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| Senate Committee Hears Testimony on Marijuana Bill |
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Posted by FoM on March 26, 2002 at 16:07:54 PT By Krista Larson, Associated Press Source: Associated Press 
Katherine Perrera says legislators debating the medical benefits of marijuana should walk in her shoes for a week. Diagnosed with HIV in 1988, Perrera says she's suffered from persistent nausea for the past 14 years.She's tried other prescribed medications, but she's found their effects to be erratic. ''I'm admitting to doing something that at least as of today is not allowed, and that bothers me,'' Perrera told members of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday. ''It's not an example I'd want to set for my children. ''However, the benefits that I get from marijuana allow me to be a mother, to be a business owner, to be a good wife, to be a sister and a daughter, to be actively involved in my life.'' A bill passed by the House earlier this month would allow people like Perrera suffering from debilitating diseases to treat some of their symptoms with marijuana. It exempts from prosecution those who use marijuana after obtaining a certificate from a doctor authorizing its use. Physicians issuing those certificates also would be protected against state sanctions. The bill's prospects in the Senate are uncertain, even though a number of influential senators have said they were open to the idea of medical marijuana. Gov. Howard Dean, who strongly opposes it, has suggested he would pressure some of his allies in the Senate to block the bill. Perrera told the Senate committee that the marijuana she has used has had a very real effect on her quality of life. ''If I can relieve that nausea, it frees me to play with my children, to talk to my mother on the phone,'' she said. Opponents of the House bill have expressed concern that the bill is an attempt to decriminalize marijuana altogether. The House has agreed to conduct a study about how the use of medical marijuana helped those who used it, and whether it resulted in more illegal drug use. House lawmakers also agreed to make the law effective only through 2006. Perrera said she has acknowledged the risks of many different drugs she's taken to treat her illness and symptoms over the years. ''If I'm allowed to sign my life away in the name of science and research, it's really hard to understand why with the help of my doctor I can't make a choice to use a drug that really helps me,'' she said. Rep. David Zuckerman, the House bill's lead sponsor, told the Senate committee Tuesday that the bill included provisions to prevent marijuana from being used for other purposes. ''We are creating a distinction between medical use of marijuana and non-medical ... recreational use of marijuana,'' Zuckerman, P-Burlington, told the senators. People with certificates could keep a supply of no more than three mature plants, four immature plants or three ounces of usable marijuana, Zuckerman said. ''Let's look at who's using it and why,'' Zuckerman told the committee, when asked about the potential potency of some marijuana plants. ''They're going to be very cautious when they go to utilize this new medication,'' he said. If the medical marijuana bill became law, Vermont would become the ninth state to ignore federal laws banning marijuana and authorize its medical use. Complete Title: Senate Committee Hears Testimony on Medical Marijuana Bill Source: Associated Press Related Articles & Web Sites: Marijuana Policy Project Medical Marijuana Information Links Senate Tackles Medicinal Marijuana Issue House Passes Medicinal Marijuana Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #19 posted by qqqq on March 27, 2002 at 04:48:56 PT |
| ..I hope you know that I highly respect you,and your comments and opinions....I am honoured that you read my wreckless rhetoric,,and I hope you will never misconstrue my jocular buffoonery as some sort of masked critique.... [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #18 posted by Jose Melendez on March 27, 2002 at 04:34:49 PT |
| add to that the absurdity of TV commercials against tobacco Uhhh... try reading the copies of the actual internal documents from cigarette companies posted at http://www.ash.org They clearly show that cigarette companies were completely aware that their manipulations of nicotine delivery increased sales and deaths. For instance, the filter is designed to reduce the amount of the drug (nicotine) and therefore, the smoker craves another "coffin nail". This increases the relative amounts of carbon monoxide, benzene, benzopyrene and toluene created to deliver the desired amount of drug.They knew this at least in the fifties, possibly much earlier, yet ads through the seventies depicted certain filtered cigarettes as "safer", and showed "doctors" dressed in white lab coats. Don't believe me? Shop at yard sales and flea markets, and pick up some old Life magazines... [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #17 posted by Ethan Russo MD on March 27, 2002 at 03:59:43 PT:
