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| Dutch Parliament to Vote for Medical Marijuana |
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Posted by FoM on April 08, 2002 at 12:45:17 PT By The Associated Press Source: Associated Press 
The Hague, Netherlands - A majority of legislators in the lower house of parliament plan to support a proposal allowing pharmacies to fill marijuana prescriptions for severely ill patient. The legislature is to vote next week on the proposal. During a subcommittee meeting Monday, five parties representing a majority of parliamentarians said their members were backing the measure. The bill also must be approved by the Senate, which is to consider it later this year. "It might take a year before the first marijuana will be available at pharmacies," Bas Kuik, spokesman for the Health Ministry, told The Associated Press. Under the legislation, the marijuana would be produced by government-regulated growers. Doctors would be allowed to prescribe the drug as a pain reliever. Patients would take the drug by using a vaporizer or by smoking a marijuana cigarette. Although the sale of marijuana is technically illegal, Dutch authorities tolerate the sale of small amounts in hundreds of so-called "coffee shops" that operate openly. A gram of marijuana costs about 4 dollars. The three government coalition partners and the two largest opposition parties said they will approve the bill. There are also plans to put marijuana on the national health care plan, but initially the drug will only be free under special health insurance programs. Complete Title: Majority of Dutch Parliament to Vote in Favor of Bill to Legalize Medicinal Marijuana Source: Associated Press Medical Marijuana Information Links CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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Comment #8 posted by ekim on April 08, 2002 at 19:47:37 PT:
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Subject: 4th US Harm Reduction Conference: Taking Drug Users Seriously The Harm Reduction Coalition Presents: 4TH NATIONAL HARM REDUCTION CONFERENCE: TAKING DRUG USERS SERIOUSLY DATE, TIME AND PLACE: December 1- 4, 2002 (Pre Conference Institute, November 30) Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers Seattle, Washington For more information: http://harmreduction.org/conference/4thnatlconf.html or contact conference@h... to be added to our mail list KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Former Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Seattle Kings County Health Commissioner, Dr. Alonzo Plough, Director of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington, Dr. Alan Marlatt DEADLINES: Abstract Submission: May 31, 2002 (Can be submitted in Spanish) Scholarship requests: postmarked by July 1st 2002 REGISTRATION Registration Fees until October 1st (postmarked): $360 ($90/day) $330 for HRC members $260 for speakers after October 1st: $450 ($115/day) $400 for HRC members $300 for speakers This conference is not underwritten by Government money. ACCOMMODATIONS Hotel: The Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers (206) 621-9000 Be sure to tell then that you're with the 4th National Harm Reduction Conference. Rates: HRC has secured special rates for the conference $125.00/night for King or double occupancy $145.00/ night for triple rooms $165.00/night for quad rooms CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS * Harm reduction in Latino and African American communities * A Spanish language track * User-to-user interventions, education, organizing and advocacy * Practical interventions for methamphetamine and crack cocaine users * New research on drug use, AIDS, hepatitis C, syringe exchange and harm reduction * New Ideas in HIV and Hep C prevention programming, treatment and care * Methadone information and methadone advocacy * Impact of welfare reform on drug users, their families and communities * Community impact of drug law incarcerations and prison issues for drug users and people living with AIDS * Workshops on advocacy and community organizing, including the faith community * Drug treatment on demand, community planning, harm reduction in drug treatment settings, and expanded drug treatment modalities. * How to start and maintain a syringe exchange program * Overdose intervention and response Co-Sponsors Seattle-King County Department of Public Health • The Addictive Behaviors Research Center and The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of WA • Street Outreach Services • Home Alive • Lifelong AIDS Alliance • Point Defiance AIDS Project • Blue Mountain Heart to Heart • Evergreen Treatment Services • The BABES Network • North American Syringe Exchange Network • National Alliance of Methadone Advocates • National AIDS Fund • American Foundation for AIDS Research • November Coalition • International Harm Reduction Association • International