Medicinal Marijuana Ruling Invites Congress to Change Law The U.S. Supreme Court Monday ruled 6-3 that sick people who use small amounts of physician-prescribed marijuana to alleviate pain and nausea are subject to federal prosecution. A day later, not much seemed to have changed. Attorneys general in some of the 10 states that allow marijuana for limited medical purposes issued statements that the ruling would not result in a crackdown on users. U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not indicated whether he will continue the hard-line policy on marijuana use of his predecessor, John Ashcroft. [continues 487 words]
Their Dilemma: Break Law or Be in Pain Erin Hildebrandt moved her family from Maryland to Oregon last June for one reason: She wanted to live in a state where she could use marijuana legally. Hildebrandt has Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammation of the digestive tract that gives her nausea. The 34-year-old mother of five underwent surgeries and tried various treatments, but nothing worked until she tried marijuana. Now, she's a registered marijuana user in Oregon, one of 10 states that has allowed patients who suffer from debilitating illnesses to use the drug as a pain reliever. "Medical marijuana gave me back my life," she said. "I don't do drugs. ... I'm just a mom." [continues 1589 words]
Imagine there was a nontoxic medication available that provided symptomatic relief for a litany of serious and life-threatening diseases, including cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Imagine that thousands of ill Americans were successfully using this medicine under the supervision of their physician. Now imagine that the US government was withholding this medication and threatening to incarcerate those patients who benefit from its use. We don't have to imagine such a scenario. The medicine is cannabis, and for those tens of thousands of Americans who use it therapeutically, Washington's recalcitrance on this issue is a grim reality. [continues 519 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- With a key Supreme Court decision on medical marijuana pending, advocates pleaded with Congress on Wednesday to let patients use the drug without fear of federal prosecution. "It is absolutely cruel that the federal government does not allow us the right to use this medicine," said Angel Raich of Oakland, Calif., who began using marijuana to combat the pain of a brain tumor and filed the lawsuit that's before the court. "It is not easy for us patients that really need this medicine to come out here, to have to fight for our lives on this kind of level," she said. [continues 335 words]
Medical marijuana advocates announced a push yesterday to try to compel the federal government not to interfere with the 10 states that have medical marijuana laws on the books. Rep. Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat, has introduced a bill that would exempt doctors and pharmacists in those states from prosecution under federal drug laws, which allow the government to pursue marijuana suppliers even if states allow doctors to prescribe the substance as pain medication. In announcing the bill, Mr. Frank was joined by television talk show host Montel Williams, who uses marijuana and says it is the only thing that has eased his suffering from multiple sclerosis. [continues 323 words]
'Pothead' Stigma Makes Lawmakers Wary, Lobbyists Know Washington -- Hundreds of suit-and-tie-clad marijuana advocates feasted on chicken Kiev and Petite Sirah on Capitol Hill on Wednesday night in what may have been the most button-down gathering of pot enthusiasts in history. The music was contemporary jazz, not reggae. The dessert was a caramel parfait with chocolate drizzle, not Oreos. And the featured Cheech and Chong video was a snippet of a documentary on actor Tommy Chong's recent imprisonment. [continues 1105 words]
SACRAMENTO ( AP ) - John Roulac wants to give California agriculture a boost and cut his transportation costs at the same time. Roulac is the founder and chief executive officer of Nutiva, an up-and-coming organic food company that is based in California but processes and packages most of its products in Canada. The reason: Nutiva sells bars, protein powder, seeds and oil made with hemp, a cousin of marijuana. Hemp has only a trace amount of tetrahydrocannabinols, or THC, the drug in marijuana, but hemp can't be legally grown in the United States without a permit from the Drug Enforcement Administration. And the DEA has only allowed an experimental plot in Hawaii, according to Adam Eidinger, a spokesman for Vote Hemp, the lobbying arm of the hemp industry. [continues 767 words]
To the editor: I am a medical cannabis patient. I have multiple sclerosis and have suffered from this for several years now. I have no legal access to my medicine, despite having a medical marijuana user's card and being registered with the proper authorities in Juneau, despite that registry interfering in my doctor/patient confidentiality. If I even had access to legal seeds or medicine, Loren Leman's gutting of the voter's initiative to allow my use of cannabis destroyed many of the common-sense protections I would've otherwise had. [continues 191 words]
Thank you for Michael Serazio's excellent article. It is very informative and well written. I especially appreciated the interviews with Dr. Ron Paul and Alan Bock. Several Libertarian Party candidates have spoken out for drug reform and are waging active campaigns for the U.S. Congress (www.lpcandidate.com or www.lp.org). In District 136 (Galleria-Memorial Villages), I am running for the Texas legislature. The focal point of my campaign is the benefit of drug relegalization. These benefits include lower taxes (throwing peaceful, nonviolent people in jail costs plenty). [continues 87 words]
The Government Says Clayton Jones Shouldn't Smoke Marijuana. He Says It's The Only Thing That Keeps Him From Blowing His Brains Out. On an average day -- with good weed -- Clayton Jones smokes eight grams. If he needs to, he can make an ounce last a week. It's a few hours after his 5 a.m. wake-and-bake on a mid-August weekday when Jones props open the back door to his porch and wheels himself out. In his lap, he cradles a chewed-up purple Frisbee that contains a scattering of low-grade marijuana. [continues 4413 words]
American Civil Liberties Union Issues Critical Report Based On Racial-profiling Data AUSTIN -- Narcotics task forces in Texas have been using traffic stops as "fishing expeditions" to search motorists and passengers for illegal drugs, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Motorists stopped for traffic violations are searched by narcotics agents at rates much higher than during traffic stops conducted by non-task-force officers, the ACLU said. The findings were gleaned from reviews of racial-profiling data and published in an ACLU report titled, "Flawed enforcement -- Why drug task force highway interdiction violates rights, wastes tax dollars, and fails to limit the availability of drugs in Texas." [continues 1367 words]
