SmokeDog420
New Member
To establish my credentials, you should know that I practiced family medicine for 40 years in Kodiak. My special interests were drug abuse/addiction and psycho-somatic medicine (now mind/body medicine).
I was a founder of the Kodiak Mental Health Center in 1970, the Kodiak Council on Alcoholism in 1971, and the first JCAH-approved inpatient treatment program in Alaska (Hope House). I was the medical consultant to that program and held weekly educational sessions with clients on the effects, use, abuse and addiction of all mood-altering drugs until my retirement.
I taught the "Functional Approach to Alcoholism," a 40-hour behavioral science course at Kodiak College in 1976-77, was a director of the National Council on Alcoholism, Alaska Region in 1978, served as president of the Governor's Advisory Board on Alcoholism (GABA) from 1979-84 (three years as president), medical director of KCA Outpatient Detoxification Unit from 1990-92.
In the early 1980s, at the request of the Legislature, with a committee of the Alaska State Medical Association, I reviewed the effects of marijuana. The committee concluded that marijuana, an hallucinogen, affected control and coordination as much as did alcohol, but had no short or long-term ill effects and was not addicting. In general, it was found to be less dangerous than alcohol and it was felt that it should be legally available.
Unfortunately, because of fear created and perpetuated by uneducated politicians, this relatively harmless drug has been made illegal.
Many who possessed or used it, regardless of whether or not anyone was harmed, are now serving sentences in jail. In addition, those who would benefit from its use in control of nausea induced by chemotherapy or in terminal illness have great difficulty getting it.
I am currently a director of the Alaska Drug Forum, a non-profit corporation formed, among other reasons, to expose the marijuana myth and convince the Alaska Legislature to legalize the drug.
Author: Dr. Bob Johnson
Published: Friday, October 15, 2004
Copyright: 2004 Kodiak Daily Mirror
Contact: jbrooks@kodiakdailymirror.com
Website: Kodiak Daily Mirror
I was a founder of the Kodiak Mental Health Center in 1970, the Kodiak Council on Alcoholism in 1971, and the first JCAH-approved inpatient treatment program in Alaska (Hope House). I was the medical consultant to that program and held weekly educational sessions with clients on the effects, use, abuse and addiction of all mood-altering drugs until my retirement.
I taught the "Functional Approach to Alcoholism," a 40-hour behavioral science course at Kodiak College in 1976-77, was a director of the National Council on Alcoholism, Alaska Region in 1978, served as president of the Governor's Advisory Board on Alcoholism (GABA) from 1979-84 (three years as president), medical director of KCA Outpatient Detoxification Unit from 1990-92.
In the early 1980s, at the request of the Legislature, with a committee of the Alaska State Medical Association, I reviewed the effects of marijuana. The committee concluded that marijuana, an hallucinogen, affected control and coordination as much as did alcohol, but had no short or long-term ill effects and was not addicting. In general, it was found to be less dangerous than alcohol and it was felt that it should be legally available.
Unfortunately, because of fear created and perpetuated by uneducated politicians, this relatively harmless drug has been made illegal.
Many who possessed or used it, regardless of whether or not anyone was harmed, are now serving sentences in jail. In addition, those who would benefit from its use in control of nausea induced by chemotherapy or in terminal illness have great difficulty getting it.
I am currently a director of the Alaska Drug Forum, a non-profit corporation formed, among other reasons, to expose the marijuana myth and convince the Alaska Legislature to legalize the drug.
Author: Dr. Bob Johnson
Published: Friday, October 15, 2004
Copyright: 2004 Kodiak Daily Mirror
Contact: jbrooks@kodiakdailymirror.com
Website: Kodiak Daily Mirror
