Evidence Is In, But No Change In Medical Marijuana Laws

[Jim Finnel]

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: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
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.

 

[Jim Finnel]

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."

 

[Jim Finnel]

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]

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.

 

[Jim Finnel]

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]

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]

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.

 

[eltone]

I have decided that Oregon is the place for me. But it will be about 2 years before I can financially afford it. Being on disability severly restricts one's financial freedom. Which is why I say Oregon. For the MMJ program is run by the DHS there and MMJ is dispenensed to the disabled and poor at severly reduced prices or free. Not to mention that one can possess up to 24 ounces of ready to inhale cannabis legally. I can't grow and I can't see paying $45 to $65 for only 3.5 grams (1/8 of an ounce.) I go through an ounce a week just trying to keep my meals down. I am on Marinol because marijuana, medically or otherwise, is illegal. The Iowa Pharmacy Board just ruled that they are an extension of the DEA and not a servant of the people of Iowa, bastards. Marijuana is in both schedule I and II in Iowa but is still illegal in any form for any reason. Compassion plea's don't hold water in ths God forsaken state where pig's and pigshit rule. HELP!!! I need some Ganja (to the tune of HELP! (remember, by the Beatles.) Sad part is I will be leaving my family behind, I hate this state and people like Sen Tom Harkin (D-Ia) who lumps marijuana in the same addictive catagory as heroin. What bullshit. Gotts run know I got myself all pissed off...Later...

 

[eltone]

Now that sounds reasonable. I would pay $250 for an "O" of that type of product. $180 an"O" for mid-grade here (if you can find it.) Easiest to get is schwag or MMJ like orang or sugar kush for $20 a gram unless you buy an "O." Thanks Sabin for the info, maybe Cali has a good dispensary in Sacramento. Do you know if there is a dispensary in Davis, Ca,. a suburb of Sacrament? On my way now to look at something... Later...

 

[kittykiwi]

I thought about Cali and Oregon. But isn't there only certain places that are so lax? I just don't want to hide part of my identity anymore. But...who knows I might be headed there instead one day soon. I'm shooting for Holland though.

 

[eltone]

From what I understand the DEA is the only thing to fear (DUH!). There have been bust's in Oregon but not as many as in Cali. In Oregon the dispensaries are called coop's overseen by the DHS, and one can possess up to 24 ounces of dried ready to use marijuana plus growing plants. I do not know the amount of this, maybe someone out there can enlighten us. They also have an annual contest/party (among legal MMJ patients and their provider's) that is like the Cannibus Cup in Amsterdam. Oregon is known for producing MMJ that is as high (pun intended) as 27% THC . From viewing a menu from an Amsterdam Coffee Shop the highest grade marijuana or hash is half the price as the Cali dispensaries, but if you move there and work there 50% of your income goes to the government which pays for your health and dental care and whatever else they do with it, this is old info, if anyone is more up to date please tell us. I don't live in Oregon (unfortunatly) so someone living there and reading this please correct me, where wrong, and let us know your experiences.

 

[eltone]

Thanks anyway I'm sure I can find out online. I would be in Amsterdam right now but that would mean giving up my disability benefits. I'm in my 50's and also don't want to leave my family, but WOW I had no idea they were starting a total no smoking ban in Amsterdam, bummer is right. Our state fair is this month and the cops always enforce marijuana laws much harder than at any other time. So now I suffer (temporarily though it may be) going even one day without my medicine is very uncomfortable.