The letter is also signed by such celebrities as Politically Incorrect host Bill Maher, actress Susan Sarandon, and comedian Richard Pryor, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. The letter, ad, and complete list of signatories (including a state-by-state list of elected officials) are available at: http://www.CompassionateAccess.org

The ad features an open letter to President Bush. "Countless seriously ill people are already using marijuana because they and their doctors believe that it is the best medicine for them," the letter states. "These patients should not be treated like criminals." Under current federal law, people who possess even small amounts of marijuana can be sentenced to a year in federal prison, with no exception for medical use.

In signing the letter, Hugh Downs, longtime host of the ABC News program 20/20, noted that he has long questioned laws barring medical use of marijuana. As far back as 1994, he explained in a radio commentary that marijuana "has established therapeutic use in a variety of medical conditions. But, since it is caught up in the hysteria of the drug war, doctors are prohibited from conducting research on marijuana and patients are deprived of its benefits."

"Seriously ill patients should not be threatened by arrest and jail due to their use of a treatment that can relieve their symptoms and suffering," commented American Public Health Association Executive Director Mohammad N. Akhter, M.D., M.P.H. Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, M.D., agreed, saying, "Seriously ill people should have the benefit of all medications recommended by their physicians, including legal access to medical marijuana. Have we lost all of our compassion, even for the sick and dying?"

Conservative activist Lyn Nofziger added bluntly, "The only people who oppose the use of marijuana for medical purposes are those who have never needed it, or have no member of their family who has needed it."

The federal government still supplies seven patients with government-grown marijuana under the so-called "Compassionate Investigational New Drug" (IND) program begun in 1978, but the program was closed to new patients in 1991. In a 1999 report commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) suggested that the federal government give seriously ill people legal access to marijuana on a case-by-case basis, much like the IND program. The IOM report noted that such an approach would give relief to suffering patients while also generating useful data.

The government has not acted on the IOM recommendation and, instead, the Bush administration has recently stepped up its enforcement against medical marijuana distribution centers. In a series of raids in California, armed DEA agents have shut down medical marijuana providers who worked closely with local governments and law- enforcement agencies, seizing patient records and forcing thousands of sick people to turn to unreliable and potentially dangerous street sources for their medicine.

"During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush said that states should be able to address the medical marijuana issue `as they so choose,' but his administration has moved in precisely the opposite direction," said Robert Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which is providing staff time and financial support to the coalition. "Why is our government waging a war on patients when the president keeps saying he needs more resources to fight terrorism? Mr. Bush has warned that when people buy drugs, some of the money goes to criminals and terrorists -- yet his administration's own actions have driven thousands of patients away from locally authorized medical marijuana providers and into the arms of street drug dealers."

The Marijuana Policy Project works to minimize the harm associated with marijuana -- both the consumption of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use.

Complete Title: New York Times Ad Urges Bush: Stop the War on Medical Marijuana

Source: AlterNet (CA)
Author: Bruce Mirken, Marijuana Policy Project
Published: March 7, 2002
Copyright: 2002 Independent Media Institute
Contact: info@alternet.org
Website: http://www.alternet.org/
Contact: http://www.alternet.org/contact.html
DL: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12576

Related Articles & Web Sites:

Marijuana Policy Project
http://www.mpp.org/

Coalition for Compassionate Access
http://compassionateaccess.org/

Medical Marijuana Information Links
http://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htm

New York Times Medical Marijuana Ad
http://compassionateaccess.org/nytimesad.html

http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread12180.shtml (all the way at the bottom, first comment)

for the lazy, I'll reprint them here:

"Obesity and it's deadly twin brother arteriosclerosis is rising amongst our population...because of all the fat that is in just about every 'fast food' there is. Removing foods full of hydrogenated oils and replacing them with cold-pressed, unheated hemp oil based ones would drop this trend back down to normal levels.

Oops! Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Sorry, all you DrugWarriors, don't mind me, just go back to your Big Macs consumed while you surveil a pot-heads grow-op - while murderers, rapists and child molestors run loose. Return to your donuts and whipped cream...and gallons of arryhthmia-producing coffee...while you scheme to steal more of our rights under the rubric of "Save the Chil-drun!" Keep getting heavier and heavier until your heart gives out from overwork. That way, those of still around won't have to pay on your Social Security and Medicare.

Hmmmmm...maybe that's the idea, after all..." (Emphasis mine -k.)

Makes you wonder just what the idea really is, doesn't it?

"Conducted by research company Arthur D. Little International, the report found that financial benefits to the Czech government from cigarette duties, income tax for tobacco businesses and customs duty already outweigh the costs of health care, lost working days and fires triggered by cigarettes. The study also noted "indirect positive effects" of early death savings on health care, pensions and welfare, as well as on providing housing for the elderly." (Emphasis mine -k.)

If anything, this alone might explain why cannabis is illegal...and tobacco and alcohol isn't. The more that die from consuming society's only legal intoxicants, the less has to be paid out in social programs. Neat...if you happen to be a soul-less bureaucrat.

The ER story makes me glad I never got hooked. www.ash.org posts searchable photocopies of thousands of internal documents that show that big tobacco companies all knew that their products sold better when designed to kill.

Here is more about the study in Czechoslovakia:

From:
http://www.unwire.org/unwire/2001/07/18/index.asp#16084

TOBACCO: Philip Morris Report Claims Benefits Of Smokers' Deaths

A controversial study commissioned by Philip Morris to examine the financial costs of smoking includes findings that premature smokers' deaths have economic benefits, after researchers concluded that the Czech government saved $30 million in 1999 by not having to support, house and care for smokers who perished prematurely from tobacco-related illnesses. Because of the tobacco industry, the report found that the Czech Republic was better off in 1999.

Conducted by research company Arthur D. Little International, the report found that financial benefits to the Czech government from cigarette duties, income tax for tobacco businesses and customs duty already outweigh the costs of health care, lost working days and fires triggered by cigarettes. The study also noted "indirect positive effects" of early death savings on health care, pensions and welfare, as well as on providing housing for the elderly.

Remi Calvet, director of communications for Philip Morris, said the report is a "classical economic study," although anti-tobacco campaigners charged that the report is unfounded, unethical and suggests that retired people have no societal value.

"Is it rational or ethical for a society or a government to consider the premature death of its population as preferable? We certainly don't think so," said Douglas Bettcher, coordinator of the World Health Organization's negotiations on a tobacco control treaty.

But Calvet said, "It is just another report aimed at providing data as part of the ongoing debate on tobacco revenues and taxes. We deeply regret any impression that premature death of smokers could represent a benefit for society" (Naomi Koppel, Associated Press, 17 Jul). Calvet did acknowledge, however, that the way the report is presented "could appear rather shocking" (Agence France-Presse/European Internet Network, 17 Jul).

Bettcher said it remains debatable whether cigarettes benefit the economy. A World Bank report last year concluded that it is fairly simple to quantify the economic benefits of smoking, but much more difficult to measure the costs.

Meanwhile, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in Washington said the study showed the true nature of Philip Morris. "This report is powerful evidence that the kinder, gentler Philip Morris depicted in the company's US ads is just a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's a wolf that has the gall to tell a government that the early deaths that result from their products are a good thing," said the group's president, Matthew Myers (Koppel, AP).

"I think it's pretty egregious," said Richard Daynard, chair of the Tobacco Products Liability Project. "You don't see other companies doing it ... this is not the normal way we think about the lives of citizens" (BBC Online, 17 Jul).

Earth Times reports that Philip Morris is said to produce 80% of all cigarettes sold in the Czech Republic, and adds that the tobacco giant released the report to Prague authorities in response to concerns raised by the government that the high number of smokers in the country who became sick imposed an unnecessary and unfair burden on national medical and hospital services (Michael Littlejohns, Earth Times, 17 Jul).

Patti Lynn, associate campaign director for the corporate watchdog group Infact, questioned the marketing policy of Philip Morris. "Even if it were true that smokers dying young would save money for the economy, it's a real scary logic on which to base policy," she said (ITN World News, 17 Jul).

Anti-smoking organizations also are questioning the report's validity, saying that it assumes that once cigarette sales have stopped, smokers would not spend their money on other items (BBC Online).

