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Legalize Medicinal Marijuana Use
Posted by CN Staff on September 13, 2009 at 05:28:17 PT
By Steven S. Epstein and Dr. Keith Saunders
Source: Metrowest Daily News 
Massachusetts -- In 1992, Gov. William Weld signed into law the "Controlled Substance Therapeutic Research Act." The law requires the state to contract with a federally approved supplier of medicinal cannabis for distribution to approved patients. It is a cruel joke, for no administration, including the current one, has approved a supply.Filed every session since 1991, legislation that would get the medicine into the hands of Massachusetts patients never gets out of committee. While our Legislature stalls, states comprising almost one-third of all Americans enacted laws that gets cannabis to patients without the approval of the Federal Government.
The legislatures of Hawaii, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont did it. This spring, over the governor's veto, the Rhode Island Legislature authorized the licensing of dispensaries where patients may purchase their medicine. Voters in Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington passed laws effectively permitting qualified patients' access. These laws work.In Congress, there is legislation that would allow states, including Massachusetts, to permit its growth and use for medicine, but despite growing bi-partisan support, it too languishes. Re-filed this past spring by Congressman Barney Frank, as we write only John Olver and James McGovern are co-sponsors. In past sessions, three other members of Massachusetts' delegation also co-sponsored.As they did in working for decriminalization, MassCann members placed public policy questions on district ballots beginning in 2000 to measure public support for allowing seriously ill patients, with their doctor's written recommendation, to possess and grow small amounts for their personal medical use. That support is well over 70 percent. Nine of our state's 10 representatives in Congress recognize this. They regularly vote yes on amendments to the Justice Department budget prohibiting the DEA from raiding dispensaries, caregivers and patients in compliance with their state's law. The lone holdout is Rep. Stephen Lynch. Prominent opponent of Question 2, Attorney General Martha Coakley, approved the concept during her monthly appearance on the Braude and Eagan Show on WTKK FM 96.9 in June.Beacon Hill ignored the will of the voters expressed in the public policy questions on decriminalization of possession. The result, 65 percent of the voters approved Question 2, a law that did not resemble the decriminalization proposals filed in the Legislature the decade before. It is unconscionable that once again, the Legislature and governor refuse to accept the known support of the people of the idea of allowing to patients a medicine that in 1988, an administrative law judge of the Drug Enforcement Administration concluded is "the safest therapeutically active substance known."Since that finding was made, scientific research and the experience of hundreds of thousands of patients show it to be effective for controlling chronic diseases or the side effects of primary treatments. The testimony of patients before the Massachusetts legislature and elsewhere establish that patients who use black-market priced cannabis use it as a substitute for far more dangerous and expensive prescription drugs. Legalizing the medicinal use of cannabis is health care reform independent of the current focus on the cost of insurance.It is only a question of when Massachusetts will have a real medicinal cannabis law. If the Legislature does not act this session - the sooner the better for patients - as surely as the sun rose this morning, an initiative petition will be filed by an out of state organization on Aug. 3, 2011. On Election Day 2012, it will receive overwhelming approval by the people. It probably will not resemble House, No. 2160 or Senate, No. 1739 now before the legislature for the fifth time in five sessions.We think it is important that Massachusetts' medicinal cannabis legislation be homegrown, to fit the culture of the Commonwealth, not California's. Too bad, it looks like our Legislature does not care.Steven S. Epstein is an attorney and Keith Saunders, PhD, is a sociologist.Source: Metrowest Daily News (MA)Author: Steven S. Epstein and Dr. Keith SaundersPublished: September 13, 2009Copyright: 2009 MetroWest Daily NewsContact: mdnletters cnc.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/wEN7yWauWebsite: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #16 posted by dankhank on September 14, 2009 at 15:07:05 PT
opoid study
skip it if already seen ...looks good, thoughhttp://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/09/14-2
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on September 14, 2009 at 14:15:51 PT
Hope
I think we are not seeing MSM much for a number of reasons. California has to get their problems worked out. By calling off the DEA the local people are dealing with it and they aren't being very tolerant. I think that some folks are sick of it and want it put in some kind of order. Runaway capitalism isn't good. They need to get the laws changed for all the states and rebuild the direction it has been going. When I saw the price of a gram of cannabis on one article I couldn't believe. Greed will be checked one way or the other and then we can move on I think.
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Comment #14 posted by Hope on September 14, 2009 at 13:43:49 PT
Comment 12 Studies
Surely the MSM can pick this story up and report and stress the truth in the present political climate concerning Cannabis.Surely. If they are any good at all for anything other than lies, falsehoods and propaganda... this story will be important.Combining these two stories... comment 12 and 13 into some real reporting could mean the return of sanity and justice. The ball is in their court. I hope they have enough sense not to waste this news on a back page.It's important. Do we really need to be arresting a citizen every 18 seconds in support of cannabis criminalization? No! No! Of course not! No!MSM... how about regaining some of your "Watchdog" status by correcting this cruel and expensive farce against citizens, cannabis prohibition, that's been allowed to juggernaut along destroying everyone in it's path for decades now?Has someone or something muzzled our "Watchdog". Can it find it's voice, it's bark, it's growl, it's warning power again. Or is it completely cowed and totally fond of it's muzzle?
