cannabisnews.com: Montel Williams Among D.C. MMJ License Seekers
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Montel Williams Among D.C. MMJ License Seekers
Posted by CN Staff on August 16, 2011 at 17:52:46 PT
By Mike DeBonis
Source: Washington Post
Washington, DC -- Montel Williams, the talk show host, actor and pitchman, is part of a nonprofit group seeking licenses from the District to operate a marijuana dispensary and cultivation facilities.According to D.C. records, the Abatin Wellness Center has expressed preliminary interest in opening medical marijuana businesses in the city. A dispensary by the same name opened this year in Sacramento with Williams as its public face.
Abatin has hired D.C. lawyer Frederick D. Cooke Jr. to shepherd it through the process. Cooke confirmed Tuesday that Williams, who has multiple sclerosis and is a supporter of medicinal cannabis, has a major role in the group. “He is not the managing director or the driving guy,” Cooke said. “But he is certainly at a level more involved than being a face of the organization. He knows a lot about the organization, and he speaks and gets resources. He does stuff that makes the organization go.”Jonathan Franks, a Los Angeles-based publicist for Williams and Abatin, said, “This is not a spokesman-for-hire deal.” Cooke said Williams visited the District this year to show his interest in the city and its marijuana program. “We talked to a few people outside the Wilson Building and inside the Wilson Building. We couldn’t lobby,” he said. The nonprofit Sacramento dispensary seeks to occupy an upscale niche in the marijuana retail industry. One reviewer recently referred to it as the “Nieman Marcus [sic] Of Marijuana.”Under the District’s medical marijuana law, people convicted of a felony or drug-related misdemeanor are not allowed to participate in the program. It is unclear whether Williams’s January citation for possession of drug paraphernalia will complicate matters for him. (“I don’t believe that would be an issue,” Cooke said.)Applications to operate cultivation centers are due Sept. 16. The application period for dispensaries will follow. Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: Mike DeBonisPublished: August 16, 2011Copyright: 2011 Washington Post CompanyContact: letters washpost.com URL: http://drugsense.org/url/AU8ZdeeQWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #46 posted by FoM on September 05, 2011 at 12:21:55 PT
Afterburner
Another very good article. Thank you.
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Comment #45 posted by afterburner on September 05, 2011 at 08:48:21 PT
FoM #37 - OT
Another view of what many Americans view as important to our society:Arianna Huffington.
What Hurricane Irene Can Teach Us About the Jobs Crisis.
Posted: 8/30/11 01:40 PM ET.
Follow Jobs , Recession , Unemployment , Third World America , Hurricane Irene , Hurricane Irene 2011 , Hurricane Irene Response , Jobs Bill , Jobs Crisis , Politics News
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/hurricane-irene-response_b_941960.html
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Comment #44 posted by Hope on August 23, 2011 at 21:00:16 PT
Afterburner Comment 36
is a wonderful post. I've read it several times. I agree with what you say in it. It's such a wide ranging post it's hard to decide on one comment for it... but thank you. I benefited from it throughout.
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Comment #43 posted by Hope on August 23, 2011 at 20:56:10 PT
You'll are so right.
She shouldn't have to worry about this. I think there's a good chance she will be treated by the people interviewing her now. It is a well known church based medical school with a great cancer treatment center. I'm praying and hoping.I will make a point of telling her what you said, Greenmed. I just so hope that the place that is interviewing her now will treat her.
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Comment #42 posted by greenmed on August 23, 2011 at 19:41:46 PT
Hope
Hope, it sorrows me to read what your friend is going through. Has she looked into treatment at a public university medical school? Receiving state and federal funds, they are more likely to approve more-generous Financial Assistance to the uninsured and unwealthy than private hospitals might be. Depending on assets, and especially for those with incomes less than 10K, it might be possible to cut costs substantially... like to 5-20% of the bill. Sorry if this is redundant. Costs shouldn't have to be what she's dwelling on now, that's for certain.
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Comment #41 posted by FoM on August 23, 2011 at 14:48:44 PT
Hope
No one needs the stress your friend is going through on top of having a serious illness. I had a wonderful lady work for us years ago and her Mom finally got someone to give her chemo but it was too late.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #40 posted by Hope on August 23, 2011 at 13:48:15 PT
Experimental programs
My friend has already been turned down by four separate clinical trials.Maybe she'll pass this bunch of interviews though. Neither of us have any idea what would quality or disqualify anyone for the program. We just have to wait.
