cannabisnews.com: Montel Williams Opens Up about Medicinal Marijuana










  Montel Williams Opens Up about Medicinal Marijuana

Posted by CN Staff on May 10, 2005 at 12:55:14 PT
Editorial 
Source: The Hill 

Washington, D.C. -- Montel Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. Since then, the TV talk-show host has tried a variety of drugs — everything from morphine to Vicodin — to ease the constant pain he feels in his lower extremities.The drug that has proved most effective for Williams is marijuana, which is why he paid a visit to Capitol Hill last week on behalf of the Marijuana Policy Project.
Williams was on the Hill to try to persuade lawmakers to pass bills pertaining to medicinal marijuana, such as the States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act, which allows patients who have recommendations from their doctors in California and nine other states where the medical form of the drug is legal, to grow marijuana without fear of arrest. This was Williams’s third visit to Capitol Hill. So far, he has met with a total of eight lawmakers. He lives in Manhattan.Williams sat down with The Hill’s Betsy Rothstein last week at a Marijuana Policy Project reception at the Washington Court Hotel. He wore a sleek black suit, black shirt and black tie and had his share of bling — a diamond watch, a shiny black bracelet and diamond and gold earrings in both earlobes.Q: What do you hope to accomplish here?A: Hopefully these bills will be passed. I think it’s an exercise in futility, but we’ll continue to do exercises in futility until they get passed. We have to stop looking at this through propagandized eyes.Q: Propagandized eyes?A: There has been a 70-year propagandized effort to taint something that is a viable medication.Q: How do lawmakers react to you?A: Every meeting I walk out of, someone tells me I have changed their mind. I’ll continue to peck away at this one lawmaker at a time.Q: How are you faring with your condition?A: I’m in pain 24 hours a day. I have MS, and MS doesn’t have me. I work at it very hard every day.Q: Does the marijuana help alleviate some of the pain?A: Absolutely, where other pain medications don’t. I don’t get a euphoric feeling from it. I would have to consume a lot for that to happen.Q: How much marijuana do you smoke a day?A: About one gram.Q: Where do you get your marijuana?A: I don’t like to discuss that.Q: Sylvia Browne, the psychic, is a regular guest on your show. What does she say will happen to you and to your efforts to legalize medicinal marijuana?A: She was just on the show yesterday. Sylvia feels that my efforts are going to bring about a cure in the next five years.Q: Do you think she’s right?A: This year alone she has been accurate on a whole bunch of things.Q: Have any lawmakers refused to meet with you?A: Not yet, I haven’t had any one who has refused.Q: Did you know that some refused to meet with Irv Rosenfeld [one of seven Americans who are allowed by law to use federally provided marijuana]?A: I laugh because I find it so asinine. How would a member of Congress refuse to meet with a man they provided medicine to? It’s ludicrous. Every member of Congress should meet with him and say, “Hey, how is the medication working?”Q: So you use your stardom to secure meetings with members.A: Absolutely, I have. Some of them, their staffers watch me. Their schedulers watch me. If I could be considered legitimate on my show, I should be considered legitimate on this.Q: So what do you think of President Bush?A: I believe strongly that he is 100 percent convinced that every plan he puts forth will work. I don’t think anyone is perfect. He speaks his mind.I remember distinctly being on the streets of New York on Sept. 23, 24, 25 [of 2001]. There wasn’t an American alive who wasn’t begging for some retribution. Do I now have my own opinion about what should happen? Heck, yeah. But he is trying his damnedest, and I appreciate his leadership.Q: Did you vote for him?A: The Constitution gives me the right to not say who I voted for.Q: Where is the Bush administration on medicinal marijuana?A: They are against it. I would like to sit down with him [Bush] and talk with him about medicinal marijuana. He is against it because he believes the garbage about how it doesn’t work. I’ll bet he does not know that the federal government distributes marijuana.Source: Hill, The (US DC)Author: Jonathan E. KaplanPublished: May 10, 2005Copyright: 2005 The HillContact: aleisele thehill.comWebsite: http://www.hillnews.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/ GOP 'Joint' Resolutionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20642.shtmlMarijuana Advocates Play It Straight in D.C.http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20629.shtmlMedical Pot Bill Shields 10 Stateshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20628.shtmlMedical Marijuana Advocates Implore Congress http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20627.shtml

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Comment #12 posted by Hope on May 10, 2005 at 21:47:59 PT
And that goes for legal for adults, too.
"I think it’s an exercise in futility, but we’ll continue to do exercises in futility until..." it happens. No more jail! No more records! No more fines!
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on May 10, 2005 at 18:21:09 PT

Thanks The GCW
Thanks for posting Gary's LTE!
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Comment #10 posted by The GCW on May 10, 2005 at 18:18:45 PT

 Is My Medicine Legal YET?
US: PUB LTE: Legal Marijuana Favors Patients' InterestPubdate: Tue, 10 May 2005Source: USA Today (US)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n757/a04.html?397Author: Gary StorckLEGAL MARIJUANA FAVORS PATIENTS' INTEREST Along with other patients from around the country, I was able to join talk show host Montel Williams, Angel Raich, Irv Rosenfeld and a number of congressional representatives as Williams made his plea for legal access to medical marijuana ( "Montel urges Congress on medical marijuana," USATODAY.com, Thursday ). It is sad that something so critical to many Americans health and well-being is being withheld by politics. Another article in USA TODAY talked of how elderly U.S. patients are put at risk by clinical testing that excludes them in favor of younger patients ( "A bitter pill for older patients." Cover story", Life, Thursday ). Elderly patients are more likely to encounter adverse reactions from conventional medications because of slowed metabolisms and other consequences of aging. The Food and Drug Administration's litany of recalls and drug warnings points up the need for non-toxic alternatives like marijuana. Washington politicians not only claim we have the best health care in the world but tout this nation's commitment to democracy, liberty and freedom. These will remain just claims until our lawmakers restores the freedom to use cannabis as medicine that they revoked with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970. Gary Storck, co-founder Is My Medicine Legal YET? Madison, Wis. 
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Comment #9 posted by global_warming on May 10, 2005 at 17:55:00 PT

re:latest email
"THEREFORE MAY 19TH HAS BEEN FORMALLY DECLARED "STICK IT UP THEIR BEHIND " DAY AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS NATION SHOULD NOT BUY A SINGLE DROP OF GASOLINE THAT DAY.
 
THE ONLY WAY THIS CAN BE DONE IS IF YOU FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN AND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN TO GET THE WORD OUT."Seems like there are a lot of good people really pissed off at the petro\pharmo profiteers.I can do it, not buy an ounce of gas, not order my prescriptions, or buy anything on that list.gw
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Comment #8 posted by global_warming on May 10, 2005 at 17:44:37 PT

When pot people self medicate we face JAIL.
Hi JosePeople who self medicate, usually are choosing the best and safest way to get through their lives, their sufferings, and I won't go on about the Glory Trail.gw
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Comment #7 posted by jose melendez on May 10, 2005 at 17:30:51 PT

WWW.
Why would we worry when weak weasels willingly whisk weaponization, wreak war, whine, withold, whore . . . (wince) . . . WTF!? West? Waking, working, world wide web word wave will win while wealthy wipe wages wrongly, widely.
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Comment #6 posted by charmed quark on May 10, 2005 at 16:51:49 PT

Short memories
So nobody remembered, in this interview, that George W., when campaigning in 2000, said that medical marijuana should be up to the states.-CQ
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Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on May 10, 2005 at 16:26:39 PT

When pot people self medicate we face JAIL.

Studies have consistently reported that patients with schizophrenia have the highest rate of nicotine use (2,7,8). Compared with other diagnostic groups, patients with schizophrenia are more likely to be heavy smokers, defined as those who smoke more than one and a half packs a day. Reports from hospitals suggest that chronically ill inpatients with schizophrenia have even higher rates of smoking than other patients with this disorder, and research supports this observation. For example, in a British study of 100 institutionalized patients, Masterson and O'Shea (9) found that 92 percent of the men and 82 percent of the women smoked.
In 1990 about a quarter of the general U.S. population were smokers—28 percent of men and 22 percent of women (10). The rate of smoking among inpatients with schizophrenia has been found to be between three and four times the rate in the general population. If the average patient with schizophrenia smokes one and a half packs of cigarettes each day, then each year in the United States this patient population smokes more than 10 billion packs of cigarettes, or about $20 billion worth of cigarettes (8).
On Nicotine and Schizophrenia
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Comment #4 posted by afterburner on May 10, 2005 at 16:21:20 PT

