cannabisnews.com: Cannabis Should Be Allowed To Serve Americans





Cannabis Should Be Allowed To Serve Americans
Posted by CN Staff on June 26, 2005 at 22:30:58 PT
By Wayne Whitmarsh
Source: Lincoln Journal Star
Nebraska -- Home grown or community, area dispensary grown cannabis affects interstate commerce, so says the Supreme Court. How so? One way is that pharmaceutical companies will lose money on the sale of synthetic drugs. Another way is that some patients who, reluctantly, go to the street to find a dealer wouldn't have to do that. Therefore, the poor drug lords and dealers could only buy a Ford, not a BMW.
Drug companies pump big money into politics today. It will be a cold day when our Congress goes against their benefactors and allows the public legal access to medicinal cannabis again. Drug companies would have to search dark corners of old vaults for old drug formulas. By the 1930s, Eli Lilly, Parke-Davis, Tildens, and Brothers Smith and Squibb were selling top quality cannabis products.Then again, new formulas are a possibility, perhaps like Sativex, recently developed in England. It is a cannabis spray applied under the tongue or in the cheek to help the pain and other symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Canada has approved its use for 50,000 MS patients. Unfortunately the 400,000 MS patients in the U.S. won't have access to Sativex.Patients say, unlike many prescribed, synthetic drugs, marijuana provides them relief from ailments' harsh symptoms without potential damage to their bodies and allows them to function more normally. Presently, seven patients legally use cannabis in the U.S. Under a "compassionate use program of 1976" our government provides each a canister with up to 300 marijuana cigarettes each month. One of the seven is a glaucoma patient, a resident of Nebraska.Another, less spoken element in the issue of rescheduling cannabis for medicinal use relates to its big brother "hemp." Although allowing its growth would help solve some U.S. environmental problems, it will not be a plus for our balance of trade with other countries. Presently tons of hemp are imported to support the needs of several industries.Cannabis has served America(ns) well for over 300 years. It should be allowed to do so again. A few items to ponder:Thomas Jefferson said "If people let government decide what foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.""God makes the Earth yield healing herbs, which the prudent man should not neglect" (from the book of Sirach 38:4 in the Catholic Bible)."Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; that which cometh out of the mouth defileth man" (Jesus as quoted in the book of Matthew 15:11, Revised Standard Version).Complete Title: Local View: Cannabis Should Be Allowed To Serve Americans, PatientsWayne Whitmarsh lives in Lincoln.Source: Lincoln Journal Star (NE)Author: Wayne WhitmarshPublished: June 27, 2005Copyright: 2005 Lincoln Journal StarContact: oped journalstar.comWebsite: http://www.journalstar.com/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on June 27, 2005 at 20:39:56 PT
Sukoi
Thank you. 
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Comment #19 posted by Sukoi on June 27, 2005 at 20:15:58 PT
Supposed to be...
DirecTV Channel 269
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Comment #18 posted by Sukoi on June 27, 2005 at 20:14:37 PT
On Right Now...
Hooked: Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way Marijuana; synthetic amphetamines.DireTC channel 269
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Comment #17 posted by runderwo on June 27, 2005 at 17:56:05 PT
mandatory minimums
Check this link out. It helped remove some of the confusion between mandatory minimums and sentencing guidelines for me. Though it could do without the typical law-and-order drug warrior rhetoric coming from a prohibition advocacy site.
