cannabisnews.com: Beyond The Myth, There's Relief for The Pain










  Beyond The Myth, There's Relief for The Pain

Posted by CN Staff on June 28, 2005 at 22:49:07 PT
By Bob Kerr 
Source: Providence Journal 

Providence, R.I.  -- Someday, marijuana will probably be legal, and people will look back and laugh at those times when a benign backyard weed caused heavily armed men in black jumpsuits to leap from police vans and arrest local pot farmers and burn their crops.But not yet. Marijuana is still illegal, still shrouded in well-tended myth and still reason enough to get a person sent to the slammer.
So there is a wonderful opportunity this week for state government in Rhode Island to come down on the side of compassion and common sense.The medical marijuana bill would mean that very sick people could relieve their pain and suffering without fear of getting busted. It would mean the naturally grown substance that some doctors recommend for their patients could be used without the need to lock the doors and pull the shades.Rhode Island would become the 11th state in the country to pass legislation that gives people approved for its use the right to keep a limited amount of marijuana on hand for those times when the pain threatens to shut them down.Lawmakers have heard from people who have found relief from the pain of life-controlling illnesses in the puff of the weed. It works where other, officially approved things do not. It gets people through the day.And it is illegal because it has always been illegal. The Reefer Madness cartoons have been laughed out of the room, but marijuana continues to claim a ridiculously large amount of money and time and resources. There are probably people high in the ranks in the war on drugs who sit around with a double Scotch or a couple of Budweisers and discuss how to cut down on the grass.Cynical friends -- and I have a few -- suggest that marijuana can't be legalized because it is too easy to grow in the backyard and therefore too difficult for big business to turn into big business.Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/kerr.htmSource: Providence Journal, The (RI)Author: Bob KerrPublished: Wednesday, June 29, 2005Copyright: 2005 The Providence Journal CompanyContact: letters projo.comWebsite: http://www.projo.com/Related Articles & Web Site:MMJ Information & Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htm Medical Marijuana? Rhode Island Says Yeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20914.shtmlR.I. Close To A Vote To OK Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20908.shtml

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Comment #37 posted by jose melendez on July 05, 2005 at 06:19:19 PT
Kincaid Misleads, Distorts and Deceives
try to reconcile the following response from Kincaid with what he wrote in the column . . . 
From: Cliff KincaidTo: Richard CowanSent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 4:07 PMSubject: Re: Questions About Taped Comments"Dear Mr. Cowan: Thank you for responding. Frankly, I didn't interpret your comments to mean that you were perpetrating a scam, but that medical marijuana would confront or expose the "scam" of keeping the drug illegal, in your view. Anyway, I appreciate your comments and will use or quote them -- and the context -- as we go forward in this debate. Also, thank you for providing the context and the citations for where and when the comments were made. Despite my own views, I wanted to give you the opportunity to respond because it did appear that the tape was edited in some way and I wanted to make sure I understood your comments and the point you were making. Thanks again."  http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=834
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Comment #36 posted by jose melendez on June 30, 2005 at 12:38:48 PT
accuracy . . . right
I find it telling that a group purporting to promote accuracy in media is careful to omit the name of Mr. Cowan's excellent and exhaustively fact checked site: http://marijuananews.com
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Comment #35 posted by FoM on June 30, 2005 at 12:17:22 PT
Video Exposes Medical Marijuana as Hoax 
By Cliff Kincaid  June 30, 2005 The video footage . . . gives the lie to the claim that we often see in the media that smoking marijuana is a legitimate medical treatment for people with diseases. 
Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri has vetoed a "medical marijuana" bill, saying it would encourage marijuana use and criminal activity. His veto comes as an anti-drug group has released dramatic video footage of a marijuana activist declaring that he uses dope for a health problem that he doesn't really have. The bottom line for this activist, Ed Rosenthal, is that "I like to get high. Marijuana is fun." The video has the potential of dealing a major blow to the "medical marijuana" movement, largely funded by billionaire George Soros.The video footage, posted at the website www.sorosmonitor.com, gives the lie to the claim that we often see in the media that smoking marijuana is a legitimate medical treatment for people with diseases. Rosenthal, who was associated with High Times magazine for many years, is shown speaking to dozens of marijuana activists. "With all the talk about medical marijuana, I have to tell you that I also use marijuana medically (laughter)," he says. "I have a latent glaucoma, which has never been diagnosed (more laughter). And the reason why it has never been diagnosed is because I've been treating it (laughter)…But there is a reason why I do use it. And that is because I like to get high. (cheers, applause). Marijuana is fun."The video proves that "medical marijuana" is a joke to those on the inside of the pro-pot movement who realize that getting the public and the media to accept the notion that smoking marijuana alleviates health problems is a major step down the road to complete legalization of dope. In fact, another video excerpt shows Richard Cowan, former director of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), saying that "The key to it [legalization] is medical access because once you have hundreds of thousands of people using marijuana medically under medical supervision the whole scam is going to be blown…Once there's medical access and if we continue to do what we have to do-and we will-then we'll get full legalization." Cowan says that his reference to "scam" is a comment on the anti-marijuana "prohibition" movement. He stands by his remarks that the widespread use of marijuana on medical grounds "would hasten the full legalization of cannabis for non-medical use." He