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| As you know, I am the last person to defend Marinol. Cannabis is a profoundly powerful synergistic mixture of therapeutic chemicals. Marinol is a pale ghost of a drug in comparison, a soul-less pretender. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #16 posted by qqqq on March 27, 2002 at 02:03:43 PT |
| ....it may be true,,,but I dont buy it!.....It may sound stupid,,but here is how I think of it....someday they may be able to make things that are chemically identical to natural DNA,,but that dont mean that the chemically identical Jimi Hendrix DNA product will be able to play the guitar.........."chemically identical to natural THC",is only true if someone like God is involved with the research.......My cousin learned to do perfect Hendrix solos on the guitar,but I guess he didnt have identical chemicals,,,and synthesized THC may be perfect in the lab,,,but something special is missing...after all,,who could deny the possibility of things whos exsistance have yet to be discovered or measured ???.....Modern science has a hard time when it comes to clinical studies of Hoo-Doo,,,or,, Mojo...Organic THC may have some undetected pherenome,(sp?), that cant be faked....Perhaps THC,,, in specific chemical terms,can be synthesized,,but that version of THC isnt necessarily all that is involved with herbal Marijuana. No-Doz pills are pure caffeine,,yet there is more to drinking coffee than getting caffeine! ..Flavor,,taste,,and ritual enter into the equation....To ask a Marijuana person to switch to THC pills,is the same as asking the coffee lover to take No-Doz........If a person wants to quit smoking tobacco,then they can get all sorts of nicotine pills ....an overweight person can get all kinds of "fat free" foods to fake out their hunger jones,,and all sorts of appetite suppressing products that are little more than mild meth.............. ...anyway,,it is sad to think that here,,in America today..citizens are incarcerated for using the herbal form of THC,,,,and add to that the absurdity of TV commercials against tobacco,,,and then,,comparing anti-drug commercials,to anti-tobacco commercials....?..I wanna see one of those slick truth.com TV ads that shows a bunch of big estates,,,with shiny cars...pictures of bigwig senators and cabinet members livin' high off the hog,,porkin and drinkin'...then,cut to the poor old bastard who is now on the streets,,kicked out of public housing because his retarded relative got busted... ....4Q is actually kinda shy......he offers one last thought from outer space,,.........if synthetic THC is OK,,then what's wrong with cloning sheep? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #15 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 20:00:06 PT |
| This hits home. My home. My son died of leukemia. He died at the age of 17. Today 3:26:2, he /we would have celebrated, his 22nd birthday. I don't know if he had the virus-induced leukemia, mentioned, but this is what we know from people that do not let us know much. For all the truth indicates, cannabis can help with all leukemias. Pot Shrinks Tumors - Government Knew in '74; http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread9211.shtml. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #14 posted by Ethan Russo MD on March 26, 2002 at 19:52:42 PT:
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| Marinol is made from synthetic THC in sesame oil. Since it is chemically identical to natural THC, it must be government magic that makes Marinol Schedule III while THC in cannabis is Schedule I. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #13 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 19:52:39 PT |
| US Army Tests CT-3 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread9766.shtml. This story has big medical implications! A VIRGINIA NURSE TAKES ON A TOUGH ISSUE: MEDICAL MARIJUANA; http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n656/a06.html?397. Much info aobut the nurses associasions that promote medical cannabis useage. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #12 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 19:44:56 PT |
| Is cannabis medicine if it helps people off hard drugs? There is testimony to that sort. marijuana use has increased in direct parallel with the decline of crack -- a phenomenon that also tracks perfectly the dramatic fall in violent crime seen in the 1990's. http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread10614.shtml. In the City, Pot Helps Addicts Kick Crack. "I'm almost willing to accept Nancy Reagan's gateway effect [that pot leads to hard drug use] if she'll accept mine. It's a gate that swings both ways and I think [it's stronger in our direction]. It's not a gateway in for many, but it's a way out for some." +++ another article about cannabis being a gateway out: Working with junkies since the '60s, Fried learned that heroin addicts often use marijuana not as a gateway into heroin, but as a gateway out. He sees this as another medical use. "Some people can get off heroin using Ibogaine and medical marijuana and they won't go for the hard stuff," Fried says. "There are older people, ex-addicts, who succeeded in getting off. Some of these people used medical marijuana to offset their heroin habit and get off and it worked." http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread8820.shtml. Sacrificial Lamb. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #11 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 19:36:43 PT |
| Robert K. Kubena, Ph.D., of Derry Township, is a retired psychopharmacologist who developed his masters, doctoral and post-doctoral theses on THC and marijuana constituents. http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread10744.shtml Smoke Screen watching a loved one vomit to the point of causing a hernia might cause them to re-evaluate their unfounded opposition to medical use of marijuana. THC "There's a very specific receptor protein." http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1527/a06.html?397. The Politics of Pot: Article 1 / Inquiring Minds Want To Know / HOW DOES POT WORK? + THC receptors in the white blood cells of our immune system + There are no THC receptors in the brain stem, which controls critical functions like respiration, = That's partly why you never hear of someone fatally OD'ing on pot. "THC is not wired to be as harmful," [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #10 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 19:32:05 PT |
| Lester Grinspoon: defending medical marijuana http://www.hempbc.com/articles/2013.html Marijuana could compete with established brand medications that are backed by powerful global economic, social and political forces and their legislative allies. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1648/a04.html?397 MUCH ADO ABOUT MARIJUANA - Canadian Medical Association Journal --- the LeDain Commission report, --- The Lancet --- the New England Journal of Medicine --- The good testimony folks that have a grasp. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #9 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 19:26:45 PT |
| Alternative Voices - ARREST SUFFERING, NOT MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS / Source: Humanist, The (US) http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1830/a01.html?397 But the nonprofit Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project ( www.mpp.org ) reports there are more than seventy modern studies published in peer-- reviewed journals or by government agencies verifying that marijuana does have medicinal value. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #8 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 19:12:02 PT |
| * . . . This is from the same administration that says it's okay to have more arsenic in water than it is to have hemp in cereal." Hemp-Food Makers Fight U.S. Ban http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11745.shtml
THCTHCTHCTHCTHCTHCTHCTHCTHC
Contributors to 'Partnership for a Drug Free America' http://www.november.org/razorwire/rzold/0808.html [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #7 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 18:58:09 PT |
| Mary Lynn Mathre, RN, MSN, CARN
Clinician 5, Addictions Consult Nurse
University of Virginia Health Sciences Center
Misuse of Research:
Lessons Learned from the Cannabis Prohibition
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE http://www.commonlink.com/~olsen/MEDICAL/POT/misuse.html
· Do you know that cannabis has been used medicinally throughout the world for centuries?
· Do you know that there has never been a documented overdose from cannabis/marijuana?
· Do you know that tincture of cannabis and other cannabis preparations were often prescribed by American physicians for a variety of ailments earlier this century?
· Do you know that the name was changed (from cannabis to marijuana) in the 1930's to create the hysteria about a "new" drug threat which ultimately led to the prohibition of the cannabis plant?
· Do you know that the oil from the cannabis seed does not contain the psychoactive cannabinoids, but is one of the richest sources of two essential fatty acids?
· Do you know that Levi jeans were originally made from hemp and the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper - cloth and paper products known for durability and quality without toxic waste in processing.
· Do you know that the government had to re-educate the American farmers (1942 film by the Department of Agriculture, "Hemp for Victory") on how to grow marijuana/hemp because we desperately needed the fiber and oil products (especially rope)?
· Do you know that cannabis does not cause significant physical addiction?
· Do you know the health risks (side effects and adverse consequences) of cannabis?
· Do you know that all legal access to medical cannabis in the U.S. has been closed since 1992?
· As a health care professional, can you provide a patient with research-based rationale as to why he or she cannot or should not use this medicine other than simply - "its against the law"?
· Do you know the Code of Ethics for Nurses and if so, what implications does this information have on your practice?