http://www.drugwatch.org/Mandatory%20Minimum%20Sentences.htm
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on June 27, 2005 at 17:43:34 PT
Press Release from ASA
IL MS Patient Applies for Canadian Prescription Medical Marijuana Mouth Spray; Press Conference to Announce Compassionate New Drug Program ApplicationJune 27, 2005To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor Contact: Hilary McQuie of Americans for Safe Access, 510-333-8554; Web: http://www.SafeAccessNow.orgNews Advisory:-- Press Conference to Announce Compassionate New Drug Program ApplicationJulie Falco, an MS sufferer who benefits from the medicinal use of marijuana, and her doctor, Dr Anthony Reder, are applying for access to a Canadian-approved medication, Sativex (r), a natural marijuana extract that was developed by GW Pharmaceuticals from specially-bred marijuana plants. Sativex(r) is similar to the tinctures that were sold in the US before 1937 and the process is comparable to products made by patients and their caregivers in states with medical marijuana laws. For company information on Sativex(r), see: http://www.gwpharm.com"Patients in states that don't have laws allowing the medical use of marijuana need access to a safe and legal form of natural cannabis. Access to Sativex(r) will provide the pain relief I need without the threat of incarceration that hangs over all us all, " said Julie Falco, whose doctor has applied for Sativex(r) on her behalf. "Illinois passed legislation to create a medical marijuana program under the Cannabis Control Act of 1971, but the current Act only allows the State to act, instead of requiring it to do so. IDEAL Reform: http://www.idealreform.org/ is working to amend the Illinois' Cannabis Control Act to mandate that the state implement the program, something that has not happened in the 32 years since the inception of the law."The introduction of Sativex(r) to Canadian markets vindicates what patients, doctors, and medical associations have been saying for centuries: marijuana is a safe and effective medication, "said Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access, the largest medical marijuana advocacy group in the country. "The bottom line is marijuana MUST be rescheduled so that we can have an honest conversation about the best uses of marijuana as medicine, including the introduction of Sativex(r) to the US market." To see ASA information on Sativex(r), see: http://www.Sativexinfo.comAmericans for Safe Access will be assisting a number of MS patients and their doctors through this application process, while they continue in their quest to change the schedule of marijuana from its current status, in the same category as heroin, to another category that recognizes the medicinal value of marijuana. Federal law allows for promising drugs that have been approved in another country, but not yet in the United States, to be used under the direction of a physician, pending special permission. The Investigational New Drug program (IND) is the means through which the sponsor (either a physician or pharmaceutical company) technically obtains this authorization from the FDA. The United States Government has had a Compassionate Use IND program that has provided medical cannabis to patients for nearly 30 years. Only a handful of patients were ever approved to use NIDA's University of Mississippi-grown marijuana. Seven of these patients are still surviving and receiving their monthly allocations of medical cannabis.GW Pharmaceuticals has announced it will apply for FDA approval this year, and have already employed the Drug Czar's former Deputy Director of Demand Reduction, Andrea Barthwell, to pitch their product through the approval process. Even if the FDA approval process moves quickly, however, Sativex(r) will not be available in this country for a minimum of three years. WHAT: Press conference to announce compassionate new drug program application for marijuana medicationWHERE: Kluczynski Federal Building, 230 S Dearborn St, Chicago, IL, front plazaWHEN: Wednesday, June 29, 11 a.m.WHY: Announce application for Compassionate New Drug program by MS patient and her doctor for legal medical marijuana spray so as to reduce risk of arrest, for the Illinois legislature to implement Illinois' medical marijuana program, and for the FDA to reschedule marijuana as medicine so that Sativex(r) can be made available to all Americans who need it.WHO: Julie Falco, MS patient; Dr. Bruce Doblin, MD, MPH, Medical Ethicist; Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access; Matthew Atwood, IDEAL ReformCopyright: 2005 U.S. Newswire http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=49517
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Comment #15 posted by jose melendez on June 27, 2005 at 15:31:47 PT
nitrosamines
Thanks for the tip. Chewing tobacco and snuff contain 28 carcinogens* (cancer-causing agents). The most harmful carcinogens in smokeless tobacco are the tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). They are formed during the curing, fermenting, and aging of tobacco. TSNAs have been detected in smokeless tobacco at levels 100 times higher than the levels of other nitrosamines that are allowed in bacon, beer, and other foods.  * National Cancer Institute. Cancer Rates and Risks. 4th edition. National Institutes of Health, 1996. p. 70.  * Other cancer-causing substances in smokeless tobacco include formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, crotonaldehyde, hydrazine, arsenic, nickel, cadmium, benzopyrene, and polonium (which gives off radiation).# Nicotine is another element in smokeless tobacco. The amount of nicotine absorbed is 2 to 3 times the amount delivered by a cigarette. People who consume 8 to 10 dips or chews per day receive the same amount of nicotine as a heavy smoker who smokes 30 to 40 cigarettes a day. Nicotine is absorbed more slowly from smokeless tobacco than from cigarettes, but more nicotine per dose is absorbed from snuff and chewing tobacco than from cigarettes. Also, the nicotine stays in the bloodstream for a longer time.