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Comment #39 posted by FoM on August 23, 2011 at 13:08:02 PT
Hope
I wish the very best for your friend. I know it was hard for Marty. They put her in an experimental program that is how she got some sort of treatment faster then she would have any other way.
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Comment #38 posted by Hope on August 23, 2011 at 12:37:22 PT
Runruff, FoM, Afterburner.
Thank you guys for your concern. I appreciate it. My friend has got an interview soon with a medical organization that may or may not help. I pray they will. She already was approved through one interview and now has, I think, four more to pass through. She's not giving up yet. Some might have. She's actively trying to check out all her resources.
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Comment #37 posted by FoM on August 22, 2011 at 11:22:57 PT
Afterburner
What you wrote was really correct. I want to see the world and our country in a good way. I have always believed like this song.Light a Candle - Neil Younghttp://www.neilyoung.com/forkintheroad/lightacandlevideo.htmlInstead of cursin' the darknessLight a candle for where we're goin'There's somethin' ahead, worth lookin' for***When the light of time is on usWe will see our moment comeAnd the livin' sole inside will carry onhttp://www.songlyrics.com/neil-young/light-a-candle-lyrics/
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Comment #36 posted by afterburner on August 22, 2011 at 09:25:10 PT
Hope #25-35 & Anyone Else Interested in Compassion
Two thoughts:I was listening to a particularly decent song on the car radio the other day when a person on the street walked by. I thought I wonder if he.or.she likes this song. I realized that we c-newsers, unseen & separated by thousands of miles & even continents, know more about each others heart & thoughts than about those of random people on the streets of the town or country where we live. Hail to the power of the Internet and great moderators like FoM.I read an article recently studying the decline in religious attendance by young people, even in some Baptist and Pentecostal churches. The author was an atheist and celebrated this decline (based as it was on religious intolerance of diversity). And then, I remembered what I had learned of world religions. I found in the great writings of most serious religions a respect for and admonition to compassion. And I thought what is really gone when we lose religion: compassion. Now, I read Hope's concern about health-care cheats, on the part of some users and many employers. So called Obamacare is necessary to repair the damage done by employers opting out of their legal health-care responsibilities with part-time no benefits jobs and outsourcing. Health should not be only the province of religion; health is a secular concern as well. To "promote the general welfare..." our founding fathers wrote in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. I believe in the First Amendment protecting the practice of religion while preventing the domination of Government by a State religion. The founding fathers were big on checks and balances to prevent the abuses of government suffered in Europe.The American Dream is not a get rich quick scheme to amass money, power and property using whatever dirty underhanded tricks business or individuals can get away with. We need to follow the advice of Benjamin Rush, Founding Father and physician, and pass a Health Freedom Amendment. Surely, healthy workers are more valuable and more productive.The ranchers tactic of culling the herd is perhaps practical on a cattle drive, but is an inappropriate metaphor for managing the health of a society and a nation!Those two thoughts sure led to a bunch more thoughts. Hope, thank you for sharing your sadness. I have been feeling that way somewhat and didn't know quite how to put the burden into words and to release its power over me. I too decided not to dwell as much on the harms, ever-present as they are, especially in the run-up to the 2012 election. I vote for and am striving for more family time, more laughter, more live and let God, and choosing my battles.
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Comment #35 posted by FoM on August 20, 2011 at 19:19:51 PT
Hope
That's why I love you. You have a beautiful heart. Death is part of life but no one should be denied the best care for any reason. If a human being is measured on his financial success then everything I believe is wrong. I don't measure success by how much money a person has but by how a person treats another. Health care isn't just for those who have a job and maybe a Union if they are lucky but for all who need care. If people would look they would see that some people could never succeed in life. What about them?
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Comment #34 posted by runruff on August 20, 2011 at 17:32:40 PT
Hope,
I think my comment was inappropriate here. I am sorry you are feeling the way you do."And this too shall pass!" This means that it did not come to stay, it came to pass and this too shall pass. Sit with your feelings and experience them even taking one step backward, if you can while you observe yourself? This is the experience of being human, good or bad, it will pass. don't miss the ride!
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Comment #33 posted by Hope on August 20, 2011 at 17:20:39 PT
Be happy. Don't worry. Be happy.
I have a sweet child sitting here with me as I type singing sweetly to her dolls. I shall rejoice in that and not be filled with sorrow for things I cannot help. I shall be thankful for that and do what I can to make things better for everyone, when and if I can.Rejoice in spite of the sorrow. We must do so, if we can.
