cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Cards Abound 





Medical Marijuana Cards Abound 
Posted by CN Staff on January 23, 2005 at 08:22:04 PT
By Don Colburn
Source: Oregonian
Nearly 10,000 Oregonians carry medical marijuana cards, about 20 times more than officials predicted when the program started six years ago. The fee-based program, which gets no money from the state general fund, has grown so fast that it built up a cash surplus of nearly $1 million last year. To reduce the surplus, officials slashed the annual fee for a medical marijuana card from $150 to $55 this month. For Oregon Health Plan patients, the fee dropped to $20.
The number of cardholders has doubled in less than two years. Between 80 and 100 new or renewal applications arrive on a typical day, said Pam Salsbury, who manages the state's medical marijuana office in the Department of Human Services. "I don't think anybody in their wildest dreams thought there would be this many people in the program," Salsbury said. "We're hearing from other states that have a program and wonder how we do it." Critics say the unforeseen growth shows that medical marijuana cards can serve as a cover for recreational drug use. Defenders say it reflects growing acceptance, by doctors and patients, of marijuana as an alternative to mainstream medicine. Oregon is one of 10 states where medical marijuana use is legal. The others are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Vermont and Washington. The laws vary widely. Oregon's Medical Marijuana Act, approved by voters in 1998, allows residents to use a small amount of marijuana for medical purposes. They must grow their own or designate a caregiver to do so for them. A doctor must verify that the patient has a "debilitating medical condition" such as cancer, glaucoma or AIDS, or a symptom such as nausea or severe pain. The doctor's signature does not count as a prescription. More than 1,500 Oregon doctors have signed at least one patient application, according to state figures through 2004. But 10 doctors account for two-thirds of the current and pending marijuana card requests. Each of those 10 physicians has signed more than 100 applications, and the top two have signed 2,796 and 1,783 apiece. The state does not divulge the names of participating doctors. Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/abound.htmSource: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)Author: Don ColburnPublished: Sunday, January 23, 2005Copyright: 2005 The OregonianContact: letters news.oregonian.comWebsite: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmCourt Refines Marijuana Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20124.shtmlWorker Fired for MMJ Use has Lawsuit Reinstatedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20123.shtmlCenter Supports Medical Marijuana Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15473.shtml
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Comment #25 posted by Sam Adams on January 24, 2005 at 14:30:56 PT
dems & God
Let's hope the Democrats read that book & learn something. I think it would be good for them to start articulating some core values, God or otherwise. There's nothing wrong with espousing good moral values & beliefs. In business, big corporations are told to identify their "core competencies" and invest more in them. The theory is that focussing on the things that you do best, that you do better than other companies, will enable you to grow & out-compete the other corporations. It works! The problem with the Dems is that they've lost their core competencies. It's like they're running on air.
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on January 24, 2005 at 11:29:34 PT
Just a Note
I didn't see the million dollar surplus in the above article but it's there so this news brief doesn't add anything new. Sorry about that.
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Comment #23 posted by FoM on January 24, 2005 at 11:26:09 PT
Related News Article from The AP
Medical Marijuana Cards Booming, Officials Slash Fee
 
Nearly 10,000 Oregonians Eligible  January 24, 2005 
PORTLAND -- The number of Oregonians with medical marijuana cards has doubled in less than two years, with nearly 10,000 residents now eligible to use the drug.
The fee-based program has grown so fast that it built up a cash surplus of nearly $1 million last year. To reduce it, state officials recently slashed the annual fee for a medical marijuana card from $150 to $55. For Oregon Health Plan patients, the fee dropped to $20.More than 1,500 Oregon doctors have signed at least one patient application, according to state figures through 2004.But 10 doctors account for two-thirds of the current and pending marijuana card requests.Critics say the growth shows that medical marijuana cards can serve as a cover for recreational drug use. Defenders say it reflects growing acceptance of marijuana as an alternative to mainstream medicine. Copyright 2005 Associated Press http://www.koin.com/news.asp?RECORD_KEY%5bnews%5d=ID&ID%5Bnews%5D=962
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Comment #22 posted by goneposthole on January 24, 2005 at 10:21:02 PT
money isn't everything
until you don't have any."nattering nabobs of negativism"- Spiro AgnewI've wondered what a nabob is, so I looked it up in the dictionary. An online dictionary of course, since it takes less time.nabobn 1: a governor in India during the Mogual empire [syn: nawab] 2: a wealthy man (especially one who made his fortune in the Orient)http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=nabobThe 'Republicans' fit the definition to a 't'.Cannabis growers aren't moving their business to China, that's for sure.
There is no money in that.
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on January 24, 2005 at 09:40:17 PT
Off Topic: A New Book # 3 Currently on Amazon
I have seen the author on a number of shows and he makes alot of sense to me. This is why I mind republicans so much. God's Politics : Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get ItEditorial ReviewsArchbishop Desmond Tutu
Jim Wallis is compelling, provocative, and inspirational, with faith that can move mountains and can certainly move people and communities.Product Description:Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich, and pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and educational opportunity mean you had to put faith in God aside?While the Right in America has hijacked the language of faith to prop up its political agenda -- an agenda not all people of faith support -- the Left hasn't done much better, largely ignoring faith and continually separating moral discourse and personal ethics from public policy. While the Right argues that God's way is their way, the Left pursues an unrealistic separation of religious values from morally grounded political leadership. The consequence is a false choice between ideological religion and soulless politics.The effect of this dilemma was made clear in the 2004 presidential election. The Democrats' miscalculations have left them despairing and searching for a way forward. It has become clear that someone must challenge the Republicans' claim that they speak for God, or that they hold a monopoly on moral values in the nation's public life. Wallis argues that America's separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square. In fact, the very survival of America's social fabric depends on such values and vision to shape our politics -- a dependence the nation's founders recognized.God's Politics offers a clarion call to make both our religious communities and our government more accountable to key values of the prophetic religious tradition -- that is, make them pro-justice, pro-peace, pro-environment, pro-equality, pro-consistent ethic of life (beyond single issue voting), and pro-family (without making scapegoats of single mothers or gays and lesbians). Our biblical faith and religious traditions simply do not allow us as a nation to continue to ignore the poor and marginalized, deny racial justice, tolerate the ravages of war, or turn away from the human rights of those made in the image of God. These are the values of love and justice, reconciliation, and community that Jesus taught and that are at the core of what many of us believe, Christian or not. In the tradition of prophets such as Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, and Desmond Tutu, Wallis inspires us to hold our political leaders and policies accountable by integrating our deepest moral convictions into our nation's public life.http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060558288/qid=1106588256/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-4740332-5957606?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
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Comment #20 posted by kaptinemo on January 24, 2005 at 09:21:29 PT:
Hope, sometimes I just can't understand it
You don't have to be some Einstein or a cartoon character with psychic powers to figure that this is just what I called it: a cash cow. It's been lamented here before that it seems that the social costs of maintaining bad policy is never considered here in Amerika. But let times get tight, let government at all levels get that thin, pinched look from recessions, and all of a sudden, a way is found to scrap those bad laws...because of money. Or the lack of it.I knew back in the mid 1990's that the DrugWar sired prison building binge we were on was someday going to face the inevitable budget shortfalls...which we are experiencing now. Prisons are only the most visible aspect of the program; the myriad of enforcement and maintenence organizations are largely invisible. But they all need money to survive...taxpayer money, as what they get from theft-by-forfeiture still doesn't make up the difference.The War on Drugs has always been dependent upon the economy having a good head of steam; now, it's nearly out of gas. And trying to justify further funding of the DrugWar apparatus by telling someone who's job has just been shipped to China (thanks to the company's Republican Party contributors) that the unemployment money he needs to live on MUST be given to the DrugWar won't go over too well. Right now, many are far more concerned about putting food on their family's table than worried about whether their kid is properly DARE indoctrinated...or a 'pothead' rots in prison. So the leadership will begin to use weaselly phrases like 'Smart on crime!" as an attempt to slowly disengage and distance themselves from the much more expensive present policies.So predictable...and we've been making these predictions for years. "Prophets in their own lands..." indeed.
