cannabisnews.com: The War on Medical Marijuana










  The War on Medical Marijuana

Posted by CN Staff on June 19, 2007 at 07:31:51 PT
By Paul Krassner 
Source: Huffington Post  

Santa Cruz, CA -- Anthropologists of the future will look back upon these times as incredibly barbaric. One such example is medical marijuana, which is already legal in a dozen states, yet prohibited--and trumped--by federal law.New York and Connectictut are next in line. The New York Times recently editorialized, "Although there are other prescriptions that are designed to relieve pain and nausea and there is concern about the health effects of smoking marijuana, there are some truly ill people who find peace only that way."
Those "other prescriptions" are aided by the pharmaceutical industry, which spent a record-breaking $155-million to lobby the government from 2005 to mid-2006. As for "concern about the health effects of smoking marijuana," it was reported at the 2007 meeting of the International Cannabinoid Research Society that smoking marijuana--"even heavy long-term use"--does not cause cancer of the lung, upper airwaves or esophagus.Syndicated columnist Clarence Page--referring to WAMM, the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana--has written about the DEA raiding "a legitimate health co-operative that was treating more than 200 patients, some of them terminally ill, in Santa Cruz [California]. Snatching medicine out of the hands of seriously ill patients sounds like terrorism to me. In this case it was federally sponsored and taxpayer-financed."Founded by Valerie and Mike Corral, WAMM has been helping people dying of cancer and AIDS for 14 years. Learning that such patients could not afford the high cost of marijuana, WAMM established a communal garden where medicine is grown for patients who have a doctor's recommendation; they may take what they need and give what they can, even if that is nothing.The late Robert Anton Wilson, prolific countercultural author, told me, "I never thought I would become another WAMM patient. My post-polio syndrome had been a minor nuisance until then. Suddenly, two years ago, it flared up into blazing pain. My doctor recommended marijuana and named WAMM as the safest and most legal source. By then I think I was on the edge of suicide--the pain had become like a permanent abcessed tooth in the leg. Nobody can or should endure that."After the DEA raided WAMM's garden and arrested its founders, outraged Santa Cruz city and county officials actually sponsored WAMM's medical marijuana give-away on the steps of City Hall, and joined WAMM's lawsuit against the DEA, the U.S. Attorney General and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. WAMM is considered the most likely organization to ultimately sway the Supreme Court. According to Federal Judge Jeremy Fogel, "WAMM is the gold standard of the medical marijuana movement."Meanwhile, WAMM is in desperate financial straits. If you can contribute to their cause, check out their fundraising site: http://www.wamm.org/helpwamm.htm Although it would be a blessing to be funded by a MacArthur grant or philanthropist George Soros, Valerie points out that, "If those of us who believe in the alternative WAMM offers unite, we can keep the vision alive. If each of us contributes as little as $5 a month, we can move political history. That's one trip to Starbucks, and less than a movie."States' rights...it's not just for racists any more.Source: Huffington Post (NY)Author: Paul Krassner Published: June 19, 2007Copyright: 2007 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC URL: http://tinyurl.com/35dzw3Contact: scoop huffingtonpost.comWebsite: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:WAMMhttp://www.wamm.org/Valerie and Mike Corralhttp://www.freedomtoexhale.com/valc.htmAlliance for Med Marijuana Struggles To Survivehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23020.shtmlPot Club Struggles for Financial Survivalhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22988.shtmlMedical Marijuana Laws Going Up in Smokehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22046.shtml 

