Pubdate: Thu, 07 May 2015
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2015 Boulder Weekly
Contact:  http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Leland Rucker

PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR APPROVES MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Another U.S. territory will allow medical marijuana for patients. 
Puerto Rican Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed an executive order 
this week that authorizes marijuana for certain medical uses under 
the control of the health department.

The move comes in response to a medical marijuana bill introduced in 
the Puerto Rico legislature in 2013 that has been bogged down ever 
since. The territory has no ballot initiative process, so the 
governor decided to act on his own. The health secretary now has 
three months to produce a report for how the territory will regulate 
it. It joins 23 U.S. states, the District of Colombia and Guam that 
allow medical marijuana.

The announcement came just a couple of days after the U.S. House of 
Representatives defeated an amendment offered by Rep. Earl Blumenauer 
that would have allowed Veterans Affairs doctors to discuss medical 
marijuana as a treatment for symptoms of post-traumatic stress in 
states where it is legal.

This one was kind of a no-brainer. The Equal Access amendment to the 
2016 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies 
Appropriations bill would have given veterans the same access to 
medical marijuana as any other citizen in states where it is allowed. 
And it came within a week of a CNN Weeds special that showed 
physicians seeking to do research after dealing with vets 
self-medicating with cannabis because their prescribed drugs, in the 
words of one doctor, "were turning them into zombies."

None of that persuaded Rep. John Fleming, a physician as well as a 
congressman. When asked why he voted against the bill, he said, "So, 
why in the world would we give a drug that is addictive, that is 
prohibited as a Schedule One, that is not accepted for any medical 
disease or disorder, and enhances psychosis and schizophrenia?"

So much for looking at both sides of an issue. But this is the same 
fellow, by the way, who last year told the Family Research Council 
that marijuana is a gateway drug.

"We have proven that scientifically," he said. "To think that today's 
meth user was not yesterday's marijuana user is actually just a 
flight of fantasy."

Don't miss this short clip of Rep. Blumenauer looking his colleagues 
in the eye and bluntly telling them to stop promulgating lies like 
that, reminding them that veterans are being treated like secondclass 
citizens, prescribed legal opiates that often worsen their 
conditions, which forces many into the black market for medicine: 
http://bit.ly/1bZ6hpG

Lawmakers with no interest in looking beyond their own noses continue 
to influence the debate. In Alabama, the Medical Marijuana Patient 
Safe Access Act recently passed out of the state senate's Judiciary 
Committee by a unanimous vote. It would have approved 25 qualifying 
medical conditions and allowed patients to apply for a license to 
cultivate their own plants or purchase cannabis from state-regulated 
dispensaries under the Department of Agriculture.

Senator Jabo Waggoner, who oversees the Rules Committee, killed all 
discussion of the bill and dismissed it with a shrug, saying simply 
that Alabama doesn't need it. And, of course, he knows best. Waggoner 
has been in the state legislature as a representative or senator 
since 1966 (that's no typo), which means he probably still believes 
Richard Nixon was right about marijuana.

Even worse is the recent case in Kansas where a Garden City woman had 
her son taken away after he spoke up about the benefits of medical 
marijuana during a grade-school class discussion. Though it is 
illegal in Kansas, the latest senate bills having been voted down in 
February, massage therapist Shona Banda has been using medical 
marijuana for five years to stave off symptoms of Crohn's Disease. 
School officials contacted police, which searched her home and found 
cannabis and oil.

But instead of arresting her for possession, they took the boy into 
state custody, where he remains while prosecutors decide whether 
charges will be filed against Banda. The case is drawing 
international attention and support for her. After viewing a video 
Banda took with her phone when she found police on her property, even 
Glenn Beck said the officers violated Banda's constitutional rights 
and is now considering calling for legalization.

There is a bright spot in all this. Fools like Fleming and Waggoner 
are moving further to the minority side in these debates. Last year a 
similar bill in the U.S. House went down 225-195. The vote this time 
was 213-210, including 35 Republicans.

You can hear Leland discuss his most recent column and Colorado 
cannabis issues each Thursday morning on KGNU. http://news.kgnu.org/weed
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom