cannabisnews.com: Delegate Eyes New Marijuana Measure
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Delegate Eyes New Marijuana Measure
Posted by CN Staff on December 23, 2009 at 10:03:57 PT
By Alan Brody, Staff Writer
Source: Calvert Recorder
Maryland -- When Del. Dan K. Morhaim is in the emergency room, he can administer cocaine to anesthetize a patient. But he cannot write a prescription for marijuana as a pain reliever or nausea remedy.That's just one of the flaws in Maryland's narrow medical marijuana law that Morhaim (D-Baltimore), an emergency physician at Sinai and Northwest hospitals in Baltimore, is out to fix during next year's legislative session.
"Physicians prescribe drugs that have risks and benefits, and we make those judgments all the time," he said. "There's a whole method of accountability and responsibility and constraints that control that."While budget discussions will take center stage in Annapolis, medical marijuana advocates believe the momentum for their cause has never been greater.U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has said federal narcotics agents will not crack down on pot dispensaries or prosecute users in states where the drug is allowed for medicinal purposes, reversing a Bush administration policy.And last month the American Medical Association shifted its stance in urging the federal government to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II controlled substance, which is less restrictive than the Schedule I group it is currently in, alongside Ecstasy, heroin and PCP."Public perception has indeed been on our side," said Michael Meno, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington. "There are still those politicians that still think it's politically risky to come out in favor of laws that will protect sick and dying patients from arrest."Under current state law, Marylanders can be arrested and charged for possession of marijuana, but they can avoid jail time and receive a maximum $100 fine if they can prove they have it for medicinal use.In the proposal, companies that want to grow the plant would have to bid for a license and be regulated by the state to ensure it is being done in a safe location and properly manufactured. Producers would then give a portion of gross sales revenue to the state.Regardless of the drug's potential upside, marijuana contains potentially harmful carcinogens, said Del. Adelaide C. Eckardt, who was a nurse for nearly three decades.She recently visited a hospice facility in Salisbury where the subject of legalizing marijuana came up in a conversation with a physician who was wary about the lasting effects on patients and favored newer pharmaceutical approaches."You can get a quick relief from inhaling many things, but the issue is the management over time," said Eckardt (R-Middle Shore). "He was of the opinion, as I have been, that there are certainly other interventions in which you don't have to deal with adding more toxins to the body."For Morhaim, it boils down to the medical value that marijuana offers and giving physicians another tool to prescribe when appropriate. Doctors wouldn't administer it to combat an upset stomach, he said."Marijuana, to me, is just another medication. It has risks, it has benefits, it has side effects and appropriate uses when other things don't work," he said.Source: Calvert Recorder (MD)Author: Alan Brody, Staff WriterPublished: December 23, 2009Copyright: 2009 Southern Maryland NewspapersContact: abrody somdnews.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/HFQPdaGPWebsite: http://www.somdnews.com/recorder/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on December 25, 2009 at 11:37:19 PT
Medical Marijuana Research News
Moderate Lifetime Use Associated With Reduced Risk Of Head And Neck Cancer, Study SaysDecember 25, 2009Providence, RI: The moderate long-term use of marijuana is associated with a reduced risk of head and neck cancers, according to the results of a population-based case-control study published online by the journal Cancer Prevention Research.Investigators at Rhode Island's Brown University, along with researchers at Boston University, Louisiana State University, and the University of Minnesota assessed the lifetime marijuana use habits of 434 cases (patients diagnosed with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma from nine medical facilities) compared to 547 matched controls.Authors reported, "After adjusting for potential confounders (including smoking and alcohol drinking), 10 to 20 years of marijuana use was associated with a significantly reduced risk of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma ... [as was] moderate weekly use."Subjects who smoked marijuana and consumed alcohol and tobacco (two known high risk factors for head and neck cancers) also experienced a reduced risk of cancer, the study found."Our study suggests that moderate marijuana use is associated with reduced risk of HNSCC," investigators concluded. "This association was consistent across different measures of marijuana use (marijuana use status, duration, and frequency of use). ... Further, we observed that marijuana use modified the interaction between alcohol and cigarette smoking, resulting in a decreased HNSCC risk among moderate smokers and light drinkers, and attenuated risk among the heaviest smokers and drinkers. ... Despite our results being consistent with the point estimates from other studies, there remains a need for this inverse association to be confirmed