cannabisnews.com: Their Lips are Moving





Their Lips are Moving
Posted by CN Staff on October 14, 2004 at 12:39:41 PT
By George Ochenski
Source: Missoula Independent 
Everyone has heard the joke about how you can tell when operatives from the Bush administration are lying—their lips are moving. Given the Bush presidency’s horrid record of lying about everything from preemptive war to domestic issues such as the environment, health care and education, it should come as no surprise that they’re at it again. This time, it’s to interfere in Montana’s election on medical marijuana, I-148. And guess what? Their lips are moving again.
Case in point was last week’s visit to Montana by Scott Burns, the so-called deputy drug czar for Bush’s Office of National Drug Control Policy. First, in a blatant attempt to exclude the public—a common tactic of this benighted administration—no one except “credentialed media” were allowed in the 15-minute “press conferences” Burns gave in Missoula, Helena and Billings. Only one little problem—the Montana Newspaper Association does not issue “press credentials,” preferring to let Montanans report wherever and whenever they so choose. Because Burns conveniently held his “press conferences” in drug treatment facilities, he was successful at shutting out supporters of the initiative who may have challenged him. Moving his lips, Burns got right to the point with his first lie: “I’m not here to tell anyone how to vote,” he said, looking straight into the TV cameras—and then proceeded to tell Montanans that voting for medical marijuana would be a terrible thing. According to Burns, I-148, which would allow those with AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis or other terminal or serious illnesses to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes, is not about bringing relief to sick people, but “about telling children that this is a medicine.” Burns says it “is common sense” that having cannabis viewed as medicine will lead to increased use of marijuana among young people. But I can’t ever recall busting into the medicine cabinet to gulp down some of Grandma’s laxatives, can you? Or how about swigging some of that great-tasting Pepto-Bismol? Yet, from time to time those medicines surely helped the oldsters feel better. Referring to the “snake oil of 100 years ago”—but ignoring the recent recall of VIOXX—Burns said we now “look to experts to tell us what is safe” and claimed: “None of them say smoking this weed is medicine.” Unfortunately, the drug czar must be too busy flying around the country on taxpayer money doing the federal government’s political dirty work to take the time to read the conclusions of medical authorities from all over the world who have found just the opposite—that marijuana is indeed efficacious in treating a number of ailments. Since he was in Montana, Burns should have done his homework and read the “Missoula Chronic Clinical Cannabis Use Study,” which was approved through the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The cannabis, which came from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, was used under the supervision of a study physician, with the goal of determining the “overall health status of 4 of 7 surviving patients in the program” who used “a known dosage of a standardized, heat-sterilized, quality-controlled supply of low-grade marijuana for 11 to 27 years.” And what did they find? Quoting from the study: “Results demonstrate clinical effectiveness in these patients in treating glaucoma, chronic musculoskeletal pain, spasm and nausea, and spasticity of multiple sclerosis. All 4 patients are stable with respect to their chronic conditions, and are taking many fewer standard pharmaceuticals than previously.” The authors went on to say, in terms even a drug czar could understand: “These results would support the provision of clinical cannabis to a greater number of patients in need. We believe that cannabis can be a safe and effective medicine…” Rather than get bogged down in messy medical details that disprove his propaganda, Burns simply went on to assure reporters that in every state that had approved the use of medical marijuana, drug use among young people had increased. But an on-going annual study in California found marijuana use by ninth-graders has dropped 45 percent since 1996, when the state legalized medical marijuana. Leaving the statistics behind, what about the actual experience of Montanans? Take Teresa Michalski, one of the people who showed up to dispute Burns who wasn’t allowed into the Helena press conference. Michalski says using marijuana was the only thing that helped her son, who died of a rare blood cancer last year. “My family learned the hard way, when our son was dying of Hodgkins disease, that ‘traditional’ pain pills don’t work for everyone,” Michalski said. “Toward the end of his life, my son was taking huge quantities of the same pills Rush Limbaugh was addicted to, but they did nothing for my son’s pain and nothing for the nausea that made eating impossible. Marijuana, on the other hand, helped quell my son’s agony and made it possible for him to eat. Because of marijuana, he was able to live his last days and die in relative comfort. But he and the rest of his family shouldn’t have had to deal with the fear of criminal prosecution during that difficult time in our lives, which were tough enough as it was.” Instead of interfering in Montana’s elections, the drug czar should have used his federally funded plane ticket to visit Canada. If his preposterous claims were correct, the streets of our northern neighbor should be clogged with stoner youths, barely able to ambulate because of their access to potent B.C. bud. But as many Montanans know from firsthand experience, Canada’s legalization of medical marijuana has produced no such drastic effects. Fear and lies are the tools of the Bush administration, but Montanans are smart, compassionate people. Come Nov. 2, Montanans should tell the drug czar to take his lies back to the White House, vote for I-148 and bring legal relief to our most seriously ill citizens. When not lobbying the Montana Legislature, George Ochenski is rattling the cage of the political establishment as a political analyst for the Independent. Note: Feds huff and puff about medical marijuana.Source: Missoula Independent (MT)Author: George OchenskiPublished: October 14, 2004Copyright: 2004 Missoula IndependentContact: opinion missoulanews.comWebsite: http://www.missoulanews.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Montana Careshttp://montanacares.org/Voting on Pot Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19629.shtmlDeputy Drug Czar Opposes Legalizing Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19612.shtmlDrug Czar Stumps Against I-148http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19609.shtmlDeputy Drug Czar Sees MMJ as Dangeroushttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19608.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by dongenero on October 15, 2004 at 09:42:06 PT
great article George
This is a great article by George Ochenski. Now that's the spirit of America! Very well stated.
