cannabisnews.com: NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- November 13, 2003 NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- November 13, 2003 Posted by CN Staff on November 13, 2003 at 17:42:09 PT Weekly Press Release Source: NORML Detroit Medical Marijuana Initiative Likely To Appear On 2004 Ballot November 13, 2003 - Detroit, MI, USADetroit, MI: A city-wide initiative petition to "exempt" qualified medicinal marijuana patients from criminal penalties has been certified to go before the City Council, according to Tim Beck, Chairman of the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care. If the Council rejects the proposal, the initiative would then appear on the 2004 ballot. The DCCC gathered nearly 10,000 signatures to place the measure before the Council.Similar municipal ordinances have been enacted in other cities and counties, including Mendocino County, California; Oakland, California; Boulder, Colorado; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Seattle, Washington. Currently, the group Tallahasseans for Practical Law Enforcement is collecting signatures to place a municipal ordinance on the 2004 ballot in Tallahassee, Florida to make the possession of marijuana for personal use the city's "lowest law enforcement priority."For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5822 Congress May Decrease Funding To White House Anti-Drug Ad Campaign, Oust Ogilvy & Mather November 13, 2003 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: A House-Senate conference committee this week recommended to slightly decrease federal funding for the White House's anti-drug ad campaign from approximately $180 million per year to $145 million, according to the trade journal Ad Week. The White House had requested funding of $170 million.The ad campaign, which began in 1997, has spent more than $1.2 billion dollars promoting public service announcements linking recreational marijuana use to international terrorism, among other anti-drug themes. However, a federally funded review of the program released earlier this year found that teens who were most exposed to the campaign's ads tended to "move more markedly in a 'pro-drug' direction as they aged than those who were exposed to less."NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said, "The fact that the Senate is considering for the first time ever cutting funding to the 'National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign' is evidence that even America's drug warriors are getting the message that lying to youth about the alleged dangers of drugs, and in particular marijuana, is an ineffective strategy that does greater harm than good."Sources familiar with the pending Senate legislation also reported to Ad Week that the bill would sever ties with the advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather and give creative control of the campaign's content to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. Ogilvy & Mather had previously raised the ire of several politicians two years ago after a General Accounting Office report revealed that they had overbilled the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy by some 3,100 hours."If you are putting together a campaign where the purpose is to change beliefs, you don't want someone with questionable morals trying to preach the message," an unnamed source told Ad Week.For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-8751.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5821Congress Recommends $145 Million For Drug Officehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17789.shtmlSenators Join Critics Of ONDCP Program http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17774.shtmlOgilvy Faces Anti-Drug Challenge in Senatehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17737.shtmlPartnership Gets Sarcastic In Latest Anti-Pot Spothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17678.shtml Oral Administration Of Cannabinoids Alleviates MS Symptoms, Large Scale Study Says -- Pain And Mobility Improved After Ingestion Of THC November 13, 2003 - London, United KingdomLondon, United Kingdom: Oral administration of synthetic THC and/or a cannabis oil capsule ameliorates multiple sclerosis (MS) associated pain and improves patients' mobility compared to placebo, according to clinical trial data published last week in the British medical journal Lancet."The study does suggest that for some people, [cannabinoids] may be of benefit, particularly in terms of pain relief and muscle stiffness," the study's co-author Alan Thompson of the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London said. British regulators are currently considering legalizing the use of medicinal cannabis extracts in the treatment of MS.More than 600 patients in 33 clinical centers participated in the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial which primarily focused on the drugs' ability to alleviate MS-associated spasticity. Volunteers were administered synthetic THC (Marinol), oral cannabis oil, and/or placebo over a period of 13 weeks. Authors found that although oral cannabinoids had only a slight impact on spasticity (as measured by the Ashworth scale), they did alleviate MS-associated pain and improve patients' mobility. Patients also reported subjective improvements in spasticity.Authors' of an