US Ignoring Marijuana Research

Sun News ^ | 14 September 2002 | Bruce Mirken

[JediGirl]

Early in the morning of Sept. 5, dozens of armed men stormed a respected medical facility where nearly 300 people desperately ill from cancer, AIDS and other illnesses got their medicine. Brandishing semiautomatic weapons in the faces of terrified patients, including a woman paralyzed from childhood polio, they destroyed all of the medicine and took prisoner the facility's operators.

The work of Osama bin Laden? Hamas? Some other international terrorists?

No. This particular terrorist raid was carried out by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The facility they attacked was the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana ( WAMM ) in Santa Cruz, Calif. A co-op run entirely by and for seriously ill people - 80 percent of whom have terminal diagnoses - WAMM sold nothing. All of the medical marijuana grown was given to members without charge.

The facility was supported by the community and worked closely with local officials. According to County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt, WAMM operated in an "exemplary" fashion. After the raid - which had been planned and executed with no warning to the local government - Wormhoudt told reporters she was "appalled" by the DEA's action.

The patients WAMM served are desperately ill. For many with AIDS or cancer, marijuana is the only thing that allows them to tolerate the horrendous side effects of the harsh treatments that keep them alive. Others endure excruciating pain that conventional medicines have failed to relieve, but which marijuana helps.

Because of this raid, many of these people will die prematurely - agonizing, horrible deaths - because the only medicine that helped them has been taken away.

What could possibly motivate such cruelty?

Desperation.

All around the world, governments and scientific experts are coming to believe that marijuana shouldn't be illegal - that it is simply not dangerous enough to warrant arresting and jailing even social or recreational users, much less people using it to relieve symptoms of cancer or AIDS. The British government has already moved to make marijuana possession a nonarrestable offense.

On Sept. 4, Canada's Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs released the most exhaustive investigation of marijuana data and policy options ever conducted by any government. The 650-page report declared that criminalizing marijuana amounted to "throwing taxpayers' money down the drain in a crusade that is not warranted by the danger posed by the substance."

But marijuana - which accounts for the vast majority of illegal drug use and arrests - is the engine that drives the war on drugs and keeps massive drug-control budgets pumped up.

So even as DEA agents were shoving machine guns in the faces of sick people, White House drug czar John Walters and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson stood in front of a Washington, D.C., press conference, spouting long-discredited myths as if they were proven facts.

Marijuana, said Thompson, is "a clear and present danger to the health and well-being of all its users" - a statement contradicted by reams of scientific research.

Indeed, in 1995, the prestigious medical journal The Lancet stated flatly, "The smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health." This year, the British government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and the Canadian Senate committee came to similar conclusions after extensive study.

But our government's drug war ideologues don't care about science. And they don't care how many sick people they literally torture to death in their desperate effort to pump up a collapsing policy.

[AntiGuv]

Stop being a ridiculous fool, I've been active for many years in the Drug Policy Alliance that works to introduce rational drug policies and reverse the damage of the Prohibition War, so don't pretend that no one here's doing anything to change the system. Everyone has to do something with his or her time and choose the issues they can get involved with (if any, maybe they've got too much on their plate already with work & family). I choose to put most of my efforts there, which doesn't mean that those who don't can't have a valid opinion.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/

[clamper1797]

Sounds like one of my ladies cake recipes. The best thing about her cooking ... It broke the dog from begging at the table

[apochromat]

Pearls before swine.

[Yeti]

For all the empty ignorant talk about the "Constitution", you dope heads seem to know very little about how laws are passed and changed.

To whom do you suggest we offer a bribe?

[Cultural Jihad]

Umm, a so-called journalist by the name of 'Bruce Mirken' was arrested in 1999 for "attempted lewd acts" with a minor. Don't all anti-Boy Scouts homosexual activists fly thousands of miles to meet a 14 year old boy just to ... interview ... him?

Bruce Mirken

Gay journalist Bruce Mirken said today that he is "absolutely overwhelmed" by the outpouring of support he has received since the announcement of a legal defense fund to support his fight against charges stemming from a Sacramento Police Department sting operation. "It's gratifying that so many friends have stood by me, but what really amazes me is the number of total strangers who have helped out," Mirken said.

Mirken, winner of 11 journalism awards for his reporting on gay and lesbian youth, HIV/AIDS and other issues, believed he was investigating a possible story about a troubled gay teen last summer when in fact he was stumbling into the San Francisco PD's sting. When he went to meet the nonexistent youth, intending to interview him, he was immediately arrested for "attempted lewd acts" with the minor, charges he has vehemently denied.

[eddie willers]

But, I've heard that marijuana ingested in brownies is more potent than if smoked. Any truth to that as far as you know?

Strictly anecdotal...but I tried that once....
And spent the next 6 hours thinking about how damn good those brownies were. : )

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Thank you for your research. He makes me ill and should not be writing about anything.

[AntiGuv]

It took me a moment to find the information. Ronald Reagan dedicated an hour long radio broadcast to marijuana legalization in August 1979 (as reported on NewsMax). Among his other comments were: "If adults want to take such chances [using marijuana], that is their business."

You may hear Reagan's commentary yourself by ordering Reagan in his own Voice here:

http://www.newsmaxstore.com/nms/showdetl.cfm?&DID=6&Product_ID=738&CATID=3&GroupID=8

You may also read his writings on the subject in "Reagan In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision For America"

[kcvl]

You're one sicko!

[That Subliminal Kid]

I'd bet that 1) you're not a Christian and that 2) you find many other quotes from the Bible that you find unbelievable, if not down right loony. So please, give it a rest, hypocrite.

[JCG]

More recently, Mirken has written extensively about the Boy Scouts, documenting the suffering the Scouts' anti-gay policy inflicts on gay teens in scouting.

The Boy Scouts of America -- number one on queerdom's destruction list.

List here (left side)...

America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
New Link: Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)

[JediGirl]

Bill Hicks....cept "Now I have to create Republicans!" LOL. I love Bill Hicks :-D

[spectre]

Using cannabis to alter the nausea side-effects of chemo is over-stated. There are tremendous anti-nausea drugs that work instantly..

We all realize, of course, that obtaining cannabis in this country, can be done in about 15 minutes...ask any teenager.

There is a world of difference, tho, between medications prescribed in a hospital, where the cost-benefit balance tips in favour of pain relief, compared to a healthy person endangering their brain and body needlessly.

sw

[tallhappy]

Re 81 -- again, you talk more about yourself than anything.

Here -- what are the federal laws that exist you need to change. Name them.

That is a start.

[LowOiL]

Where and when did Reagan say he was going to legalize marijuana?

If he did it was when he was a demorat (early in his career). Thank goodness He changed for the better. I too though would love to see the so-called quote. I don't think it exist either.

[JediGirl]

Why? That's a great quote for people who think that God saw that his creation was good....except for pot of course.

[Yeti]

Ronald Reagan dedicated an hour long radio broadcast to marijuana legalization in August 1979

How about Newt Gingritch? Bill Buckley?

The only high-ranking Democrat I remember who advocated legalization was McGovern in 72(?).

[kcvl]

These druggies will use anything to make excuses for smoking pot including dying patients! Making fun of religion is another of their favorite pastimes. BTW, if you haven't taken a look at JediGirl's page it should tell you all you need to know.

[Cultural Jihad]

The infantile ideologues who laud so-called 'medical marijuana' are dissembling, because they would also favor allowing anyone to consume any recreational poison in any amount at any time for any reason, even unto death.