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Comment #32 posted by Hope on August 20, 2011 at 17:04:19 PT
I'm sorry
that I seem so down and depressed. I am, though. Some times I have to say how painful all this hatefulness and sorrow is. I know it doesn't help. Just makes people feel worse if they pay any attention to it at all. Then there are those prohibitionists that add to all the everyday sorrows of life for so many people because they get their britches all torqued up about prohibiting people from using a plant they enjoy and that can ease some suffering and pain and sickness.I guess I shouldn't be so sad about people getting sick and dying even. It's the way of life. Death is part of it all, sooner or later. Dang. I'm in a state. I've got to stop dwelling on something so sorrowful that I can't seem to do anything about. It's my friend's situation that won't let me rest from it.
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Comment #31 posted by runruff on August 20, 2011 at 16:59:57 PT
"Fruit of the Holy Spirit"
When I was a kid I went to summer camp. That was the last time I wore "Fruit O' the Loom" underwear. That became my nickname the whole summer!
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Comment #30 posted by Hope on August 20, 2011 at 16:57:35 PT
Yup...
"They have not love". They are unforgiving and spiteful. They are full of hatred and they "Invent ways of doing evil". "Their feet are swift to shed blood." They have no pity for others.And there's more than plenty of people like that. There's more people like that than there are compassionate people. There are people that would rob or cheat a person out of their last dime and leave them wounded on the side of the road. And they are hard to love themselves.I've often thought the government should get out of the business of helping people and the churches should do it instead of building new buildings and gymnasiums. But that, seemingly, isn't that practical, and certainly not a popular idea, either. I don't know what's best. I know I hate to see anyone denied medical care for any reason... even refusing to buy insurance when they could have if they'd just made some serious plans and allowances for it. I know people like that, too. They're gambling. And I hate to see them suffer for it, just like I hate to see the poor suffer for being poor. But a lot of people are not like you and I and they think people should be made to suffer for their mistakes... and their children, too.
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on August 20, 2011 at 15:34:09 PT
Hope
People that feel that way are jealous, hateful and self centered people. God blesses any kind and generous country. If we help others He will help us I was always taught to believe and I have proven that in my life to be true.http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+6&version=NKJVAnd let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_Holy_Spirit
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Comment #28 posted by Hope on August 20, 2011 at 14:58:57 PT
FoM
I'm pretty sure there is a serious faction of the "ruling" and powerful echelons of society and government that want people to die... so as not to "tax resources". Philosophically and morally, I think they are hideously wrong to think that way.They are just greedy and selfish and have not one iota of compassion for anyone that hasn't got the money to purchase whatever they need. "Too bad." They don't believe at all in that "Brother's keeper" stuff or "Love one another" or caring for the "sick and needy". In their minds they are able to perceive some people as a "drain" on society... as they visualize it. In their view, some people are "unproductive" and useless... therefore, they have no compassion for them and their lives whatsoever. None at all. Cold as a rock in Antarctica.Healthcare cost something. A lot, in fact. I don't know what the answer is other than the wealthier sharing somewhat with the less fortunate. That, obviously, doesn't happen easily. People are proud, filled with all kinds of hatreds and disrespects, selfish, and afraid.I wish they weren't. But they are.There are many that feel a government is wrong to take money from their wages to pay for medical care of people that they don't even know and certainly don't like. People they consider n'er do wells, worthless, lazy, leeches, slackers and all sorts of other things. They resent what they think is being forcefully stolen from them to help others... and they don't want to help others. That's obvious. All those that say... "Charity is fine... but I don't want to be forced to do it. I want to choose my charities myself." They aren't going to choose any charity freely. They know that and all the rest of us know that. I don't know how to get people to co-operate or care about other people if they're not inclined to.
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Comment #27 posted by Hope on August 20, 2011 at 14:30:10 PT
All this trouble, as I recall it,
about people being able to afford health insurance or not, started right when there was a raise in the minimum wage some years ago. Maybe twenty years ago. Immediately after that contentious raise in the minimum wage level, businesses that paid on that end of the wage scale suddenly started keeping employees' hours to a maximum of thirty nine hours or less, to keep them from being eligible for any health coverage or benefits at all. I'd never heard of that practice before that time but then it burst out everywhere like some of revenge thing on the part of certain businesses. Then it started creeping very quickly upward as a way of keeping from having to offer workers at many levels any benefits with jobs. Sickening.The money of the "Economy" maybe seeps down, not even "trickles" down... but it gushes upward to the very top.
