cannabisnews.com: MMJ Patients Need an Antidote for Jeff Sessions
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MMJ Patients Need an Antidote for Jeff Sessions
Posted by CN Staff on July 11, 2017 at 06:14:18 PT
By Steph Sherer
Source: Hill
Washington, D.C. -- Medical cannabis is currently legal in 29 states and the District of Columbia and there are approximately 2 million medical cannabis patients in the United States overall. In the coming weeks before the August recess, these patients will be watching closely as Congress is expected to vote on the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment for the Fiscal Year 2018 appropriations bill, which prohibits the Department of Justice from spending federal funds to prosecute states acting in accordance with their own medical cannabis laws.The amendment, introduced by Representatives Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calf.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), was originally passed in the House in 2014 and 2015, and has remained on the current budget through the continuing resolution, but is set to expire this September.
While some congressional offices feel the amendment is destined to pass again, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is doing his best to enforce federal law. On May 1, he wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi stating:“I believe it would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions, particularly in the midst of an historic drug epidemic and potentially long-term uptick in violent crime. The Department must be in a position to use all laws available to combat the transnational drug organizations and dangerous drug traffickers who threaten American lives.”Later that week, President Trump issued a signing statement for the Fiscal Year 2017 omnibus appropriations bill, in which he spoke to the amendment directly, stating, “I will treat this provision consistently with my constitutional responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” It is understandable that these events have made participants in state medical cannabis programs uneasy, to say the least. Session’s comments both prior to and after his confirmation as Attorney General have demonstrated a disdain for cannabis, even if used for medical purposes. For example, Sessions told a Senate committee in April of 2016, “This drug is dangerous, you cannot play with it, it is not funny, it's not something to laugh about. ... Good people don't smoke marijuana."He also commented in a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing in 2014:“I thank … you and some of your officials in DEA for speaking out and telling the truth about the dangers of marijuana. This is not a non-dangerous drug. And I've got to tell you in terms of messaging, the president's statement — to me, I spent 12 years working with grassroots citizens’ groups to change the approach to drugs and the climate of drugs and to make it hostile climate for drugs and explain the dangers of drug use.”Furthermore, despite recent research that points to medical cannabis being a likely tool in helping reduce opioid overdose deaths, Sessions stated in March, “...I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana — so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful.”While legislation that provides permanent protections for patients, like the CARERS Act or Ending the Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act would be preferable, it is unlikely that these bills will be passed before the current budget expires on September 30. Without these protections, the Department of Justice could begin the process of shutting down state medical cannabis programs, forcing some patients toward the illicit market to find their medicine. Moreover, there would be an increase in Medicaid costs and opioid deaths as well as a loss of workplace productivity, according to research.If state medical cannabis programs are unable to continue serving the healthcare needs of patients who benefit from cannabis-based treatments, often where conventional medications have failed, the most vulnerable Americans will be the ones who suffer. Patients living with or treating cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s Disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), epilepsy, severe childhood epilepsy disorders such as Dravet Syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic pain, and a myriad of other conditions will be left without access to this medicine.Medical cannabis patients across the country deserve better than to live in fear. That is why we urge Congress to pass the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment.Steph Sherer is the executive director of Americans for Safe Access, which advocates for access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.Source: Hill, The (US DC)Author: Steph ShererPublished: July 10, 2017Copyright: 2017 The HillContact: editor thehill.comWebsite: http://www.hillnews.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/kYhxu0ecCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on July 13, 2017 at 10:19:45 PT
This is outrageous, too.
Perverse incentives created by police overtime for court appearanceshttp://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2017/07/perverse-incentives-created-by-police.html
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on July 12, 2017 at 20:19:53 PT
Lol! Comment 7. Proof reading failure!
That I know of, Virtuous Bill doesn't have it in for rug users. Hopefully, you know what I was trying to relay.Veronica and Charity Bowers. https://www.google.com/search?q=Veronica+and+Charity+Bowers&oq=Veronica+and+Charity+Bowers&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8Sessions and associates had the climate of hatred and demonization ramped up big time when they connived to have these people's plane fired on. As I recall, horrible a recollection as it is, Veronica and her baby girl were killed by the same fifty caliber bullet tearing through the child first, then the mother.