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| Comment #6 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 18:48:45 PT |
| * THC protects from toxins http://www.hempbc.com/articles/2253.html Cannabis found to prevent neurodegeneration
Cannabinoid treats tumours http://www.hempbc.com/articles/2255.html Derivitive of THC shown to reduce tumours * U.S. MUST END MARIJUANA PROHIBITION, http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n109/a06.html?397 The governor is also correct in stating that we should not let the Drug Enforcement Agency be the arbiters of legitimate use, as their entire raison d'etre is to continue this failed prohibition, lock more people up and increase their budget. The fact that the federal government continues to let deadly drugs like Baycol and OxyContin come to market, while imprisoning those who cultivate a plant that grows wild around the world is illustrative of the power of big money lobbying groups like those of the pharmaceutical industry. * * " ... indulgence in cannabis drugs, unlike alcohol, rarely bring the habitué into a state of extreme intoxication where he loses entire control over himself. As a rule, those who indulge habitually can carry on their ordinary vocations for long periods and do not become a burden to society or even a nuisance." - U.N. Bulletin on Narcotics, 1957 http://www.dpft.org/legalize.html Should Cannabis Prohibition Be Ended? (from the drug policy forum of Texas [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 18:44:17 PT |
| * More recently cannabinoid receptors have been found outside the central nervous system in the body, specifically in the spleen (an immune system connection?) and in the testis. Other research has confirmed that both THC and anandamide act on the activation of the sperm before it fertilizes the egg.
For an interesting perspective on anandamide research, see Interview with Professor Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, the discoverer of THC. http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/poison/marijuan/marijuan.htm part of #8.
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| Comment #4 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 18:41:52 PT |
| * Marijuana and the new world order http://www.hempbc.com/articles/2215.html Whether direct application of cannabinoids to the lungs by smoking a joint can help with the more severe effects of inhaled Bacillus anthracis has not been studied, but having a steady amount of THC flowing through your system at all times can also provide a measure of protection against brain damage from nerve gas and chemical attacks. US military tests have shown that rats given synthetic cannabinoids were about 70% less likely to suffer brain damage after being exposed to a variety of nerve gases, including sarin. The cannabinoids worked both as a preventative measure and as an antidote, so keep a few phatties ready for emergencies! Other research shows the efficacy of synthetic cannabinoids against brain damage from head injury and strokes (CC#16, Marijuana protects your brain). The healing powers of cannabis are not limited to humans – this miraculous plant also has the potential to help clean the earth from toxins. Fields of cannabis are being grown in radioactive soil around Chernobyl by the Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in partnership with a US company called Phytotech (CC#18, Hemp helps Chernobyl). Phytotech specializes in using plants to clean up polluted sites, a process called phytoremediation. Cannabis is excellent at breaking down organic pollutants and removing metal and radioactive contaminant's from the soil. Phytotech representatives have said that "hemp is proving to be one of the best phyto-remediative plants we have been able to find." [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 18:38:12 PT |
| Is Marinol made with THC, or is it a synthetic, and then would not put the DEA or gov. in the position of accepting cannabis / THC as having medical value? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by The GCW on March 26, 2002 at 18:33:04 PT |
| Nice, Nice, Very Nice. A THEORY ON DRUGS http://www.angelfire.com/boybands/mindfuk/war.html There are plants that, when ingested, connect you to other forms of self and other forms of conciousness. The whole concept of altering your conciousness through plants has been given an unfavorable name in our western world, associated with what is called drugs. In many sacred ceremonies and rituals, it is understood that certain parts of the plants of the living library are ingested so that you may further understand the library. So, if you would, understand that Earth grows things that allow you to understand her in greater detail. There are those who do not want you to gather more information and become free, so they say to you that something is bad. They turn something that is quite beautifull into something to be frightened of. In actuality, the purpose of being human is to alter your conciousness by intent, by free will, and by the gifts of the planet in fashion and honor-and to discover the magnificense of living! [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on March 26, 2002 at 18:24:21 PT:
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| A close friend of mine attended a press conference in Vermont a couple of years ago where this happened. Gov. Dean is a physician, BTW, and should know better. In any event, he was asked what his stance was on industrial hemp. His response was basically as follows: "I'm against it. Hemp--marijuana---Cannabis sativa---same species---no difference!" The person that asked the question jumped up and said: "Crooks--politicians--Homo sapiens--same species--no difference!" Gov. Dean stormed out in anger, while the crowd went into hysterical gales of laughter. [ Post Comment ] |
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