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on August 20, 2011 at 12:07:06 PT
Hope
That is an interesting article. What is so great about having a job if you get sick and can't get or afford health care? I believe people in their 40s and early 50s have mostly lived without health coverage that is affordable. It must be fixed. Why can't we have a VA type program or even a Medicaid type program for everyone? People on Medicaid don't worry about health care costs but people not on Medicaid it is a very important concern. Why can't the citizens of the USA have a program like Congress has?
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Comment #25 posted by Hope on August 20, 2011 at 11:15:33 PT
Still off topic... but increasing, perhaps,
some understanding of what's going on in the world of healthcare and the need for it.This is about what's happening in Texas. Really. It's interesting.http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Symptoms-of-health-care-problem-grow-in-Texas-2082750.php
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Comment #24 posted by Hope on August 19, 2011 at 12:25:59 PT
Thanks, Dongenero.
That helps a lot. (comment 20)That sounds very good, FoM. (comment 22)
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Comment #23 posted by FoM on August 18, 2011 at 16:08:29 PT
Afterburner
That's just one more proof that more and more people think cannabis is medicine.
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on August 18, 2011 at 16:02:51 PT
Hope
I agree that insurance for medical care has always been for profit but it has gotten way out of reach for so many people. I don't remember exclusions like they have now. The link about single payer that dongenero posted shows me there would be competition to help lower the rates. That's similar to how the VA does it I think. The VA system works. It isn't perfect but it is alot better then regular insurance is these days. I don't know if it is true or not but it was told to me that besides University Hospital in Cleveland working with Wade Park there is a chance The Cleveland Clinic's new cardiac care floor will work with Veterans too. That would be just wonderful. The hospitals are only a few blocks apart.
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Comment #21 posted by afterburner on August 18, 2011 at 14:02:59 PT
Recent news
Marijuana DNA sequenced in $200,000 project. 2011/08/18
http://www.thestar.com/healthzone/newsfeatures/article/1041210--marijuana-dna-sequenced-in-200-000-project?bn=1
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Comment #20 posted by dongenero on August 18, 2011 at 13:58:51 PT
single payer health care
This is probably a good overview of the concept. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-payer_health_care
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Comment #19 posted by Hope on August 18, 2011 at 13:23:47 PT
The only hope, really..
it seems... is hope for the next life. Hope that there is one and that it will be better. Or maybe just hope that there is an end to all this suffering and selfishness.
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Comment #18 posted by Hope on August 18, 2011 at 13:21:55 PT
Alive, with our loved ones in a rent house
or apartment is better than dead on our own property.But of course we want to own our own homes. It looks like that too may have to become a thing of the past.I don't understand "single payer insurance".Could someone explain it to me.Medical care has always been for profit in this country unless another individual or organization would pay for someone's bill. But I thought, up until now, that a way could be found, for assistance, if someone needed it. I was wrong.Everything is going to the very, very rich. And it seems a lot of them don't give a tinker's damn about the less fortunate people among us. They actually blame them for their circumstances. They will own all the homes and property at the rate we are going. All of them.All doctors and medical people aren't wealthy and over paid. It's awful the mess the nation... the whole world, is in. Awful.I think it's because of serious greed and serious mismanagement somewhere and everywhere. But life has always been hellacious for so many people. I guess that's not about to end any time soon.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on August 18, 2011 at 12:38:30 PT
50,000,000 Americans With No Access To Health Care
That is an unbelievable number of Americans that could just die from illness in the USA.
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on August 18, 2011 at 12:35:15 PT
Afterburner
Another excellent article. Thank you.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on August 18, 2011 at 12:03:05 PT
Hope
I am really sorry about your friend. I have a questions about using property for paying medical bills. What is the sense of working hard to buy a home and maintain a home if any equity could go to pay a medical bill? People should only rent then if we think about it. We need a single payer system like other countries have. When they made it for profit that was what caused this to happen.
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Comment #14 posted by afterburner on August 18, 2011 at 10:42:02 PT
OT - Train Wreck I Can't Tear my Eyes Away from
Amped Status / By David DeGraw.
comments_image 66 COMMENTS.
Debt, Debt, Debt: 90% of Americans Experience Income Decline As Wealth Gets Sucked Back Into Top .1% -- Debt Explodes As We Try to Make Ends Meet.
Americans have made up for the decline in income by taking on large amounts of debt.
August 14, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/152016/debt%2C_debt%2C_debt%3A_90_of_americans_experience_income_decline_as_wealth_gets_sucked_back_into_top_.1_--_debt_explodes_as_we_try_to_make_ends_meet?akid=7419.313040.kKRI_r&rd=1&t=2
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on August 18, 2011 at 10:34:03 PT
And yes...