accompanying commentary on the study wrote, "We now have as much evidence to support the use of these oral cannabinoids as we do for many standard therapies for [MS-associated] spasticity."The Lancet study follows clinical trail data published this spring in the journal Clinical Rehabilitation which found that MS patients administered whole-plant marijuana extracts experienced improved pain relief, bladder control, and spasticity.More recently, animal trial data published in the journal Brain, concluded, "In addition to symptom management, cannabis may also slow down the neurodegenerative processes that ultimately lead to chronic disability in multiple sclerosis and probably other diseases."For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-8751. Abstracts of the study, entitled, "Cannabinoids for treatment of spasticity and other symptoms related to multiple sclerosis," are available online at: http://www.thelancet.com/DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5820UK Trial Results On Value Of Cannabis For MShttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17753.shtmlMarijuana May Help MS Patients http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17747.shtmlMajor Study of MMJ Indicates It Helps in MShttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17746.shtmlSource: NORML Foundation (DC)Published: November 13, 2003Copyright: 2003 NORML Contact: norml norml.org Website: http://www.norml.org/NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- Nov. 5, 2003http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17739.shtmlNORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- Oct. 28, 2003http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17684.shtmlNORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- Oct. 22, 2003 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17653.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by FoM on November 14, 2003 at 16:30:31 PT Detroit We've been to Detroit but it was many years ago. I now and then watch a program on animals and rescuing them and the one city where they have a program is Detroit. It's hard to believe what happens to animals but beyond those very depressing stories you see the places people are living during the program. When I see the condition of some of the places I shake my head and go why is this poverty happening in an american city! It is happening and we never see reports on inner city blight and then society wonders why drugs are rampant and lawlessness seems very common. People that are not being treated fairly and are pushed and pushed down have no option but to rebel and fight back anyway they know how. We need to help our cities. Changing the laws about prosecuting medical marijuana patients is one small but good step. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Virgil on November 14, 2003 at 16:08:19 PT ABC News on Detroit Detroit, MI: A city-wide initiative petition to "exempt" qualified medicinal marijuana patients from criminal penalties has been certified to go before the City Council, according to Tim Beck, Chairman of the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care. ABC did a story on the evening news this Friday on the woman that is now police chief of Detroit. They said Detroit is the 10th largest city in America and the second most dangerous. The police department is under judicial order to reform. Windsor is also right across the bridge in Canada. This is quite interesting because with 80 percent of the people in support of MMJ, who would think this is not going to happen. If the Council rejects it, what will happen to those that oppose it. They sure have bigger problems than prosecuting MMJ people. Hey, those sick people can still vote and if they are protected from cancer they might live a long time and if they are protected from Alzeheimer's they are not going to forget. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on November 14, 2003 at 16:01:19 PT Thanks Jose I was able to fix it. Thanks for the heads up. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on November 14, 2003 at 15:49:47 PT error 404 FoM, the link in comment #2 fails unless the last period after htm is dropped, as in:http://www.montelshow.com/about/mail.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Virgil on November 14, 2003 at 06:47:51 PT P.S.- outlaw water The guy that markets the Segway HT (Human Transport) scooter has invented a distiller that takes the heat from condensation and reapplies it to the evaporation process. It cost about $1000 and can produce 19 gallons of distilled water per hour. He will also use the heat of his scooter to produce water in future models. In the promotion of this the fact that 6000 people a day die from contaminated water. Water kills 2 million a year and cannabis 0- outlaw water.Just in case you do not know my boilerplate on the "Think of the children" bullshit, here it is. "I am fuckhead. Now answer the question?" We are thinking about the children and the general welfare of the country, while the politician thinks of the perks of office and the plutocracy that have hijacked democracy. Now get out there and outlaw water. Think of the children. Prohibit tolerance. Prohibit reason. Prohibit everything but total prohibition. Then turn it uspside right and there you are. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Virgil on November 14, 2003 at 06:10:41 PT The chisel method Currently, the group Tallahasseans for Practical Law Enforcement is collecting signatures to place a municipal ordinance on the 2004 ballot in Tallahassee, Florida to make the possession of marijuana for personal use the city's "lowest law enforcement priority."I guess anything that makes the harms of the law less painful are beneficial. Chipping away for another ten years while the country burns is still a sad state of affairs. It has its merit, but we still need to ponder the systemic problems that let this tragedy continue. We have a broken and expensive criminal justice system that has invented seizures to feed the state with the criminal justice system the main benefactors of such procedures. Your trial on your lawnmower is next week. It is just a weird way of not being tried twice for the same crime, not that the feds cannot try you under their laws and the state under theirs.But the main thing that gets me about the politicians is the "I do not want to appear soft on crime" answer to "Why should people be arrested or fined over MJ?" We're we talking about sidestepping and issue and throwing bullshit on the question. How goofy can you get and it standard boilerplate. But not only do they not answer the question in any manner, they act as if their reelection is far more important than the job they were elected to do. It is like Bu$h and his Nazis will do anything to get elected as if that is what it is all about? How we have let politicians sidestep direct questions as a whole is beyond me. Question and answer is now question and bullshit.Of course the statement that stabs me in my head is the stupid line- "Use might go up?" What a stupid answer to continuing failure and tragedy.Well, these ordinances are important as it gives the vehicle of prohibition a flat tire to slow it down to what is going to be a full stop. Maybe Alaska can knock out the windshield. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Shishaldin on November 14, 2003 at 00:41:09 PT Speaking of Montel... Here's a note from Steph Sherer of ASA (Note Bruce Mirken's LTE below her note):Great LTE Bruce...I went to the Montel Williams show yesterday as a audience member try to talk to him in NYC. Before the taping of the show the audience was allowed to ask him questions. I told him I was concerned to hear what happened to him Detroit and that I was very glad to see his statement about being an advocate. I also told him a little information about the current federal attacks. I asked him what his plans were as an advocate and gave him a t-shirt and some literature. He then proceeded to explain what had happened to the audience in Detroit and then spent about 5 minutes talking about medical marijuana. Including how ridiculous it is that he can get legal prescriptions for cocaine and morphine but he can't possess something that grows from the earth that makes him feel better. He also said the he thought "Bush's compassion" would change this policy. (Does he know something we don't know?) He told the audience that the medical marijuana issue was soon to come to a head partly because autobiography is coming out in January that will include an entire chapter on medical marijuana! He was sincerely thankful for the t-shirt and literature and told me he would be in touch! He will be a great advocate to work with the MS Patients Union for Medical Marijuana!You can contact him through his website at http://www.montelshow.com/about/mail.htmWashington Post, DC Letters to the editor:An Entertainer's Medical Marijuana Liability Friday, November 14, 2003; Page A28The Nov. 6 "Names and Faces" Style column incorrectly suggested that carrying marijuana paraphernalia in Michgian is legal for entertainer Montel Williams because he has been prescribed to take "medical marijuana."Not true. Michigan does not have a medical marijuana law, and federal marijuana laws also make no exception for medical use. Under both state and federal law, Mr. Williams could have faced up to a year in prison.Perhaps Detroit officials realize what the White House and Congress don't: To jail a person fighting a terrible illness for using a medicine his doctor believes will help him is insane.BRUCE MIRKENDirector of CommunicationsMarijuana Policy ProjectWashington Steph Sherer Executive Director Americans for Safe Access www.safeaccessnow.org 1678 Shattuck Ave. #317 Berkeley, CA 94709 phone: 510-486-8083 fax: 510-486-8090Join the fight for medical marijuana rights! To receive ASA alerts, send a blank email to asa-subscribe lists.riseup.net [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by ekim on November 13, 2003 at 19:07:38 PT call for gig in Detroit good going Tim Beck, Chairman of the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care What a great place for Willie to hold a gig for Dennis. The call should go out far and wide for everyone to stand up for the Healing qualities of Cannabis. First to mind would be Montel but the remaining Gov't 7 would come next. Appearances from those who have fled to other countries to live along with such notable public servants Gov Gary Johnson --Judge Gray-- Jack Cole --Ralph Nader. Dr.Russo ect ect. Meeting during the day and party at night.--what should it be called--mcrap motorcityroarsaginstprohibition-----kindalame [ Post Comment ] Post Comment