HOW SHAMEFULLY callous is the Government's policy on medicinal cannabis use? Just ask Pauline Taylor, a former Macmillan nurse who for 20 years has suffered increasingly debilitating pain from multiple sclerosis. Seven months ago the 53-year-old wheelchair user from Durham discovered an unapproved medication which, as she movingly recounts, "has finally given me my legs back". Too bad for Ms Taylor, then, that her agony-deadening "magic medicine" last week became the latest officially sanctioned target in a renewed legal assault on cannabis-based pain relief. After all, as the Home Office coldly points out, the law must be enforced. [continues 906 words]
My heart goes out to the families of those arrested in Great Barrington. This paper has been deluged with articles, propaganda, and letters to the editor concerning those accused, their families, and the laws that dictate their punishments. In all actuality it has received more press than it deserves. Let us not forget the valuable lesson we've all been taught -- do not judge another until you walk a mile in his/her shoes. The world would be a better place if we all practiced this rule. According to Dr. Wayne Dyer "When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself." Francine Barber Pittsfield [end]
I was pleased to read the progress Telluride is making toward re-legalizing cannabis ("Telluride considering 'sensible' pot ordinance," July 18). All of Colorado should end the practice of caging humans for using the plant cannabis. It's uncivilized, irrational, biblically sinful and pathetic to cage humans for using it. It's time to stop the persecution of this God-given plant and its users. Stan White Dillon [end]
One of the targets of the Bush administration's cost-cutting effort is the federal program that provided $634 million to drug task forces across the nation in the fiscal year that ended June 30. A portion of that money went to drug task forces in Southeast Missouri: $200,000 to the 10-county SEMO Drug Task Force, and $140,000 to the Bootheel Drug Task Force. U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Cape Girardeau and Missouri's two U.S. senators, Kit Bond and Jim Talent, are among those who have been successful in preventing -- so far -- proposed cuts in federal funding for drug task forces. But the administration is proposing elimination of the funding. Without those federal dollars, say local law enforcement officials, the task forces will have to shut down their operations. [continues 193 words]
During a morning raid on a Harrison County methamphetamine lab last March, police were stunned to discover a huge stockpile of dangerous chemicals. Amid the squalor -- where two young girls lived with their mother -- authorities found gallon upon gallon of explosive, highly toxic substances and even an open tub of acid that, if spilled, could have sparked a huge explosion. "It's unreal how big that (lab) was, and how dangerous it was," recalled Harrison County Police Chief Gary Gilley, a veteran drug investigator. [continues 789 words]
Canada's Approval Of A Cannabis-Based Medicine Has People Wondering What Would Be Possible If A Stigma Could Be Removed BURLINGTON, Ontario - Since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 13 years ago, Alison Myrden has suffered from pain so intense it feels like "lightning going off in my face." To reduce her agony, Myrden, 41, has long taken dozens of prescription pills a day, including the powerful Dilaudin. Now, though, she has a new weapon in her arsenal: Sativex, billed as the world's first cannabis-based drug. [continues 1179 words]
Ah, for those quaint days when lollipops tasted like cherry or lemon or, at their most exotic, root beer. Well, those candies can move over; there is a new flavor in town -- marijuana. Yes, candy makers are offering confections for your inner hippie -- Chronic Candy and Pot Suckers. The candies simulate the taste of marijuana, although they lack the chemical that creates the high in grass. While the marketing ploy may seem absurdly comical, Rep. Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg, is taking it seriously. [continues 120 words]
HONOLULU -- The White House drug czar said Friday that medical marijuana is "dying out" after the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that federal authorities may prosecute sick people whose doctors prescribe pot to ease pain. John Walters, the national drug policy director, said state legislative efforts to expand medical marijuana programs have stalled in the two months since the high court's ruling overrode laws in Hawaii and nine other states. "I think it's dying out," Walters told reporters after a meeting with Hawaii drug treatment counselors and law enforcement officials. "The real issue here is, is it the safe and best way for medical treatment? We don't think the best thing for people who are really sick is to make them high and send them away." [continues 89 words]
Eugene Attorney Brian Michaels Challenges The Constitutionality Of The 34-Year-Old Oregon Mass Gathering Act For Brian Michaels, this fight started a long time ago. Even before he went to law school at age 34, the now 50-year-old Eugene attorney spent his free time fighting state and federal officials who wanted to shut down legal counterculture gatherings such as the annual assembly of the Rainbow Family. Prior to getting his law degree, he faced down the government in North Carolina, Texas and West Virginia to name just a few. As an attorney licensed in Oregon, he's fought for medicinal marijuana patients who were illegally searched and arrested. Last year he won a $70,000 judgment against Lane County. [continues 2919 words]
