cannabisnews.com: Lobbying Group Presses for Medical Marijuana Use





Lobbying Group Presses for Medical Marijuana Use
Posted by CN Staff on June 20, 2006 at 22:01:34 PT
By Elana Schor
Source: The Hill
Washington, D.C. -- On the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision allowing the federal government to overrule state medical-marijuana laws, a new lobbying group is trying to persuade some of the House’s most conservative members to protect the terminally ill’s right to use the drug.Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a nonprofit group funded by patients, doctors and researchers who support exploring marijuana’s therapeutic potential, opened its Washington office last month and completed its first grassroots lobbying visits yesterday.
ASA’s two lobbyists and seven members, dubbed “citizen experts,” met Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), who will offer his traditional medical-marijuana amendment to the Justice Department appropriations bill when it hits the floor next week, and 20 more House members, most from the California delegation. California permits cannabis use for medical reasons, but the Supreme Court ruled last year in Gonzales v. Raich that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) could legally raid the supply of state-sanctioned users.“Eventually we do see legislation being put forth” to end the federal ban on marijuana research, said ASA’s government-affairs director, Caren Woodson, “but the first thing we need to happen is that patients and doctors in states with laws stop being harassed by DEA agents.” Hinchey’s amendment, co-sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), would bar Justice from spending federal money on raiding stashes in California and nine other states with legalization laws.Along with Woodson, a former lobbyist for the pro-legalization Drug Policy Alliance, ASA sent a past president of the American Association of Psychiatric Administrators and Garry Silva, a nerve-damaged California man whose home was raided by the DEA in March, to meet with lawmakers. ASA’s grassroots team met with senior aides to Reps. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) and Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), among others.Though the politically incendiary debate over medical marijuana has made strange bedfellows out of the left-leaning Hinchey and the conservative Rohrabacher, their amendment faces long odds on the House floor. For Woodson, however, the week has been a golden opportunity to position ASA as a new player in the debate dominated by often-stereotyped players like NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and the George Soros-funded Marijuana Policy Project.“There is a lot of back-and-forth about medical marijuana being a stalking horse for something greater, but what ASA is going to be able to provide is … a fresh perspective,” Woodson said. “We don’t have any mission or scope beyond medicine.”Hinchey and Rohrabacher already have taken the fight for therapeutic cannabis to the Bush administration. Along with 22 other House members, they wrote to new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Andrew von Eschenbach in April protesting an agency release that said no scientific evidence exists to prove marijuana’s medical value.Complete Title: New Lobbying Group Presses for Medical Marijuana Use Source: Hill, The (US DC)Author: Elana SchorPublished: June 21, 2006Copyright: 2006 The HillContact: aleisele thehill.comWebsite: http://www.thehill.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:Americans For Safe Accesshttp://www.safeaccessnow.org/Hinchey - Rohrabacher - July 22, 2003http://freedomtoexhale.com/dofcomm.htm Valley Resident Off To D.C. on Quest for MMJhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21919.shtmlAmendment Would Bar Medical-Pot Raids http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20783.shtml
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Comment #28 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 23:31:35 PT
Street dealers
I should clarify my language because I think it could be misunderstood. When I say "street dealers" I do not mean people standing on a street corner. I mean people who are selling small quantities to individuals. The girl I knew had her circle of friends and parties that she went to and sometimes threw herself. That's how it went.I didn't really know all that was going on, at least early on, and some of it I had to reconstruct after the fact because she didn't tell me everything and she did lie to me. But I was there for part of it and I saw enough to figure out how it worked.