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Comment #14 posted by runderwo on June 27, 2005 at 15:03:22 PT
hey jose
Careful. Nicotine is not a carcinogen, though it is bad for your circulatory system. The nitrosamines that are created from nicotine as a byproduct of tobacco air-curing are carcinogens.Also, a credible face to put with the claim that Marinol is too debilitating to use compared to cannabis would be Carl Sagan. He was given Marinol while being treated for cancer, and went back to cannabis because he was unable to think while on Marinol. I'm fairly certain this tidbit was given out by his wife in a Cannabis Culture interview.That DEA article is such a crock. Here's the main rub:
"Over the last few years, the DEA has registered every researcher meeting FDA standards to use marijuana in scientific studies."The fine line between being misleading and a flat-out lie here is "meeting FDA standards". Anyone know what it means to "meet FDA standards" as a cannabis researcher? On what grounds were Lyle Craker and the other recent rejection (can't remember the name) made?
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Comment #13 posted by jose melendez on June 27, 2005 at 14:55:43 PT
Re: Comment #9
(A)lthough Agent Taylor omits these all of these material and relevant facts from his essay, the truth remains that whether it is smoked, vaporized or consumed as a good gift of food as the Lord recommends in Genesis 1:29, marijuana is far safer than many if not most of the products approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Perhaps instead of protecting certain drugs manufacturers against competition from a weed, those sworn by oath of office to uphold and defend the law should fight real crime.Note: Restraints of trade are directly related to economic protectionism, and along with false claims, war on us or aiding and comforting our enemies are defines in U.S. law as felony crimes.Rev. Jose Juan Melendez, Jr.
Marijuana Mission
"First Cannabis Church" [(c) 2005 by Rev. Jose Juan Melendez Jr.]
1630 Lake Drive
DeLand, FL
32724
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on June 27, 2005 at 14:23:07 PT
NORML Alert: Rhode Island Medical Marijuana
Rhode Island Governor Threatens To Veto Medical Marijuana Take Action Now! http://capwiz.com/norml2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7765921Dear Friends:NORML is pleased to announce that legislation to legalize the use of medical marijuana by qualified patients continues to make significant progress in Rhode Island, and only has a few more hurdles to clear before becoming state law.Last week, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed House Bill 6052 by a overwhelming margin of 52 - 10. This victory comes two weeks after the Rhode Island Senate passed a similar bill by a vote of 34-2. The Rhode Island Legislature is sending a clear message that the lives of seriously ill patients are more important than political posturing.At this time, a composite bill still needs to pass the Senate. However, Governor Carcieri has threatened to veto this bill when it reaches his desk. While there is likely enough support in the legislature to override a veto by the governor, we are hoping that letters of support from constituents like you will encourage the governor to sign it into law.NORML is asking all of our supporters in Rhode Island to take two minutes to send a pre-written letter to Governor Carcieri in support of medical marijuana. To send a letter, simply visit: http://capwiz.com/norml2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7765921With your help, we can make medical marijuana a reality for seriously ill Rhode Islanders.We appreciate the support.Sincerely,Paul Armentano, Senior Policy Analyst NORML
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on June 27, 2005 at 12:20:29 PT
UK: William Ransom Seeks Cannabis Boost
By James Rossiter, Evening StandardJune 27, 2005***Natural healthcare company William Ransom is working on producing a cannabis-extract for migraine and rheumatoid arthritis. The AIM-listed firm is better known for over-the-counter products, ranging from aloe vera-based toothpastes and Radian B muscle rub to Manuca honey, but a move into producing marijuana resins would not be a first for the firm. Hitchin-based Ransom used to produce extracts of the infamous weed more than 30 years ago, its chief executive Tim Dye told the Evening Standard, until changes to the law prohibited its prescription as a medicine in 1973. Now a €1.3m (£862,000) grant from the EU to a consortium spearheaded by Ransom has triggered a two-year project to examine if there is a viable market for use in medical therapies. Earlier this month, GW Pharmaceuticals lost an appeal with UK regulators to allow it to market its cannabis-derived painkiller Sativex for multiple sclerosis sufferers. Dye said he is working closely with the University of London School of Pharmacy on his project. A further five Continental academic institutions and two small research firms are involved. He is also taking advice from former chairman Michael Ransom, a by the appointment as a director-of former Olympic swimming champion David Wilkie. Ransom bought his food supplements business a year ago. Copyright: 2005 Associated New Mediahttp://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid401735?source=This%20is%20Money