I thought there was help for people that found themselves in their position. I met people getting treatment when I did that had no insurance. If there is, my friend hasn't found it yet. Yes. It's horrifying.
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on August 18, 2011 at 10:17:32 PT
She was watching Dr. Oz
and he told the symptoms of a kind of cancer. She had the symptoms. Went to the doctor and she has cancer. She asked to spend her small savings as far as they would go... and they said no. It wouldn't be a drop in the bucket.
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on August 18, 2011 at 10:11:37 PT
I have a friend
that discovered she has cancer a few weeks ago. She has no insurance and not enough money or property to cover the expense of treatment. She's too young and not poor enough to qualify for any help. Please get some sort of insurance, FoM. Even if you have to live on Ramen noodles to do it. I have so many loved ones and friends with no insurance. I'm so afraid for them.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on August 18, 2011 at 09:24:14 PT
dongenero
I agree with you. Very well said. Insurance was for almost everyone and worked many years ago and it can work again. Things change and so should the way our health care system is run. My niece also gets full medical benefits, expenses and free housing. Then the laborers in Home Health Care get about $8 and hour and no benefits. It's all wrong.
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Comment #9 posted by dongenero on August 18, 2011 at 08:28:16 PT
OT healthcare
Healthcare coverage is a mess. Even if you have decent insurance, deductibles really add up to be significant.And then take a close look on the insurance receipt, at what the true charges are for the procedures before insurance negotiates.....diagnostics and simple outpatient surgeries are astronomical!
Anyone who cannot afford insurance, and frankly a good number who do have insurance are about one illness away from financial disaster.Lose a job for any amount of time, and if your recurring bills don't destroy you, healthcare costs very well may.I believe it's right, a single payer plan is the only workable solution. This current hodgepodge patchwork of network plans and subcontracted docs under merged healthcare provider corporations make it difficult to even know if you are covered from one procedure or diagnostic review to the next.And why is care coverage for individuals even involved in one's employment in this day and age? People change jobs often. One's healthcare should be portable with the individual, not tied to their job. A lifelong career at a corporation is essentially non-existent now days.And to those who want to repeal the latest healthcare reform I ask, in favor of what? Where we were is untenable. Where we go has to be made better.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on August 17, 2011 at 19:57:48 PT
Hope
Jobs, medical care, lower fuel and food costs matter not fighting back and forth. We need major work done on our bridges and highways. Maintenance of our infrastructure is always something that must be done. My friend named Robin is really sick. Her husband and her both work and make a decent income but not enough to afford health insurance. She can't breathe. She just can't catch her breathe. She went to an emegency care center and they told her to find a doctor. She has exhausted all the money she had saved and they still haven't done a chest x-ray. They put her on that nasty drug Predinose. She can breathe with that drug but as soon as she stops a weeks script she can't breathe again. This is just not a workable medical system. We really need a single payer system. My niece is making $40 an hour as a traveling nurse in her speciality. That's a lot of money. Everything is out of balance. Robin is a home health care worker. How ironic.
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on August 17, 2011 at 19:40:40 PT
Jobs. Affordable medical care.
The price of fuel and food. Back off on the criminalizing of citizens for excessive control and profit.These are the things that we have to make better. We have to.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on August 17, 2011 at 17:41:11 PT
Hope
I am relatively sure Obama will win re-election since there is no one that is anywhere near a threat to him running on the Right. I think the couple of Presidential debates they will have next year will be interesting to watch but the rest is just politics. They should try to say how they will get more jobs for the citizens of the USA and not be throwing darts.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on August 17, 2011 at 17:24:33 PT
Yes... it's tiresome that it's already started...
It usually does start way before it needs to though. I suppose some people are excited that it's already started. Not me.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on August 17, 2011 at 17:05:30 PT
Hope
They are starting all the election stuff already and it takes all of the other news and pushes it away. It's really depressing to start this far ahead of November 2012. Let the RP pick who they want and then when Obama and the person who gets the nomination debate then it will be interesting but not now.
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on August 17, 2011 at 15:17:41 PT
Comment 1
I was thinking the same thing.Very quiet.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 17, 2011 at 14:56:43 PT
runruff
There is always some news but nothing worth posting. It's summer and people are getting away more and enjoying this time of year. I know I am avoiding the TV News as much as possible and enjoying peace and quiet. The heat wave has broken and it's great to be outside.
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on August 17, 2011 at 14:32:20 PT
Quiet...
...eh?
[ Post Comment ]
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