Evidence Is In, But No Change In Medical Marijuana Laws

[User]

I was born and raised in California. I have been a Vacaville resident for seven years. Readers may have seen me around town, with my dog and my cane, or using the mechanical carts in the supermarket. I am a chronic pain patient and a medical cannabis patient.

My brother has inflammatory arthritis; he's a patient too. My 63-year-old mother, with arthritis and IBS and bone spurs, is one too. We're used to being disparaged as "junkies" and "criminals" by our neighbors, and having to drive to Oakland just to get our medicine because Solano County refuses to acknowledge the will of the people and obey state law. We've adjusted to all that. We know a lot of people just don't understand because they've never been where we are. We've just been waiting for science to bear us out.

So I was overjoyed when I read about Dr. D. I. Abrams' study, published in the journal Neurology, which conclusively demonstrates that smoked cannabis (marijuana) effectively reduces chronic neuropathic pain as well as acute pain. This study illustrates that medical cannabis provides much-needed relief from suffering for people living with HIV/AIDS and other disorders that cause neuropathic pain.

I thought, "Finally, they've proved what I've been saying all along from my own experience."

And what changed? Did the federal government stop persecuting medical cannabis patients and providers? Did the federal government stop barring medical cannabis research while hypocritically claiming that there

isn't enough research to prove its medical value? Did Congress even hold oversight hearings to investigate why federal agencies have resisted full implementation of the Institute of Medicine's 1999 recommendations?

No. None of these things happened.

You know a medical cannabis patient. A family member, a friend, perhaps a co-worker. Please help us. At least don't condemn us. It's hard to be disabled in this country these days.

Jack Romero
Vacaville



News Hawk: User: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: The Reporter
Copyright: 2008 The Reporter
Contact: Contact Us - The Reporter
Website: Evidence is in, but no change in medical marijuana laws - The Reporter

[eltone]

You know a medical cannabis patient. A family member, a friend, perhaps a co-worker. Please help us. At least don't condemn us. It's hard to be disabled in this country these days.

Boy can I relate to that I have Diabetic Neuropathic Gastroparesis, no pain but chronic nausea and vomiting. Marinol, which is my only choice since MMJ is illegal in Iowa, is inefficient and ineffective and more expensive. I have lost one very close friend because I advocate for medical marijuana in a state where it is not legal. Yet it is in schedule I and II by the Iowa Board of Parmaceutical Examiners, this July 29 they are being forced to hold a hearing to reschedule marijuana from schedule I to II. Since 12 states have already legalized medical marijuana the DEA is required to put Marijuana in schedule II not I. Plus the DEA has accepted a petition from the same Iowa citizen, for a hearing to change Marijuana federally out of schedule I and into at least schedule II or III. Do I think it will change anything? I doubt it. But I have hope.

[User]

Originally Posted by eltone

Boy can I relate to that I have Diabetic Neuropathic Gastroparesis, no pain but chronic nausea and vomiting........ I advocate for medical marijuana in a state where it is not legal........Do I think it will change anything? I doubt it. But I have hope.

i'm also a diabetic. i have lots of neuropathic pain. i also live in your general neighborhood (not for long though, cali here i come), and also a state where marijuana is not yet legal as medicine.

one thing it will change is you'll be one step closer to where you want to get

[eltone]

Yeah, make a run for freedom. I would go to either Cali or Oregon. Maybe in about 2 years I'll be ready to make the move . From where I sit, and that's far off, Oregon looks like the best bet financially. There MMJ program, from what I understand, is run by the DHS and the Coops provide medical marijuana for the poor and disabled at severly reduced prices if not free. Right now the government pays over $700 a month for my Marinol prescription. Don't get me wrong Marinol is better than anything else on the market except the Marijuana Plant itself . Someday soon marijuana will be accepted and the people will look back and say, "What were we thinking."

[User]

i think but am not sure, but it seems like oregon would be a less expensive place to live than cali. i'm picking cali because of friends & family who are there. otherwise i'd probably be thinking oregon myself.

[eltone]

Yeah I have family in Davis, Ca. 40 miles east of San Francisco next to Sacramento, Ca. But I have some friends in Oregon where, since I am disabled, my medicine would be cheaper. I can't afford to pay $45-$65 for only 3.5 grams. Which is what I'm told is the price at dispensaries in Cali . Hope your wish comes true for you ASAP. Once there and legal, remember to take a minute of silence for those of us suffering because we are denied our medicine...

[MildGreens]

"Evidence Is In" and is exonerative......

What should be a matter of social justice and inclusive politics has been reduced to the logical equivalent of water-boarding.

The failure of 'due process' in the USA is dirt on the hands of those who govern and they should be held to account.

It is therefore up to the citizens of the USA (principally) to regale at the UN Convention on Narcotics under which they are shackled and join in the global push to disenfranchise the INCB's hold on the debate. There has never been a better chance available to all world citizens to circumvent the tyranny of the majority than UNODC Vienna 2009. It is, as it were, in your hands... each and everyone of you.

see Beyond 2008 NGO consultation recommendations containing clear harm reduction and human rights language, calling for evidence-based, culturally and socially sensitive approaches, calling for inclusion of all affected and stigmatised populations, access to alternative livelihoods before eradication, improved access to essential medicines under treaty control, encouraging alternatives to criminal/prison sanctions, analysing unintended consequences of the drug control system, taking into account traditional licit uses, and many more.