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on June 27, 2005 at 10:35:27 PT
ElPatricio
You asked about hawking articles and that's a question that I can answer. All the regular posters on CNews will post a link to an article and then I name them newshawk in the article if I post it on the front page. Since I am the only person who posts news on CNews it has been a nice way of including all the people here if they find a story. I don't post but a couple articles a day anymore and let the threads develop and that seems to benefit many people that way. I hope this makes sense. It's good to see you too!http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/20/thread20904.shtml#3
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Comment #9 posted by ElPatricio on June 27, 2005 at 10:15:28 PT:
DEA Columnist
Dear Reformists,Here's a column in a California daily by a DEA agent stationed in Sacramento that denounces medical marijuana, invoking the usual drug-warrior talking points.I'm including contact information for the Auburn Journal.P.S. What's the preferred method of hawking articles to Cannabis News?Regards,
El PatricioAuburn Journal Send a Letter to the EditorFax: 530-887-1231 Email: ajournal goldcountrymedia.com Mail: 1030 High St., PO Box 5910, Auburn, CA 95604 Walk-In: 1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603ColumnistsThe Auburn JournalLooking past the pot smokescreenBy: Gordon D. Taylor, Guest columnist
Sunday, June 26, 2005 1:41 AM PDTWithin the past five years, the U.S. Supreme Court has twice said "no" to the "medical marijuana" argument. This has led pro-marijuana advocates to spread misinformation on the subject as they seek to push their agenda forward. It is time to set the record straight.First, the scientific and medical communities have determined that smoked marijuana is a health danger, not a cure. There are no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications that are smoked, primarily because smoking is an unsafe and ineffective way to deliver medicine.Americans today have the world's safest, most effective system for approving prescription drugs, which must undergo rigorous FDA-approved scientific research. They must be proven to be both safe and effective for medical treatment. Smoked marijuana has not passed the safe and effective test, and therefore remains a prohibited substance under federal drug laws.Marijuana advocates often cite the 1999 Institute of Medicine report as justifying the use of "medical marijuana.' However, they fail to mention the study's finding that "marijuana is not modern medicine." The study concluded, "there is little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication." While the study recognized that a compound in marijuana may be potentially therapeutic for some conditions, it recommended that further research be conducted.To that end, the Drug Enforcement Agency has approved and will continue to approve research into whether the active ingredient in marijuana can be formulated for medical use. Over the last few years, the DEA has registered every researcher meeting FDA standards to use marijuana in scientific studies.The DEA and medical science do not fear any compound, even those with a potential for abuse. If any substance has the proven capacity to serve a medical purpose, then it will be accepted. The key term is "proven capacity." Only if compounds from marijuana pass the same tests of research scrutiny that all other drugs must undergo will they become part of the modern medical arsenal.Unfortunately, there are many people who view marijuana as a harmless or soft drug. Information from tests and studies suggest otherwise. On average, the marijuana today is eight times more potent than it was during the early 1970s.Recent studies show that more teenagers enter drug treatment for marijuana abuse than for alcohol and all other illegal drugs combined. Marijuana related emergency room visits for teenagers more than tripled between 1994 and 2001. These statistics directly contradict the claim that marijuana is a harmless drug.Contrary to what legalizers contend, DEA targets not the sick and dying, but criminals engaged in cultivation and trafficking of illegal drugs. In many instances, those who provide considerable funding to the "medical marijuana" movement use the sick and terminally ill as a smokescreen to hide their true agenda, which is across-the-board legalization of marijuana."Medical pot" users often cite minor ailments as their justification to use marijuana, such as anxiety, premenstrual syndrome or sleeplessness. These users, and many like them who use marijuana for so-called medical purposes, are simply exploiting California marijuana laws to shield themselves from local law enforcement and to disguise their desire to get high.The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on marijuana should prompt parents to discuss with their children the problems and hazards associated with marijuana use. We owe it to our children to tell them the truth about the dangers of marijuana and help them see through the "medical marijuana" smokescreen.Gordon Taylor, a veteran of the Drug Enforcement Agency for more than 18 years, has oversight of DEA operations in 34 counties throughout the Central Valley and Northern California.
