Marijuana as Medicine

Federal Trial of Charles Lynch

J.Porter — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:20:23 +0000

On Wednesday, July 23^rd at 10am, the federal trial of Charles Lynch officially begins.

Lynch was the Morro Bay owner of a licensed medical cannabis collective that was fully supported by local officials and did wonders to help patients in the community. On March 29, 2007, Lynch was violently raided by the DEA. Lynch was not arrested, and later reopened with the blessing of the landlord and city officials. However, DEA threatened to seize the property and arrest Lynch’s landlord if he was not evicted. The collective was closed on May 16, 2007, and on July 17, 2007 federal agents and the local sheriff arrested Lynch and charged him with a series of federal crimes.

Now Charles Lynch is standing trial, and the Federal Government has blocked the jury from knowing that his business was allowed by California State Law and sanctioned by the City of Morro Bay. He’s being portrayed as a large scale drug kingpin, and no evidence is allowed to mention that he was growing cannabis for medical reasons.

ASA has inside word that the opening statements to the trial will be explosive, and we anticipate that it could have a major impact on similar cases.

For more information visit http://www.friendsofccl.com Watch Drew Carey’s account of Lynch’s struggle with the Federal Government on Reason.tv: http://www.reason.tv/video/show/413.html

John Stossel says "End the Drug War"

J.Porter — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:35:59 +0000

"ABC's John Stossel wants the government to stop interfering with your right to get high ... The crowd went silent at his call to legalize hard drugs." I had attended a Marijuana Policy Project event celebrating the New York State Assembly's passage of a medical-marijuana bill. (The bill hasn't yet passed the Senate.) I told the audience I thought it pathetic that the mere half passage of a bill to allow sick people to try a possible remedy would merit such a celebration. Of course medical marijuana should be legal. For adults, everything should be legal.

I'm amazed that the health police are so smug in their opposition. After years of reporting on the drug war, I'm convinced that this "war" does more harm than any drug. Independent of that harm, adults ought to own our own bodies, so it's not intellectually honest to argue that "only marijuana" should be legal -- and only for certain sick people approved by the state. Every drug should be legal. "How could you say such a ridiculous thing?" asked my assistant. "Heroin and cocaine have a permanent effect. If you do crack just once, you are automatically hooked. Legal hard drugs would create many more addicts. And that leads to more violence, homelessness, out-of-wedlock births, etc." Her diatribe is a good summary of the drug warriors' arguments. Most Americans probably agree with what she said. But what most Americans believe is wrong.

Myth no. 1: Heroin and cocaine have a permanent effect.

Truth: There is no evidence of that. In the 1980s, the press reported that "crack babies" were "permanently damaged." Rolling Stone, citing one study of just 23 babies, claimed that crack babies "were oblivious to affection, automatons." It simply wasn't true. There is no proof that crack babies do worse than anyone else in later life.

Myth no. 2: If you do crack once, you are hooked.

Truth: Look at the numbers -- 15% of young adults have tried crack, but only 2% used it in the last month. If crack is so addictive, why do most people who've tried it no longer use it?People once said heroin was nearly impossible to quit, but during the Vietnam War, thousands of soldiers became addicted, and when they returned home, 85% quit within one year. People have free will. Most who use drugs eventually wise up and stop. And most people who habitually use drugs live perfectly responsible lives; their habits are invisible to their neighbors. As Jacob Sullum writes in "Saying Yes," there is a "silent majority of users: the decent, respectable people who, despite their politically incorrect choice of intoxicants, earn a living and meet their responsibilities."

In 2005, the British Journal of Health Psychology reported that a study of 126 long-term heroin users showed that: "Participants had levels of occupational status and educational achievement comparable to that in the general U.K. population, and considerably higher than typically found in heroin research." The researchers advised, "Drug research should more fully incorporate previously hidden populations to more fully inform theory and practice," adding that the "pharmacological properties of specific substances should not be assumed to inevitably lead to addictive and destructive patterns of drug use."

Myth no. 3: Drugs cause crime.

