cannabisnews.com: Dopes Don't Get It





Dopes Don't Get It
Posted by FoM on July 18, 2000 at 09:58:38 PT
Letter To The Editor By Gary Storck
Source: Chicago Sun-Times 
At the urging of pharmaceutical industry lobbyists, the Food and Drug Administration is considering making a lot more prescription drugs available over the counter [news story, June 28].All of these drugs have potentially lethal side effects and should be prescribed and monitored by a physician, but the pharmaceutical industry would have us think otherwise. Of course, their only motivation is profit, not the health of Americans. Already, more than 100,000 Americans die each year from side effects of legally prescribed medications.
Meanwhile, the FDA refuses to reschedule marijuana so physicians can prescribe it. Unlike the dangerous medications the FDA is considering allowing for sale, marijuana has no lethal dose.In 1988--after reviewing all evidence brought forth in a lawsuit against the government's prohibition of medical marijuana--the DEA's own administrative law judge wrote: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known."Yet the FDA and other federal agencies not only continue to suppress research on marijuana's medical benefits, but also limit access to only eight Americans, while subjecting even sick and dying residents of states that have legalized medical marijuana to arrest, prosecution and jail.Medical marijuana, with the potential to replace many legal medications, represents an inexpensive, natural alternative to costly and toxic prescription medications. The FDA's refusal to acknowledge this while acting as an agent of pharmaceutical corporations is a national shame.Gary Storck, Madison, Wis.Newshawk: Is My Medicine Legal Yet?http://www.immly.org/Contact: letters suntimes.comFeedback: http://www.suntimes.com/geninfo/feedback.htmlPublished: July 18, 2000Copyright: 2000 The Sun-Times Co.Related Articles:Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6438.shtmlRuling in California Favor the Medicinal Use of MJhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6436.shtmlCard-Carrying Medical Pot Users Like Protectionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6406.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on July 18, 2000 at 15:34:01 PT
Thanks Dan & Gary!
Hi Gary and Dan,Your welcome Gary! You know how to cut to the bone quick! Dan, I'm sorry your letter didn't get published but keep writing and you will get published. Here are helps from MapInc. on letter writing and here is Gary's Volunteer of the Month at MapInc. - Drug Sense.All the Volunteer's of the Monthhttp://www.drugsense.org/dswvol.htmGary's Volunteer of the Monthhttp://www.drugsense.org/dsw/1998/ds98.n67.html#sec43 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm PS: Dan, I hope you can find time to drop in on the weekend from time to time at DrugSense Chat. Here is the link from CannabisNews's front page to their chat an a couple of others too! Gary is usually there during the hours and I try to get there but often don't make it but when I do I always have a great time!Discussionshttp://cannabisnews.com/discussions/
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Comment #2 posted by Dan B on July 18, 2000 at 11:34:29 PT:
Seems to be a blackout on Peter McWilliams
Gary Storck, I'm glad your letter got published, although the part about Peter McWilliams deserved to be in there.An article I recently submitted to the Denver Post was categorically rejected, perhaps because I, too, mentioned Peter McWilliams. I also mentioned Steve Kubby, who has used marijuana to combat a lethal adrenal cancer for years (and has currently lived ten years beyond the best case scenario diagnosis of five years). Shortly after Peter McWilliams passed away, many of us wrote e-mails to John Stossel, the ABC reporter who had covered a story on McWilliams one week earlier on 20/20. It was also the hottest topic on Stossel's message board for several weeks. He has not, to my knowledge, reported on McWilliams' death, even so far as to give an update to the "Give Me A Break!" episode on 20/20. I suspect that someone with a great deal of control over media is causing this blackout. Your comments had every right to be published, as did mine. And Stossel should be given the right to talk about Peter McWilliams again. 
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Comment #1 posted by Gary Storck on July 18, 2000 at 10:37:58 PT
The part the Sun-Times edxited out!
Thanks for posting the article FOM!Unfortunately, the Sun-Times edited out this from the LTE as I submitted it: "Recently California's Peter McWilliams, noted author and medical marijuana activist suffering from AIDS and cancer, choked to death on his own vomit because he was under a federal judge's court order not to use marijuana, the medicine that worked best to help him keep his medications down, and legal under California law."
Is My Medicine Legal Yet?
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