cannabisnews.com: TV Host Pushes N.J. on Medical Marijuana










  TV Host Pushes N.J. on Medical Marijuana

Posted by CN Staff on June 08, 2006 at 08:24:04 PT
By Robert Schwaneberg, Star-Ledger Staff 
Source: Star-Ledger 

New Jersey -- His voice quaking with emotion, TV talk show host Montel Williams offered this self-introduction: "I want you to meet someone who's not a drug dealer, not a dope addict, just somebody who's trying to get up every morning and go to work." Williams went on to explain how marijuana eases the symptoms of his multiple sclerosis enough to let him function. Registered with programs in California and Canada that permit possession of small amounts of marijuana for medical use, he urged New Jersey to adopt one of its own.
Today, the Senate Health Committee is scheduled to discuss such a bill. Its sponsor, Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), said it is "basic human decency" to allow people with AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other afflictions to find relief through marijuana. "It's not a back-door attempt at wholesale legalization, as some have charged. I want to make that clear," Scutari said. Eleven states have enacted laws permitting the "compassionate use" of marijuana by patients who have a physician's certification that they need it for medical reasons. Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that those laws are trumped by the federal Controlled Substances Act, which prohibits possession of marijuana nationwide. "I break the law every day and I'll continue to break the law," Williams said. Scutari's bill says states are under no obligation to enforce the federal ban on marijuana. It adds that "99 out of 100 marijuana arrests in the country are made under state law," so passing his bill "will have the practical effect of protecting from arrest the vast majority of seriously ill people who have a medical need to use marijuana." Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, Williams said he lives with twitching and constant pain. "I have tried every form of pain medication known to man," some of which produced debilitating side effects, he said. Finally, he said, a doctor recommended he smoke pot, and "immediately I slept through the night." He said he eats and smokes marijuana to keep his pain under control. "By doing that, I can go to work," he said.  Snipped:Complete Article: http://tinyurl.com/rxus9Source: Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ)Author: Robert Schwaneberg, Star-Ledger Staff Published: Thursday, June 08, 2006Copyright: 2006 Newark Morning Ledger Co.Contact: eletters starledger.comWebsite: http://www.nj.com/starledger/Related Articles & Web Sites:CMMNJ http://www.cmmnj.orgThe Cherylheart Foundationhttp://www.cherylheart.org/Committee To Hear Medicinal Marijuana Testimonyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21895.shtml A Compassionate Solutionhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21893.shtmlMontel Williams Joins Push for NJ MMJ Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21891.shtml

