Posted on 09/20/2002 5:56:11 PM PDT by chance33_98
Man Fired for Pot Use Plans Court Test of Medical Marijuana Law
A 40-year-old computer specialist from Sacramento is forcing a court test of a controversial state law allowing medical use of marijuana.
Gary Ross was fired when a drug test revealed he had recently used marijuana. Ross had worked at the $74,000 per year systems administrator job for only a week when he was dismissed.
Now he has filed suit against RagingWire Telecommunications, arguing that the marijuana had been prescribed by a physician as a means of relieving chronic back pain. Ross contends that the firing was illegal under the terms of a six-year-old California law allowing the use of marijuana as medicine. "I had gone through all the steps necessary to make sure it was perfectly legal," said Ross. "I don't know why they terminated me. I was very surprised."
RagingWire Telecommunications replied with a written a statement that said, in part, "Mr. Ross signed and accepted an offer for a position that required [full time] on-call availability. Mr. Ross failed to inform the company he was using marijuana for medicinal purposes prior to receiving his offer letter."
California courts must now decide if an employer can choose which medications are off limits. Ross said he doesn't really want to be the flag bearer for a cause. Instead, he said he just wants justice. "I don't really consider myself a test case," said Ross. "I just consider myself an employee who was wrongfully terminated."
Ross claims he tried nearly everything to relieve pain from a 20-year-old back injury before turning to marijuana. He finally tried the drug after his doctor recommended it. "It's been the best medication I've taken for my back since my injury," said Ross.
Ross said he could have avoided using marijuana in the weeks prior to his drug test, but felt that would be admitting he's doing something wrong.
That the current law of the land has been held for a long time now, by better legal scholars than I....
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comparing Addictive Qualities of Popular Drugs (Higher score indicates more serious effect) |
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| Drug | Dependence | Withdrawal | Tolerance | Reinforcement | Intoxication |
| Nicotine | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Heroin | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Cocaine | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 |
| Alcohol | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Caffeine | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Marijuana | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Withdrawal: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal symptoms.
Reinforcement: A measure of the substance's ability, in human and animal tests, to get users to take it again and again, and in preference to other substances.
Tolerance: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.
Dependence: How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.
Intoxication: Though not usually counted as a measure of addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increases the personal and social damage a substance may do.
Source: Jack E. Henningfield, PhD for NIDA, Reported by Philip J. Hilts, New York Times, Aug. 2, 1994 "Is Nicotine Addictive? It Depends on Whose Criteria You Use."
| Tobacco | 430,7001 |
| Alcohol | 110,6402 |
| Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs | 32,0003 |
| Suicide | 30,5754 |
| Homicide | 18,2725 |
| All Licit & Illicit Drug-Induced Deaths | 16,9266 |
| Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin | 7,6007 |
| Marijuana | 08 |
Source:(1996): "Smoking-Attributable Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control, 1997), May 23, 1997, Vol. 46, No. 20, p. 449.
Source: "Number of deaths and age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 population for categories of alcohol-related (A-R) mortality, United States and States, 1979-96," National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, from the web at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/databases/armort01.txt, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001, citing Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, Saadatmand, F., Stinson, FS, Grant, BF, and Dufour, MC, "Surveillance Report #52: Liver Mortality in the United States, 1970-96" (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, December 1999).
Source: Lazarou, J, Pomeranz, BH, Corey, PN, "Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies," Journal of the American Medical Association (Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, 1998), 1998;279:1200-1205, also letters column, "Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients," JAMA (Chicago, IL: AMA, 1998), Nov. 25, 1998, Vol. 280, No. 20, from the web at http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v280n20/ffull/jlt1125-1.html, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001.
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., "Deaths: Final Data for 1998," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), Table 10, p. 53, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., "Deaths: Final Data for 1998," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), Table 10, p. 53, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
Source: Murphy, Sheila L., Centers for Disease Control, "Deaths: Final Data for 1998,", National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), pp. 1, 10, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .
Source: Robyn Tamblyn, PhD; Laeora Berkson, MD, MHPE, FRCPC; W. Dale Jauphinee, MD, FRCPC; David Gayton, MD, PhD, FRCPC; Roland Grad, MD, MSc; Allen Huang, MD, FRCPC; Lisa Isaac, PhD; Peter McLeod, MD, FRCPC; and Linda Snell, MD, MHPE, FRCPC, "Unnecessary Prescribing of NSAIDs and the Management of NSAID-Related Gastropathy in Medical Practice," Annals of Internal Medicine (Washington, DC: American College of Physicians, 1997), September 15, 1997, 127:429-438, from the web at http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15sep97/nsaid.htm, last accessed Feb. 14, 2001, citing Fries, JF, "Assessing and understanding patient risk," Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology Supplement, 1992;92:21-4.
Source: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), available on the web at http://www.samhsa.gov/; also see Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A. Benson, Jr., "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), available on the web at http://www.nap.edu/html/marimed/; and US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 57.
A John Hopkins study published in May 1999, examined marijuana's effects on cognition on 1,318 participants over a 15 year period. Researchers reported "no significant differences in cognitive decline between heavy users, light users, and nonusers of cannabis." They also found "no male-female differences in cognitive decline in relation to cannabis use." "These results ... seem to provide strong evidence of the absence of a long-term residual effect of cannabis use on cognition," they concluded.
Source: Constantine G. Lyketsos, Elizabeth Garrett, Kung-Yee Liang, and James C. Anthony. (1999). "Cannabis Use and Cognitive Decline in Persons under 65 Years of Age," American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 149, No. 9.
"Current marijuana use had a negative effect on global IQ score only in subjects who smoked 5 or more joints per week. A negative effect was not observed among subjects who had previously been heavy users but were no longer using the substance. We conclude that marijuana does not have a long-term negative impact on global intelligence. Whether the absence of a residual marijuana effect would also be evident in more specific cognitive domains such as memory and attention remains to be ascertained."
Source: Fried, Peter, Barbara Watkinson, Deborah James, and Robert Gray, "Current and former marijuana use: preliminary findings of a longitudinal study of effects on IQ in young adults," Canadian Medical Association Journal, April 2, 2002, 166(7), p. 887.
The DEA's Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young concluded: "In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care.:
Source: US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition," [Docket #86-22], (September 6, 1988), p. 57.
The World Health Organization released a study in March 1998 that states: "there are good reasons for saying that [the risks from cannabis] would be unlikely to seriously [compare to] the public health risks of alcohol and tobacco even if as many people used cannabis as now drink alcohol or smoke tobacco."
Source: Hall, W., Room, R. & Bondy, S., WHO Project on Health Implications of Cannabis Use: A Comparative Appraisal of the Health and Psychological Consequences of Alcohol, Cannabis, Nicotine and Opiate Use, August 28, 1995, (contained in original version, but deleted from official version) (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, March 1998).
Of course Roe vs Wade made abortion legal, as it was a 'constitutional right', not that it is mentioned in the Constitution. Face it, the courts since FDR have had their own agenda.
| Tobacco | 430,7001 |
| Alcohol | 110,6402 |
| Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs | 32,0003 |
| Suicide | 30,5754 |
| Homicide | 18,2725 |
| All Licit & Illicit Drug-Induced Deaths | 16,9266 |
| Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin | 7,6007 |
| Marijuana | 08 |
Lets just assume you believe in these numbers, since you posted them... So what happens when those illicit drugs have the same societal approval as tobacco and alcohol. Are they less dangerous? - Or less used?
Everyone has an agenda.
Many people find the high from mj to be relaxing. Isn't this testimony to its pain reducing qualities?
While it may do little to relieve the pain of a severed limb, for example, mj may be helpful for the "little aches and pains of life" that people feel as they age, or for the chronic or intermittent pain that comes in the aftermath serious injury.
Several advantages to the use of mj as a pain reliever exist, including its non-addictive properties (at least physically), and the fact that the LD-50 value is off the charts (it is literally impossible to die from overdose of mj). The main disadvantage of mj is that ingestion normally occurs via smoking, so anytime you are inhaling particulates and the by-products of combustion there is an additional health risk. Could it really be much worse than simply living and breathing in LA?
Just because they have the same societal approval doesn't mean as many people will do it as alcohol and tobacco. Plus, most people over 21 won't start with new drugs. And with the penalties I laid out for those underage I think there would be very few dealers to underage kids.
And if a few more people die, so what? You would rather throw them in prison and use my tax dollars to do it. It's a lose-lose situation. I'd rather let nature decide than my neighbor what's best for people.
I think you GREATLY exaggerate what will happen after legalization. As you may or may not know, The Netherlands has had legal marijuana for the last decade.
The Netherlands follows a policy of separating the market for illicit drugs. Cannabis is primarily purchased through coffee shops. Coffee shops offer no or few possibilities for purchasing illicit drugs other than cannabis. Thus The Netherlands achieve a separation of the soft drug market from the hard drugs market - and separation of the 'acceptable risk' drug user from the 'unacceptable risk' drug user.
Source: Abraham, Manja D., University of Amsterdam, Centre for Drug Research, Places of Drug Purchase in The Netherlands (Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, September 1999), pp. 1-5.
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Social Indicator
Years
USA
Netherlands
Lifetime prevalence of marijuana use (ages 12+)
1998 vs. 1997
33%1
15.6%2
Past month prevalence of marijuana use (ages 12+)
1998 vs. 1997
5%3
2.5%4
Lifetime prevalence of heroin use (ages 12+)
1998 vs. 1997
1.1%5
0.3%6
Incarceration Rate per 100,000 population
1997 vs. 1996
6457
77.38
Per capita spending on drug-related law enforcement
1997 vs. 1995
$819
$2710
Homicide rate per 100,000 population
1995 vs. 1995
811
1.812
Source 1: US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1998 (Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, March 2000), pp. 18, 24
Source 2: Abraham, Manja D., Cohen, Peter D.A., van Til, Roelf-Jan, and de Winter, Marielle A.L., University of Amsterdam, Centre for Drug Research, Licit and Illicit Drug Use in the Netherlands, 1997 (Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, September 1999), pp. 39, 45.
Source 3: US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1998 (Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, March 2000), pp. 18, 24.
Source 4: Abraham, Manja D., Cohen, Peter D.A., van Til, Roelf-Jan, and de Winter, Marielle A.L., University of Amsterdam, Centre for Drug Research, Licit and Illicit Drug Use in the Netherlands, 1997 (Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, September 1999), pp. 39, 47.
Source 5: US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1998 (Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, March 2000), pp. 24, 62.
Source 6: Abraham, Manja D., Cohen, Peter D.A., van Til, Roelf-Jan, and de Winter, Marielle A.L., University of Amsterdam, Centre for Drug Research, Licit and Illicit Drug Use in the Netherlands, 1997 (Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, September 1999), pp. 40, 45.
Source 7: Bureau of Justice Statistics; Based on total U.S. population in 1997 of 267,636,000 as per the U.S. Census Bureau.
Source 8: According to the Dutch Bureau of Statistics, CBS Voorburg, as of September 30, 1996 the Netherlands had 11,931 prisoners with an approximate population of 15,424,122. This data was provided by a statistician at CBS Voorburg and obtained from Statistics Netherlands: Statistical Yearbook 1998, p. 434, table 53.
Source 9: Office of National Drug Control Policy, National Drug Control Strategy, 1997: Budget Summary, Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office (1997); MacCoun, R. & Reuter, P., "Interpreting Dutch Cannabis Policy: Reasoning by Analogy in the Legalization Debate," Science, 278: 47 (1997); Based on total U.S. population in 1997 of 267,636,000 as per U.S. Census Bureau.
Source 10: Drug-related law enforcement spending in the Netherlands in 1995 is estimated at 640 million Dutch gilders according to the Dutch Justice Department.
Source 11: The FBI reported that the homicide rate in 1995 was 8 per 100,000 people, for a total of 21,597 homicides. (Uniform Crime Reports: Dept. of Justice Press Release, Oct. 13, 1996).
Source 12: In both 1995 and 1996, the Netherlands recorded 273 homicides, which is a homicide rate of 1.8 persons per 100,000 inhabitants. (Registered Murders in the Netherlands, Press Release, CBS Voorburg - Statistics Netherlands, 7/14/98).
According to a report in the British Medical Journal in September of 2000, "Cannabis use among Dutch schoolchildren aged 10-18 years has fallen for the first time in 16 years, a national survey of risk behaviour among 10,000 young people has shown."r The story notes that according to Trimbos, the Netherlands Institute for Mental Health and Addiction, "about one in five young people had used cannabis at some point in their lives but less than a tenth had used it in the previous four weeks ("current users")."
Source: Sheldon, Tony, "Cannabis use falls among Dutch youth," British Medical Journal (London, England: September 16, 2000), vol. 321, p. 655.
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