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Comment #13 posted by ekim on September 14, 2009 at 11:20:49 PT
One drug arrest every 18 seconds in the U.S.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/LEAP reports on the new FBI numbers released today.The data, from the FBI’s “Crime in the United States” report, shows that in 2008 there were 1,702,537 arrests for drug law violations, or one drug arrest every 18 seconds.“In our current economic climate, we simply cannot afford to keep arresting more than three people every minute in the failed ‘war on drugs,’” said Jack Cole, a retired undercover narcotics detective who now heads the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “Plus, if we legalized and taxed drug sales, we could actually create new revenue in addition to the money we’d save from ending the cruel policy of arresting users.”That’s about like arresting the entire population of Vermont, Washington DC, and Wyoming. Every year.
http://www.drugwarrant.com/
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on September 14, 2009 at 09:44:53 PT
Press Release From MPP
33 US Clinical Studies Show Marijuana's Medical Use, Journal of Opioid Management Article Says***Contrary to Opponents' Claims, Controlled Studies Have Repeatedly Demonstrated Safety, EfficacySEATTLE - September 14 - In a landmark article in the Journal of Opioid Management, University of Washington researcher Sunil Aggarwal and colleagues document 33 U.S. controlled clinical trials published from 1971 to 2009 confirming that marijuana is a safe, effective medicine for specific medical conditions.   Under federal law, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, defining it as having high potential for abuse, unsafe for use even under medical supervision, and lacking currently accepted medical uses in the U.S. "In fact," Aggarwal and colleagues write, "nearly all of the 33 published controlled clinical trials conducted in the United States have shown significant and measurable benefits in subjects receiving the treatment." Additionally, the paper documents the growing acceptance of the therapeutic use of marijuana among organized medicine groups and estimates that "in 2008, approximately 7,000 American physicians have made such authorizations for a total of approximately 400,000 patients."Regarding abuse and safety issues, Aggarwal et al. write that withdrawal symptoms -- a classic symptom of drug dependence -- are notably absent from the published trials, while "the vast majority of reported adverse events were not serious ... It is clear that as an analgesic, cannabis is extremely safe with minimal toxicity."Unfortunately, the article continues, ignorance regarding marijuana remains widespread in the medical community. "There remains a near complete absence of education about cannabinoid medicine in any level of medical training," Aggarwal writes."This is arguably the most thorough review of the literature on medical marijuana since the Institute of Medicine report over a decade ago, with a trove of data that wasn't available to the IOM," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. "It is simply incomprehensible that a medicine that is so clearly safe and effective remains banned from medical use by federal law and the laws of 37 states."The article, "Medicinal Use of Cannabis in the United States: Historical Perspectives, Current Trends, and Future Directions," is available at: http://tinyurl.com/m9oo44 A complete list of the 33 U.S. clinical trials is available from Sunil Aggarwal at sunila uw.edu or 206-375-3785. http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/09/14-2
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Comment #11 posted by museman on September 13, 2009 at 23:41:25 PT
Filmed in the wild
in Oregon,Rare footage of cannabis mating.
Pot Porn
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on September 13, 2009 at 19:44:19 PT
CU-Boulder's On-Campus MMJ Policy Rarely Invoked
September 13, 2009URL: http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_13330472
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on September 13, 2009 at 15:02:09 PT
Hope
I don't think the other side would have rested until he was out. If you give them any ammunition they don't quit unfortunately.
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on September 13, 2009 at 14:11:28 PT
Van Jones is, no doubt,
a very "on fire", "Fiery" man, all around, as touching many areas, and has been all of his adult life.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on September 13, 2009 at 13:10:37 PT
Hope
I think I see why he might have resigned. The reasons are on this link.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Jones
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on September 13, 2009 at 13:06:09 PT
very interesting over at that site....
Celebstoner.I wonder if this "fiery" speech Van Jones, the recently attacked Green Jobs Czar (ugh)... gave in 2002 at a NORML conference might have had anything to do with his being driven out of office recently.http://www.celebstoner.com/200909102925/news/celebstoner-news/van-jones-fiery-norml-speech.html
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on September 13, 2009 at 13:00:34 PT
About Jack
So many people are involved in changing the laws on Cannabis but I have only a few people who stand out in my mind as the best. Jack Herer, Valerie and Mike Corral and Dennis Peron are the ones that have moved me the most. I hope and pray Jack makes it.
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on September 13, 2009 at 12:53:08 PT
So many of the "Foundation layers" have
passed on due to sheer old age and the fragility of that state. Mr. Herer, no doubt, has been one of those that laid the foundation that our movement, reforming unjust laws, is based on today. He has fought long and hard. He has seen a lot of battles won and a lot of steps forward and of course, all the setbacks. I'd like this war on a plant and it's users to be over with in time for more of our foundation layers to enjoy the victory of sanity over insanity.
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Comment #3 posted by RevRayGreen on September 13, 2009 at 12:42:31 PT
Many
prayers for Jack's recovery...
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on September 13, 2009 at 12:36:10 PT
Prayer for Jack Herer's good recovery...
I agree.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 13, 2009 at 11:18:08 PT
Jack Herer Suffers Heart Attack 
I am really upset about Jack and I hope and pray he recovers. God Bless him.URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXpYxidA4_0   
Sunday, September 13, 2009The much beloved "Emperor of Hemp" Jack Herer collapsed backstage yesterday at Hempstalk 2009 in Portland after giving a speech. He was rushed to the hospital and underwent heart surgery.Herer, the author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, suffered a stroke and heart attack in 2000 at another Oregon event.He has recovered over the years, though the 70-year-old activist speaks with a stutter and walks with a limp. Just minutes before his speech, Herer looked fit and said, "I'm getting better and better and better. I'm healthier than I've been..."Herer's currently at Emanuel Trauma Center in Portland.
 URL: http://www.celebstoner.com/200909132937/news/celebstoner-news/jack-herer-suffers-heart-attack.html
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