by further work, especially in studies with large sample sizes."A separate 2006 population case-control study also reported that lifetime use of cannabis was not positively associated with cancers of the lung or aerodigestive tract, and noted that certain moderate users of the drug experienced a reduced cancer risk compared to non-using controls.By contrast, a study published earlier this week in the journal Cancer Epidemiology reports that even the moderate use of alcohol (six drinks or less per week) is associated with an elevated risk of various cancers – including stomach cancer, rectal cancer, and bladder cancer.For some 35 years the United States federal government has been well aware that cannabis possesses potent anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties. And for the past three years, government-funded researchers have speculated that these qualities may offer “protective” effects against the onset of various types of cancer in humans, including lung cancer.Yet to date, virtually no investigators have taken the time to assess marijuana’s potential anti-cancer effects in humans — until now.I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. What possible advancements in the treatment of cancer could have been achieved over the past 35 years had U.S. government officials, or for that matter members of the mainstream media, chosen to advance — rather than to suppress — clinical research into the anti-cancer effects of cannabis? It’s a shame we have to speculate; it’s even more tragic that tens of thousands of families must needlessly suffer while we do.Copyright: 2009 www.fox4kc.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/9SsgGfKp
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on December 24, 2009 at 08:10:51 PT
Merry Christmas From Our New Big Puppy! LOL!
http://ourrott.webs.com/photos/Winter-2009/wreatlg.jpg
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on December 24, 2009 at 07:44:23 PT
Wishing Everyone a Very Merry Christmas
I remember when I saw this video on TV many years ago.Bing Crosby and David Bowiehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKTHvW2JcAA
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on December 24, 2009 at 07:20:25 PT
Mrbingbang
And, I stand with Runruff. You are welcome. Especially now that you understand. Civility. We have to deal with so much incivility, we kind of like civility... a lot, as a matter of fact.I'm with Runruff, too, in that... now that you "Get it"... why the departure?I hope everyone's kitchen is smelling great. Mine sure is. And cooks all over the place.It's fun... it's good... a blessing... and I'm so thankful.
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Comment #17 posted by runruff on December 24, 2009 at 05:56:44 PT
Mr. BB
Now that you seem to "get it" you are going away?It is like Hope said, we are sensitive. Some of us are bruised and financially torn asunder by the gate keepers of corporate wealth which is what the WoD has become. Brutal mashers attacking citizens in the night, in their beds! innocent? guilty? Kill them all and let god sort them out!These thing are not so much in MSM but you will find them everyday, here and at other sites vigilant to this fascist war on the people.While we are light hearted in our banter from time to time we take our mission for freedom very seriously. We can tell pretty soon if you are one of us or one of them, if you are confused it takes a little longer to figure out?By losing you I have not won your heart or changed your mind [I don't know if this is appropriate].I will not say go away and stay away, you may, one day, want to join in on our line of discourse?
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Comment #16 posted by Hope on December 24, 2009 at 05:03:45 PT
Mrbingbang
We're in public? Oh my gosh!We're sensitive and wary? Yep. There have been efforts made by prohibitionists to stop us from talking here.... at all. Some have hoped to prosecute people like us for some sort of conspiracy... to talk about cannabis and legalization. This is part of why some of us are so sensitive and so upset at the injustice and wrongness of the "War":http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/drug-war-victim/If you've kept up with what's going on in this "War", you know it's been rough. It is rough. Many lives, including the lives of the people who read and post here, have been impacted by the unjust laws we strive to change. Some hideously. All wrongfully.Not everyone that joins us gets a "Pat down" or a "What exactly do you mean?". Some just seem like they need it. You fell into that category and you do have a similar accusatory tone to Reco Loc. Police officer, convict, outlaw, or inlaw, you can feel free to comment on these articles... not the comments or the people that post here so much. That's not really the point. We've had about all the "correcting" and "re-education" and accusing we can stand.I am sorry if I seemed unkind to you. Generally, I do try to be welcoming and polite to anyone that ventures into this place. Sometimes I don't have time to explain in a nice sounding way that if you don't like us... just leave off the comments and keep up with the articles. If we're going to critique anything here... it's this dang war, or legislators, a prohibitionist injustice or attitude, or a journalist or an article they've written. Not each other.I do wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and we're all hoping for a wonderful new year, too.