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Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on June 27, 2005 at 10:03:02 PT
More cannabis research suggests itself
Okay here is an article in today's LA Times warning that anesthesia during surgery is now thought to unleash some inflammatory process in the body that leads to cancer and or heart disease. People who have serious surgery have an increased risk of dying from heart attacks or cancer within two years of the surgery, even if their surgery was not for heart disease or cancer in the first place.Might I suggest to any cannabinoid scientists lurking out there that a study be launched using pre- and post-surgical cannabinoid treatment to see whether this helps control this problem.This is a smoking gun for cannabinoids. Maybe anesthesia shuts down or impairs the cannabinoid system and that's why post-surgical inflammation can become a hidden problem that kills people a year or two after their operation.Anyone involved in cannabis science out there might see this as yet another interesting life-saving avenue for exploration.
Long term dangers of deep anesthesia
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Comment #7 posted by jose melendez on June 27, 2005 at 09:31:14 PT
heavy
"We're poisoning our planet through gluttony and ignorance.We're teetering on the brink of self-inflicted insolvency.We're selfishly and needlessly sacrificing the best of a generation.And we're lying about it.While it has compiled this record of failure and deception, the party which I'm leaving today has spent its time, energy and political capital trying to save Terri Schiavo, battling the threat of single-sex unions, fighting medical marijuana and physician-assisted suicide, manufacturing political crises over presidential nominees, and selling privatized Social Security to an America that isn't buying. We fiddle while Rome burns.Enough is enough. I quit."James Chaney is a Eugene attorney who has been in private practice for more than 20 years, and who has been a registered Republican since 1980. 
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/06/26/ed.col.chaney.0626.html
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 27, 2005 at 09:15:06 PT
Off Topic
Guest Viewpoint: The Party's Over for Betrayed RepublicanBy James Chaney  June 26, 2005 
 
 
As of today, after 25 years, I am no longer a Republican. 
I take this step with deep regret, and with a deep sense of betrayal. I still believe in the vast power of markets to inspire ideas, motivate solutions and eliminate waste. I still believe in international vigilance and a strong defense, because this world will always be home to people who will avidly seek to take or destroy what we have built as a nation. I still believe in the protection of individuals and businesses from the influence and expense of an over-involved government. I still believe in the hand-in-hand concepts of separation of church and state and absolute freedom to worship, in the rights of the states to govern themselves without undo federal interference, and in the host of other things that defined me as a Republican. Complete Article: http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/06/26/ed.col.chaney.0626.html
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on June 27, 2005 at 08:41:22 PT
Doonesbury
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20050627
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Comment #4 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on June 27, 2005 at 07:31:26 PT
Grammas for Ganja
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1024/a08.html?999http://grammasforganja.org/    Right on grandma!!!