Wear Your Love Like Heaven
Donovan - Wear Your Love Like Heaven Lyrics
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/donovan/wear-your-love-like-heaven.htmlToday is Donovan's birthday (59 y.o.). On my way to get my taxes done today, I opened my CD case and Donovan's CD, Donovan Live, fell out of the bunch. Cosmic!"And as the elders of our time choose to remain blind"Let us sing and dance and ring in the new age"And Hail Atlantis!" --Donovan - Atlantis Lyrics
http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Donovan/Atlantis.htmlWhat does this have to do with cannabis? I think Donovan used to smoke a bit of it."But you'll never stop a lover. He will find a way." --Love Will Find a Way (Donovan) http://www.lyricsdownload.com/donovan-love-will-find-a-way-lyrics.html
Full Donovan lyrics list
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Comment #3 posted by global_warming on May 10, 2005 at 16:17:29 PT

re:War On Drugs
"War is the devil's sacrament. It promises to bind us not with God but with the nation state. It grants not life but death. It provides not liberty but slavery. It lives not on truth but on lies, and these lies are themselves said to be worthy of defense. It exalts evil and puts down the good. It is promiscuous in encouraging an orgy of sin, not self-restraint and thought. It is irrational and bloody and vicious and appalling. And it claims to be the highest achievement of man.It is worse than mass insanity. It is mass wallowing in evil.And then it is over. People oddly forget what took place. The rose wilts and the thorns grow but people go on with their lives. War no longer inspires. War news becomes uninteresting. All those arguments with friends and family – what were they about anyway? All that killing and expense and death – let's just avert our eyes from it all. Maybe in a few years, once the war is out of the news forever and the country we smashed recovers some modicum of civilization, we can revisit the event and proclaim it glorious. But for now, let's just say it never happened.That seems to be just about where people stand these days with the Iraq War. Iraq is a mess, hundreds of thousands are killed and maimed, billions of dollars are missing, the debt is astronomical, and the world seethes in hatred toward the conquering empire. And what does the warmongering middle class have to say for itself? Pretty much what you might expect: nothing. "http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/glory-of-war.html
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Comment #2 posted by runderwo on May 10, 2005 at 15:21:56 PT

yup
"I'll bet he does not know that the federal government distributes marijuana."Careful there. He might just put a stop to that.Regarding people thinking it doesn't work, we have to be careful not to claim that it is a miracle cure, because obviously there are people that it does not work for, and we would like to be on the side of honesty in the debate.Then again, it's completely absurd that something either must be a miracle cure or people should be put in jail for using it.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 10, 2005 at 15:18:21 PT

Related News Article from Fox23.com
Montel Williams At Capitol For Medical MarijuanaMay 10, 2005 New York -- Today, standing side by side with Montel Williams were both republicans and democrats. And right now, sponsors of medical marijuana legislation say they're confident it can pass. Montel Williams says the biggest hurdle to legalizing marijuana for medical use is people seeing it as an illegal drug and not for what it would actually be, a medication. “If we were sitting here talking about a substance that I call MD-644, nobody would even question it,” says Williams. “You don't question where perquisites come from.” Williams goes on to say, “You wouldn't question where MD-644 came from. But the fact that I said marijuana, everybody goes crazy.” Many standing with Williams today say they thought this in the past. But after years of evidence of marijuana's powerful pain relieving effects, they now support it. And they say with strict controls like those already in place for drugs like morphine, it shouldn’t be abused. “We know from experience that these drugs which have medical benefit but which also can be highly addicting can be properly managed, properly prepared, properly produced, properly meet the needs of patients,” says John Eadie of the New York State Health Department. Also announcing today they're on board with the idea was the New York State Nurses Association, the Association of Medical Schools in New York, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Bruno says though there are some legal hurdles given ongoing questions of whether federal law allows or doesn't allow medical marijuana. “Some of this is still going through the supreme court,” says Bruno. “But and that's what's being looked at are the federal laws and how do you live within those and at the same time be very specific as to the application to provide the relief that you're trying to relieve.” Williams says even marijuana doesn't take all the pain away, but without it he says he would barely be able to live a normal life. “Some days, I can literally walk around and on a scale of one to ten, it's a two. And I almost forget it's there,” says Williams. “But then when I forget it's there, it slaps me upside the head that it makes you remember it's there. So, some days are tough but today's one of the good days.” Currently, medical marijuana legislation is heading for health committees in both the assembly and senate. Bruno says a bill could even come to a vote in the senate this session. http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=B12B567A-D873-4FDE-94D7-E99D2CF233A3
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