Women and Drugs Network • National Minority AIDS Council • Canadian Harm Reduction Network • Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users • DanceSafe • Family Justice, Inc. • Harm Reduction Project • Advocates for Recovery Through Medicine • American Liver Foundation • AIDS Action Council • Caribbean Harm Reduction Coalition • Latino Commission on AIDS • Lindesmith/Drug Policy Foundation • Common Sense for Drug Policy • The Center for Health Policy Development • Hepatitis C Support Project • Danzine • People of Color Against AIDS Network • AIDS Action Council • HIV Ctr. for Clinical & Behavioral Studies/NYS • Corporate Sponsors: Agouron • Roche [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #7 posted by idbsne1 on April 08, 2002 at 15:30:12 PT |
| "It might take a year before the first marijuana will be available at pharmacies," Bas Kuik, spokesman for the Health Ministry, told The Associated Press." A year? How amazing. We can't even get our Governor to look at a bill in 6 YEARS!!?!?!!?!!??!!? Our law making process is too slow. How can we change this? Our politicians WASTE more time than they do good. Seriously, I can't think of too many instances where I've said that a politician has done something good. (aside form the latest state legislators starting MMJ bills) Holland will have designed, written, voted AND implimented a bill in a year. Wow. I'm a die-hard American, but right now, I am finding it difficult to think of reasons why this country is supposed to be so "great" in comparison to other First-World countries?!?!?! idbsne1 [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 08, 2002 at 15:06:24 PT |
| All these new fangled ways go right over the top of my head but wouldn't it be great if we could put on Rain gear like the Gordon Fisherman and run through our very own legal fields and fields of cannabis and collect the resin on the raincoat and scrape it off and ta da! I woke up from my dream. By the time that's legal I'll be gone gone gone from this earth unfortunately but dreaming is still legal. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #5 posted by SpaceCat on April 08, 2002 at 14:48:04 PT |
| Astonishing, from an American perspective, that a government would fund such research. I was never interested in solvents and such, but ice I can deal with! Political and moral implications aside, it is not really necessary(or necessarily desireable)to have government funding for such research. Look at Bubbleman and his Bubble Bags- Very similar to the Ice-O-Lator, but developed by a stony entrepeneur responding to good old market forces! And that's in a repressive environment. can you imagine the flowering of innovation that will result when common sense prevails? [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #4 posted by CorvallisEric on April 08, 2002 at 13:52:00 PT |
| Right, EJ, I also don't remember ever seeing an article like this mention "vaporizer". But they mention "severely ill patient". I don't think that medications like codeine or hydrocodone are reserved exclusively for those who are "severely ill". I want to know which of these is happening: 1 - News writers believe that anything less would just be too shocking for public consumption. 2 - Politicians, even in the Netherlands, need cover. 3 - It's just become a politically-correct expression within the medical-MJ community that MJ is medicine for the "severely ill" (or dying). [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on April 08, 2002 at 13:15:04 PT |
| Patients would take the drug by using a vaporizer or by smoking a marijuana cigarette. The word vaporizer has been printed by the AP. Is this the first time ever? [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #2 posted by Ethan Russo MD on April 08, 2002 at 13:10:54 PT:
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| I just noticed that this is an AP story. Theoretically, it is available to newspapers across the country. How many do you think will carry it? We should do a survey of just that issue as a measure of censorship of clinical cannabis information. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on April 08, 2002 at 13:04:07 PT:
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| This is typical of the progressive attitude in Holland and the rest of Western Europe. How long until the unwarranted criticism from this side of the pond begins? My friend, Mila Jansen, is a famous inventor in Amsterdam, where she has developed devices called the Pollinator and Ice-O-Lator for manufacturing hashish: http://www.ice-o-lator.nl/main.html (under construction) Why do I mention this? It is because Mila receives a research subsidy from her government to study these techniques! Her water hash is a safer method for using clinical cannabis. This would never happen in America with this generation of politicians. [ Post Comment ] |
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