivated people on Earth! 
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Comment #2 posted by observer on October 29, 2004 at 08:27:42 PT
standard prohibition propaganda
[3]
Ballot initiatives such as this ignore the prevention efforts of the many community anti-drug coalitions throughout the state, give the false impression that marijuana is a benign drug, and discount the medicinal alternatives available.
(Sentence 3) re: "community" - The survival of society is assured, -- says the propaganda of prohibition -- as long as drug users are punished (jailed). (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 ) 
 
 
[10]
This fact leaves the marijuana legalizers in the awkward and exposed position of trying to explain why smoking a crude weed is superior to a pill or other nonsmoking delivery systems in development.
(Sentence 10) re: "legalizers" - Anyone who disagrees with prohibition is attacked as part of the problem. No dissent is permitted. (Dissent Attacked (propaganda theme 8) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme8.htm#8 ) 
 
 
[15]
In fact, according to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 52 percent of youth treatment cases were for marijuana use.
(Sentence 15) re: "Drug Use" - Prohibitionists try to hammer in the idea that 'all use is abuse.' The rhetoric of prohibition needs to deny that many people can use currently illegal drugs without abusing them. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) re: "youth" - Drug war propaganda plays on parental fears for the well being of their kids. If drug users are not jailed, says the prohibitionist, then your children will surely suffer. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[16]
Further, results from a Montana Youth Risk Behavior Survey Report of 2003 shows that 44 percent of high school students have used marijuana at some point in their lives.
(Sentence 16) re: "Youth" - Being a prohibitionist means you can never shed too many crocodile tears for the "children". (As you lustily jail or kill their parents for using drugs.) (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[20]
According to the 2002 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, all of these states are well above the national average in terms of drug addiction and use and occupy three of the top four slots, and six of the top 10 slots in ranking of drug addiction and abuse.
(Sentence 20) re: "drug addiction" - The rhetoric of prohibition will try to use labeling and guilt by association to link drugs and drug users with hated groups. (Hated Groups (propaganda theme 1) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme1.htm#1 ) re: "addiction" - Drugs, the prohibitionist explains, are a wicked bane on modern man. Why if not for the noble drug war (i.e. jailing drug users), exclaims the propagandist, then people will run amok, and violence, death, psychosis, and plague shall cover the land. (Madness,Crime,Violence,Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 ) re: "Drug Abuse" - "This strategy equates the use and abuse of drugs and implies that it is impossible to use the particular drug or drugs in question without physical, mental, and moral deterioration." [W.White,1979] (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) 
 
 
[23]
Endorsing smoked marijuana turns our modern, hundred-year-old medical system on its head, allowing pressure group politics rather than medical judgment to determine what is safe and effective, and sends a misleading and dangerous message about marijuana to our children.
(Sentence 23) re: "children", "message" - "The inflaming of this fear about the fate of our own children [makes] it difficult if not impossible for most Americans to take a careful and reasoned look at our drug policies."[W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[26]
However, the IOM report also states that in spite of any medicinal value that marijuana may have, "because of the health risks associated with smoking, smoking marijuana should generally not be recommended for long-term medicinal use ... we see little future in smoked marijuana as a medicine."
(Sentence 26) re: "health risks" - Drugs, scream prohibitionists, cause all bad things in life: crime, violence, insanity, etc. If not for prohibition (i.e., jailing drug users), then criminality, violence and psychotic behavior would explode upon the land, the prohibitionist assures us. (Madness,Crime,Violence,Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 ) 
 
 
[27]
Montana voters want to make decisions that are right for their communities, but to do so they must have accurate information.
(Sentence 27) re: "communities" - Because of prohibition (prohibitionists assure us), society is protected: the community is safe, and the nation is saved. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 ) 
 
 
[29]
Legalizing the use of medicinal marijuana ignores prevention and public safety issues and will have a deleterious effect on youth and communities throughout the state.
(Sentence 29) re: "communities" - Prohibitionists assert that the survival of the community, society, the nation, the world, etc. are at stake. Only continued and increased punishments for drug users can be contemplated, because, say prohibitionists, society will otherwise fall apart. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme3.htm#3 ) re: "youth" - Prohibitionist propaganda continually whips up parental fear, invoking lurid images of children corrupted by drugs. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
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Comment #1 posted by mayan on October 29, 2004 at 08:05:31 PT
Wasted Words
I'm sure the good folks of Montana will appreciate their ignorant governor telling them how to vote. You will lose this one big, Governor Martz. The only way this won't pass is if you have Diebold machines out there! 
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