cannabisnews.com: The Joint Will Be Jumpin





The Joint Will Be Jumpin
Posted by FoM on June 17, 2000 at 14:44:27 PT
Upcoming Event
Source: Woodstock Times
On Sunday, June 18, a group of Woodstock-area musicians will play for pot—the legalized kind, that is, under the aegis of the New York Association for the Legalization of Medical Marijuana."We want to create awareness about what’s going on with medical marijuana and kick off the organization," says the fledgling association’s organizer, who asked to be referred to as "Richard Star Mountain."
The concert, which will take place at the Woodstock Community Center, will feature the Dharma Bums, guitarist Becki Brindle, guitarist Chris Zaloom, singer-songwriter Antonie Hinx, guitarist T.J. Cole, bassist Allen Murphy, guitarist Jay McHugh, singer Emmaretta Marks and drummer George Leary.Unlike Tony Villodas, an epilepsy sufferer who formed the now-defunct Woodstock Association for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) several years ago, Star Mountain has no physical health problem that might be alleviated by marijuana. "I believe in this cause," said the 53-year-old Star Mountain, who has lived in Woodstock about 10 years and was involved in WAMM. "I believe marijuana is going to help a lot of people with health problems."http://www.wamm.org/A Saugerties woman who has been helping Star Mountain distribute flyers about the concert and did not want to be identified said that she’s used marijuana in the past to relieve cramps and muscle contractions from PMS, premenstrual syndrome. "I’m supportive of this cause because I believe in giving someone medicine who needs it," she said. "Especially those with chronic pain or terminal illness."Neither of the state legislators who represent this area has much of a problem with the possibility of legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. Senator John Bonacic, R-New Hope, said, "If it’s medically appropriate with safeguards, I could see that we could use marijuana for medical purposes." Bonacic’s "safeguards" included documented serious illness, and control by the doctor or a hospital. "I don’t want people to be able to just go into a drugstore and get a prescription," he said. "That can be abused."Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, said he wouldn’t have a problem with pending medical marijuana legislation put forth by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, who chairs the Assembly Health Committee. But Cahill said he didn’t see the bill moving forward.The bill, A-8082, which was introduced by Gottfried during the 1997-98 legislative session and re-introduced this session, has never been reported out of Gottfried’s own committee. The bill would allow the medical use of marijuana for a serious medical condition under the supervision of a licensed practitioner. A certified patient could possess up to eight ounces of marijuana for his/her medical use. Using a coded identifier, practitioners would report on each patient to the state Health Department, which would periodically review the whole process.Gottfried’s legislative associate, Matthew Badalucco said that the bill hasn’t been moved because there was no Senate sponsor, so the odds of it becoming law were very low. Even though Badalucco admitted that the majority of New Yorkers would support the bill, he said, "Assemblyman Gottfried doesn’t want a member to take a vote on a politically controversial issue and pay a price for this. It’s conceivable that an opponent in an election could use this position to make someone appear soft on drugs."Richard Schmitz, director of State Policies of the Marijuana Policy Project, in Washington, D.C., an organization working to reform marijuana laws that focuses on the medical issue, said that the climate for support of medical marijuana use is improving. He cited a Zogby International poll in April 1999 said that 80 percent of registered voters in New York state favored allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes.New York has actually had a medical marijuana law on the books since 1980. The Antonio G. Oliveri Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act, which became law on June 30, 1980, was named in honor of the New York City Democratic legislator who fought for the legislation and died shortly after its enactment. Participation in the program, which was established in the Department of Health, was limited to cancer patients, glaucoma patients and patients afflicted with other diseases approved by the commissioner of health. Between 1982 and 1985, about 200 patients received marijuana through the program, which the Health Department no longer operates.Schmitz believes the program became dormant because of the federal Food and Drug Administration approval of Marinol, a synthesized analog of THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Marinol, which has been available since 1982, is prescribed primarily for nausea from chemotherapy and AIDS treatment, and can also be used for glaucoma, bipolar disorders and spasticity-related disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. But some people, including Arlene Cohen, a clinical nurse specialist in oncology at Benedictine Hospital, believe that Marinol doesn’t work as well as marijuana.In an interview with Woodstock Times in 1998, Cohen said, "The side effects of marijuana are what works. Marijuana gives you an appetite and helps with nausea. THC doesn’t do that and it takes one-and-a-half to three hours for it to work," said Cohen.And in an editorial in the January 30, 1997 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Jerome Kassirer wrote, "Federal authorities should rescind their prohibition of the medical use of marijuana for seriously ill patients and allow physicians to decide which patients to treat. The government should change marijuana’s status from that of a Schedule I drug (considered to be potentially addictive and with no current medical use) to that of a Schedule 2 drug (potentially addictive but with some accepted medical use) and regulate it accordingly."In November 1996, voters in California and Arizona passed referenda permitting the use of marijuana as medicine. Although Arizona’s referendum was invalidated five months later, the votes galvanized a national response. In November 1998, voters in six states-Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington—passed ballot initiatives in support of medical marijuana. In the wake of state medical marijuana initiatives, The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a review of the scientific evidence to assess the potential health benefits and risks of marijuana and its constituent cannabinoids.The review, which began in August 1997, culminated in a report called, "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," issued in 1999. The report concluded that scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation. The researchers recommended that research continue into the physiological effects of synthetic and plant-derived cannabinoids. They also said that the psychological effects of cannabinoids, such as anxiety reduction and sedation, which can influence medical benefits, should be evaluated in clinical trials. But the researchers were concerned with the respiratory health effects of marijuana smoke and with the possible dependence on the psychoactive effects of THC.http://www.mpp.org/science.htmlThough the report recommended clinical trials of marijuana use for medical purposes, the stated purpose of the trials "would not be to develop marijuana as a licensed drug but rather to serve as a first step toward the development of a nonsmoked rapid-onset cannabinoid delivery systems."After the release of the IOM report, the federal government released new guidelines, effective December 1, 1999, for the provision of marijuana for medical research.Walter Wouk is the former president of the Capital Region chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and is now director of the Thomas Paine Project in Cobleskill, which lobbies against the "collateral [damage] caused by the war on marijuana. According to Wouk, "The government says we need more research on medical marijuana, but they put every roadblock in the way of research."http://www.norml.org/While medical experts and bureaucrats continue to debate the pros and cons of medical marijuana, Woodstock’s Richard Star Mountain has high hopes for the New York Association for the Legalization of Medical Marijuana."I’d like to start a non-profit corporation, with the purpose of legalizing medical marijuana," said Star Mountain.He also wants to make the Dharma Bums song, "Sacred Herb," a rallying cry for the movement.Woodstock resident Antonie Hinx said she’s performing because she believes in the cause. "I feel the public should become aware of the good things about marijuana, instead of the bad ideas about drugs," she said. "My whole background is about making people come together. I feel good about the opportunity to do that."The concert, which begins at 8 p.m., has no admission, but Star Mountain would like donations of food. "Bring munchies. This is a marijuana show," he said. ++Sandra GardnerPosted: June 17, 2000Woodstock Times is an independent weekly newspaper published in Woodstock, New York, by Ulster Publishing Co.   CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives: http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #1 posted by edzepplin on March 29, 2001 at 11:30:24 PT:
so tell me more..
NAMM needs directors in your area. National Association for Medical Marijuana needs patients, caregivers, medical and legal volunteers. NAMM is non-profit that helps those who need care the most but get it the least. We also sell snappy t-shirts with the slogan "Overgrow the Government!"for info: edzepp yahoo.com,www.cannabis.org
San Diego activist orgs
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