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Comment #15 posted by mrbingbang on December 24, 2009 at 00:14:27 PT:
Merry Christmas - Happy Holidays - Happy New Year
OK - I get it! Honestly - I am not web savvy. I have posted comments to news sites on occasion. But I have never found myself in a "chat room/online community." It was by accident. I was surprised me to see such personal exchange on what looks like a public service news website. That's why I commented. I didn't GET IT! (Again, thank you runruff - I mean it.)You are a touchy bunch though! RBGreen, I love your attempt to hook me! Oh, you're a playful thing! I see the web has it's anonimity. And you know, those are the rules we play by. I am honestly appreciating all of this for the first time. I feel like there should be a sound effect - something dastardly sounding - every time the name "reco loc" is read! There must be a site administrator that can give you feedback on whether or not I am Reco Loc, without violating my privacy. Would you like it better if I were Reco Loc?! You see Reverend, I see you as a man of generous good humor, and so I may have had the nerve to tease you... You referenced feeling confused in your first response. That IS my point. It IS confusing! And I think it's always important for each of us to question our own perceptions. And the perceptions of others.Who am I? A 50 yo white boy who is just as scared of the Man as any one else. I am also a father, partner, gardener, cancer survivor, and a catalyzer of healing.I know small towns. Take it as you wish.I have to laugh at the narc comments. That's one of my points! I don't know if you noticed - but your pants are down, and you're all on the world wide web!! I'm surprised by the intimacy of your community in such a public place. You worry me a bit!I marvel at the way we all, as individuals, have such differing perceptions and experiences. You know - very different personal realities. I'm a bit curious, even surprised by the way some of you have perceived and responded to me. God has sent me to be your Reco Loc... I'm kidding! Hey - I'm a kidder! Or maybe not...Maybe it just worried me to see not one, but three major scandal/crisis/crimes all lumped together. Apartheid and racism, crime and incarceration, and the MMJ and drug prohibition. That's just too much for me. Why? Because they are all huge, complex, ugly realities that quite frankly, I wish didn't exist. I also wish we didn't need an army - but the world has too many megalomaniacal psychopaths walking around. I could make a joke out of that, but I won't touch it!And thus, we are forced to live lives full of contradictions. The more I really look at stuff the less attached I become to any particular perception/belief/experience/reality. There are just so many contradictions. It's the sound of one hand clapping... I give it the Big Shrug. I appreciate your comments about how hard it is to put up with something in silence, runruff, I like to call it the way I see it, too.The implication that I think I know everything - WHAT DO I KNOW? The answer - NOT MUCH. I just don't feel good about the apartheid angle. That does not invalidate it. But how I feel is my personal truth. Basically, I come from a place of heart, empathy, and emotion. I may not know what to think. I felt there was something divisive about it. Despite my reclusive nature, I believe fundamentally in inclusion. I was surprised no one else seemed to feel that way - and more surprised to bear your communal ire. That comes full circle with Hope’s admonition to not let the door hit me on the way out. How is that for exclusiveness?I'd chime in that I don't think we ARE equal. Nobody is equal. We are as apples to oranges from each other. All different. All with our strengths and weaknesses. Our many different experiences. And people can be strong in a lot of ways. Hopefully never beyond wonder, and the power to heal and grow. Transformation. Transcendence. Love and all that good stuff. I think a little levity is called for. A glass for all my friends!And so - I'm so glad we're all gathered together here... Warm. Snow outside. The Winter Solstice and the birth of Christ upon us. Have you seen the moon? We are now in her Season. Winter. A time of darkness, the feminine, receptivity, and gestation. I hope you are thinking about what you might give birth to in the New Year. What miracle will you manifest next? I hope you are thinking about Jesus and what he stood for. A good man, that One. I hope you are harboring love in your hearts... Enough to bestow a little even on those who are hard to take. I hope you can see some of the beauty of our wonderful planet from where you are right now. It's a bittersweet life. We surely have so much to be grateful for (alongside the almost intolerable). I make an effort to look for the goodness. And I pray for you, if it's still dark, that something surprising and new will be born of that darkness.I'm wishing you all a merry Christmas no matter what! May your lights burn bright! And watch out for that New Year - 2010 just might be a good one! And take care you all. I think you’ve run me off.