is quick to say, however, that he is not associated with the "medical marijuana" movement funded by billionaire George Soros. "I have never met Soros, I get no money from him, and have never sought any personally," he says. Cowan currently operates a pro-marijuana website. Steven Steiner, who runs the anti-Soros website, www.sorosmonitor.com, and the DAMMAD (Dads and Mad Moms Against Drug Dealers) organization, was in the National Press Club audience last October 28 when Soros was preparing to deliver a Bush-bashing speech just a few days before the election. Steiner walked to the podium and attempted to say a few words about his son, who had died of a drug overdose. He was quickly surrounded and led away, where he was thrown into a door, injured and hospitalized. His hospital bill was $670. Steiner created his website to provide current news on the most prominent drug legalizer in the world. He believes that "medical marijuana" is a fraud designed to usher in full drug legalization, and that the video he has posted on www.sorosmonitor.com proves the case. But will the major media report on the explosive and shocking comments on the tape? Most of the media, several states-and 161 members of the House-have bought into the notion that smoking marijuana somehow has medical benefits. That was the number of House members who voted on June 15 to prohibit the Department of Justice from spending any money arresting or prosecuting users of "medical marijuana." But the Steiner video is just the latest evidence that "medical marijuana" is just a front for the illegal drug movement and that it exploits sick people. Six days after that House vote, federal authorities announced the results of an investigation which determined that "medical marijuana" clubs and dispensaries in California had been used as a cover for international drug dealing and money laundering. The problem emerged after California voters passed a 1996 proposition allowing the use of marijuana for so-called medical purposes. One suspect, Enrique Chan, told an undercover agent that if the drug traffickers got arrested and prosecuted for dealing dope they could beat the rap by bringing in "really sick patients with cancer" who were using marijuana and "have them sit on the stand for you." He said that "no jury is gonna try, is gonna convict you." While sick people were being cynically exploited by the dopers, Chan estimated that only about half the people buying the marijuana actually claimed to be sick. The rest, like Ed Rosenthal, just wanted to get high.The video also sheds some light on a Soros-funded organization called the Drug Policy Alliance. It shows Marsha Rosenbaum, director of the Drug Policy Alliance in San Francisco, providing a rather shocking view of how to educate children about drugs.Rosenbaum says, "I think first drugs are inherently neither hard nor soft, good nor bad…Another assumption has to be that total abstinence from drug use, even if that's what we want, is unrealistic…Controlled drug use is possible…The first thing I would assign is Andrew Weil's book Chocolate to Morphine, which is a classic. It simply outlines pretty much every drug kids come across. And talks about not good drugs not bad drugs, relationships with drugs. He describes them. And I think that's how we need to start…Finally, and probably most radical, I think a goal of harm-reduction education would be to utilize positive role models. I think it would be very useful in a drug education program for people with non-problematic drug experience to talk to them. All the time my friend Craig Reinarman is always saying, you know, why is it that they always bring in addicts to talk to kids about drugs. It's like bringing someone in who failed at it to tell them how to do it or how not to do it. That just doesn't make any 
sense. What if we had people who had used drugs for a long time in a controlled rational way-didn't get into trouble with drugs-to impart some of this information to kids-how they could do that." At first, when I asked Rosenbaum for a comment on these remarks, she said that I did not have permission to use or quote them. When I replied that I wasn't seeking permission but only wanted her further comment or clarification, she called back to say that "If these are my words, I must have said them a long time ago. I'd like to think I'm more articulate now. I can't remember the context." On the matter of using "controlled" drug users as role models for kids, she asked, "Are you sure I said those words?" In any case, she said that her perspective has "evolved" and she has "learned a lot." She added, "That particular quote is not what I would want to say at this particular moment." Rosenbaum said her position is that young people "need to be given comprehensive science-based information" about drugs because they "make their own decisions, despite our best efforts." On her website, devoted to a "reality-based" approach to drug education, she features a letter to her own son Johnny about illegal drugs. Rosenbaum urges him to abstain. But if he doesn't abstain and chooses to "experiment," she recommends that he learn as much as he can "and use common sense." She adds, "And please, Johnny, use moderation."Rosenbaum spoke to AIM after delivering a "Teens and Drugs" presentation at the national conference of the PTA.Copyright: 2005 Accuracy In Mediahttp://www.aim.org/aim_column/3818_0_3_0_C/
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Comment #34 posted by schmeff on June 29, 2005 at 17:30:26 PT
Comment #19
"More people around the world are smoking marijuana, but there has been a decline in the use of amphetamines and ecstasy, an annual United Nations report on drug use says."That's funny...here in the PNW you'd think meth is the next great threat to humanity as we know it. The local TV media regularly has a breathless "Meth Watch" segment detailing the lastest bust or lab being "detoxified".My cynical side says that this is merely a coordinated PR effort by the law enforcement community to acquire more $$$ to combat this likely "manufactured" menace. (Meth has been a featured item on the illicit drug menu for at least the last half century.)But another reason might have to do with the global nature of the UN report. Maybe the use of amphetamines (meth) IS down worldwide, while cannabis use is up, but here in the US, where our enlightened drug Czar believes that cannabis is the most dangerous drug in America and spares no effort to prohibit its use, meth use is epidemic. Efforts to control the less harmful intoxicants narrows the options in favor of more dangerous choices.Either explanation indicates a sad state of affairs.
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Comment #33 posted by jose melendez on June 29, 2005 at 17:27:45 PT
in context versus dammad's con text
I wrote most of this hours ago, and was glad to see Richard Cowan was indeed saying what I had guessed, perhaps if the other two speak out there will be even more publicity:I think it's hilarious that the video clip, even heavily edited, does a marvelous job of broadcasting the truth:1.) Marijuana prohibition is a scam that will be blown when Americans realize thanks to the example set by medical users that they are being lied to about the dangers of cannabis. (Cowan)2.) Apparently unlike Viagra Cannabis consumption almost certainly keeps eyes healthier, witness Jamaican Cannasol, and users have the right to say they like to get high, because frankly it is a true fact that marijuana IS fun. (Rosenthal) Beer is fun, also. Right?3.)Even the most edited piece, from Marcia Rosenbaum makes it clear that she embraces what really works: goal oriented harm reduction. It makes sense that responsible users are far better messengers to kids than some loser who failed at drug use. They even plug Andrew Weil's book, from Chocolate to Morphine.I have just completed the manuscript for the CCCCP kid's book on urine testing for parents. I wonder if they would make me a free commercial, too! : )http://CCCCP.orgI wish to publicly thank whatever producer made the clip, it ranks right up there with Joyce publishing in a letter to the editor that parents should point their browsers at http://www.cannabisnews.com . . . Such techniques are quite effective, if you want cannabis legal by publicly exposing prohibition as fraud. Here's the clip again, for any who missed it:http://www.sorosmonitor.com/medical_hoax_access.mpgIt makes me wonder . . . how would that successful long term drug user's speech last night would sound if edited similarly? hmmm . . . I think it's hilarious that the video clip, even heavily edited, does a marvelous job of broadcasting the truth:1.) Marijuana prohibition is a scam that will be blown when Americans realize thanks to the example set by medical users that they are being lied to about the dangers of cannabis. (Cowan)2.) Cannabis consumption almost certainly keeps eyes healthier, and users have the right to say they like to get high, because frankly it is a true fact that marijuana IS fun. Beer is fun, also. Right?
(Rosenthal)3.)Even the most edited piece, from Marcia Rosenbaum makes it clear that she embraces what really works: goal oriented harm reduction. It makes sense that responsible users are far better messengers to kids than some loser who failed at drug use. They even plug Andrew Weil's book, from Chocolate to Morphine.I have just completed the manuscript for the CCCCP kid's book on urine testing for parents. I wonder if they would make me a free commercial, too! : )http://CCCCP.orgI wish to publicly thank whatever producer made the clip, it ranks right up there with Joyce publishing in a letter to the editor that parents should point their browsers at http://www.cannabisnews.com . . . Such techniques are quite effective, if you want cannabis legal by publicly exposing prohibition as fraud:http://209.211.250.61/medical_hoax_access.mpgIt makes me wonder . . . how would that successful long term drug user's speech from last night sound if edited similarly? hmmm . . . 
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Comment #32 posted by afterburner on June 29, 2005 at 16:36:12 PT
Not Like an Iceberg, but Like a Volcano
{Finally, I really do believe that cannabis prohibition is the greatest fraud - or "scam" - ever perpetrated on the American people, and I think that it is perpetuated by the continual violation of the Commandment against giving false evidence. (A copy of this Commandment is legally placed on the grounds of the Texas Capitol where it is greatly honored in the breaching of it.)} --Richard Cowan Christians, read your Bible:Number 9...Number 9...Number 9
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/20/thread20714.shtml#68Souder says he is a Christian. John Walters repeats the same prohibitionist lies, but I have no evidence as to whether he considers himself a Christian. As for the Love Project: 
"You shall not hate your brother in your heart; but you shall surely rebuke your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him." Leviticus 19:17, The Amplified BibleThe Bad Ship USS Prohibition is headed, like the Titanic, for a collision. However, although the majority of our cannabis culture is under visual range, we are not a cold iceberg, we are a hot volcano. 
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Comment #31 posted by cloud7 on June 29, 2005 at 14:32:16 PT
...
"either the DAMMADD people have been depending upon very bad advice...or they are truly intellectually dishonest"I'm going to have to go with the latter since every other prohibitionist organization has been doing these things for years. Walters is the king of all these wailers and look at how bad he half-truths his way through every speech and press release.
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Comment #30 posted by kaptinemo on June 29, 2005 at 13:14:32 PT:
I can't be the only one thinking this
It becomes obvious with very little effort at cogitation that either the DAMMADD people have been depending upon very bad advice...or they are truly intellectually dishonest. In either event, they have 'thrown the gauntlet'. They made the first challenge. They uttered the first insult. It's time to duel in the only way permitted in this country anymore...sue them.
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 12:54:18 PT
Richard Cowan Asked Me To Post This For Him
From Richard CowanJune 29, 2005 Today, a group called Dads and Mad Mothers Against Drug Dealers - http://www.dammadd.org - put out a press release:June 29, 2005 To: National and State Desks Contact: Steven Steiner of Dads and Mad Moms Against Drug Dealers, 607-687-4151 ext. 100TIOGA CENTER, N.Y., June 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- If there was ever any doubt about the lie that has been perpetuated on the American people about "medical marijuana", this video clip should put the matter to rest. http://www.sorosmonitor.com/medical_hoax_access.mpg Richard Cowan, former director of NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws) advises the Drug Policy Foundation (now Drug Policy Alliance) that the avenue to legalization of marijuana is by getting thousands of people to use it on the pretense that it is a medicine. Ed Rosenthal, editor of High Times Magazine, jokes about his undiagnosed latent glaucoma, not a problem because he treats it medically...by getting high. He likes to get high.Batting cleanup is the infamous Marsha Rosenbaum, who works for the Drug Policy Alliance, largely financed by George Soros, whose mission is to legalize drugs. Rosenbaum maligns her professional status by promoting the concept that we should be teaching children responsible use of illicit drugs...irrespective of the fact that alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs have devastating impacts on children whose minds and bodies are not fully developed, and in open defiance of the laws that exist to protect children by making any use of these controlled substances illegal.Drugs alone cost this nation roughly $200 billion and claim an estimated 150,000 lives per annum. We need to hold our elected officials accountable for passing legislation that exacerbates the problem, and/or not enforcing federal laws that exist to protect our young people. "Medical Marijuana" is simply a hoax. Editor's Note: Video Taper Link Can be found on the soros Monitor at http://www.sorosmonitor.com or http://www.sorosmonitor.com/medical_hoax_access.mpg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The headline for the video:"Video Footage Exposes Pro drug Movement. If there was ever any doubt about the lie that has been perpetuated on the American people about 'medical marijuana', this video clip should put the matter to rest."On June 13th, they also posted a rather fatuous comment on medical cannabis.See http://www.dammadd.org/absolutenm/templates/?a=26&z=3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------DAMMADD was founded by a couple who lost their son to an overdose of a "prescription drug", but somehow they are fanatically opposed to medical cannabis, and fanatically supportive of the prohibition that failed to protect their son. Like some other prohibitionist organizations they are obsessed with George Soros. Consequently, they have set up a separate website dedicated to blaming Soros for the entire anti-prohibitionist movement. http://www.sorosmonitor.com/home.aspx For the record, I have never met George Soros, and in 1992, I had not even heard of him. I have never received a penny from him, nor have I ever sought any funding from him and his organizations personally. (Not that there is anything wrong with it.)It is DAMMAD's premise that the entire medical cannabis movement is just a "scam" to legalize all drugs. That is a part of the prohibitionist party line and not uniquely theirs.On the Soros Monitor site they have a video with very brief and edited excerpt from a tape of a conference in San Francisco in the early 1990s in which I am shown saying, "The key to it is medical access because once you have hundreds of thousands of people using marijuana medically under medical supervision the whole scam is going to be blown.once there's medical access and if we continue to do what we have to do - and we will - then we'll get full legalization."Actually, until I saw the excerpt this morning, I had never seen any of the video and I still have never seen what I was absolutely certain was a complete and accurate transcript of what were extemporaneous remarks. However, context determines meaning. For example, the video does not show me saying in the next sentence, "I mean what we know is that marijuana prohibition is the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people." Over the last several years I have cited several instances in which other versions of my remarks were used to create the impression that I had actually called our own position as "scam" - which would be an odd political gaffe by people as diabolically clever as we obviously are. (Of course, if I really were so evil that I would use dying people as pawns - and stupid enough to boast about it in public - that still would not prove that medical cannabis is a scam. just that I am particularly evil and stupid.) Below there are a few links to my website, MarijuanaNews.com, in which I have addressed the odd life of this "quote" over the last few years. In the meantime, so there will be no misunderstanding, here is a brief outline of my views.1.. I have never made any secret of my support for the full legalization of cannabis, subject to regulations similar to those for tobacco and over-the-counter drugs. I think that anyone over 18 should be allowed to buy it and use it, and they should be held accountable for any consequences of its misuse. (I do not think that cannabis is "harmless" but neither is being arrested.) 2.. Until cannabis is fully legal, as described above, I am in favor of exempting medical use from prohibition by means of state and/or federal laws written for that purpose. Naturally, inasmuch as I am in favor of full legalization, I would have the medical exemption interpreted as broadly as possible, because I would put the patients' needs ahead of the needs of the prohibition that I oppose. (All control systems "leak.")3.. Yes, as my remarks in the tape make clear, I do think that having cannabis widely used under medical supervision would hasten the full legalization of cannabis for non-medical use. But why?First, it will prove that cannabis does help large numbers of people for whom legal pharmaceuticals are either ineffective or dangerous, thereby proving that the prohibitionists, not the anti-prohibitionists, have been lying to the American people. Second, it will prove that cannabis is far less dangerous than almost all legal drugs, medical or recreational, thereby proving that the prohibitionists, not the anti-prohibitionists, have been lying to the American people. On the other hand, if cannabis is as dangerous or medically useless as the prohibitionist claim it is, clinical observation should prove that you are correct. That would hardly help the drive for legalization, even though it is NOT based on the assumption that cannabis is "harmless." After all, it is clinical observations that lead to the recall of FDA approved drugs. Most prescription and over-the-counter drugs can be very dangerous under some circumstances, but they still have medical value. Consequently, medical use does not prove that something is "safe" enough for general use. In fact, it may prove exactly the opposite.4.. Finally, I really do believe that cannabis prohibition is the greatest fraud - or "scam" - ever perpetrated on the American people, and I think that it is perpetuated by the continual violation of the Commandment against giving false evidence. (A copy of this Commandment is legally placed on the grounds of the Texas Capitol where it is greatly honored in the breaching of it.) Richard Cowan --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Relevant links on MarijuanaNews.com:Reading Between The Lies. New Version of An Old Lie About My Saying Medical Cannabis Is A "Scam" May Be Clue to New Prohibitionist Party Line. Only A Few Hundred Patients? at http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=628The Police Fraud. Someone Is Lying. Marking The 30th Anniversary Of An Article in National Review. What if Don Quixote Was Right? Analysis by Richard Cowan at http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=605Former New York Times Managing Editor Rosenthal Denounces "False Compassion" Of Medical Marijuana Proponents at http://www.marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/former_new_york_times_managing_e.htmThere are more links on these pages. 
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Comment #28 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 12:37:33 PT
Taylor
What the video clip showed me is that taking things out of context is the only way to do it for them anymore. We know the truth and most people do now in the whole USA.
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Comment #27 posted by Taylor121 on June 29, 2005 at 12:16:23 PT
On the soros report thing
Richard Cowan's speech was taken clearly out of context. When he said hoax, I think he was talking about prohibition. He meant that once marijuana is being used and people see it helping their neighbor for illness, that the cruel hoax (ie prohibition) will end and we will get full legalization. I understand where he's coming from. I do not believe what he said had anything to do with medical marijuana being a hoax, and we all know it isn't given the scientific evidence.I'm not sure what Ros was talking about and I think the Drug Policy Alliance was taken out of context as well. All edited heavily you can tell. Ridiculously one sided, and Richard's comments, who I am not a fan of, but even still, his comments were blantantly fixed by editing.
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 12:14:15 PT
kaptinemo
When I saw that too I didn't understand it either. I expected a correct amount would have been near what it was today. I looked in the internal stats and I couldn't figure it out. I've seen that happen in the past on Mapinc's stats and didn't understand it either.
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Comment #25 posted by kaptinemo on June 29, 2005 at 11:46:52 PT:
Unrelated: FoM, are these stats correct?
I was looking at the site hit stats: http://cannabisnews.com/stats/ and couldn't help noticing that the numbers for Monday had jumped into the 200K region. I was very busy then and hadn't really been monitoring. Is this some glitch? Or have we been especially noticeable?
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Comment #24 posted by runruff on June 29, 2005 at 11:42:57 PT:
Greetings all.
Hi Jose, My computer crashed, just now got it back up. My attorney is not intersted in anything but rubber stamp justice. The other fellow I don't Know about. He stopped answering my correspondence as soon as he was off my payroll.I watered the seed of the outlaw flower and put it out in the light. Now I am a felonious farmer. Born 10-5-46 served in the military during but not in Viet Nam. I've payed a small fourtune in taxes. Now they're being used against me. This is an America I'm growing rapidly unfamilure with. But would you believe I'm am stiil optimistic. I still believe that my spiritual diety has things under control.
I can't believe that cannabis as great a gift as it is to mankind and the planet can be kept down. I hope I live long enough to see full liberation of this plant and our God given rights.We need to water the herb and burn the Bushes'.Namaste 
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Comment #23 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 11:27:14 PT
More Details on This Report
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2005/volume_1_chap1_cannabis.pdf
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Comment #22 posted by ekim on June 29, 2005 at 11:23:49 PT
cannabis used by Millions--use is not abuse
How long will we force treat millions in the Land of the Free. Read about the controlled substance situation in Kalamazoo.
http://www.drug-rehabs.org/bycity.php/Michigan/Kalamazoo
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 11:22:49 PT
UNODC Cannabis Report in pdf
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2005/volume_2_chap5_cannabis.pdf
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 11:20:24 PT
UNODC - World Drug Report
 
Wednesday, June 29, 2005 The negative impacts of the illicit drug trade touch every society in the world. This year's World Drug Report estimates that 200 million people, or 5% of the global population age 15-64, have consumed illicit drugs at least once in the last 12 months. The drug trade is pernicious and large. UNODC estimates its retail value at US$ 321bn. It impacts almost every level of human security from individual health, to safety and social welfare. Its consequences are especially devastating for countries with limited resources available to fight against it. The World Drug Report 2005 provides one of the most comprehensive overviews of illicit drug trends at the international level. In addition, this year it presents the work of UNODC in two new areas of research. Both aim to provide tools to enrich our understanding of an immensely complex situation: an estimate of the financial value of the world drug market, and the preliminary steps towards the creation of an illicit drug index. The analysis of trends, some going back 10 years or more, is presented in Volume 1. Detailed statistics are presented in Volume 2. Taken together these volumes provide the most up to date view of today's illicit drug situation. 
 
 http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/world_drug_report.html
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 11:14:27 PT
News Article from CBC News
Marijuana Use Up, Amphetamines Down, UN Report SaysJune 29 2005 More people around the world are smoking marijuana, but there has been a decline in the use of amphetamines and ecstasy, an annual United Nations report on drug use says. 
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/06/29/drugs050629.html
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 10:55:30 PT
EJ About Pot and Re-Hab
My sister told me they argued a lot about marijuana in her rehab program. They don't argue about alcohol or hard drugs but pot is a sore subject there, I hear. I made a mistake and told a nurse when I went into detox years ago that I would feel better when I was able to smoke a little marijuana. When the doctor saw me the next morning he went orbital on me and told me if I did what the nurse wrote across my chart they won't leave me leave. ( I went in on my own ) He also said that if a person after detoxing smokes any pot they will be back on hard drugs immediately and wind up back in rehab. The other patients I talked with never thought pot was a problem.
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Comment #17 posted by E_Johnson on June 29, 2005 at 10:46:16 PT
Here's a movie or TV series idea
A DEA agent's partner gets murdered in Mexico and he gets depressed and post traumatic goes on a drinking binge and ends up getting caught drunk driving and is sent to rehab, where he has to interact with cocaine and meth addicts and marijuana users sent there by the courts.My sister told me they argued a lot about marijuana in her rehab program. They don't argue about alcohol or hard drugs but pot is a sore subject there, I hear. 
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Comment #16 posted by VitaminT on June 29, 2005 at 10:18:23 PT
Careful where you point that thing.
Max, The way I read this, the writer is simply saying that few people alive today can remember the time when the herb was legal. I think he does this to point out the absurdity of the prohibition and the falacious circular logic which keeps it in force.The statement is stupid if he actually means what it says, but the overall tone of the article makes it clear that he agrees with you and me.That said, the balance of your comments are right on target and quite informative to boot.Thanks!
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Comment #15 posted by ekim on June 29, 2005 at 10:17:13 PT
have had no luck gettion on Jack Herers page today
info on AMA in Emperor wears no cloths chapter 4Comment #19 posted by kaptinemo on June 14, 2005 at 08:08:15 PT:Some stunning research
I used to think I was up on the history of cannabis prohibition in the US
but was floored when I stumbled across this in just the last few minutes.
If I am boring anyone with this, I apologize in advance, but I believe it is
of such importance today, given the present day collusion of anti-drug
organizations and industries that would be adversely affected by cananbis
relegalization JUST AS SOME CAN BE LEGITIMATELY SHOWN TO HAVE BEEN BACK THEN
that I felt it necessary to bring this to the attention of the readers,
post-haste.Most of us know the barebones of the history of cannabis prohibition, and
the how the AMA felt about it courtesy of the testimony their Dr. Woodward
gave at the hearings in 1937. I had no idea that the same Dr. Woodward had
been having the bureaucratic equivalent of a running gun battle in the
street with Anslinger for YEARS about this matter. Woodward's effort at the
time exposed a *de facto* conspiracy:*Smelling a conspiracy, Dr Woodward complained about the situation in a
letter to Anslinger (30 July 1932): "In any event, the criticism of my
course is so widespread and has reached such high places that I have no
doubt whatsoever that it has been deliberately promoted to serve the
ulterior purpose of some interest that is unwilling to be known in
connection with the matter" *http://www.rexresearch.com/hhist/hhist3~1.htm#anslingerNote the date: 5 YEARS before Woodward showed up in Congress the fateful day
cannabis was made illegal to testify against such an action, basing his
objection upon known science. His activity in bringing the truth to the
American people and the efforts of those who wanted that truth buried and
who went to great lengths to slander him and call his professional
credentials into question have an eery similarity to today's antis.This is an extraordinarily detailed article, and well worth your time...if
you have it; the amount of information is staggering.
http://www.jackherer.com
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Comment #14 posted by Dr Ganj on June 29, 2005 at 09:59:57 PT
Max Flowers
Wow, what an excellent post, Max!
You could not have said it any better.Let's hope RI becomes the 11th state to have a medical marijuana law on its books. This is how we win. One more state at a time, until the message is loud & clear.
  
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Comment #13 posted by Max Flowers on June 29, 2005 at 09:10:31 PT
Totally false misinformation 
And it is illegal because it has always been illegal.What a stupid statement. First off, it has NOT always been illegal, in fact it has been illegal for only a scant 68 years (using 1937 as the turning point). Before that, it was an established, popular medicinal plant used by humanity for thousands of years. In the late 1800s and part of the early 1900s, cannabis tinctures and extracts were bottled and sold by large American pharmaceutical concerns such as Lilly and Squibb.Moreover, the premise of that statement is absurd. The reason cannabis is illegal is because corrupt US officials in the late 1930s sought a replacement substance/activity and a new demographic to demonize after the repeal of prohibition, as well as nefarious designs by W.R. Hearst and others to protect the paper/lumber business (and other industries too) from the threat they realized that industrial hemp posed, and as revenge for the fact that in the Spanish American war in the late 1800s Pancho Villa and the marijuana smoking Mexican army had seized 800,000 acres of Hearst’s land.1937 was also the year that Harry Anslinger (I spit on his grave) lied in testimony to Congress, spewing outrageous perjury claiming that cannabis caused extreme violent behavior in Hispanic and African-American men and "caused white women to lie with negroes." During House Ways and Means Comittee hearings, more lies were told as the AMA was falsely claimed in the hearings to be in agreement with these lies when in actual fact the AMA representative had been summarily excused in the middle of his testimony by Anslinger. Some of Anslinger's quotes regarding marijuana...  "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."  "...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."  "Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."  "Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."  "Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing"  "You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."  "Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."Mr. Kerr, do you call yourself a journalist? Making a totally erroneous statement like the one in question negates any other good you may have tried to do with the rest of this piece. In journalism, the very *first* order of business is GETTING THE FACTS STRAIGHT.Cannabis is illegal because corrupt, perjuring, lying bastards in 1937 rigged the system to make it illegal.
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 09:08:06 PT
News Article from Red Nova
Congress is New Target for Groups in Marijuana IssueWednesday, June 29, 2005Washington: In the end, the Supreme Court decision on the use of medicinal marijuana was not about the drug at all - a fact that advocates are now scrambling to make clear to Congress and the media. The decision - which focused on what happens when federal and state laws contradict - comes down as Congress prepares to vote on a bill to legalize medical marijuana. And so even as the court ruled against Angel Raich and Diane Monson, the two California residents who were using the drug to cope with pain, advocates on both sides of the issue were taking their fight from the judicial halls to Capitol Hill. "The first thing now is that people understand what the ruling means and what it doesn't," said Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). "It has not overturned state medical marijuana laws. The court has essentially punted the ball to Congress."The court ruled that even if state laws allow marijuana to be grown and used for private, medicinal purposes, federal agents could still prosecute those individuals under federal law. The pro-marijuana group is now issuing press releases, calling editorial teams, holding press conferences, and rallying voters to put grassroots pressure on Congress ahead of the vote. "For the past 24 hours, the media onslaught has forced us to be more reactive than proactive," Mirken says. The messages will focus on the drug as "incredibly safe," as well as on public support for medicinal use. Fenton Communications is managing media relations for Raich, who will travel to DC to add her voice to the campaign to legalize medical marijuana. "She will continue to collaborate with the MPP," said Parker Blackman, deputy GM and MD of the San Francisco office. "That is where our client's attention is going to turn."The agency had been tasked with painting Raich, a cancer patient, as a typical workingclass mother of two teenagers, including a son who is preparing to enlist in the military. "The media's been very good about... telling Angel's story," Blackmansaid. He also noted that, if anything, the Supreme Court "made a pretty compelling case for medical marijuana."But in an e-mail, Lana Beck, the communications director at the Drug Free America Foundation, called the ruling "a big win for drug policy.""Our focus will remain the same," she said. "We will continue to reduce drug use and addiction through awareness and education, as well as share our resources and expertise with states being targeted by the prodrug lobby."She added that outreach also would include promoting drug control policy and refuting "misinformation being spread by the pro-drug lobby."Medical marijuana... state laws hold despite high court ruling.
 Copyright Haymarket Business Publications Ltd.http://www.rednova.com/news/health/158916/congress_is_new_target_for_groups_in_marijuana_issue/
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Comment #11 posted by PainWithNoInsurance on June 29, 2005 at 08:52:46 PT
Greed
 Greed destroys lives, poisons surroundings, and causes mass sufferings. What a shameful misuse of blessings.
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Comment #10 posted by Sam Adams on June 29, 2005 at 08:40:48 PT
this column
He's arguing for the right thing but this articles scares me, if it's a sampling of what typical people think about society and cannabis. Medical marijuana isn't just for people with downtrodden spirits - it's a powerful anti-spasticity drug, that's why people with MS like it, it can have a huge effect on pain, tremors, bladder problems, and other problems. People with MS don't use cannabis because they're sad.Also, in this guy's world, the only things that should be legal and permitted by government are the things that can profit big business?  Does this mean we've accepted the status quo?And why would people in the future "laugh" at heavily armed SWAT team guys raiding the homes of innocent people? Do we look back at the Gestapo and laugh? Do we look back on the people killed by Capone and laugh? Also, when you read American media, there's never any mention of the dramatic change in law enforcement over the last 30 years - before the Drug War started in the 70's, there were no heavily armed men jumping over people's fences. There were 15 or 20% as many prisoners as today. Cops generally walked up to people and handcuffed them, instead of teams of thugs in body-armor beating people down to the ground, then kneeling on their back for 10 minutes. Cops didn't burst into people's homes, it used to illegal.At least RI is going against the tide of all this! I wonder if the governor will bother to veto the bill or just let it pass.
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Comment #9 posted by goneposthole on June 29, 2005 at 08:26:29 PT
Kind Compassionate Enlightened
The US government with its brazen policies have cast a dark shadow over all of the earth. From corporate greed to never ending war, all it wants anymore is more power to rule and ruin everything.These 'dark ages' are upon us now. Go to Baghdad and see for yourself, if you have any doubts.The US gov is anything but kind, compassionate or enlightened.A chill pill is what it needs.The US gov has never been further than it is now from life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.It is fading and falling far behind the rest of the world. Its vulture mode isn't helping anybody.Time to give it a rest. Eventually, the rest of the world will begin to ignore the US gov completely. American citizens are beginning to do it now. They've caught on to govmnt's lying and slash and burn baloney.I'll take some more cannabis please, my brain is on the fritz because of these knuckleheads trying to destroy the world. Sunny summer days are here. Better than nothing.
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Comment #8 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on June 29, 2005 at 07:38:57 PT

Stuff
Richard Cowan's quotes from the Sorosmonitor website are nothing he hasn't been saying for years. Medical marijuana isn't a stealth way for people who just want to get high - medical marijuana will prove the relative harmlessness of the plant for all to see, and then the current laws against it will be exposed as over-the-top. Ed Rosenthal sounds a little iffy saying he has an undiagnosed glaucoma - if he's so sure, perhaps he should get a doctor to diagnose it, and become a legal patient? But he's right about the fun part - those Sorosmonitor people probably can't stand the idea that pot is fun. As for Masha Rosenbaum's suggestions that we have responsible drug users talk to children, instead of addicts, the reason the addicts have to talk to the kids is because they've been caught. Responsible drug users who haven't been caught are not going to come out in the current illegal climate and tell a classroom full of kids about their experiences, even if they're the teacher of the same classroom where the addict comes to talk. But these anti-Soros people seem to think Harm Reduction is all about the Harm part, or something. And they want a million people to donate $100 each, according to their website to counteract Soros' money? Soros wouldn't have to give all that money if the Drug War didn't already have a pretty-much unlimited budget. Give me a break. Perhaps our speakers should be a little more careful about the way they phrase certain things, but as a drug law reform advocate, I don't see much wrong with what these three are saying. Of course, if I was a prohibitionist, maybe I might.From the SM site: Soros: Described by the New York Times as "The world's single largest donor" (Dec. 17,1996) While others give to the arts and higher education or to better the quality of the lives of their fellow men. Soros funds campaigns to legalize illegal drugs."Well, obviously, George feels that ending the drug war IS a way to better the quality of the lives of their fellow men.And now for something completely different... who knew there was a black market for Similac?
Is black-market baby formula financing terror?
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on June 29, 2005 at 07:21:03 PT

DAMMADD: Video Footage Exposes Pro Drug Movement
June 29, 2005To: National and State Desks Contact: Steven Steiner of Dads and Mad Moms Against Drug Dealers, 607-687-4151 ext. 100TIOGA CENTER, N.Y., June 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- If there was ever any doubt about the lie that has been perpetuated on the American people about "medical marijuana", this video clip should put the matter to rest. http://www.sorosmonitor.com/medical_hoax_access.mpg Richard Cowan, former director of NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws) advises the Drug Policy Foundation (now Drug Policy Alliance) that the avenue to legalization of marijuana is by getting thousands of people to use it on the pretense that it is a medicine. Ed Rosenthal, editor of High Times Magazine, jokes about his undiagnosed latent glaucoma, not a problem because he treats it medically...by getting high. He likes to get high.Batting cleanup is the infamous Marsha Rosenbaum, who works for the Drug Policy Alliance, largely financed by George Soros, whose mission is to legalize drugs. Rosenbaum maligns her professional status by promoting the concept that we should be teaching children responsible use of illicit drugs...irrespective of the fact that alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs have devastating impacts on children whose minds and bodies are not fully developed, and in open defiance of the laws that exist to protect children by making any use of these controlled substances illegal.Drugs alone cost this nation roughly $200 billion and claim an estimated 150,000 lives per annum. We need to hold our elected officials accountable for passing legislation that exacerbates the problem, and/or not enforcing federal laws that exist to protect our young people. "Medical Marijuana" is simply a hoax. Editor's Note: Video Taper Link Can be found on the soros Monitor at http://www.sorosmonitor.com or http://www.sorosmonitor.com/medical_hoax_access.mpg ------DAMMADD is a 501(c)3 non profit anti drug organization founded by Steven and Julie Steiner after the death of their son from a drug overdose. DAMMADD provides a 24-hour tip hot line for the public to leave anonymous tips on drug dealing/trafficking in neighborhoods. DAMMADD's educational component is called a Child's Story, teaching parents how to talk to kids about the dangers of illicit/prescription drug use. Contact: Steven Steiner of DAMMADD, PO Box 95 - Tioga Center, NY 13845 - 607-687-4151 or stevensteiner dammadd.orgCpyright: 2005 U.S. Newswire http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=49635
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Comment #6 posted by PainWithNoInsurance on June 29, 2005 at 07:13:53 PT

The Geat quality takes time!
I can't tell you how many time I've been told: "the medication takes time to work, keep taking it" then nothing happens. Yes, BUY, BUY, BUY.Yes make us rich so we can bring you more quality drugs through our extensive research. BUY, BUY, BUY.That DOES creates huge insurance cost. 
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Comment #5 posted by jose melendez on June 29, 2005 at 04:48:36 PT

About Marinol prescriptions
Ask a doctor for Ritalin, Adderall, Paxil or Schedule III codeine, and you are likely to get it, regardless of risks.Ask the same doctor for Schedule III dronabinol (Marinol) and the doctor will generally give you a song and dance about how you have to have AIDS or cancer, despite the proven safety, and that your chronic and severe pain, stress and nausea is best treated by something that damages your liver.Reason? Doctors often play golf with pharmaceutical corporate salesmen, but fear harassment from the DEA.Buy, buy, buy, restrain, buy, restrict, jail, forfeit assets, buy, buy, buy . . . 
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Comment #4 posted by OverwhelmSam on June 29, 2005 at 03:04:37 PT

Sure Fire Method of Beating Drug Tests
Simply get a prescription for Marinol. You can use Cannabis all you want and when faced with a drug test, simply show them your prescription for the FDA approved Marinol. What are they going to do? - Nothing.
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Comment #3 posted by jose melendez on June 29, 2005 at 02:12:50 PT

go blind, not insane or we may jail you
 In a typical example of how industry buys politics to trump science, the only legal but synthetic version of one of cannabis' active ingredients is classified less stringently, yet is uncomfortably stronger than many of the most powerful ganja strains.Exactly as during last century's alcohol prohibition, hypocrisy and corruption are rampant among drug warriors, who earn otherwise unlikely pensions, pay and profits instead of fighting real crime or protecting the people against the pill-pushers who bought our politicians.Just saying "no" is lying.http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1035/a09.html?397Viagra to include vision-loss data http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hsviag294323742jun29,0,4337959.storyhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20050628-23175000-bc-us-viagra.xml http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B963B82BA-D18E-41D4-AD83-ACCB36F60E31%7D Shares of Pfizer declined notably despite a bullish market mood Tuesday, following news that the company still plans to revise the labels on its drug Viagra to alert the public to reports of blindness by some users.- - - 49 dead from alcohol poisoning in KenyaNAIROBI, Kenya — A black market alcoholic brew laced with poisonous methanol has caused the deaths of 49 people in Kenya, medical workers said Sunday, while police searched for a woman suspected of distributing the drink to bars.More than 174 people were hospitalized after drinking the brew containing methanol, a toxic wood alcohol added to the drink — called chang'aa — to give it more kick."Two people have gone completely blind, and another eight have reduced vision of varying degree," - - -Blind Sided by the Insane:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050622/ROSZKO22/TPNational/Canada" . . . he wasn't about to give police the credit for taking his life, so that's probably why he took it himself."Court documents show RCMP seized a crossbow with arrows, a fake gun and boxes of ammunition at Mr. Roszko's farm.Mr. Roszko had been barred in April, 2000, from possessing weapons, including crossbows and ammunition, after he was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to 30 months in prison. The ban was to remain in effect until April, 2010.
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Comment #1 posted by PainWithNoInsurance on June 28, 2005 at 23:29:26 PT

Federal Pharmaceuticals are loosing
Oh what will the pharmaceutical companies do now. They have another revenue decline.Maybe they could run some more televison ads to show everyone how people are being SET FREE from their ills, and nothing is better for them than their unaffordable pharmaceutical garbage, of coarse, there are minimal SIDE effects though.Side effects MAY include: headaces constipation, drymouth, diarea, depression, and whatever else is unimportant to a normal live.THESE PILLS ARE THE GREATEST!!!!  Enjoy !!Fill our rich pockets, BUY, BUY, they will work great after taking several bottles. Quality takes time you know, JUST BUY.
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