Montel Williams Goes To Pot

Herald Sun (Australia) ^ | Jan. 7, 2004

[Wolfie]

Montel Williams Goes To Pot

On November 3, Montel Williams was briefly detained at Detroit Metro Airport, where baggage screeners found a glass pipe and residue of a marijuana by-product in his bags. That's when the talk show host, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was outed as a user of the herb for medicinal purposes.

In his first interview after the airport discovery, Williams makes no apologies. In fact, he devotes several chapters to the case for medical marijuana in his new autobiography, "Climbing Higher," in bookstores today. He clears the air to TV Guide Online.

Q. What happened to you in Detroit?

A. When my bags were going through a metal detector at the Detroit airport, the security people found my needles. I take injectable drugs every day. Then, one guy found a perfectly clean glass pipe that looks like an egg. He said, "What do you smoke in it?" I said, "None of your business." And it pissed him off. I also had a little bottle that had been in my bag for a month. It had less than a twentieth of a gram of kef residue. He called the police. They had to give me a paraphernalia violation. (Williams paid a $100 fine.) They said there was too little to bother testing.

Q. Have you done a show on medical marijuana?

A. I'm doing a show on Jan. 13 about the book and this issue. The model Emme, whose father died of MS complications, is going to interview me. I think it's time for a change. I hope to inspire others to take a stand. You cannot tell me that if one of George Bush's daughters came to him and said, "This is the only thing that will help my pain," he'd say, "No, baby, you have to suffer. I'll lay you down on a bed and hook you up to a morphine drip, and when you wake up in four or five days, we'll talk."

Q. Why do you use it?

A. It eases depression in some ways. It helps sleeping disorders and it eases nerve pain.

Q. Why not use any of the legal painkillers?

A. I attempted to use some. Oxycontin and Vicodin are extremely addictive. Percocet didn't work. Marijuana is the best tool for me.

[BrooklynGOP]

he devotes several chapters to the case for medical marijuana in his new autobiography, "Climbing Higher,"

hah! nice title!

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[2banana]

On November 3, Montel Williams was briefly detained at Detroit Metro Airport, where baggage screeners found a glass pipe and residue of a marijuana by-product in his bags

Right next to a bag of nachos and cheese whiz...

[CJ Wolf]

"On November 3, Montel Williams was briefly detained at Detroit Metro Airport, where baggage screeners found a glass pipe and residue of a marijuana by-product in his bags"

Damn screens.

[headsonpikes]

Gee, nobody's accused you of being Leroy's doppelganger yet!

[truthandlife]

I attempted to use some. Oxycontin and Vicodin are extremely addictive. Percocet didn't work.

and Marijuana isn't addictive?

[Huck]

Little scrapage is better than nothing. But I am too chicken to try getting anything through an airport. I don't even drive in possession of a pipe. Only joints. So I can eat the evidence if need be.

[A CA Guy]

Dear God, an acquaintance of mine found out his 22 year old daughter is 49 year old Montel's girlfriend. This person thought he sent his daughter to NY for a college education.

The parents of the girl recently visited NY and Montel and it was one big odyssey, to begin with, the girls father looks like Bill Clinton and all of New York kept calling him Mr. President or Mr. Clinton.

His wife was with him on the trip, so there were no Monica Democrats coming out of the woodwork to offering to service him on their knees. (He wouldn't do that anyway)

The parents are uncomfortable with this relationship, but their kid is an adult and this is the case of "What can you do"?

Though Montel says he is using this for pain, he sure shows no pain while in his company and moves around like a teenager according to everyone around Montel.

I'm not against a real need, but I bet the young girlfriend's parents are going to worry about the drug issue.
I will forward this article to them.

[Huck]

and Marijuana isn't addictive?

It's reinforcing, which is slightly different from addictive. You do something, it feels good, you do it again. That's reinforcing. You do something. It creates an ongoing chemical need that is observable physiologically. You do it again. That's addiction. Marijuana is the former. Oxycontin, much in the news these days, is the latter.

[KeepUSfree]

Not even anywhere close to Oxy.... EVERYTHING is addictive - running, working out, overeating, smoking. Many just become habits. Reefer IS addictive - but NOTHING like Oxy or any Morphine substitute.

I used to smoke lots of dope. When I thought it was "affecting my health", I just stopped. You go through a week of no appetite and cussing at inanimate objects - then it's over.

[Sir Gawain]

and Marijuana isn't addictive?

Physically or chemically, no. Psychologically maybe. It depends on the person. But some people are addicted to chocolate, the internet, etc.

[smiley]

I thought Montel was married....

[KeepUSfree]

The trouble with your analysis is that MS CAN be VERY debilitating one day - then three days later you could be playing tennis. You can't take "he got around all week like a 16 year old" and extrapolate this into what he is like all of the time. When MS hits, it can knock you WAAAAY down. Her parents may have been there during his "good" days.

Or, maybe he WAS in the middle of an attack and had smoked a joint and it was working very well.....;-)

[steve50]

Though Montel says he is using this for pain, he sure shows no pain while in his company and moves around like a teenager according to everyone around Montel.

I don't think Rushbo showed much pain swinging the golf club either, didn't stop the blind support of his need for "Pain" medication here.

[Lexington Green]

If your choice is Percocet, Vicodan, Oxycontin, or pot -- It's a no-brainer that pot poses the least health risk -- unless you are gunned down by a Drug War Nazi.

"How Dangerous is Marijuana in Comparison to Other Substances?"

Number of American Deaths per year that result directly or primarily from the following (selected) causes nationwide, according to World Almanacs, Life Insurance Actuarial (death) Rates, and the last 18 years of the U.S. Surgeon General's Reports.

Tobacco....................................340,000 to 395,000
Alcohol (not includeing 50% of all highway deaths and 65% of all murders).....125,000+
Aspirin (including deliberate overdose).... 180 to 1,000+
Caffeine (from stress, ulcers and triggering irregular heartbeats, etc.)........ 1,000 to 10,000
'Legal' drug overdose (deliberate or accidental) from legal, prescribed or patent medicines and/or mixing with alcohol e.g. Valium/alcohol... 14,000 to 27,000
Illicit drug overdose (deliberate or accidental) from all illegal drugs................................ 3,800 to 5,200
marijuana (including overdose)........................... 0 (zero)

[Wolfie]

I once heard about this dude who flew from San Francicso to points East with doobage strapped to his leg.

[Orblivion]

As far as physical addiction, no, it's not really. A pothead may form some mental need for the drug. I am sure there are some long term effects of pot usage. But, it's not in the class of drugs where going without produces immediate negative side effects such as physical pain or the shakes or whatever u see those addicts in movies like Trainspotting go through. Opiates, such as oxycontin, are physically addictive, your body, after a while, requires it to feel normal. With weed it's a totally different story. THe dedicated pot head will merely be edgy and moody if forced to go without. But as soon as that dedicated pothead decides he must quit pot to go on to the next step in his life. THe usage can stop immediately with NO noticable side effects. Get your drugs straight. Different drugs do different things. :) Pot is not in the same class as Exstacy or opiates. LSD can and has been used to treat drug addiction from what I understand.

The government drug warrior propogandists love for you to think Pot, a drug that has been with man since man has existed. Is somehow an evil scourge that went unnoticed till the 1940's or whenever it was outlawed. THe war on drugs is one of the biggest assaults on civil liberties around. Because of the war on drug the police can confiscate your property without even charging you with a crime. So, don't go behaving like drug users do. Or you forfeit your rights.

By making drugs illegal they have pushed it away from the public eye. So the ignorance of the average american in regards to this subject is astounding. WHatever the government tells you, you believe. Abusing anything, whether it be drugs, or mcdonalds is unhealthy. But you don't see the govt. trying to ban cheesburgers.


Oh, one more thing. As poeple like Montel can attest, pot is an excellent painkiller. But if you, the individual, could choose pot for yourself, then your doctor wouldn't be getting paid for that decision would he? Our entire medical system is based around licensed medical professionals being the gatekeepers of prescription drugs.

[webstersII]

I thought the "security" screening process was to find potentially dangerous items and potentially dangerous people so that they wouldn't be able to get on an airplane full of innocent people.

Glad those screeners are putting so much time and attention into this type of thing. I feel safer already. </sarcasm>

[Wolfie]

MS does hold the distinction of "most researched" when it comes to medical marijuana.