cannabisnews.com: My Confessional Appeal for Medical Pot





My Confessional Appeal for Medical Pot
Posted by CN Staff on June 04, 2005 at 20:45:59 PT
By Polly Reynolds
Source: Providence Journal
Rhode Island -- I have multiple sclerosis. I smoke marijuana. I am a divorced mother trying to raise responsible kids. I am also a proud Rhode Islander, by luck of both history and attitude. At least three of those things cause me trouble every day.On behalf of those of us who use marijuana or will in the future, I thank the General Assembly and all those who have supported accepting the truth of its assistance to us. I look forward to being able to hold my head proud, even high, again.
MS (one of the pot-approved diseases) busted my spirits, my finances, my independence, and my health. The thing that helps me deal with it best busts the rest of me.The federal government's stubborn, hypocritical refusal to permit good citizens to use an herb with medicinal properties that makes them feel better is stupid, dictatorial and empirically mean. It is uncivil, inhumane and disempowering.When government brands me a drug abuser and scofflaw, it strips me of both self and social dignity; it mutes my voice and undermines my authority -- personal, moral, social and parental. When the government calls me a drug abuser and scofflaw, it undermines itself, and its own and my respectability.When the government labels me a drug-abusing scofflaw, it is being very, very anti-family.The decision for me as my disease worsens has been either to smoke marijuana and keep functioning or to crawl under my bedcovers as a non-functioning, if socially acceptable, parent.It seemed to me that a little occasional silly absent-mindedness is better than a lot of profound absence.Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/confess.htmSource: Providence Journal, The (RI)Author: Polly ReynoldsPublished: Sunday, June 5, 2005Copyright: 2005 The Providence Journal CompanyContact: letters projo.comWebsite: http://www.projo.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmBlais, Raptakis Explain Medical Marijuana Qualms http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20722.shtmlMarijuana is Justified as Medicine http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20718.shtmlSenate Committee Passes Medical Marijuana Billhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20708.shtml 
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Comment #14 posted by jose melendez on June 05, 2005 at 14:59:40 PT
Re: comment #4
They can only get away with the false, Orwellian "federal laws trump state laws" argument by ignoring the laws themselves. The letter and spirit of the rules in question are quite clear, here is just one law they break with impunity:from: http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/funddocs/billeng.htmAmendment IX"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. " - - -Just because omission and supression of material facts that would tend to exonerate us is common practice in our marsupial courts today does not make such actions legal.All it takes to force them to admit the truth is money. That's what what they respect and fear, because that's what it takes to expose their fraud to the public. Money buys camcorders and hidden microphones and razor sharp attorneys. Turnabout is fair play, after all. It worked when WAMM was raided, and remember we called it here first.When the public is shown proof positive that these child urination watching perverts have exponentially increased their cronies' profit margins along with youth drug abuse, they will be the ones facing jail time and paying fines.
The rules say drug war IS crime. 
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on June 05, 2005 at 14:48:06 PT
BGreen
We both have the Amish cool! LOL! I wish we could have a rumspringa too but our government won't let us! LOL!The Amish do not believe that a child can be meaningfully baptized. Amish children are expected to follow the will of their parents in all issues, but at the age of sixteen they come of age and may lead a lifestyle of their own choice. In fact, in some communities they are permitted to try out the "English" lifestyle of the outside world for a few years (the period of rumspringa (running-around), as shown in the film The Devil's Playground), so that they can make an informed choice to be baptized and join the church for life. Some 10% choose not to join the church but live the rest of their lives in the society at large.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish
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Comment #12 posted by BGreen on June 05, 2005 at 14:30:51 PT
Look at how different it is where you live, FoM
Here is SW Missouri it's much different than your county in Ohio.I live in a very rural area with lots of trees and farm land, and here we have a very large Amish community so we have to share the roads with slow moving buggies.See, it's nothing like where you live, FoM.{GRIN}Maybe we're not so different after all.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #11 posted by Taylor121 on June 05, 2005 at 14:29:54 PT
Nick, I disagree because of one word; Federalism
Federal law is not what state and local cops follow. They enforce state and local law. The only law enforcement bodies that enforce the Federal law are the FBI/DEA/etc... 99% of all marijuana related arrests are made on the state and local level.People that are sick and dying should be very happy when a state passes a medical marijuana law. They are 99% safer than they were, and in many states not a single Federal arrest has taken place.Do not underestimate the power of the states. Even if we lose Raich, the medical marijuana laws on the books will still be EXTREMELY effective. The Feds will spend time raiding grow ops, but keep in mind that vast majority of users for their chronic illness will not be touched.State medical marijuana laws are a God send for the ill.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on June 05, 2005 at 14:00:50 PT
BGreen
I agree in the sense that we are fighting a battle since this republican administration wants total control of all the states. I don't agree that it should be that way. States and the people who live in them are different. We have cultural differences and different values and how can we all be made to be the same? We have a lot of people spread across the USA and we are individuals not some mass group of people who think exactly the same as each other. Some states are conservative and some very liberal. Let states be what people who live in them want them to be.
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Comment #9 posted by BGreen on June 05, 2005 at 13:44:29 PT
I Disagree With Nicholas
This Country was founded by a bunch a people fed up with too much federal control.When the federal government starts sending armed soldiers trying to take down people acting under a State Law that's NOT DISCRIMINATORY (like the case of Brown v. Board of Education Nicholas mentioned,) that will be the breaking point in this country.After the SCOTUS just ruled that businesses can destroy documents EVEN TO HIDE THEM FROM THE GOVERNMENT (which would land any citizen in DEEP TROUBLE,) I really don't give one flying flip what this SCOTUS or this government says anymore.It's time the good people that are left in this country get as pissed as our founding Fathers were (and you can bet they were backed up by some angry Mothers, too.)The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 05, 2005 at 10:21:58 PT
Nicholas
I agree with you.PS: Sorry I'm late today but the big satellite in the sky decided to mess up. At least it was on a slow day!
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Comment #7 posted by herbdoc215 on June 05, 2005 at 09:35:39 PT
mayan... As a member of the mining industry
I think that you misunderstood what they meant by the article, as headline does crap job. The ship is 'drilling' into the earth not 'boring', there will be no rides to gather styrofoam Diamonds from center of earth (a friend worked as a tech in movie "the core" here and said set was sooo cheesy- gems were styro). The "Japs" as you so PC'ly stated are merely trying to study deep fault tetonic relationships by core drilling the deepest hole that man has ever drilled- (to recover sections discretely that is...I'd say oil boys have drilled deeper than anybody though)-- this is to learn triggers to deep quakes and ways to predict them...with worlds most dense population and mostly coastal it's pretty smart of them. As an idea of cost we pay $32 US PER foot of core we drill....average holes being 300-600 feet with a 'hail mary' planned at 2000 ft 'just to see' this summer at one place we have.... I thought I was spending alot. I just hope they open up data to all as us miners could really do with a peek that deep. The mine up from us called Bralorne has produced the richest ton of ore thats ever been mined anywhere in world but it didn't get that rich until it was deep as hell? We have a fault we own here and it is something else to see it underground...the hand of God is in no doubt when you are in our mine staring at a wall of quatz and gold realising that time on this world is but a blink to us! We are trying to get industry to embrace the concept of "organic metals" which is mining using ZERO harmful chemicals (we use micro-organisms that occur naturally and enhaunce process) and while I believe we need these metals, there is no reason to tear up world to get them. Stewardship seems to be a concept that is so badly lacking these days. Peace, steve tuck
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Comment #6 posted by mayan on June 05, 2005 at 09:01:32 PT
Way Unrelated
You folks gotta' see what the Japs are up to...Journey to the centre of Earth:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/story/0,12976,1499099,00.htmlThis is unfathomable...The 57,500-tonne drill ship Chikyu (Japanese for Earth) is being prepared in the southern port of Nagasaki. Two-thirds the length of the Titanic, it is fitted with technology borrowed from the oil industry that will allow it to bore through 7,000 metres of crust below the seabed while floating in 2,500 metres of water - requiring a drill pipe 25 times the height of the Empire State building. Whoa.
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Comment #5 posted by mayan on June 05, 2005 at 08:20:56 PT
unrelated
Drug case renews rancor in Pacific - Australians in uproar after woman gets 20 years in Indonesia:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8093715/Senate OKs medical use of marijuana - Time may run out for bill:
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-marijuana.6.5jun05,0,93302.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlinesTHE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Hustler asks "What if Everything You Know about 9/11 is Wrong?"
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20050604140153943NY AG Ignores Citizens' 9/11 Criminal Petition:
http://www.arcticbeacon.citymaker.com/articles/article/1518131/26798.htmWTC Tower Collapse - Investigators Blow Whistle On Constrained Non-Investigation:
http://www.newworldpeace.com/coverup5b.htmlJimmy Walter's 9/11 Speaking Tour In London:
http://rense.com/general65/wahh.htmA Lesson In 9/11 Research:
http://www.yourbbsucks.com/forum/showpost.php?p=23662&postcount=1
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Comment #4 posted by Nick Thimmesch on June 05, 2005 at 07:59:24 PT:
Unfortunately...
...her gracious thanks to the RI legislature will mean nothing if the feds (i.e. SCOTUS) are still allowed to enforce our antiquated "Schedule I' law:"On behalf of those of us who use marijuana or will in the future, I thank the General Assembly and all those who have supported accepting the truth of its assistance to us. I look forward to being able to hold my head proud, even high, again."Personally, I think any & all state mmj efforts are a waste at this time (although they will mean smething in the future if federal law changes)That's why I believe that it's almost sad that people are encouraged by state's passing mmj laws -- or any other related mj reform laws -- knowing that the feds' trump anything, right now, in the United States. This problem will only be solved with federal recognition. "States' rights" has meant nothing since Brown vs Board of Education: the federal government could easily send federal marshalls, the DEA, even military troops into any state allowing mmj to enforce federal law.Sorry, folks: "That's just the way it is".
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Comment #3 posted by billos on June 05, 2005 at 04:02:56 PT
How precarious
to think that this woman and those like her will soon either be protected by the states or put in jail for 2 years and her kids off to foster care if a bill introduced two weeks ago gets its way.Two total extremes on how to treat civilized human beings over a plant.
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Comment #2 posted by gloovins on June 05, 2005 at 03:19:46 PT
(sad) yet funny story
anyone see this?
Duhhh, its oregeno!
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Comment #1 posted by Taylor121 on June 05, 2005 at 01:38:40 PT
Rhode Island: Take Action
Senate floor vote on medical marijuana bill Tuesday, June 7On June 7, the Rhode Island Senate will vote on whether the gravely ill can continue to be arrested for treating their illnesses with medical marijuana. The vote was originally scheduled for Wednesday, June 1, but was delayed twice due to time constraints. Your efforts recently helped secure a landslide 9-2 win for medical marijuana bill S.B. 710 in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, in these crucial next 24 hours, we need you to redouble your commitment.Urge your senator to vote for S.B. 710.With only about a month left in the legislative session, medical marijuana legislation is making progress in both chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly. A day after a compelling House committee hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-2 to pass medical marijuana legislation on to the Senate floor. The first floor vote for medical marijuana in Rhode Island's history is scheduled for Tuesday; so, please take a moment to urge your senator to vote for S.B. 710.On May 18, patients and medical professionals testified in support of the bill. Several seriously ill Rhode Islanders put their very freedom in jeopardy to call on the House Health, Education, and Welfare Committee to stop making them criminals for relieving their symptoms. And representatives of the Rhode Island Nurses Association, the Rhode Island Medical Society, AIDS Project Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island ACLU testified in favor of the House bill, H.B. 6052. But, Gov. Donald Carcieri's (R) Department of Health stunned everyone by coming out against the bill, as did State Police Lt. Leroy Rose, Jr. Senate floor vote on medical marijuana bill Tuesday, June 7On June 7, the Rhode Island Senate will vote on whether the gravely ill can continue to be arrested for treating their illnesses with medical marijuana. The vote was originally scheduled for Wednesday, June 1, but was delayed twice due to time constraints. Your efforts recently helped secure a landslide 9-2 win for medical marijuana bill S.B. 710 in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, in these crucial next 24 hours, we need you to redouble your commitment.Urge your senator to vote for S.B. 710.With only about a month left in the legislative session, medical marijuana legislation is making progress in both chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly. A day after a compelling House committee hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-2 to pass medical marijuana legislation on to the Senate floor. The first floor vote for medical marijuana in Rhode Island's history is scheduled for Tuesday; so, please take a moment to urge your senator to vote for S.B. 710.On May 18, patients and medical professionals testified in support of the bill. Several seriously ill Rhode Islanders put their very freedom in jeopardy to call on the House Health, Education, and Welfare Committee to stop making them criminals for relieving their symptoms. And representatives of the Rhode Island Nurses Association, the Rhode Island Medical Society, AIDS Project Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island ACLU testified in favor of the House bill, H.B. 6052. But, Gov. Donald Carcieri's (R) Department of Health stunned everyone by coming out against the bill, as did State Police Lt. Leroy Rose, Jr. Urge your Senator to vote yes: https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7624251Urge the governor to come out and support this legislation:
https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7624321
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