This is an interview with San Diego Assistant District Attorney, Steve Walter from the local Public Broadcasting Service's local station.
(A link to the original source, which includes an audio version can be found after the full text.)
MAUREEN CAVANAUGH (Host): Now what constitutes the difference between a drug dealer and a legitimate provider of medical marijuana?
WALTER: It’s a very difficult question. The law itself, when I say the law I’m talking about Prop 215, SB-420, and the AG’s guidelines, as well as the case law. In essence, you have to be either a user or a qualified patient or a caregiver for such a patient.
Wow. So according to the San Diego District Attorney's Office, "a user" is "a legitimate provider of medical marijuana." That's really disturbing as I have obtained/do obtain all of my medical cannabis from Medical Cannabis Caregivers/ Legal Patients. These are the ones that Walter himself oversaw the aggressive arrests of. I guess going on the above quote, he believes that any one ELSE, just so long as they 'use marijuana' is a responsible, law abiding, trustworthy source for the medication I use for my healthcare. Great.
Organizing for America,
While the President was expressing the need for our nation to reform its' inhumane Health Care system, some of San Diego, California's most vulnerable, suffering citizens were subjected to organized terrororism inflicted upon them by their own City and Federal Law Enforcement Agencies.
I am referring to San Diego District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis' continued persecution (not a mis-spelling) of those who benefit from legal medical cannabis. Lies are being told about the Collectives operating for profit and not being caregivers to its' members.
Please Mr. Stewart and OFA, we're already victims of our ailments, diseases, handicaps and inflictions. Members of these particular Collectives, at least one that I know, is an amputee U.S. Soldier. Isn't the pain he brought back from the war enough punishment and sacrifice for his country? Does he really need to suffer through prescription opiates that are highly addictive and less effective than medical cannabis? These voices need to be heard. Please look into the facts of this. People's lives are at stake.
Please the title might lead you to move on but please consider this.
With the use of marijuana for medicinal uses or otherwise, why would the federal government decide to make it illegal while it has NEVER been directly linked to one death. While more harsh drugs such as tobacco or alcohol continue to riddle lives with hurt, but still continue to be legal? Also with medicinal use of marijuana, if a person cannot find other alternatives to relieve their daily pain, yet med. marijuana is their outlet, then why would it still continue to be illegal? Marijuana is potentially the largest grossing cash crop that if made legal and regulated, could produce BILLIONS in revenue and help domestic economic problems. Why? Is it because of many misconceptions and lack of eduacation to the public on marijuana? Current laws restrict the potential on many studies of marijuana. With these few things to consider, (and i hope you do), please Barack Obama, or anyone who reads this look further into the issue and simply do not turn an ignorant ear to many.
Educational Video...> open plea to obam, subscribe and look at many videos that contain many educational facts and things to consider on the matter.
Open plea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx7qYkKlVDk
Videos that will educate:
I greatly appreciate your attention in the matter as it is VERY important to many that are suffering with terminal or chronic conditions, and I’m just one of them. I wish I would have had more notice on the Committee meeting, it would have been my pleasure to come down to Springfield and testify, but traveling is difficult at best. If I can answer any questions you may have concerning this issue, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
I believe that as Americans, we should have the right to put in our own bodies what we will. It is clear that the war on drugs has failed us greatly. In this year already, we have spent over 12,000,000,000 dollars on the war against drugs with that number climbing in the tens of thousands with every few letters I type. This nonsense needs to end. By legalizing drugs, we could control them like we do any legal substance (alcohol, tobacco) today. We restrict their sales to people above a certain age, and we tax them. This would not only create money (and possibly jobs depending on how these substances were distributed/cultivated/dispensed), but it would mean that we would stop spending billions of dollars a year to feed a useless, highly destructive war. The current laws that control these substances are responsible for a few highly negative things: not only are we wasting billions of dollars in taxes, police/law enforcement funds, etc, but we are putting our money in the hands of criminals. Criminal organizations feed off of drug money, which the US government is essentially handing them given our current regulations. If substances were regulated y the government, rather than these criminal organizations, those organizations would be much less powerful. In addition to this, our law enforcement officers could spend much, much, much more time dealing with things of more importance.
Dear Brother Barack,
The "war on drugs" was not started as some half-hearted attempt to overthrow a dictator.
The "war on drugs" has had dozens of decades of money, human might, weapons, and propaganda thrown at it.