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Comment #3 posted by siege on June 27, 2005 at 05:55:06 PT
Newsweek 
Newsweek recently reported a jump of MS-13 Gangs from Central America from 8,000 members in 28 cities to over 11,000 members in 33 states in only 12 months. They distribute the $128 billion annual drug distribution into the USA. They also kill, extort, rape and promote Third World sex trade in our major cities. They are vicious and they’re coming to your city even faster as our borders vaporize with FTAA.http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty63.htm
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Comment #2 posted by jose melendez on June 27, 2005 at 04:58:18 PT
law on our side
Federal law specifically deems it unlawful to restrain trade, create a monopoly for sales of items in commerce, or make false claims in order to authorize or receive federal funds. Yet the DEA approved a monopoly for all legal cannabis sales to a single 15 acre Mississippi cannabis farm operated by one Mahmoud ElSohly. Furthermore, the National Institutes of Drug Abuse which contracts ElSohly's operation included seeds and stems in the weak medical marijuana cigarettes that are provided every month to federally registered Investigational New Drug program participants.Also, and contrary to as is falsely claimed by the DEA and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, stronger pot strains are safer because they yield proportionately less carbon monoxide, benzene, benzo(a)pyrene and toluene when smoked. Of course, the presence of those ingredients in tobacco cigarette smoke, along with carcinogenic nicotine and Polonium 210 is insufficient cause for arrest, incarceration or asset forfeiture.Certainly, the very pharmaceutical companies that earn otherwise unlikely profits via Medicare and Medicaid by suppressing safety data about their defective and often deadly pain killers actively work with ONDCP and fund the Partnership for a Drug Free America. PDFA was started with funding from Big Tobacco, and operates with direct assistance from federal and state employees and contractors. Even the lawfully permitted but synthetic version of just one of ganja's active ingredients, Marinol is essentially pure THC, and is described by medical marijuana consumers as uncomfortably debilitating.Perhaps instead of protecting certain drugs manufacturers against competition from a weed, those sworn by oath of office to uphold and defend the law should fight real crime. - - -
References:http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/hood.html"Our system, fostered by the Commerce Clause, is that every farmer and every craftsman shall be encouraged to produce by the certainty that he will have free access to every market in the Nation, that no home embargoes will withhold his export, and no foreign state will by customs duties or regulations exclude them. Likewise, every consumer may look to the free competition from every producing area in the Nation to protect him from exploitation by any. Such was the vision of the Founders; such has been the doctrine of this Court which has given it reality."H. P. HOOD & SONS V. DU MOND
336 U.S. 525 - - -
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/becker/antitrust/summaries/175us211.htmThe power to regulate interstate commerce, and to prescribe the rules by which it shall be governed, is vested in Congress, and when that body has enacted a statute such as the act of July 2, 1890, c. 647, entitled "an act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies." any agreement or combination which directly operates, not alone upon the manufacture, but upon the sale, transportation and delivery of an article of interstate commerce, by preventing or restricting its sale, thereby regulates interstate commerce to that extent, and thus trenches upon the power of the national legislature, and violates the statute.http://www.4lawschool.com/conlaw/healy.htmThe Commerce Clause also limits the power of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to adopt regulations that discriminate against interstate commerce. Thus, state statutes that clearly discriminate against interstate commerce are routinely struck down ... unless the discrimination is demonstrably justified by a valid factor unrelated to economic protectionism.15 U.S.C. § 45. Unfair methods of competition unlawful; prevention by Commission  (a) Declaration of unlawfulness; power to prohibit unfair
    practices; inapplicability to foreign tradehttp://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/ts_search.pl?title=15&sec=45May 13, 2002The National Institute on Drug Abuse, which grows the marijuana plants that are pre-rolled, frozen and sent out to officially sanctioned researchers across the country, denies its research product is substandard."The marijuana we provide DOES NOT (emphasis added -jm) contain sticks and seeds. The problem is re-humidifying - it makes it kind of harsh," said Steve Gust, special assistant to the director of NIDA."Certain procedures are needed to make it smoke right." Gust said researchers themselves aren't complaining about quality. He thinks groups like NORML are looking for something to blame if the results of the studies show it has little medicinal value. "Then they can say the marijuana isn't of sufficient quality," Gust* said.May 16, 2002" . . . the marijuana that we provide and produce is _almost entirely_ (emphasis added -jm) free of stems and seeds." - (Steve Gust)The institute ships the majority of its marijuana cigarettes to a dozen research programs throughout the nation that service several hundred people. The agency also directly ships cigarettes