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Comment #27 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 23:24:47 PT
FoM
The girl I dated sold heroin and cocaine for money. She also used and she was an addict. I'm saying I think all the street dealers do this because they need money to pay for their heroin too.It changed her personality, too. She was desperate, and desperate people do desperate things. A heroin user will always lie about their habit, will lie about anything in fact, because lying becomes a way of life. It's terribly destructive to the spirit.But how can I hate when I see it is a disease, a kind of drawn-out suffering and decline, a person who needs help but doesn't know where to get it and cannot ask for it because the law says they would go to jail if they admitted what they were doing. So they lie because it's self-defense.You've probably seen people dealing who you thought weren't junkies. They sold for money. Sure. That's what dealers do. But they use their product, and they wouldn't be trusted to deal if they didn't. There are drugs that someone can use and not be addicted. Heroin is not one of them.
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on June 21, 2006 at 23:16:19 PT
Whig
One more thought and I'm done for the day. A person can conceal an addiction for years but sooner or later it will cause them problems with their health. One day they will pay dearly for long term drug abuse. The body just can't take abuse forever.
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on June 21, 2006 at 23:11:30 PT
Whig
I really am only talking about people who hussle drugs like Heroin for money. I don't know the answer and maybe that's why I avoid hard drug issues. I believe that if people sell drugs they have a responsibility to the person who is buying the drug. I can only imagine what it would be like to sell a substance to a person that could kill him or her. I could never own a alcohol store for the same reason.
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Comment #24 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 23:01:40 PT
Strung-out
Btw, if you can tell someone is strung out they're already in deep trouble. Most addicts can conceal it very well for a long time.
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Comment #23 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 23:00:10 PT
FoM
"I would never hate a person who was addicted to a drug. I would be very understanding. My brother in law was a heroin addict and died from an overdose. There are people that aren't addicted that hussle heroin. Those are the ones that are hated by almost everyone."This is the part I'm not sure I agree with, at least at the street level I don't think there is anyone who is hustling heroin who doesn't use.Now if you want to get into the manufacturing and very large end of things, that's another matter. But those aren't what most people call dealers, they are distributors.Should we hate the distributors, then? Because I have no direct experience interacting with anyone at that level, I'm not in a good position to judge but I think it's fair to believe that some of this (or even a large part) is CIA. The connections between CIA and organized crime run pretty deep and broadly."No matter how hard I think and try to sort this out I have never been able to come to any conclusion. In reality Oxycontin if crushed is like Heroin. Why not help addicts by using that drug?"The purity and known dosing of Oxycontin is presumably a lot better than street heroin and that's one point in its favor. Other than that, it's just a substitution that doesn't make it easier for the addict to withdraw from. Oxycontin is Schedule II and doctors who prescribe it are closely monitored, so they cannot offer it to addicts in place of heroin without jeopardizing their medical license or even criminal charges. And most importantly, if doctors did so, and made any money on it, they would effectively be the "hated dealers" themselves.
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on June 21, 2006 at 22:33:28 PT
Whig
I would never hate a person who was addicted to a drug. I would be very understanding. My brother in law was a heroin addict and died from an overdose. There are people that aren't addicted that hussle heroin. Those are the ones that are hated by almost everyone. Who will become the drug dealer if the laws were changed? They aren't strung out. No matter how hard I think and try to sort this out I have never been able to come to any conclusion. In reality Oxycontin if crushed is like Heroin. Why not help addicts by using that drug?  Let a doctor help a person with an addiction issue. 
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Comment #21 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 22:00:41 PT
FoM
"I will ask a question. Since most people really are offended by anyone who sells hard drugs if they were legal who will become the hated dealer? I have heard all kinds of spin type answers over the years but nothing but I have the right type answers. How can parents believe their children will be safe?"I dated a girl who was selling cocaine and heroin. It wasn't something that she was selling that she didn't use. And among those who she used it with, she was not a "hated dealer." She was someone they liked and relied on. The society at large might have hated her, but I did not. I loved her and I cared very much about her. I wanted her to quit heroin and when she obviously wouldn't, I tried it myself in order just to understand. It was stupid, but I do understand a lot better after that.If drugs including heroin were legal, outside of the medical prescription system you would still have people manufacturing and buying and selling as now. And there would still be people who loved them and people who hated them, just like now. Mostly I think we should love them, and try to help, because I am telling you every heroin dealer on the street is a junkie themself. Every damn one.
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on June 21, 2006 at 21:30:31 PT
Whig
I am not really up on what is going on. What you posted I can comment on. I had a friend I rode horses with when I was young. She had a brother who was older then we were. They were just like all of us and nothing out of the ordinary. One if not both of the parents ( I can't remember ) were Doctors. I didn't even know much about LSD and surely hadn't experienced it then but her brother took LSD and walked off the top of WMCA. I have no idea why he did that. I guess somethings no one will ever know.I will ask a question. Since most people really are offended by anyone who sells hard drugs if they were legal who will become the hated dealer? I have heard all kinds of spin type answers over the years but nothing but I have the right type answers. How can parents believe their children will be safe? I'm just rambling. Don't mind me.Cannabis helps people. It doesn't cause pain and hurt.
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Comment #19 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 20:58:47 PT
Thehim
He posted a response on his blog messageboard:
 Whig, thanks. I probably won't jump into that thread, but you made some really valid points that I later noticed in my mails I could've been more accurate about, especially when it comes to LSD and addicts. No one can really be addicted to LSD and I nearly affirmed this falsehood in an effort to make a large point. Although there's nothing that prevents someone with an addiction to something else from using LSD. The problem is that I think when you already have an addiction to something else, LSD has the ability to make you confront that problem in your own mind in a way that can be jarring, and sadly, I think that's what happened to this woman's son (he killed himself while on LSD).I was also a little surprised that she seemed fine with legalizing pot. It's a small victory I guess.thehim | Email | Homepage | 06.21.06 - 11:21 am | #
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Comment #18 posted by Toker00 on June 21, 2006 at 15:20:02 PT
She could have a change of heart someday.
The fact that she communicated for such a long period says she wants to be sure she is on the right track, but I don't think she is sure. That group of rabid parents she associates with (yes parents have a perfect right to be upset about a child's death, no matter HOW the child dies, but groups like the DEA and MADD and the like should have no right to recruit them in their hours of emotional chaos.) has her turning flips trying to understand both sides of the war. She took away from those e-mails much more information than she came there with, and an opportunity, when she is alone, to look at the big picture and think about it. That is great. I just hope she stops depending on group therapy to show her how to think and feel, when she comes to a grip about her loss.That was nice of you to invite thehim here, whig. Toke. 
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Comment #17 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 11:48:40 PT
OT: Guantanamo
This should be read:http://tinyurl.com/nadu5
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Comment #16 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 11:08:08 PT
Thehim
I've invited him to come join us here if he's interested in participating in this discussion about his e-mail debate.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on June 21, 2006 at 10:56:24 PT
Whig
Glad you liked it.
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Comment #14 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 10:53:10 PT
afterburner
I noticed she was willing to end cannabis prohibition in that exchange of e-mails. She wasn't willing to legalize other drugs. And Thehim nearly implied LSD was something addicts use. I wasn't too comfortable with his distancing from the problem and lack of discrimination between different drugs."End drug prohibition" as a totality makes a nice slogan and is a political platform, but in terms of practical reality we should not deal in abstractions. Cannabis is not methamphetamine or heroin. We can desire the end of prohibition but still speak for the medical benefits and safety of cannabis, and compare it with alcohol as a recreational choice. We don't have to drag heroin and cocaine into that, this only forces us to be on the defense and Thehim even said he was "defending" drug use.So long as we're defending we cannot score goals. We need to be the ones on the high ground and with the public behind us if we want to prevail. We have that with cannabis. Let's keep our momentum.
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Comment #13 posted by whig on June 21, 2006 at 10:44:15 PT
FoM
Well said.We have met the enemy and he is us.
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on June 21, 2006 at 10:11:01 PT
It's easy to understand the blindness of a
person who has just been poked in the eye, both eyes, by a very, very sharp stick.