The "war on drugs" has already had decades of "surges" applied to it.
Do not fall for the lame logic that continues to whisper in the ears of power, "if we could just have more money, we'd win," or "if we could just send in more troops with a surge against the cartels, we'd win." You are only the latest in a long line to hear those lines. Those doing so are more addicted than the worst offenders. In fact, I would say that many of them are in the same boat as the cartels who don't want this war to end, and many of them are in their pockets too!
Call in LEAP and hear from folks who have been involved in this battle for their whole careers!
Who put your in power? Was it donations from big pharmaceutical companies? Was is huge alcohol vendors run by people with so many houses they don't know how many they own? Was it the privatized prison system that is interested in bigger and bigger profits?
Even though I am not a doctor and have very little medical training, I am sure that in the past doctors tried potent "downers" on hyperactive children. But after lots of experimenting, you know what? They found that ritalin, a "stimulant" of some sort, was what made hyperactive children calm down! What's the moral of this little story? Sometimes the solution is ironic.
Call LEAP today, here are some names to ask for: Howard, Jack, Norm, Peter, Matt (many more).
Since you are a man of prayer, here is a religious perspective. Who came out to defeat Goliath? Was it someone even bigger? Or was it some kid? Something totally unexpected, laughed at and scorned by the leaders, and seemingly totally underpowered?
Where was the King of the Universe born? In a marble palace with a silver spoon in his mouth on silk sheets to beautiful and famous parents? Um, not according to the story! He was born in a smelly barn, his bassinet was a feeding trough for large animals, his young-teen mother was considered by some to have slept around, later he was homeless and wandered around without any visible job. The irony!
Here is a pop-culture fiction reference. What brought down the invaders in "War of the Worlds?" Was it bombs? Was it tanks? Was it a surge of army men dressed in black, kicking in doors unexpectedly?
Please consider ending this war to be parallel to how many have viewed political elections (before you came along). Many people did not like either option, either candidate, they just "voted for the lesser evil."
Surely it should be obvious by now that the ills that prohibition was designed to combat have spawned significantly more serious ills!
Begin by ending the government-imposed unconstitutional religion of hate against marijuana. People undergoing cancer treatment could be benefitting, perhaps people like my Dad who is, I'm told, getting Alzheimer's disease could benefit--or at least partake in studies, and many other people suffering who are currently hiding, could come to the light and share their experiences, for the scientific advancement of society. The only people winning now are the weapons vendors, the adrenaline junkies, the non-taxpaying black market traders, vicious cartels, for-profit prisons, and big pharma.
You don't have to like, or agree with the cartels, but putting them in "suits," regulating them, and taxing them is much better than the accelerating downhill slide that prohibition has caused since its inception, and this includes Prohibition version 1, and Prohibition version 2!
Don't believe for one second this "sends the wrong message to children." Those who are actually children (vs. teenagers…) will not even know what is going on. It won't be on their radar at all. Do I remember self-adulation of adults patting themselves on the back about the message they were sending children, when I was a child? Ha! I thought adults were boring, talked about boring things, and I couldn't wait to get back to video games, board games, reading, climbing trees, etc… This is, and will be, an adult hang-up. Do you remember Nixon's antics? If you were like most kids at the time, you probably were more interested in basketball, music, and other social issues.
I could go on and on with reasons. But I've written enough for today. Please, again, give this serious thought. I am not asking you to enter a beauty contest or popularity contest. I am sure there are many like me who are ready to pack up and leave the US if our best shot at leadership just falls in with the same-old same-old crowd of power and money abusers, whose minds seem beyond repair from drunken self-righteous power and money grabbing while continuing to ignore our very own Declaration of Independence and Constitution and the facts that are before us.
Respectfully, Drew.
P.S. You may call me any time.
I am not an expert in stem cells, so I am willing to go along with the notion that stem cells are important.
But I must say that "bud" cells are very much worth investigating too!
In fact, some botanists would say the only reason for stem cells is so they can produce bud cells!
Dear Barack, you can help stop the suffering! Act now!
My Dad, whom I love, is turning 81 soon and is supposedly getting Alzheimer's. Each year, for decades, he spends months figuring out complex tax codes, a waste of a time for someone who wrote the software that got men off the moon. He does NOT spend months doing taxes because he has off-shore accounts, or oodles of businesses or holdings, he was an electrical engineer (forced into early retirement) and anal, and someone who loves the USA.