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on January 24, 2005 at 08:55:28 PT
Sam
I agree with you. Thanks!
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Comment #18 posted by Sam Adams on January 24, 2005 at 08:12:53 PT
thug-boy
"Unquestionably, people are taking advantage of a system that was created for individuals with medical problems," said Ken Magee, the Drug Enforcement Administration's agent in charge of operations for Oregon and Idaho. Ah, I see, this system is flawed. So, I guess there's no abuse in your little racket, prescription medicine. No one use oxycontin or other opiates illegally. The exhorbitant fees your charge doctors and other to prescribe drugs, the irrational classification system you use, and your corporate buddies over at the FDA, it's all working perfectly.Don't these conservatives read their damn Bibles? What happened to "let he who is without sin throw the first stone?" Who said that? Oh yeah, Jesus, who died for President Bush and the rest of the evangelicals only. Apparently Jesus was just shooting his mouth off in the Bible and really wanted to screw sick people.With our new Church in Washington instead of the Vatican, hypocrisy must be new 1st Commandment.Has anyone seen the Medicci special on PBS? It's about medieval Florence, Boticelli, da Vinci, etc in the 1400s. In those days, you didn't mess with the Pope. If you crossed him, he'd send a hit squad out to kill you, your entire family, and half the town.  Ken Magee would've been a great fit for the Catholic Church in those days.
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Comment #17 posted by Hope on January 24, 2005 at 07:33:18 PT
Love it, Kap!
"The Cash Cow of relegalized cannabis is mooing and butting it's head against the barn door of financially strapped States; Oregon has seen the benefit of letting it in to be milked. Let's hope other States get the message..."
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Comment #16 posted by siege on January 24, 2005 at 07:16:44 PT
 marijuana a gateway drug
 An ongoing, nationwide study conducted by the (((U.S. Postal Service))) has compared the job performance of drug users versus non-users. Among drug users, absenteeism is 66 percent higher, health benefit utilization is 84 percent greater in dollar terms, disciplinary actions are 90 percent higher, and there is significantly higher employee turnover.
Drug Offenders Crowd the Nation’s Prisons and Jails. At midyear 1996, there were 93,167 inmates in federal prisons, 1,019,281 in state prisons, and 518,492 in jails.47 In 1994, 59.5 percent of federal prisoners were drug offenders48 as were 22.3 percent of the inmates in state prisons. The increase in drug offenders accounts for nearly three quarters of the total growth in federal prison inmates since 1980. Most drug offenders are imprisoned for possessing more drugs than possibly could be consumed by one individual distributing drugs or committing serious crimes related to drug sales. In 1995, for example, only 4,040 people were sentenced in federal courts for marijuana-related charges; 89.1 percent of those offenders were facing trafficking charges.  Marijuana Availability. Marijuana is the most readily available illicit drug in the United States. While no comprehensive survey of domestic cannabis cultivation has been conducted, the DEA estimates that much of the marijuana consumed in the United States is grown domestically. Cannabis is frequently cultivated in remote locations and on public lands. Major outdoor cultivation areas are found in (Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii, California, and New York). Significant quantities of marijuana are also grown indoors. The controlled environments of indoor operations enable growers to use sophisticated agronomic techniques to enhance the drug’s potency. The majority of the marijuana in the United States comes from Mexico, much of it being smuggled across the southwest border. However, marijuana shipments from Colombia and Jamaica are increasing.  Marijuana production and distribution in the United States are highly decentralized. Trafficking organizations range from complex operations that import the drug, grow it domestically, and trade within the U.S., to individuals cultivating and selling at the retail level. High quality marijuana is widely available in all parts of the United States. Prices vary with quality and range from forty to nine hundred dollars per ounce. Over the past decade, marijuana prices have dropped even as the drug’s potency has increased. If they are going to do Values derived from scientific experiments. why not 2003-2004 
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Comment #15 posted by kaptinemo on January 24, 2005 at 07:14:25 PT:
More vindication
How many years has it been posited that any legal form of cannabis will generate (much needed) tax revenues? Twenty years? Thirty? Forty years? Here's proof that the proposed social benefit programs (such as addiction treatment) can pay for themselves - and without gouging the public treasuries - from the revenues produced by the licensing and fees involved.The Cash Cow of relegalized cannabis is mooing and butting it's head against the barn door of financially strapped States; Oregon has seen the benefit of letting it in to be milked. Let's hope other States get the message...