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Comment #14 posted by Hope on December 23, 2009 at 22:18:11 PT
It's Christmas Eve!
Have a blessed one!
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on December 23, 2009 at 18:38:12 PT
runruff
I understand what you mean. Maybe it's me and the way I was raised but I always show respect when I join a private forum. I have never been banned from posting anywhere. I now post regularly on a forum about rotties. It is a heavily moderated forum and I was told to get back on topic a couple of times and I apologized and all is fine. I understand the forum now and I feel I am helping others with problems which makes me feel good. Many of us have been thru alot together and we have become friends. People that want to highjack CNews don't get very far anymore since people jump in and respond. Respect shouldn't be hard for anyone. It never has been for me.
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Comment #12 posted by runruff on December 23, 2009 at 18:17:42 PT
I like to give the benefit of the doubt?
Some people can be a little off-putting when you first get to know them.Many of us here at C/News have known each other ten years now, or more? After so many years of sharing we become comfortable with each other. We can express ourselves in ways only familiar people would understand.Over the years we have corrected each other, supported each other, soothed each others wounds. It is no wonder an outsider or a new friend we haven't met yet, might wonder into this place and start having some misunderstandings based on what thay don't see.This little group has done more than we will ever know for our labors are not measurable and claiming our right to complete freedom from tyranny is our only reward. I take my lessons from Joseph Goebbels, Sun Tzu, Thomas Paine, Ho Chi Min, and of course I learned from our founding fathers.The word is strong medicine! Words can end wars, start wars!
Words can hurt people, they can make someone feel better!
Words can win hearts and change minds!
Words can start a snowball effect with a single small idea who's time has come that can grow to encircle the world!Be careful what you say and wish for, you just might get it!
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on December 23, 2009 at 16:57:15 PT
Hemp World
Thank you so much. I really appreciate your loving support. She asked the doctor how much longer she has and he won't tell her. Then she asked will she make it to Christmas and he said I can guarantee that you will make it to Christmas. We hugged for the longest time over Thanksgiving. Her beautiful long blond hair has been gone but she now has a couple of inches of hair back and I kept running my fingers thru her hair. I will always remember that special moment in time.
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Comment #10 posted by HempWorld on December 23, 2009 at 16:17:29 PT
Dear FoM,
I'm very sorry to hear about your niece. I'd wish I'd known earlier, I want to put all terminal patients on the Simpson medicine, if they so desire (despite all the stigma the we know of, etc. etc.) And now, this is the drop that makes the bucket flow over, this is my public statement on CNews. If you have a case, or know someone, bring them to my attention if they want to take the medicine. I want to help. You can get your niece some books on the afterlife, if she has little time left. This could comfort her, as I know that, we are all merely in transition allways ... But, in fact; life on earth is hell and when you pass on, you go to paradise (unless you were a really bad person on this earth, in this life). Ok? I hope this helps, my $0.02
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on December 23, 2009 at 15:46:01 PT
charmed quark
Thank you. I hope we will see her tomorrow night. She's a fighter to last this long. Many of the people at our gathering didn't understand what she meant but no one criticized her that night. Also many of the people did understand what she meant. We need narcotics for some pain and cannabis will not help with all pain but it does help ease the mind. I saw a program on tv how they are using LSD to help terminal patients cope with their own soon demise. There were only two drugs that were acceptable back in the 60s and one was cannabis and the other was LSD. The more things change the more they stay the same.
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Comment #8 posted by charmed quark on December 23, 2009 at 15:21:07 PT
FoM - niece
I'm sorry to hear about your niece. I know you've mentioned her a couple of times in the past. I'm glad she's found a little relief.I'm quite a realist about the medical benefits of cannabis. It's not a cure-all. But I was also impaired by all the pharmaceuticals that my doctors basically demanded I take. In my case, I'm quite active and probably have a reasonable time left, assuming I don't get hit by a bus or something. So I really didn't want to be drugged all the time.I've found that cannabinoids allow me to reduce my use of the strong pharmaceuticals and achieve a much better balance of pain reduction and physical and mental function. Very, very useful.If I was in severe pain, I'd still want morphine. But cannabinoids handle the moderate neuropathic pain and spasticity with minimal side effects. A blessing.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on December 23, 2009 at 15:08:49 PT
charmed quark
My youngest niece has Stage 4 lung cancer. The drugs she is on makes her hard to understand most times. At Thanksgiving though she blurted out that she smoked a little marijuana and she felt better then she had in a long time. I know what you are saying about drugs versus cannabis. Her time is short and I hope she can find more comfort now.