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Comment #13 posted by ekim on June 09, 2006 at 06:54:06 PT
thank you FoM
for all you are doing. and thank you for letting information flow. everyone hear a big thank you too.
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Comment #12 posted by Had Enough on June 09, 2006 at 04:50:23 PT
and
Comment #5“However, many of these potions were absolutely useless or were harmful to unsuspecting ill people. Thus evolved our current FDA drug approval process. The FDA process has protected us for 100 years. It is dangerous to undermine it.”FDA has allowed it’s self to be undermined by special interests of profit.
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Comment #11 posted by Had Enough on June 09, 2006 at 04:36:24 PT
Compassion???
Comment #5"It is not compassionate to give sick people the wrong information that prevents them from using effective medicines instead of marijuana."Does anybody see something wrong with this picture? Or is it just me?Of course it’s the last line of the spiel. The most informative.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on June 08, 2006 at 21:52:45 PT
ekim
I haven't said hello to you for while. I want you to know I appreciate all you do and the links you bring here for us. 
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Comment #9 posted by ekim on June 08, 2006 at 21:43:46 PT
seems like a very good idea
September 22-24, 2006 Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday www.NewEnergyMovement.org   Emerging energy, field propulsion, fission & fusion, space tech, energy medicine, tidal, hydrogen, solar power, magnetic motor, zero-point energyhttp://users.erols.com/iri/cofe.htmlInvited and confirmed speakers: Woody Harrelson (actor and environmental activist), Dr. George Miley (plasma fusion), David Goodwin (USDOE fission and fusion), Lynn Kenny (FDA - approved Rife technology), Dr. Bart Flick (Silverlon electric bandage), Paul Koloc (focus fusion), Mike Weiner (Biophan), Russ George (D2Fusion), Jim Dunn (NASA's Center for Tech Commercialization), Martin Burger (Tidal Power), Evgeny Podkletnov (Impulse Gravity Generator), Victoria Peters (Homestead Hydrogen), Dr. Glen Gordon (EM Probe therapy), Dr. Tania Slawecki (Penn State Electrotherapy Research), John Thomas (Searl Effect Generator), Pal Asija (alternative energy patents), Dr. Paul Murad (space technology); Bob Lazar (alternative energy), Dr. Tom Valone (zero-point energy), Dr. Ted Loder (magnetostatic motor), John Lear (aerospace history), John Sullivan (bi-directional electricity patent), and a Solar Energy presentation. http://www.voiceyourself.com
http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/Why-UMD.html
thanks to David Crockett Williams 
http://users.erols.com/iri/cofe.html
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Comment #8 posted by afterburner on June 08, 2006 at 21:21:08 PT
#5: Are These 2 Prohibitionists Related? 
"Marijuana is intoxicating. There's no surprise that sincere people report feeling better after taking it. They may be feeling better, but they're not getting better," said Catharina *Evans* --APP.COM - Committee to hear medicinal marijuana testimony | Asbury Park Press Online
http://tinyurl.com/kzu2o"Marijuana is intoxicating, so it's not surprising that sincere people report relief of their symptoms when they smoke it. They may be feeling better -- but they are not actually getting better. They may even be getting worse due to the detrimental effects of marijuana." said David *Evans* --A dose of bad medicine. North Jersey Media Group Inc.
http://tinyurl.com/s6byg
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Comment #7 posted by mayan on June 08, 2006 at 17:35:16 PT
David Evans
From the article FoM posted in comment #5..."They may be feeling better -- but they are not actually getting better."That must be their new parrot line now! If that's the best they can do we've already won! Polly want a cracker???Mr. Evans, do all legal pain killers cure disease?Enough said.
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Comment #6 posted by Toker00 on June 08, 2006 at 15:02:07 PT
A dose of bad prohibition.
"However, many of these potions were absolutely useless or were harmful to unsuspecting ill people."Like a lot of the pharma poisons legal drug dealers sell."The FDA process has protected us for 100 years." Yep. But that's not taking into consideration all the deaths attributed to drugs declared "SAFE" by the FDA, nor the fact that Cannabis has claimed no lives through use OR abuse, medical OR recreational."They may even be getting worse due to the detrimental effects of marijuana."And those effects would be: Protection from lung cancer, protection from breast cancer, protection from prostate cancer, protection from brain cancer, protection from skin cancer, and rehabilitation from pharmaceutical poisons and hard drugs. Did you really mean, "Instrumental" effects of cannabis use, whether eaten, smoked, or vaporized? THAT would make more sense."We take no issue with people who are legitimately ill."Then why are you banning their medicine?"We are against those who have manipulated sick people to promote legalization of marijuana." You mean those of us who realized cannabis will benefit these sick people and brought it to the world's attention? Thus justifying the ending of cannabis prohibition?"It is not compassionate to give sick people the wrong information that prevents them from using effective medicines instead of marijuana."What you really should be saying, and what we ARE saying, is: "It is not compassionate to give sick people the wrong information that prevents them from using cannabis instead of ineffective medicines."Wage peace on war. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW!
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on June 08, 2006 at 14:06:02 PT
A Dose of Bad Medicine  
By David Evans Wednesday, June 7, 2006 The New Jersey Legislature is considering a bill to permit the use of smoked marijuana as "medicine." The legislators who support this bill are acting out of compassion, but they need to take a second look. The federal Food and Drug Administration recently declared that marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no currently accepted medical use, and has a lack of accepted safety for use even under medical supervision. Furthermore, the FDA stated that there is substantial evidence that smoked marijuana is harmful and that there are no sound scientific studies supporting the safety or efficacy of marijuana for medical use. 
Before the development of modern pharmaceutical science, the field of medicine was fraught with potions. There were as many anecdotal stories about these potions as there are today about smoked marijuana. Many people were convinced that these potions helped them. However, many of these potions were absolutely useless or were harmful to unsuspecting ill people. Thus evolved our current FDA drug approval process. The FDA process has protected us for 100 years. It is dangerous to undermine it. Smoked marijuana as medicine was rejected by the American Medical Association, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Glaucoma Society, the American Academy of Opthamology and the American Cancer Society. Other options availableThe federal Institute of Medicine did research on this issue and they see "little future in smoked marijuana as a medicine." They reject smoked marijuana because numerous effective FDA-approved medicines are available for the conditions that smoked marijuana allegedly helps and because smoking is a poor way to deliver a drug. Marijuana legalization advocates want you to believe that smoking marijuana is the only alternative for many cancer sufferers with the nausea associated with chemotherapy, and for all those who suffer from glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and other ailments. However, numerous medications and treatments are currently available.Marijuana is intoxicating, so it's not surprising that sincere people report relief of their symptoms when they smoke it. They may be feeling better -- but they are not actually getting better. They may even be getting worse due to the detrimental effects of marijuana.We take no issue with people who are legitimately ill. We are against those who have manipulated sick people to promote legalization of marijuana. It is not compassionate to give sick people the wrong information that prevents them from using effective medicines instead of marijuana. 
 Copyright: 2006 North Jersey Media Group Inc.URL: http://tinyurl.com/s6byg
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Comment #4 posted by Dankhank on June 08, 2006 at 12:22:02 PT
Montel ...
Before Montel was diagnosed it seems that he was a typical prohibitionist, in that he parrotted the drug war lines about ending drug use, locking up miscreants ... etc ...As so many do, Montel was diagnosed, learned of medical failings and discovered the green herb. He is now a Cannabis Consumer, and defies all when he says he won't stop using medically. Why some require a hammer blow on the forehead to learn compassion is beyond my thought processes.Montel doesn't have to do what he does if he wants to hide in fear. As a former military officer he knows that the best defence is a good offence.Montel's seeming unwillingness to pursue this issue re: Steve Kubby, indicates his pragmatism and desire to make himself safe before others. This is not a bad thing from his perspective.If Montel did contribute to the drug war in any fashion, he owes more than he is now giving.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 08, 2006 at 10:08:06 PT

afterburner
It's wrong. It's so very wrong. Montel Williams didn't need to do what he is doing. He is fighting a very serious disease. People with a potentially fatal disease speak the truth.
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on June 08, 2006 at 10:00:16 PT

FoM
I was just about to say that!
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 08, 2006 at 09:51:02 PT

About The Article
Montel Williams is not PUSHING anything. Stop using those words and wake up to the reality of medicinal cannabis.
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