Do you know how angry I am?!!!
Take away the shame and illegal laws against a plant that could help him! A plant! We're not talking some strange concoction that comes out of a spigot off of some strange refining, distilling, apparatus, a Rube Goldburg machine! A plant! Bud cells off the end of some stem cells!
The drug war has failed. It’s Victims come from all walks of life with one thing in common: the drugs they chose to use are illegal. We need to shift our "attack" from Persecution to Education & Treatment.
There has been NO Significant Decrease in drug use since this miserable program was enacted in 1971. And the cost… $50 billion a year (Prevention + Enforcement + Legal Adjudication + Correctional Facilities) For 36 year we have been punishing our citizens, sending them away from their loved ones; their families, their support groups. I ask to what end?
Law Enforcement’s View = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LayaGk0TMDc
We need to start an honest discussion with ourselves and most importantly the young people in this country. “If you do this drug, this will happen” “If you get behind the wheel when drunk/high, this will happen” “If you take too many prescription pills, this will happen” “If you drink too much, this will happen” and most importantly “Yes, marijuana is a drug, but it’s effect is much less that other
Is full decriminalization the answer? I’m not sure, but lumping marijuana in with Heroin and other harder drugs doesn’t make sense to me. Also, Mandatory Minimum sentencing has proved to be a bad policy… go ask any Judge.
Here is one idea of mine: Take the Hard drugs off the street and make them available at drug stores. In order to purchase you will have to take a course to educate yourself on the dangers of drug use. Once you have completed the course you will get a stamp on your driver license’s permitting you to purchase drugs. The license will only be valid for a set number of years at which time you must take a refresher course…. (Politicians; think of the Tax money you can make)
I ask you to please give this issue a new Fresh, Honest, Look.
Medical Marijuana
I live in Colorado and am licensed to carry and grow my own medical marijuana. Although the state has made it legal for me to use this life changing medication, the federal law still allows for my incarceration. I have seen on YouTube comments made by Barack saying that he would help people like me from being put in jail for providing myself medication.
I am curious to anyone’s thoughts on this. Would you rather continue paying for the 'war' on marijuana or let me go through life without being in pain? Would your thoughts on medical marijuana change if it were legal? What is your issue with marijuana?
Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the heroic Surgeon General fired by Bill Clinton in one of the low points of his presidency, endorsed Obama June 24 in an interview with a Raleigh, N. Carolina newspaper. She was in town to testify in support of medical marijuana legislation being considered by the N. Carolina legislature. Here's what she says about Obama, as well as a link to the full interview, which is definitely worth reading:
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A260080
Who are you supporting for president?
Mr. Obama. I think he'll make an excellent president. Most of all, I'm so pleased he's gotten young people excited. That's what we need, young people out there taking our government back, demanding that we do the things we need to do that make good sense. We can't continue to let our government abort common sense. They're always talking about aborting fetuses; as far as I'm concerned, they've aborted common sense.
Due to work-related travel (more below), this will be my last post for a week or so, but I had to share that today I wore my newly-purchased Obama '08 t-shirt for the first time, and I gotta say these shirts are a great way to make friends. Perfect strangers gave me smiles, thumbs-up, and shout's of "Obama's gonna win!" all day while I was out doing errands. Surely it helps that I'm in San Francisco, which is Obama country -- but I've worn plenty of shirts and buttons for popular causes around here without getting this kind of reaction. I certainly haven't felt this kind of energy around a presidential candidate in my adult lifetime -- and I'm 51 (though I imagine lots of conservatives were equally excited about Ronald Reagan).
Now, I'm off to Minneapolis, where the Marijuana Policy Project is assisting local activists trying to pass a medical marijuana bill. The bill has already passed the state Senate and all the needed House committees. It just needs to pass the full House and get by the governor, who thus far has not been supportive. For information on recent developments, see www.mpp.org -- and all Minnesotans, please get involved! (alas, a link on our home page was malfunctioning just now and may not be fixed till Monday -- sorry!)
My usual disclaimer: All opinions expressed above are strictly my own and not those of the Marijuana Policy Project.
What would you do as president about the federal government not recognizing Oregon’s Medical Marijuana Program as legal?
We’ve got to have a clear understanding of the workings of pain relief and the control of pain. And there needs to be greater research and openness to the research that’s already been done. I don’t think it’s a good use of federal law-enforcement resources to be going after people who are supplying marijuana for medicinal purposes.