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Comment #14 posted by afterburner on June 19, 2007 at 17:35:27 PT
RE Sam Adams #1
BEHAVIOUR DRUGS FOR CHILDREN 'UBIQUITOUS':
Prescribed by 94% of psychiatrists in Canadian study,
Sharon Kirkey, CanWest News Service,
National Post, Canada - 16 hours ago,
Published: Tuesday, June 19, 2007
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=f4592da4-a0a8-4e97-9963-84c02462c4f5&k=86830Excerpt: {
Canadian children are being widely prescribed antipsychotic drugs for behaviour and mood problems, with a significant proportion of the powerful drugs going to children under the age of nine, new research shows.Ninety-four per cent of 176 child psychiatrists in Canada surveyed are prescribing drugs known as atypical antipsychotics for a variety of disorders and symptoms, including anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and "poor frustration tolerance."...."These medications are currently being used off-label without clear guidelines for indications, dosing and monitoring," researchers report in the most recent issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
}
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on June 19, 2007 at 17:20:52 PT
MikeEEEEE
Thank you. That is very interesting. Some of our country's friends have really bad rates. Ours is next to Croatia. Amazing information when you think about it. I never thought Singapore would have the lowest infant mortality rate.
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Comment #12 posted by MikeEEEEE on June 19, 2007 at 17:10:07 PT
FoM
I think the info I looked at was based 2001 data of industrialized countries. Here is a more updated list, with all countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate_(2005)
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on June 19, 2007 at 15:42:21 PT

MikeEEEEE
Do you know the country's name that has the lowest infant mortality? I'll like to learn more about how they achieve it.
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Comment #10 posted by MikeEEEEE on June 19, 2007 at 13:45:42 PT

FoM and dongenero
FoM, from the people I've spoken to, the relating factors are the aging population growth, and not enough teachers to train new nurses. There are plenty of people who are interested, but the Colleges have to turn them away for lack of faculty.dongenero, the usual way healthcare is measured is the infant mortality rate. The last time I checked, the US was high on the list, in 17th place.

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Comment #9 posted by dongenero on June 19, 2007 at 12:44:33 PT

healthcare
Healthcare is just one of many areas in which the United States is running well behind the curve.While America may have been the greatest in many of the areas where we now lag, it goes to show that you can not rest on your laurels. Being the best comes from striving to be the best, not merely believing you are the best.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 19, 2007 at 12:16:56 PT

MikeEEEEE
Anything is better then nothing as far as health care goes. I am old enough to remember when most people had good insurance and the care when hospitalized was better then what it is now. Once it seemed the whole system cared more then they do now. It's not the fault of the nurses but the system. Nurses are stretched so thin.
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Comment #7 posted by MikeEEEEE on June 19, 2007 at 12:01:59 PT

pharmaceutical indu$try 
This govt. does not care about the health of this country. If they did, there would be universal healthcare. Some say that this kind of healthcare system is inferior. But you cannot argue that having something is better than not having any insurance at all.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on June 19, 2007 at 10:40:12 PT

Soma
We really are living in a brave new world. The mind control drugs scare me.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on June 19, 2007 at 10:33:37 PT

Sam
And it's an absolute shame.
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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on June 19, 2007 at 10:31:13 PT

pills
yes, the op-ed was spurred by the death of a 4 year old girl. Her parents literally drugged her to death over a period of 2 years, and apparently their shrink kept telling them it was OK.That's where we've arrived at as a society - millions of little kids not even 5 years old are taking 3 brain-altering medications at once, and no one even thinks that is unusual.
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Comment #3 posted by dongenero on June 19, 2007 at 09:18:43 PT

Sam's post
Sad commentary there Sam but, thanks for posting it.The more people who read about this, the better. Fortunately, people like Dr. Lawrence Diller are willing to risk their livelihood to bring this to everyone's attention, and to uphold their oath and the integrity of their profession.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 19, 2007 at 09:04:48 PT

Sam
Thank you for that article. A pill for every ill whether it's needed or not.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on June 19, 2007 at 08:55:08 PT

great op-ed
Saw this in today's paper. It's easy to forget what's going on in the mainstream medical industry, but it has direct bearing on medical MJ. Just in the last 10 years things have changed dramatically, the Big Pharm drug industry has totally corrupted the field of psychology:http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/06/19/misguided_standards_of_care/
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