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Comment #6 posted by charmed quark on December 23, 2009 at 14:57:58 PT
Pharmaceuticals vs. Cannabis
I was just reading an article about Brittany Murphy - they found a large number of prescription drugs at her home, but no illicit drugs or alcohol, and are thinking she died accidentally from a combination of the drugs. They listed all the drugs they found and it was very similar to the list of drugs I use to take for migraine and neuropathy. Scary. Luckily I was VERY careful in taking these drugs so I'm still walking.But after I started using cannabinoids the list of prescription drugs I use is way down. So it is much less likely I'll kill myself accidentally following my doctor's orders.So cannabinods/cannabis are making it much less likely I'll suffer severe or fatal side effects from drugs.Nobody in the media ever talks about this aspect.
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on December 23, 2009 at 14:02:10 PT:
christ, there's a 'playbook' somewhere
As in a script that prohibs have been given to follow.This is not supposition. There's an easily discernible pattern involved. For example: a few years back, the ONDCP was actually offering 'concerned parents' advice in TV PSA's on what to say...and in exactly those words, as in "We'll tell you what to say."This extends to law enforcement, something that Richard Cowan noted long ago, about how every hydroponic grow-op the police bust that's above a simple wick system is 'sophisticated'. That has to be in a playbook, too. To me, it seems that anything more technologically advanced than a spoon would be 'sophisticated' to these hopeless dweebs. But they still embarrass themselves.It's 'talking points', and nothing but. All designed to do exactly what any advertising campaign does, and that's sell something...in this case, drug prohibition, by constantly repeating the same lines over and over again to reinforce behavioral patterns. It's insulting, really; the supposition is that the public is a programmable robot incapable of detecting this crap for what it is. And it's all done with our hard-earned taxpayer's dollars.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on December 23, 2009 at 13:43:07 PT
christ
Merry Christmas to you too!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
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Comment #3 posted by christ on December 23, 2009 at 13:24:18 PT
carcinogenic??
I don't think I've ever heard this prohibitionist argument... "Regardless of the drug's potential upside, marijuana contains potentially harmful carcinogens, said Del. Adelaide C. Eckardt, who was a nurse for nearly three decades."I've heard them claim that smoked cannabis contains carcinogens, but never that the plant itself does. (on a tangent, does it seem to anyone else that they've been hush-hush on the smoked/carcinogenic argument ever since its anti-cancer properties have been discovered?) I guess Eckardt must have access to some cutting edge research. How odd that the CSMonitor hasn't been all over it. Oh by the way, what is the opposite of "potentially harmful carcinogens"?Merry Christmas C-news fellowship!
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 23, 2009 at 12:23:10 PT
Warnings On Drug Commercials
They are showing Lunesta commercials again on tv with the pretty butterfly. The warnings are so bad that I can't imagine anyone using that drug. I'll take the butterfly and let it fly around in my bedroom and that might help me sleep but not that drug.http://www.lunesta.com/
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on December 23, 2009 at 12:16:20 PT:
I won't lose my cool, I won't lose my cool
Though God knows some days I just want to grab fools by the scruff of their necks and rub their faces in their stupidity the way you do with a dog who's crapped on the rug.""You can get a quick relief from inhaling many things, but the issue is the management over time," said Eckardt (R-Middle Shore). "He was of the opinion, as I have been, that there are certainly other interventions in which you don't have to deal with adding more toxins to the body."'Toxins'. What 'toxins'? Cannabis's LD-50 (lethal dose at which 50% of those who receive it die) has never been determined because no one has ever died from it. 'Toxins'. Yeah, right.I'm glad she's not a nurse, now. I wouldn't want someone that ignorant treating me.
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