Philip Morris Sees the Light

After decades of sticking their heads in the sand about the hazards of tobacco, Philip Morris has found a new tactic -- promoting the benefits to society of premature deaths from smoking. A study produced for them by Arthur D. Little, one of the "foremost management consulting firms," found the early deaths of smokers has "positive effects" for society that more than counteract the medical costs of treating smoking induced cancer, etc.

This path-breaking research was limited to smoking in Czechoslovakia. It found that in 1999, despite health care costs for dying smokers, the government still had a net gain of $147.1 million from smoking. From these figures, the American Legacy Foundation calculated the Czech government saved $1,227 per dead smoker. That's a pretty good return, as Philip Morris proudly informed government leaders in the Czech Republic.

Philip Morris has since come in for a flood of criticism and has publicly apologized for the conclusions, which is too bad, because the report makes fascinating reading. It is, as the authors state, "the results of the exercise of our best professional judgement." (Imagine what we'd get if they were having an off day). What makes the study such a model of American scholarship is the care taken to leave no stones unturned. Not only did the Arthur D. Little researchers find out precisely how much early deaths save on health care expenses, housing for the elderly, social security and pensions (something we all wanted to know), they also uncovered savings from premature deaths in areas we non-experts would never dream to look.

Who would think to look at the effect of smoking deaths on unemployment? These authors did, and they found that "replacing those who die early... leads to savings in social benefits paid to the unemployed and in costs of re-training." A wonderful gift to society by smokers.

But it gets even better...
(snip)

Joyce, this is one of the items that shoot your arguement to hell. These devices enable cannabis use, with much much less gasses, tars etc. and IF there is any harms at all of using smoke, this minimizes it. It is one reason the prohibitionist have become exposed as discredited, since we have the knowledge to reduce potential harms associated with smoke, but that is not what the prohibitionists want,,,to reduce harms. They simply want to control, oppress, punish, and accumulate power. The prohbitionist prove perpetually and redundantly, they're goal is not a helpful one.

Lost is not a way to live and go through live. Find the Truth, and you find our Father. The Father of all Truth. Unlike the father of evil, sleeping with prohibitionist whores.

Did you end up getting some decent service in the ER? I hope you're feeling better and can continue to share your very interesting perspectives with us!

All the best,

Firedog

I think of you all the time.

May Jah shine on you!

Thanks for posting and letting us know you are back. I will pray for you tomorrow in Mass. Heck I will say a special intention for you.

I had pneumonia three years ago, and dreamed that I had died. I dreamt I was riding an 1890's vintage passenger train. The other passengers ignored me and said, "He's dead." Pneumonia is not fun, you are sick.

I knew it was time to see a doctor. Otherwise, I would have died. Another of a few times where I almost shuffled off of this mortal coil.

If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, no one should stand in your way should you decide to use medical marijuana. Who will be harmed?

I like to go through my life with the perspective that all that happens to me (you, us), it is all for a reason... it has it's gift ... a lesson we should use to evolve to our higher selves (excuse the pun).

What with your way with words, coupled with your experiences and unique perspective ...

Wrestling with the Worm King ...

Been there, done that ...

Glad you triumphed ...

This is shaping up to be a year of battles; the war of information has stepped up tremendously. This could be the year of the 'tipping point', when the antis are finally put on the defensive; we need every soldier in the fray. And few are as good with the 'weapon of words' as you are.

You have GOT to stop collapsing your lung. I know it seems like a good idea at the time, maybe even fun, but the consequences ain't worth it, bro.! Remember, when you exhale, leave a little air in there to prime your next breath.

Good to see you back, bro. (Waiting for chapter II)

Using cannabis in place of the legal drug opens up all kinds of possibilities. One I like is the manufacturer! Side effects another, mild case of the munchies and a good nights sleep...

...I m a g i n e

By government agents who one day will receive a pension; the financial burden of the drug war is too great.

In Russia after the fall of Communism, I read an interview with Stalin's still-living relatives, one of whom had lost her husband when he was sent to a labor camp for being late to work, evidence of his involvement in a saboteur's plot to wreck Socialism and defeat the worker masses.

She said, "Well, he was late for work, they had him on that. It was bad to be late to work. The fate of the country depended on the workers."

It was her husband, the man she married. She didn't seem sick at all.