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Comment #14 posted by paulpeterson on January 24, 2005 at 06:00:57 PT
libel-EJohnson
Class action "libel" action? No way. First, you (the plaintiff, that is) would have to show "malice" against you personally, which a group innuendo would negate. Then, you must show damage "per se", more than just the loss of esteem from the smart of the words-this has to equate to loss of job, loss of income, etc. (which you probably already sustained, but we won't be able to prove is related to the "libel". In other words, if the statement is made about an undefined group, how can you show the speaker meant you personally, or that you were specifically damaged as a result. Hope this helps you to understand. Good luck. PAUL PETERSON
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Comment #13 posted by global_warming on January 24, 2005 at 04:52:25 PT
 Columbia University
OpinionSTAFF EDITORIAL: Don't Fear the ReeferJanuary 24, 2005We’re happy that the New York Legislature voted last month to reform the arcane Rockefeller Drug Laws. We look forward to seeing judges give fairer prison sentences to nonviolent men and women convicted of selling or possessing narcotics. Yet while these laws are a step in the right direction, they don’t go far enough. A key component of any rational drug policy must include the legalization of marijuana.Nearly one in every three Americans has tried marijuana, with rates of its use highest among those aged 18 to 20. Last year, authorities arrested a Columbia College senior for possessing six pounds of marijuana in his dorm room on the third floor of Broadway Residence Hall. The former student, Rich Lipkin ’04, now has a criminal record. He, of course, is lucky. Unlike the vast majority of those arrested for marijuana possession, he attended an Ivy League university, and therefore does not have to worry about his criminal record permanently preventing him from escaping a life of poverty.Marijuana isn’t that harmful. According to the National Academy of Sciences, a joint deposits up to four times as much tar in a smoker’s lungs as would a cigarette of comparable weight, but the average marijuana smoker consumes far fewer joints per day than do those who smoke tobacco cigarettes.Moreover, marijuana is less addictive than tobacco or alcohol: the NAS reports that while 32 percent of tobacco users and 15 percent of alcohol users become dependent on their drugs of choice, only nine percent of marijuana users do. While nearly 50,000 people die every year from alcohol poisoning—and hundreds of thousands more die in drunk-driving accidents—not one death from a marijuana overdose has ever been recorded. The British medical journal The Lancet has reported that “the smoking of cannabis, even long-term, is not harmful to health. It would be reasonable to judge cannabis as less of a threat than alcohol or tobacco.”Many call marijuana a gateway drug, one that drives its users to experiment with harder drugs later on. But according to the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws, for every 104 Americans who try marijuana, only one will become a regular user of cocaine and less than one of heroin. In all likelihood, it is marijuana’s prohibition, not its use, that leads its smokers to harder drugs. People seeking marijuana must currently turn to a black market, where it is sold alongside and often laced with a host of harder drugs. Legalization would preserve the integrity of the marijuana supply while protecting Americans from exposure to more harmful and addictive substances.Marijuana isn’t that dangerous or addictive, and enforcement falls disproportionately upon the poor.
It's time for legislatures to legalize marijuanahttp://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/01/24/41f4777403a46
It's time for legislatures to legalize marijuana
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Comment #12 posted by afterburner on January 23, 2005 at 20:53:50 PT
E_J, Did You Read the Accompanying Article?