to seven patients who are part of an old investigative program that was created in the 1970s for research.Musikka, a Sacramento woman who has had glaucoma since 1975, is one of the seven study participants who receive the shipments from the institute. She said that since her participation in the study began in 1988, the quality of the marijuana has gone from awful to tolerable but that she still can't smoke the cigarettes without cleaning them up first."They always have to be rerolled," said Musikka, who is blind in one eye. "I don't like their papers, and all the seeds and stems have to come out. It takes me all day to just clean everything and get it so that I can reroll it."from: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/05/16/MN157432.DTL- - -from: http://www.taf.org/top20.htmSince 1986 False Claims Act judgments and settlements against fraud feasors have totaled over $12 billion.Top False Claims Act Recoveries include pharmaceutical, health care and drug precursor chemical firms:HCA, Taketa-Abbott Pharmaceutical, Abbott Labs, Fresenius Medical Care of North America, SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories Inc., HealthSouth, National Medical Enterprises, Gambro Healthcare, Gambro Healthcare, Schering-Plough, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Corporation, First American Health Care of Georgia, First American Health Care of Georgia, Pfizer/Warner-Lambert, Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois, Shell Oil Company . . . - - -http://www.nida.nih.gov/Funding/Budget05.htmlUnder authorizing legislation (Section 301 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended) NIDA's estimated budget for 2005 is reportedly $1,019,060,000In working with other Institutes and Centers and external groups, NIDA, DEA, ONDCP and the Partnership for a Drug Free America, consistently make or publish misleading, speculative and outright false statements about cannabis' comparative safety and efficacy.We strongly feel that a careful review of comments made under oath by officials that in fact approve or receive federal funding and do represent those groups in public and before Congress on this concededly contentious issue will reveal that said statements are wildly apocryphal in nature, and in fact may be correctly classified as fraud or perjury.Follow the MoneyTop Partnership for a Drug Free America funding sources include some of THE SAME pharmaceutical, health care and drug precursor chemical firms:http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/About/Partners/list.aspx - - -We all have some understanding of the nature of fraud. When a person deliberately uses a misrepresentation or other deceitful means to obtain something to which he or she is not otherwise entitled, that person has committed fraud. However, under the False Claims Act, fraud has a much wider and more inclusive meaning.Under the Act, the defendant need not have actually known that the information it provided to the Government was false. It is sufficient that the defendant supplied the information to the Government either:(i) in "deliberate ignorance" of the truth or falsity of the information; or(ii) in "reckless disregard" of the truth or falsity of the information.The False Claims Act has been used to successfully recover for fraud against the Government in many areas, including defense procurement fraud, Medicare/Medicaid fraud and fraud against HUD by builders of federally subsidized housing.In fact, claims may arise in virtually every area in which federal Government money is spent, such as education, welfare, social security and purchases by any federal government department or agency.http://library.findlaw.com/2000/Nov/1/130252.htmlHow to Report a Possible ViolationInformation from the public is vital to the work of the Antitrust Division. Your phone calls, letters, and e-mail messages are often the first indication of an antitrust violation and may provide the initial evidence to begin an investigation.If you have information about a possible antitrust violation or potential anticompetitive activity, whether civil or criminal, please contact the Division:E-Mail newcase.atr usdoj.gov Phone 1-888-647-3258 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada) or 1-202-307-2040 Mail Antitrust Division - New Case Unit 950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Suite 3322 Washington, DC 20530Here is the sole person that the DEA allows a monopoly
on cannabis "manufacturing":Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly ElSohly Laboratories, Inc. 5
Industrial Park Drive Oxford, MS 38655Ph: 662-236-2609 Fx: 662-234-0253elibhg watervalley.netwww.elsohly.comThis vendor provides custom-made quality control
materials to fit clients' needs including adulterated
and substituted (urine) specimens.See also:http://209.204.155.254/thc.htmhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20044.shtmlhttp://www.maps.org/mmj/nagel112103.htmlREMEMBER: It is a criminal offense to threaten
any person who seeks to report federal crimes.Title 18 U.S.C. û 1513. Retaliating against a witness,
 victim, or an informant. Title 18 U.S.C. û 1512. Tampering with a
witness/informant. 
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Comment #1 posted by mayan on June 27, 2005 at 04:29:55 PT
unrelated
Marijuana vaporizer makes medical pot safer, backers say:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-pot27.html: Pot-based spray may alter debate:
http://www.detnews.com/2005/health/0506/27/A08-227727.htmOccasional pot dangerous, says UN:
http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1260&storyid=3350522
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