So you’d stop the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s raids on medical marijuana grows?
What we would do is prioritize what the DEA should be doing, and that would not be a high priority. There’s a lot of other more important work that needs to be done.
Should medical marijuana be covered by insurance?
I don’t have enough information to know anything about that.
---------In contrast, Barack Obama has been much clearer:http://www.medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/pop/candidateviews.htm#obamaBarack Obama, U.S. Senator (D-IL), stated in a Mar. 22, 2008 interview with Gary Nelson, Editorial page editor for the Oregon newspaper Mail Tribune:"When it comes to medical marijuana, I have more of a practical view than anything else. My attitude is that if it's an issue of doctors prescribing medical marijuana as a treatment for glaucoma or as a cancer treatment, I think that should be appropriate because there really is no difference between that and a doctor prescribing morphine or anything else. I think there are legitimate concerns in not wanting to allow people to grow their own or start setting up mom and pop shops because at that point it becomes fairly difficult to regulate.
I'm not familiar with all the details of the initiative that was passed [in Oregon] and what safeguards there were in place, but I think the basic concept that using medical marijuana in the same way, with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate.I would not punish doctors if it's prescribed in a way that is appropriate. That may require some changes in federal law.I will tell you that...the likelihood of that being real high on my list is not likely.
What I'm not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism. We've got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with."
This is a follow up to my most recent post. Tuesday morning at 10:30am federal medicinal marijuana patient Irv Rosenfeld will be holding a press conference at the Westin Hotel, 400 Corporate Drive, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. 33334, in the Board Room. Irv is celebrating 25 years of legally smoking marijuana medicinally. There you and hopefully a gaggle of reporters will have the opportunity meet and listen to Mr. Rosenfeld. Irv is one of five surviving patients of the Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program of the Food and Drug Administration. Irv participated in "The Missoula Study". It not only confirmed his need to use marijuana medicinally it also verified his success with it. I told you in my last post about what I witnessed last spring. I most recently became aware of a fellow named Al Byrne and Patients Out of Time. You should listen to his opening remarks from 2004 at The Third National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4758802267905443132
That was the title of a press release I received the other day. But before I put up the whole press release I would like to tell you about one of the five patients referred to in the release. I met Irv Rosenfeld last year when Maryland's House of Delegates' Judiciary Committee was holding hears on HB 1040 Maryland's Compassionate Use Act. We spent the whole day together waiting for us to be called into the hearing room. We learned a lot about each other that day. For one I learned that someone is passionate enough about medical marijuana laws to give up basically two days to come all the way to Maryland from Florida to help me be able to get the medicine I need.
The second thing I learned is pain is visible. I sort of knew this already just from looking in the mirror everyday. But as Irv and I and several others wandered the halls outside the hearing room I could see it. I watched it slowly creep back into Irv's face every couple of hours. I also learned that I have to keep up this fight if not for myself then for the thousands of others that face debilitating pain everyday of their lives. I have to admit here that on that day I was getting jealous as the day rolled on into late afternoon. You see under my regiment of medicine I couldn't take anymore medicine until around six o'clock in the evening. Irv however could freely walk outside light one of his government provided cannabis cigarettes, you know "joints", every couple of hours. So while my pain steadily increased with every hour, Irv got relief every couple of hours. Now I'm one of those nasty cigarette smokers you know the regular kind. So when ever Irv went out side to get pain relief, I went outside and got my nicotine fix. While that does calm a smoker's nerves, and I was plenty nervous waiting around, it did nothing to alleviate the stabbing pain in my spine. So here is the press release I have spent too many words introducing. I hope there are many more who care than not.
November 14, 2007
Adequate Care or Nobody Cares?
On November 20, 2007 a Florida stockbroker will light up a “joint”, provided to him by the government of the United States.
He will not be arrested. Nor will he be sued, harassed, fired, demoted, or called an addict or a criminal.
Unless you care no one will.
Certainly the DEA, National Institute of Drug Abuse, US Justice Department, Health and Human Services, FBI, and Florida law enforcement will not care.
They have proved that over a 25-year period, but more importantly all the federal cannabis patients are healthy. (1)
When Irv Rosenfeld’s “Silver Anniversary” of November 20 arrives he will have been smoking, from a silver tin can, non-medical grade cannabis for a quarter of a century without the federal government ever studying the results of their treatment protocol.
This is how the US government treats the five legal cannabis patients left alive in the US, and they are special, deemed “investigational.” The rest of the millions of cannabis patients or potential patients cornered, caught, are arrested, harassed, fired, jailed.
The five: Irv, Barbara, Elvy, Corrine and George are living examples of a misdirected, punitive even mendacious policy of improper medical treatment by the US government to all other patients.
This is not a medical policy that keeps you or your loved ones from a potential medical solution; it is a political policy of ignorance and prejudice.
It can change (2), if you care.
Patients Out of Time
(434) 263-4484 fax (434) 263-6753
1472 Fish Pond Rd.
Howardsville, VA 24562
Al@medicalcannabis.com
1. Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program: An Examination of Benefits and Adverse Effects of legal Clinical Cannabis. Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, Vol. 2(1) 2002. http://www.medicalcannabis.com.
2. The Petition to Reschedule Cannabis. www.drugscience.org.
By Rev. Gail Packard
November 3, 2007
Burnt Ranch, Ca.
“The Lord said unto me, ‘I will take my rest and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs.”..Isaiah 18:4-5
Genesis…1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose SEED is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Genesis 1: 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, let us (do I note a plural here?) make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
“The hemp plant (scientific name : cannabis, slang: marijuana) is one of the many useful herbs “yielding seed after its kind” created and blessed by God on the third day of creation, “and God saw that it was good.” He gave hemp for people to use with our free will. The Bible predicted some herb’s prohibition…”Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, some shall speak lies in hypocrisy…commanding to abstain from the meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth…. Paul: 1 Timothy 4:1-3
Cannabis was used 13 ways: clothing, paper, cord, sails, fishnet, OIL, sealant, incense, FOOD!!!!( Oh my God, we could feed everyone on earth!!) And in ceremony, relaxation and medicine. For so the Lord said unto me, “I will take my rest and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs. For afore harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks and take away and cut down the branches.” Isaiah 18:4-5d ... we learn that Jesus said to keep church and state apart.
“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s and unto God the things which be God’s.” Luke 20:25…and we have seen, it was God, not government, who gave man the herbs to use. And it was government that put Jesus to death.
See for yourself. I learned all this at www.Biblegateway.com has concordances for the King James, the American Standard, and four or five other translations. And check out www.equalrights4all.org/religious/bible.htm too.
From the west coast to the east coast there is a movement a foot. State by state American's are saying yes, when asked if they should have the right to use marijuana for medical purposes. This year the state legislatures of both Maryland and New Mexico are voting on Compassionate Use statutes. Geographically these states are quite different. Politically they have something in common, legislatures that are willing to view medicinal cannabis with not just open eyes but open hearts as well.
Tuesday I appeared before the Judicial Committee of Maryland’s House of Delegates. I was the only resident/patient from Maryland to testify publicly on this issue. I will testify again on Wednesday March 14, 2007 before the Judicial Committee of Maryland’s Senate. If you live in Maryland and want to join me, let me know.
I support Senator Obama’s call for Universal Healthcare. I also understand that politically speaking out in favor of Compassionate Use legislation is another one of those “third rail” issues. However, that doesn’t mean we, as supporters can’t let our voices be heard. Not everyone who supports any of the announced candidates will support legalizing using marijuana for medical reasons. By all means speak your minds. But if you are a part of the national majority that does support medical cannabis please let your opinions be known. We as baby boomers are getting older and with that will come conditions/illnesses that can be treated effectively with cannabis. One myth is that everyone who uses cannabis medically sits around smoking it. Actually, since California has had they’re law, people are finding all kinds of safer ways to ingest cannabis.
So if you support people’s rights to choose cannabis over opiates like Vicodin & OxyContin take a minute and let your voice be heard. Hopefully, the next President (Barack) will have the opportunity to sign federal legislation similar to that of the eleven states that have Compassionate Use laws. It appears that before this legislative year is over two more states (N.M. & Md.) might join the previous eleven. Peace, Barry, aka Casey’s Dream Link
When is the Senator going to answer my email and phone call about this issue?
DOES the Senator support the DEA riding roughshod over the rights of the states to declare what is or is not medicine?
Is it alright for the Federal government to imprison the terminally ill just for seeking a legal medication within their state?
When is an elected official going to grow a pair and admit the truth - hemp is a safe and useful substance and should not be reason for arrest and imprisonment.