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Comment #11 posted by afterburner on June 21, 2006 at 09:58:40 PT
#1 & #4
The fact that the mother in that link is asking such detailed questions and responding in such detail, albeit in tangents, shows that she in gathering information. That she is attempting to justify her current position. That she is halfway to a rational choice. Contine to pray for her, for all mothers and children, and for all victims of the Cruel War on Drugs.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on June 21, 2006 at 09:46:38 PT
Hope 
I feel so bad for young people. I'm listening to the song Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. If we didn't have the Internet I wouldn't give our country much hope at all. 
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on June 21, 2006 at 09:38:28 PT
"I'll tell you a little story." comment 8
A TRUE story!
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 21, 2006 at 08:27:47 PT
Zandor
I'll tell you a little story. Once upon a time we had this beautiful country that most people loved. It wasn't perfect but it still made people feel proud. Fast forward to now and it's all gone. No one loves what this country has become and they wonder how it happened. Slowly and methodically those in power made laws to control us like countries that we use to go to war with for being oppressive. We have become the enemy.
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Comment #7 posted by zandor on June 21, 2006 at 08:13:18 PT
FYI...A data broker can break the law to catch you
Law enforcement agencies often use ileagle information brokers to catch you!!!!They say they do so to save time and avoid seeking subpoenas or warrants for the information, even though the data brokers break the law that's ok because its in the pursuite of justice. Read the story at the link. This must be stopped but I fear it will expand rather then be stopped. These companies do not have the legal right to that information but that does not stop them. They have no fear of being stopped at all.If we try this it's called identity theft, but if leo does it they call it good police work. What a NARCO crop of crap this two-faced bull crap is. FYI....just to let you know.
Congress investigates methods of data sellers
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on June 21, 2006 at 07:51:43 PT
Leach and Doolittle? 
Good names for politicians.Of course I'd prefer that they do little. It's when they do things that they hurt so many people. They could do much good by ending cannabis prohibition...but that's not something they want to do. It be like cutting the teats off their magic money cow.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on June 21, 2006 at 07:47:02 PT
Just a Comment
I really hope and pray that the other major party gets control and no one has to beg republicans anymore for a little consideration. I don't like begging for anything.ASA’s grassroots team met with senior aides to Reps. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) and Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), among others.
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on June 21, 2006 at 07:45:32 PT
Toker 
The sad thing is he never got one reasonable reply from the woman. Not one. 
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on June 21, 2006 at 07:41:04 PT
 “citizen experts”
There's some subtle contempt in the way she handled that, too.Justice? I don't think so. There is no "justice" in our justice system when it comes to cannabis prohibition.I guess Calvina Fay, Joyce Nalepka, that guy that publishes photos of his dead son and humiliates his memory endlessly, and the Semblars are some sort of "citizen experts" themselves. Wonder why they weren't ever treated with the contempt they actually deserve by the press?
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Comment #2 posted by dongenero on June 21, 2006 at 07:09:59 PT
subtle contempt
Interesting statement this author makes........"Hinchey’s amendment, co-sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), would bar Justice from spending federal money on raiding stashes in California and nine other states with legalization laws."stashes?......like my pharmacist has "stashes" of oxycontin you mean? This is a subtle condescending remark that furthers the prohibitionist culture war mentality.She then goes on to make this statement............."For Woodson, however, the week has been a golden opportunity to position ASA as a new player in the debate dominated by often-stereotyped players like NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and the George Soros-funded Marijuana Policy Project."Hmmm.....often-stereotyped indeed!
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Comment #1 posted by Toker00 on June 21, 2006 at 03:45:43 PT
A good example for debate.
I visited DWW and borrowed this link to some very good debating skills. Worth reading in it's entirety. Familiar names doing some excellent mind rinsing.http://www.reload.ws/blog/2006/06/running-around-in-circles.htmlWage peace on war. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW!
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