Bill Masters Is No Dope. So What Turned Him Against the War on Drugs? In the big city, the search would take him down mean streets, to a ratty duplex or a motel bathroom or some tweaker's garage. But the resort town of Telluride has no mean streets, and the rest of San Miguel County, where Masters has been sheriff for the past 25 years, has almost no streets at all. But that doesn't mean that this sinfully scenic county is a drug-free zone. Dope is everywhere, if you want to go hunting for it. On this particular morning in early May, Masters has solid intelligence about a suspected methamphetamine operation tucked deep in the woods, and he wants to eyeball the place himself before sending any of his deputies into harm's way. So he slips behind the wheel of a 1995 white Bronco -- the oldest vehicle in his agency's fleet -- and heads for the high country. [continues 5826 words]
Deputy Drug Czar Andrea Barthwell's recent trip to Peoria was reported in the Journal Star as an effort to prevent drug abuse. It was nothing of the kind. It was, in fact, another opportunity for that office to promote disinformation. The administration knows that treatment is more popular than enforcement, but despite Barthwell's claims, it has had no intention of giving up any of its enforcement cash. Andrea's boss, John Walters, is on record as deriding the need to embrace treatment. [continues 281 words]
The Federal War On Drugs Expands. At a time when federal officials should focus obsessively on crushing terrorists, they are expanding the disastrous war on drugs into an even more pointless war on substances. From old bogeymen like marijuana to new "hazards" like Oxycontin, Washington busybodies are knocking themselves out combating compounds that, by themselves, do not threaten public safety. The Justice Department has appealed a December 2003 federal court decision that barred Uncle Sam from impeding Californians who use personally grown, locally cultivated, or charitably donated medical marijuana. In Raich v. Ashcroft, the Ninth Circuit correctly disallowed the Constitution's commerce-clause rationale for federal intervention. After all, how can interstate commerce include intrastate, noncommercial activity? [continues 923 words]
With two federal watchdog agencies freeing the White House drug czar to overtly influence state ballot initiatives, the Senate is poised to reauthorize this anti-democratic exercise for the next five years - the wheels greased by a ten-year total of $4 billion in taxpayer-funded advertising designed to sway the votes of those who pay for it. The General Accounting Office recently declared the Bush administration's $22-million multimedia ad campaign touting new Medicare drug benefits to be marred by "omissions and other weaknesses" though not downright illegal. The GAO has also agreed to examine whether the administration's video news releases with fake reporters promoting the Medicare changes violate laws against government "covert propaganda." [continues 2542 words]
Last week the Capitol Police busted a young intern working for Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) for toting a baggie of pot and a bong into the Cannon House Office Building, but they'll have to look the other way when stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld brings his stash onto their territory today. For more than 20 years, the federal government has supplied Rosenfeld with marijuana cigarettes, which he smokes under doctor's orders to ease symptoms of a rare bone disorder. Before arriving from Florida to lobby in Congress for medical use of marijuana with the pro-pot group NORML, Rosenfeld made sure to inform authorities of his dispensation to smoke 12 joints a day -- he's one of seven people who get Uncle Sam-grown reefer under a program that began in the Carter era. (It was shut down in 1992, but some patients were grandfathered in.) [continues 86 words]
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, places and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated .. but upon probable cause." - -- Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution I'm not one for ham-fisting, I swear. But all I can think about right now are sterile plastic urine cups that some Valley student-athlete will probably soon be filling. In the editorial that ran in Wednesday's edition, the Imperial Valley Press states it conditionally supports random drug testing of student athletes at Brawley Union High School. [continues 941 words]
Re: Censoring The Truth In The War On Drugs, Jonathan Kay, April 2. As an American, I can only wish that my country's political leaders were capable of the sort of sober, factual assessment of the "War on Drugs" that Mr. Kay offered in his column. But it is important to know that a growing number of U.S. conservatives do question current policies, particularly in regards to marijuana. Conservative icons like William F. Buckley Jr. and economist Milton Friedman have long questioned the wisdom of arresting and jailing responsible, adult marijuana users, especially seriously ill patients who use the drug for relief of pain or nausea. A number of other prominent conservatives, like former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, Republican U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas and columnist Deroy Murdock, have expressed similar views. These and many other principled conservatives recognize that prohibition has caused great damage to civil liberties and states' autonomy while miserably failing to curb marijuana use. Alas, their views remain unrepresented within the Bush administration. Bruce Mirken, director of communications, Marijuana Policy Project, Washington, D.C. [end]
At what point does a prosecutor's investigation of a possible crime cross the line from legitimate inquiry to smear campaign? My interest in the question is not entirely academic. I'm Rush Limbaugh's attorney, and as anyone who has been following my client's situation is probably aware, the local prosecutor (or state attorney, as we call them in Florida) has been having a field day at Rush's expense ever since Rush announced last October that he'd become dependent on prescription pain medication and was entering a rehab clinic to deal with the problem. [continues 626 words]
He's Back, and With All-New Material. The nation's drug czar, John Walters, returned to Nevada last week, talking down a renewed push to legalize up to one ounce of marijuana. Even the draconian penalties for driving under the influence (of anything) and selling marijuana to a minor aren't enough to get this drug warrior's endorsement. Instead, Nevadans were treated to the usual parade of lies: 60 percent of the 7 million Americans who "need" drug treatment are dependent on marijuana? How can this be, when it's never been proven that marijuana is physically addictive? And aren't a good portion of those who "seek" drug treatment forced to choose between a program and prison? [continues 415 words]