This is the stuff of social capital.
Back the horse that is winning.

[wordsworm]

You know, I don't like the fact that little to no research has been done on the positive effects on mental health. I've been nearly 2 years without mj. This is not a personal choice, but a force of law and custom for where I'm at. That is to say, folks around here don't smoke it, so it's nearly impossible to get.

I like marijuana not just for getting high, but for helping me deal with life. For those folks out there who say, 'why do you need anything?' I can point out that a lot of other folks will choose dr. prescribed meds to help folks deal with pressures, and those folks will often be the same who ask why I need anything at all.

Mj has a way of making light of things that I take too seriously. I'm a person who gets too uptight about crap. Heck, my blood pressure, for the first time in my life, is flirting with the bottom end of 'high.' I need it for my mental health. But all the studies that they're going to do are just going to attempt to prove that marijuana is bad for mental health. They can do this simply by creating a study where only the negatively affected rodents or other test subjects are published. Hey, I know folks who can't take mj. I know some people for whom peanuts are deadly. That's a fact of life: not everything works for everyone in the same way.

Anyways, us folks, the mj lovers and users, really don't seem to understand that the primary reason its illegal is because there's no profit in it for doctors. They might be able to get a patent for a particular strain, but not for mj strains that've been growing green for longer than men have walked the earth. Same could be said for cocaine. Heck, coc*ine is a great killer. But pharmaceuticals can't patent the drug, so they make Novocain that's basically a patentable coc*ine substitute.

Anyways, my point is that no matter how much we love the stuff, no matter how good it would be for it to be legal, the folks who make a ton of money off of it being illegal are also the ones who feed politicians their campaign funds.

[eltone]

Originally Posted by wordsworm

Heck, coc*ine is a great killer. But pharmaceuticals can't patent the drug, so they make Novocain that's basically a patentable coc*ine substitute.

Marijuana should be legalized like coc*ine and all opi*tes are. There is no "SAFE" drug that controls chronic nausea and vomiting, better than inhaling Cannabis Vapors. Marinol, which I take since MMJ is illegal in Iowa, doesn't even come close.

[User]

Originally Posted by wordsworm

You know, I don't like the fact that little to no research has been done on the positive effects on mental health.

You can find positive studies here:
Medical Marijuana Facts and Information - 420 Magazine
scroll down the page past the states

More will be added in the near future. Hope this helps.

Welcome to 420

[eltone]

Originally Posted by Sabin

THE REASON MM IS ILLEGAL is because in 1969, 70 Nixon had to curb the hippie movement. Gays came out called Stonewall, The Hippie & Gay movement was a threat to Govt. and to our society at that time. Hippies if they wouldn't have gotten all strung out on other drugs, could have prove the war wrong and corporate was wrong as today.

You have to remember the 30's, "Reefer Masness", Harry Anslinger and William Randolf Hearst. Those two guys single handedly started the Anti-Marijuana campaign that has evolved through the times still pursuing its mission. To decieve the American People regarding marijuana and MMJ.

[eltone]

Originally Posted by Sabin

You should have had Marinol in 1995, 1996 OMG I got so high. Every one in L.A. that was allowed it, their prescriptions, took it and went out dancing. Only thing wrong with it was one 5mg pill got one high for either 4 to 6 hours as if you smoked your highest amount of weed. There was no tapering down high, like weed where you need to smoke more to stay on your level.
One pill you were high. Some were stronger, some weaker. I had a friend who took two at a time. 10 mg. he was wigged out of his mind.
They are not the same today :(

Are you sure it was Marinol and not homemade THC pills? I am on 5 Mg Marinol and I don't even get a buzz, even if I take 5 at a time !!! It does help support THC in your system if you smoke on top of it i.e. it takes less marijuana for you already have THC in your system without the phsycoactive effect. So smoking on top of Marinol gives you the Phsycoactive effect that has been removed from Marinol .

[eltone]

Sorry about that Sabin . It is hard to believe, from my experience, that Marinol once contained the Delta 9-THC Psychoactive effect found in the whole plant. Sure wish I could get that kind of Marinol. To be honest Marinol gives you a mild body stone. Some people who have never used cannabis say it makes there body feel heavy and hard to move. I never experienced that. Do remember if you take Marinol, wait for 1 hour and then smoke some weed it will take less to get you really stoned. So I wouldn't feed them to the fish just yet. Unless you don't want to use both at the same time.

[eltone]

Me too, especially if the gov't paid for it. Now I have to settle for schwag (commercial pot) because medical marijuana (since it is illegal in my state) costs close to $400 an ounce. OUCH!!! No problem. the commercial these days is pretty good...

[kittykiwi]

well....ya'll ever thought about movin somewhere where it's already legal? I have and we are in 2-3 yrs. i know as though it might seem as if i'm running from the problem instead of facing it, but I'm tired of waiting. I believe that if we let those in cali and other states have it medicinally than all states of the UNITED states should have it that way. But, I don't think that'll happen any time soon. I hope it does. I too have diabetes, IBS, endemetreoisis, anemia, and anxiety...but my state would prob be one of the last that finally passed a law for use of MJ in a medicinal manner. It's a tie b/w Europe and Australia. Any of you guys from there...would love to know more about it from your perspective.