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on July 12, 2017 at 17:23:51 PT
Virtuous Bill
One thing he was enraged about was when he blurted out a supposedly impromptu story about some inside knowledge of his. He said his advisers advised him not to tell this to the public. But he said he was anyway.He said, "You know why they do it?" (rug users using drugs) He was so outraged. His upper lip curled in a sneer of disgust. "You know why they do it? They do it for..." and he said the word in a low, angry, drawn out, hating, hissing voice, "They do it for p l e a s u r e."
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on July 12, 2017 at 06:39:41 PT
Remember Bill Bennet and his contributions?
I once saw him in an interview asking "Where is the outrage?" He was trying to bring the hatred up a notch. He was so smug, as is his way.I thought "Outrage? You murdering, home invading monster!" "Outrage?"Virtuous Bill, here's that outrage you wanted... but it's directed at you and your killer minions.Remember the lost and prosecuted and persecuted.Remember them... with outrage.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on July 12, 2017 at 06:25:45 PT
Annie Rae Dixon
Not Kathryn Johnson, is who I meant lived and died at the hands of a task force nearby. She was eighty four. Sick and asleep in her bedroom in the dark. She was hooked up to machines. A government agent thought a red light on her machine was a laser gun sight, aimed at him. Do you suppose he was acclimated to the whole damned situation?Why yes, he was perfectly acclimated. Somehow, a little red light on a medical machine looked like a laser shooting across the room at him. Thanks, Daddy Jeff. Another grandma dead because of his and his friends social manipulation.He's good people?
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on July 11, 2017 at 23:25:24 PT
"Hostile"?
"Unfriendly, unkind, bitter, unsympathetic, malicious, vicious, rancorous, venomous, poisonous, virulent; antagonistic, aggressive, confrontational, belligerent, truculent, vitriolic; bellicose, pugnacious, warlike""I spent 12 years working with grassroots citizens’ groups to change the approach to drugs and the climate of drugs and to make it hostile climate for drugs and explain the dangers of drug use.”"Hostile? He wants to create a "Hostile climate"? Well, he and his citizen groups certainly did. Remember Veronica and Charity Bowers? Remember Alberto Sepulveda? Remember Patrick Dorismond? Remember Tarika Wilson? John Hirko? Remember Derek Hale? Remember Esequiel Hernandaz? That gives me a chill. Remember Willie Heard? Remember Annie Rae Dixon? Remember Kathryn Johnson. This war has been hard on poor old ladies. That was close to home. Troy Davis lived in this great state, as did many victims of this horrendous debacle. Eugene Mallory? Tony Martinez? Mario Paz? Gary Shepherd? Please remember him. The whole dreadful story of Stephanie Villareal is so sickening. An innocent child. Another one. Which years is Sessions responsible for? I assume he means the last twelve. They were invading homes and killing people for longer than twelve years. He's proudly taking credit for twelve years of success in creating a climate of hatred. Fairly beating his chest with pride and enthusiasm and dedication. He and his "grass roots"people.There is such a climate of hatred, fear, and hostility that I heard first hand of a man that hated cannabis and it's use so much that said he would kill his own son for using it. He swore he meant it. It was appalling. This instigated hostility was supposed to make people, grown people, with free will, just not experiment with cannabis or drugs. It worked so well with alcohol prohibition, after all. That prohibition and this one seemed and seem to be all about raising the death toll and destroying people. Is that what it is about? Are they those people that believe it's their right or duty to thin the population? He and his buddies created a "climate of hostility"? You don't have to create a climate of hostility for murder. You don't have to create a climate of hostility for theft, rape, and assault.
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Comment #3 posted by MikeEEEEE on July 11, 2017 at 15:03:52 PT
Off-topic: trump treason
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/07/11/donald-trump-jrs-email-thread-could-hardly-have-been-more-explicitThis story might prompt the republicons to impeach the disaster called trump.
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Comment #2 posted by HempWorld on July 11, 2017 at 08:44:29 PT
Lies, lies, lies... OT Oregon Legislature Passes
Bill To Decriminalize Cocaine, Meth, And Heroin:"Oregon’s state legislature just reduced penalties for drug possession in a bill also intended to reduce racial profiling by law enforcement agencies."Well it's about time!http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-11/oregon-legislature-passes-bill-decriminalize-cocaine-meth-and-heroin
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Comment #1 posted by Soupherb on July 11, 2017 at 08:04:52 PT:
More lies?
Prohibitionist Jeffy Needs psychiatric help to give him the ability to reason facts from fiction...I mean if that is even possible...if he only would be made aware of all the harm he has brought to the people of the U.S.
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