cannabisnews.com: Medicinal Marijuana Has Long History 





Medicinal Marijuana Has Long History 
Posted by CN Staff on January 09, 2006 at 07:50:37 PT
 By Dr. David Bearman
Source: Capital Times
Wisconsin -- As the son of a pharmacist from Rice Lake, a 1963 graduate of the University of Wisconsin who started his medical career in the Medical School in Madison, and someone with almost 40 years' experience in the field of drug abuse treatment and prevention and the last five years evaluating patients for medicinal cannabis, I want to compliment Rep. Gregg Underheim and the Wisconsin Assembly Health Committee for their recognition of the contemporary medicinal value of cannabis.
The committee is approaching this seriously and getting valuable input. It recognizes the 5,000 years of experience of medicinal use of cannabis. It is aware that just over the border in Canada, tincture of cannabis (Sativex) is being marketed by Bayer AG and in England the Home Office has given physicians the OK to prescribe tincture of cannabis. I have taught courses on drugs at California universities and am very familiar with the history of medicinal cannabis use in the United States from 1839 to the present, and aware of the American Medical Association's testimony at the 1937 marijuana tax hearings that "the AMA knows of no danger in the use of cannabis and takes histories from countless patients with severe medical illness who benefited from their medicinal use of cannabis." Consequently, I am baffled by the opposition of the Wisconsin Medical Society. This does not represent the compassion shown by the doctors in Rice Lake and Rochester who provided my father's care, nor does it reflect the quality of basic science I was taught by the UW School of Medicine in Madison. I have seen patients who come in in wheelchairs, with canes, stooped in pain, who tell of the relief they receive from cannabis. These are people from all walks of life rich and poor, mostly over 40. Several have broken down in tears after receiving their approval making it legal to grow and possess cannabis. They say they are not lawbreakers or criminals and now can use this to medicate without fear of breaking the law. We have far too many problems in the country to waste government resources arresting the ill and dying for using a medicine that provides relief and is legal in Canada, less than 100 miles from the Wisconsin border. Dr. David BearmanGoleta, Calif. Complete Title: Medicinal Marijuana Has Long History and Much Value Source: Capital Times, The (WI)Author: Dr. David BearmanPublished: January 9, 2006 Copyright: 2006 The Capital TimesContact: tctvoice madison.comWebsite: http://www.madison.com/tct/Related Articles & Web Site:Is My Medicine Legal Yet? http://www.immly.org/Nurses Back Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21370.shtmlMedical Marijuana Hits Legislaturehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21359.shtmlShow Compassion For The Sufferershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21340.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 09, 2006 at 09:22:58 PT
Press Release from MPP
Poll: 78% of San Diego County Voters Oppose County's Medical Marijuana LawsuitJanuary 9, 2006 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA -- A new poll of San Diego County voters shows strong support for Proposition 215, California's medical marijuana law, and overwhelming opposition to the Board of Supervisors' planned suit aimed at overturning the law. A 3-1 majority of voters also said they would be less likely to vote for their supervisor if he or she voted to pursue the lawsuit.In the random survey of San Diego County voters, conducted by Evans/McDonough Company, Inc., 67 percent said they support Proposition 215, while only 30 percent said they oppose it. Fully 70 percent said the county "should follow state law and issue medical marijuana ID cards to qualifying patients." And 78 percent agreed with the statement, "The San Diego County Board of Supervisors should not be spending taxpayer money suing the state to try to overturn California's medical marijuana law," while only 21 percent disagreed. An even larger majority, 80 percent, agreed that the proposed suit "is wasting taxpayers' money."The survey also suggests that the suit could cost supervisors political support, with 62 percent indicating they would be less likely to vote for their supervisor's reelection if he or she voted to sue to overturn Prop. 215. Only 20 percent said they would be more likely to vote for such a supervisor.The poll, conducted by phone Jan. 3-4, 2006, has a margin of error of 4.38 percent, and was paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). The full results are available by clicking the button above or at: http://mpp.org/pdf/SDCityPoll100406.pdf"Politicians shouldn't interfere with the medical decisions that my doctors and I make," said Rudy Reyes of La Mesa, who uses medical marijuana to treat pain and muscle contractions resulting from burns covering 75 percent of his body that he suffered in the area's October 2003 wildfires. "It's a relief to know that county voters support patients, and the Board of Supervisors should listen to the people who elected them.""Every city, county, state, and national poll conducted in the U.S. over the last 25 years has shown that a clear majority of voters support legal medical marijuana, and San Diego County voters are no exception," said Rob Kampia, executive director of MPP in Washington, D.C. "By spending tax money to try to overturn a popular medical marijuana law, the county supervisors are doing the bidding of the White House drug czar, but he doesn't vote in San Diego. The supervisors pursue their suit against the state government at their own peril."With more than 19,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana—both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. For more information, please visit http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.orghttp://www.mpp.org/releases/nr20060109.html
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by JoeCitizen on January 09, 2006 at 08:19:28 PT
OT: PLEASE HELP STEVE KUBBY!
[Fom, please excuse me for reposting this, I wanted it to be on today's articles, so everyone has a chance see it.]I'm sure many of you here know who Steve Kubby is. Steve is facing deportation from Canada this Friday, the 13th. If that happens, Steve will die in an American jail cell, probably within a week.We all saw what happened to Steve Tuck a few weeks ago. He was ripped out of a Canadian hospital, dumped out of the country and into American custody, and left to rot in a state jail cell without any medical care. He went through agonizing morphine withdrawal, and of course, was also deprived of cannabis to relieve his terrible back pain.Steve Tuck survived that, in no small part because he is one tough SOB. But Steve KUBBY will NOT survive this ordeal. Regular intake of cannabis is the only thing that controls his phenochromocytoma (adrenal cancer). Without cannabis, Steve Kubby develops poisonous levels of adrenaline in his body within 48 hours. His blood pressure and heart rate go crazy, and he is in danger of having a stroke at any point after that. Within a week, he will very likely be dead.PLEASE! Go to www.kubby.org, and get the info there. Call or fax the relevant Canadian ministers. Don't sit on your hands and let them kill another Cannabis patient, especially one who has done as much, spoken as loudly and eloquently as Steve Kubby. He was one of the primary activists who got proposition 215 passed in California in 1996. The entire medical cannabis movement owes him a debt of gratitude.It hurt me badly when Peter McWilliams died choking on his own vomit when the pigs deprived him of cannabis. More recently, Steve McWilliams suicide when he was deprived of cannabis was another avoidable tragedy, another crime by the State. I don't want to see Steve Kubby die too!Please Help! The info is all at www.kubby.org. Make the calls, send the faxes. You can help prevent a man, a husband, a father from being murdered just by picking up the phone. DO IT NOW!!ThanksJoeCitizen 
Steve Kubby's webpage
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment