Pubdate: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 Source: Press Journal (FL) Copyright: 2004, The E.W. Scripps Co. Contact: http://www1.tcpalm.com/tcp/press_journal/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2977 Author: Scott Russ Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n289/a06.html?19232 Note: Titled by MAP RESPONSE TO OFFICIAL Apparently, Andrea Barthwell doesn't realize that parolees get sent back to prison if they test positive for cannabis. As I'm sure would second or third time offenders for simple possession. There are plenty of people in prison for using cannabis. And plenty of lives and families torn apart due to criminal convictions for something that past presidents and many other politicians have admitted to doing. Nor does she realize that in 1986 the DEA heard a petition to have cannabis rescheduled, from Schedule I to Schedule II. The administrative law judge that heard the case was Judge Francis Young. In 1988, after an exhaustive two-year investigation into cannabis as medicine he concluded: "One must reasonably conclude that there IS accepted safety for use of marijuana under medical supervision. To conclude otherwise, on this record, would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious." "The cannabis plant considered as a whole HAS a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is NO LACK of accepted safety for use under medical supervision and it may lawfully be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule II. The judge recommends that the Administrator transfer cannabis." Here is a link to the complete ruling: (http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/YOUNG/young.html). Please note that his judgment was overturned in appeals court based on a technicality, not based on error of facts. The technicality was that the person(s) bringing forward the petition had no right to because they weren't being harmed by its current scheduling. Meaning, they, themselves, weren't medical-marijuana patients. Sgt. Brad Fojtik can keep telling himself that cannabis has no medical value but he cannot deny the existence of the cannabinoid receptors in our brain that doctors around the world know are activated by the cannabinoids found in cannabis. We've had more than 80 years of propaganda. Enough is enough. Just Say KNOW. Scott Russ, Baton Rouge, La. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom