Tag Archives: Social Harm

Cannabis should be a medicinal ally, but we’ve put it on the wrong side of the drug war

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We have a drug problem. Its victims include the very young, cialis the very old and everyone in between.

According to The Journal of the American Medical Association, cialis sale the number of babies born addicted to opiates has nearly tripled in the last decade. Overdose death rates for the elderly increased twofold from 1999 to 2006. In 2009, drug-induced deaths exceeded deaths from motor vehicle accidents. The culprit: legal prescription painkillers.

In many people, it starts innocently: A fall, an accident or a surgery begets unbearable pain, treated with an opiate painkiller. As useful as these drugs are, they can also be deadly. Their tragedy ripples through a network of family and friends whose lives are also torn apart and forever altered. We can do better.

What if there was a medication that acted on its own endogenous bodily system to relieve pain, as documented in clinical studies, while never resulting in one overdose death? There is. It’s called cannabis.

The real drug problem in this country lies in the war we have waged on this medicinal plant, while ever increasing numbers of young and old suffer and die from legal prescription drugs. It shouldn’t be. It needn’t be. People should have a choice.

We can do better for our families.

Theresa Daniello Auburn Township

 

US Should Allow Hemp Farming

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To the Editor:
In a recent press release opposing legislation to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp, sildenafil the White House drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, has shown a stunning ignorance about the plant, stating ”all parts of the plant, including hemp, can contain THC (a psychoactive ingredient in marijuana), a Schedule I controlled substance.” In the world of scientific reality, the amounts of THC found in industrial hemp – even in the flowers – are so minute as to be meaningless. But the amounts of THC found in hemp fiber are so low as to be undetectable, which is why hemp fiber products are legal in the United States.

A few examples of the usefulness of industrial hemp are in order. Because of its resistance to degrading, American hemp was the best product for ship’s ropes and rigging during our American Revolution and financed a large part of it. The oil from pressed hemp seeds is both nutritious (highest plant source of omega-3 fatty acids) and can be used as a diesel biofuel. The resultant seed cake rivals soy as a protein source and has essential amino acids. The long fibers from the plant make an excellent source for fabric and high-grade paper (the original drafts of our Constitution were made from hemp paper). The rest of the biomass can be used as a nutritious animal feedstock. It has a thick root system with a taproot over three feet long, markedly lessening desertification (soil loss/runoff). Finally, since the biochemistry of the plant kingdom differs, the hemp plant does better with increasing ultraviolet radiation (think ozone hole), the rice plant does not, making hemp seed cakes a much more valuable nutrition source as we advance into the 21st century.

However, Kerelikowske also said ”America’s farmers deserve our nation’s help and support to ensure rural America’s prosperity and vitality.”

Every other industrial nation allows hemp farming. In a time of economic recession, we should be promoting industrial hemp for its economic potential, especially since the American climate is very suitable for producing high quality hemp and the world market is growing.

The simplest and most effective way to start this economic progress is to completely remove hemp from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration drug Schedule I, which prohibits it. This change could be made immediately by a presidential order to the DEA drug czar.

I remember President Obama campaigning on effective change. The time to start is now.

Gene Tinelli
Jamesville

FEDS ATTACK COLORADO

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UPDATE:

“…or other area or premises that is accessible to the public, PDF here)
Is your center accessible to the public?  No
Is your center within a private dwelling? No

Colorado Revised Statues: Title 18 Professions and Occupations Article 18 Uniform Controlled Substances Act of 1992
18-18-407. Special offender (II)(B)(2)(a) states the following:
(2) (a) A defendant shall be a special offender if the defendant is convicted of selling, help distributing, possessing with intent to distribute, manufacturing, or attempting to manufacture any controlled substance in violation of section 18-18-405 either within or upon the grounds of any public or private elementary, middle, junior high, or high school, vocational school, or public housing development, or within one thousand feet of the perimeter of any such school or public housing development grounds on any street, alley, parkway, sidewalk, public park, playground, or other area or premises that is accessible to the public, or within any private dwelling that is accessible to the public for the purpose of the sale, distribution, use, exchange, manufacture, or attempted manufacture of controlled substances in violation of this article, or in any school bus as defined in section 42-1-102 (88), C.R.S., while such school bus is engaged in the transportation of persons who are students at any public or private elementary, middle, junior high, or high school. The court is required in addition to imposing the sentence to imprisonment in the department of corrections required by subsection (1) of this section, to fine the defendant without suspension at least twice the minimum fine provided for in section 18-1.3-401 (1)

 

Hello fellow pioneer,

By now you know about the feds cracking down on centers within 1000’ of schools.

ACT4CO is getting into this fight on behalf of our patients and our members. Whether or not you are directly affected, this impacts are whole industry. Just because you have not received a letter does not mean you are home free.

The federal district attorney’s office has said that this is only the first wave, so don’t look at it as competition being eliminated….you may be next. The reason I say this is that in addtion to schools, in California, the feds have identified parks and public pools as other zones with 1,000’ restrictions. Here is a direct quote from section 860 of the U.S. code:

“distributing, possessing with intent to distribute, or manufacturing a controlled substance in or on, or within one thousand feet of, the real property comprising a public or private elementary, vocational, or secondary school or a public or private college, junior college, or university, or a playground, or housing facility owned by a public housing authority, or within 100 feet of a public or private youth center, public swimming pool, or video arcade facility.”

 

So, as you might imagine, the feds are likely to try and chew us up in small bites. 23 centers doesn’t sound like a lot to the general public, and if they do this over and over again, they will reduce our numbers over time to the point where they can go after everyone at once. They can’t do it very well at the moment because of our large numbers.

This is a beachead. If we don’t put up a fight for “the targeted 23” here, then they will push forward with another round, and another until they whittle us down to nothing. I am reminded of the famous quote from Martin Niemoller about the Nazis:

First they came for the communists, and
I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and
I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and
I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, and
I didn’t speak out because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and
there was no one left to speak out for me.

 

ACT4CO is participating with other local, state and national industry organizations such as CBA, Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council, MMBA, Vicente Consulting, MMIG, NCIA,DPA, MPP, SSDP, and various MMJ lawyers to respond to this threat to our patients and businesses. It is our contention that this unilateral move on the part of John Walsh is not in conformance with the policy Attorney General Holder stated in last month’s congressional testimony. We will be working on three fronts, legal, political, and public relations. You will see a joint press release coming out soon.

We urge you to come to the MMBA meeting on 1/19 at Casselmans to learn more about this threat and potential responses in the legal, political and public relations arenas.

If you or a center you know has received a letter, please have them contact Josh Kappel atVicente Consulting) is taking the lead on pulling people together to fight this. They need to see as many of the letters as possible so they can figure out what (if any) differences there may be between the letters and to see what the commonalities are. This is needed to try to divine the direction of the federal district attorney and develop a response.

Nicholas King, President

Drugged Driving… Putting Science In Prison

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I just completed a 30 day trial of daily dosages of over 1.2g of Cannabis oil a day and I am now convinced that THC metabolites do mitigate the effects of THC. Colorado just started a “Drugged Driving Is Impaired Driving” campaign that is completely propagandist.  To infer that someone had an accident because they have Cannabis in their system does not mean it caused the accident, for sale that is absurd to think that way. Look at the science and stop profiling us.

no rx but to tell me I am impaired because I am using Cannabis is an insult. Give me a driving test and you will see. I have police follow me everywhere, as I have Cannabis all over my Jeep, and I have not been pulled over for impaired driving. These ads are an insult to us as Cannabis patients.

Pills Pills Pills and More Pills

This campaign may target all drugs, but 90% of this demographic are Cannabis consumers.  I support going after people driving on Ambian and other pharmaceuticals. I have lost a friend in Louisville, Colorado to a woman taking pharmaceuticals who drove over 50′ off the road striking John.  As a patient if I were to see these prejudicial posters in a dispensary, I would share it will all I can, because those that support this campaign have lost my support.  This is only going to hurt us as patients. This is just like RACISM*, the difference being that society calls us DISABLED. Why is our own industry fighting each other with this propaganda.

Where did the money come from to pay for all this advertising?  Wouldn’t it have been better spent telling the truth?

I am very concerned about MMIG, law enforcement and centers that support this. I believe that it is our responsibility as patients to confront this Drugged Driving campaign as it is demeaning to us as disabled people.  This is only furthering Refer Madness.

Beware that City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32 (2000),  is where the Supreme Court of the United States limited the power of law enforcement to conduct suspicionless searches, specifically, using drug-sniffing dogs at roadblocks.

*Hundreds of thousands of us are in prison, have been killed, tortured and abused by law enforcement, and forced to physically build more private prisons.

UPDATE: I am now recording all my driving behavior as a demonstration to the fact that I am not impaired with the elevated doses of Cannabis.

Here is a great book that you may want to read “Science Under Siege: The Politicians’ War on Nature and Truth”  by Todd Wilkinson

Science Under Siege: The Politicians' War on Nature and Truth

 

 

Can’t Use Medicine in Home

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here so that you can read it.
We live in a mobile home park in Federal Heights, hospital and I’ve been very active in the MMJ community since Jan. 2010, when I received my MMJ recommendation from my physician.  I’ve never hidden my MMJ status – I don’t feel the need to hide.  It is my right, under law, to use cannabis to treat the varying forms of chronic pain (fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome, post-herpetic neuralgia, and diabetic neuropathy) that I live with on a daily basis.
I’m a good citizen.  I’ve never been in trouble with the law in any way (other than a couple of speeding tickets more than 10 years ago).  I run the Colorado Fibromyalgia Network, and I’m politically active within my own community and at the state and national levels.  I have children – one is an adult and is married and living on his own, and the other just turned 16 and lives with us in Federal Heights.
After reading this notice from our park manager, I’m feeling really threatened.  I do have cannabis in my home.  And I have two small plants growing in my bathroom, to help cut some of the costs of my meds – assuming I am successful in cultivating them.  I don’t medicate outside my home, and I don’t do anything to violate my status under Amendment 20.  I take my MMJ status very seriously, and am a responsible user.
by Lannette Johnson

See who gets hurt in the War On Cannabis

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Defenders of the War on Marijuana Don’t Have a Clue Who They’re Hurting.

The debate over New York City’s ampoule which is exactly what needs to happen. Forced at last to defend this grand travesty before an angry public, the mayor’s office is now trying to convince everyone that this epidemic of constitutional violations and racial profiling is somehow good for the community:

The Bloomberg administration says that by arresting more than 350,000 people for having small amounts of marijuana since 2002, the police have helped drive down serious crime — and that the consequences for the people locked up have been minimal.

Nearly 90 percent of those arrested on charges of personal possession of marijuana are black or Latino, although its use by young white people is rampant in affluent quarters of the city.

Faced with criticism from members of the City Council and the State Legislature, aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have emphasized that few of those arrested on pot charges actually end up with criminal convictions because most cases are dismissed and sealed after one year. In effect, they say, the arrest process itself — which can stretch for 24 hours or more, under squalid conditions in holding pens — is the extent of the punishment. (NYT)

 

It’s amazing enough that any sane person would make light of being thrown in a crowded, disgusting jail in New York City. With the exception of the apparently large number of minor marijuana offenders, I’d really rather not meet most of the people who had to be removed from the streets of NYC on a given day. But that’s just the beginning:

Yet there are other, hidden consequences, say lawyers and advocates who work with those arrested. People regularly lose jobs for missing work as they wait to see a judge or because their employers do not want anyone connected with even minor drug offenses on the payroll, said Marlen Bodden, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society.
…
“They’re clogging the courts and ruining people’s lives, in terms of potential collateral consequences for housing, employment, immigration,” said Steven Banks, the attorney in chief of the Legal Aid Society, which represented 30,000 people in minor marijuana cases last year.

 

It’s incredible that someone would even have to explain how getting arrested for drugs actually does really, really suck. Obvious truths such as these are routinely and nonchalantly obscured by drug war defenders any time an issue like this comes into focus, and it’s easy to lose sight of how genuinely and uniquely ridiculous each and every such statement truly is. Getting arrested for marijuana isn’t a big deal? Seriously?

Apologists for mass marijuana arrests will compare the whole process to giving out parking tickets right up until the point when we propose legislation to actually treat marijuana that way, at which point they will predictably go ballistic. The same idiots who claim that we need tough penalties to “send the right message to our young people,” will turn around in an instant and announce in the newspaper that the punishment for marijuana is just a slap on the wrist. That’s how desperate, dishonest, and confused the proponents of marijuana prohibition have become, and it’s a step forward for reform any time we can force them to open their mouths.