Canada: Athletes Run Afoul Of New Anti-Dope Test 
http://www.mapinc.org/newsnorml/v05/n122/a07.htmlThanks to US belligerence that we at CNews are only too familiar with, cannabis has been including in anti-doping. Since, as we well know here, the inert metabolites that the drug testers look for remain in the urine for weeks even though there is no high, no “impairment,” no enhancement, these tests are not protecting sports or athletes, but only supporting prohibition! Because of changing Canadian attitudes toward cannabis, many Canadian athletes have run afoul this new US-led draconian monstrosity. Suddenly Chuck Gross, R-St. Charles, the Missouri state senator’s wacko law to ban sports from medical cannabis towns doesn’t seem so wacko! [ Bill Just Smoke, Lawmakers Say 
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/20/thread20145.shtml ] It seems like another jigsaw piece in the twisted prohibitionist zero-tolerance strategy puzzle.
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Comment #11 posted by goneposthole on January 23, 2005 at 18:53:39 PT
10 000 patients
The population of Oregon is 3.4 million people. 10 000 people using marijuana as medicine represents about 0.3 percent of Oregon's population.The critics should focus on FDA approved medications. They should be questioning the overuse of prescribed medications manufactured and distributed by pharmaceutical companies.44 percent of all Americans use at least one prescribed medication.
 
prescription med use
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Comment #10 posted by JSM on January 23, 2005 at 18:00:00 PT
global warming
Good observation, the most powerful vote we have is from our pocket books and this proves what has been said on this site for years.Times they are a changing.
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Comment #9 posted by global_warming on January 23, 2005 at 15:47:01 PT
Some thoughts
"Nearly 10,000 Oregonians carry medical marijuana cards, about 20 times more than officials predicted when the program started six years ago. The fee-based program, which gets no money from the state general fund, has grown so fast that it built up a cash surplus of nearly $1 million last year."Who are these "officials" that are referenced in this article?I hope that this $1 million dollars "swells" and this coveted pool of money, will become the new child that will direct us into a better world.Glory be to God,-gw
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Comment #8 posted by JackBnimble on January 23, 2005 at 15:24:20 PT
because...
Calling someone the "Louis Armstrong of Snowboarding" still sounds somewhat respectable.I agree with all, it was a compliment.
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Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on January 23, 2005 at 14:04:29 PT
Maybe Chris Klug is a racist?
Why would someone think that it is an indictment to be compared with Bob Marley?Maybe people don't see him as a financially successful lyrical genius because of his race?
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Comment #6 posted by E_Johnson on January 23, 2005 at 14:00:11 PT
I shot off my mouth again
I read this article http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v05/n123/a09.htmand got mad and sent them a letter reminding them that Bob Marley still sells 10,000 CDs per month and still ranks among the highest earning recording artists in the world despite have been dead now for more than 20 years.It is not an indictment to be called the Bob Marley of snowboarding. It is a compliment.
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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on January 23, 2005 at 12:11:01 PT
Uh, Will the People Who *Never* Get Sick...
Please raise your hands? Nausea? Pain? Why do the pharmacies sell so much Pepto-Bismol, aspirin, ibuprophen, and acetominophen, if many people don't succumb to these types of illness?
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Comment #4 posted by Dankhank on January 23, 2005 at 12:04:05 PT
questions ...
E J ... good question, I'd like to know also ...Then there's this ...The manufacturer, Barr Pharmaceuticals (search), reapplied last July 22, proposing that Plan B be made available without prescription to women 16 and over. A prescription would still be required for anyone under that age.The government has a goal of responding to such reapplications in six months, so a decision should come soon.http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145094,00.htmlSix months to respond ...How can it take YEARS to get an answer about anything Cannabis-related?
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on January 23, 2005 at 11:32:05 PT
Is this statement libelous?
"Critics say the unforeseen growth shows that medical marijuana cards can serve as a cover for recreational drug use."This statement implies that a majority of the 10,000 people are liars and cheats. That allegation seems kind of libelous to me.Does anyone know how libel laws apply to groups of people? Is it only libelous to show a reckless disregard for the truth about individuals or is a class action suit for libel theoretically possible?
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 23, 2005 at 10:23:50 PT
Thanks JR
That article is very interesting to read.
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Comment #1 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on January 23, 2005 at 10:09:23 PT
From the "No Medicine Is Smoked" dept.
Researchers uncover rare positive effect for tobacco smoking: it helps prevent Parkinson's disease.
http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200501/s1287047.htm
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