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Comment #11 posted by dr slider on October 15, 2004 at 00:24:38 PT:
Sam
Cannabis is definitely for the survivors,
dust needs no ration.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on October 14, 2004 at 20:57:07 PT
Sam
You said something I've always believed. You said: I suppose speed would come in handy if you had to kill a lot of people.
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Comment #9 posted by Sam Adams on October 14, 2004 at 20:41:27 PT
Ooh! Ouch! Ouch!
Too much reality at once, not ready for it! Vioxx mentioned in the same sentence as medical marijuana? I'm surprised the DEA doesn't take this guy to Guantanomo Bay!Do not look at the man behind the curtain! Thousands and thousands of old people are dying each year from pills (100,000 to be exact) and they could just inhale steamed herbal flowers instead!  Soylent Green is people! Study hard in school!On another note, I saw an interesting special last night on History channel, it was called "High Hitler". Apparently Adolf had daily injections of methamphetimine & vitamins every morning, before he even got out of bed. The amount was steadily increased throughout his later life.When I was watching, I thought, Hey, our fighter pilots are popping the same pills! Nothing really changes, the world changes around us but people are the same. I suppose speed would come in handy if you had to kill a lot of people.Cannabis comes in handy if you're in a lot of pain. I guess you take the herb after the war. Hitler never made it to that point.
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Comment #8 posted by mayan on October 14, 2004 at 18:24:17 PT
They've Already Lost
What do these prohibitionist dolts hope to accomplish? They're just making even bigger fools of themselves as over 80% of Americans support medical cannabis. Let's hope Scott Burns and Johhny Pee keep lying because they are helping to expose themselves and the entire government as being corrupted to the core. They have already lost this one.The way out is the way in...Demand Letter Sent To Bush By Corp. CEO:
http://rense.com/general58/demand.htm9/11 Deception Dollars Used In Billionaires For Bush Video:
http://billionairesforbush.com/50billion.php9/11 Deception Dollar:
http://www.deceptiondollar.comIn-house BOOK REVIEW: COVER-UP: What the Government is Still Hiding About the War on Terror:
http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=410&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil:
http://www.septembereleventh.org/alerts/ruppert.php
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on October 14, 2004 at 17:05:08 PT
sukoi
Thank you for using CNews.
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Comment #6 posted by sukoi on October 14, 2004 at 16:32:35 PT
I just had to get this article out...
...so I did what any poster to a political site would do - I started a thread about it:http://www.whistlestopper.com/forum/showthread.php?p=338050#post338050And of course I linked it to CNews and I'm fighting about that right now! When will people wake up?
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Comment #5 posted by Dankhank on October 14, 2004 at 14:58:37 PT
Lies ...
We've known for a long time that they all lie, and we have a statement fro the GAO, that it's OKWhite House Gets Permission To Lie http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/18/thread18490.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on October 14, 2004 at 14:04:19 PT
medicinal toker
Yes I agree! Let Freedom Ring!
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Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on October 14, 2004 at 14:03:27 PT
fear
...is inside the Hallowed Halls of the Office of National Drug Control Propaganda.They're afraid the citizens of all 50 states will vote to allow the use of medical marijuana.The citizens, voting and non-voting, of all 50 states don't need to be told how to vote. I know FoM doesn't like being told how to vote, that's for sure.What if all 50 states legalize medical marijuana?
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Comment #2 posted by medicinal toker on October 14, 2004 at 13:50:14 PT
One of the best!
It's great to see media finally come around and take on the drug czar and the drug war head-on. But, we still need much more to finally get rid of this menace to freedom and liberty once and dfor all. And speaking of those terms, we need to reclaim true fereedom and liberty from Bush''s Orwellian versions...Let Freedom Ring!
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on October 14, 2004 at 12:48:45 PT
Hard Hitting Article
I hope it is received well by everyone.
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