Truth: The drug war causes the crime. Few drug users hurt or rob people because they are high. Most of the crime occurs because the drugs are illegal and available only through a black market. Drug sellers arm themselves and form gangs because they cannot ask the police to protect their persons and property. In turn, some buyers steal to pay the high black-market prices. The government says heroin, cocaine, and nicotine are similarly addictive, and about half the people who both smoke cigarettes and use cocaine say smoking is at least as strong an urge. But no one robs convenience stores for Marlboros. Alcohol prohibition created Al Capone and the Mafia. Drug prohibition is worse. It's corrupting whole countries and financing terrorism.

The Post wrote, "Stossel admitted his own 22-year-old daughter doesn't think [legalization] is a good idea." But that's not what she said. My daughter argued that legal cocaine would probably lead to more cocaine use. And therefore probably abuse. I'm not so sure. Banning drugs certainly hasn't kept young people from getting them. We can't even keep these drugs out of prisons. How do we expect to keep them out of America? But let's assume my daughter is right that legalization would lead to an increase in experimentation, and that would lead to more addiction. I still say: Legal is better. While drugs harm many, the drug war's black market harms more. And most importantly, in a free country, adults should have the right to harm themselves.

Mr. Stossel is co-anchor of ABC News' "20/20" and the author of "Myth, Lies, and Downright Stupidity."

- Article from the New York Sun, June 18th 2008

America's Gulag by Ethan Nadelmann

J.Porter — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:10:11 +0000

"We're No. 1! We're No. 1! The New York Times' Adam Liptak wrote a disturbing front-page story April 23 about how the United States dwarfs the rest of the world when it comes to locking up its citizens. The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population, but a quarter of the world's prisoners. There are now 2.3 million people behind bars in the United States. According to the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics' most recent report, the number of people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails jumped by more than 60,000 in the year ending June 30, 2006. That jump represents the largest increase since 2000. The United States continues to rank first among all nations in both total prison/jail population and per capita incarceration rates. The United States has held first place for decades, followed by China ( with more than four times our population ) at 1.6 million and Russia at 885,670, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College in London.

Annual Causes of Deaths in the United States

J.Porter — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:46:39 +0000

Tobacco = 430,700

Alcohol = 110,640

Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs = 32,000

Suicide = 30,575

Homicides = 18,272

All Licit and Illicit Drug-induced Deaths = 16, 926

Anti-inflammatory Drugs (such as aspirin) = 7,600

Marijuana = 0

Excerpted from Common Sense for Drug Policy. www.csdp.org and www.drugwarfacts.org. Statistics gathered and analyzed between 1982 and 1998.

Former Surgeon General: Mainstream Medicine Has Endorsed Medical Marijuana

J.Porter — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:56:58 +0000

"One of America's largest and most important groups of physicians has moved to cut through the clutter of political controversies over medical use of marijuana. Lawmakers and the public alike would do well to pay attention. The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization and the second largest physician group in the United States. Its 124,000 members are doctors specializing in internal medicine and related subspecialties, including cardiology, neurology, pulmonary disease, oncology and infectious diseases. The College publishes Annals of Internal Medicine, the most widely cited medical specialty journal in the world." full story

Cannabinoid skin cream eases inflammation

J.Porter — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 21:53:17 +0000

Before my raid, I was making and using a skin cream for my chronic skin irritation and inflammation due to Vitiligo. I knew cannabis is of the willow bark (aspirin) family so it logically followed that the cannabis plant had anti-inflammatory properties. This article (source MAP) confirms what I have been saying for years.

Free Christine Baggett!

J.Porter — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 22:41:34 +0000

Medical marijuana patient, Christine Baggett is 66 years old with impaired vision, two kinds of arthritis and a chronic ankle injury which forces her to use a cane. In August 2006, Christine purchased an ounce of marijuana which she claims eases her pain. She cannot take prescription narcotics because of the side-effects.

Save Bernie's Farm!

J.Porter — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 16:26:59 +0000

"If I were a rapist, the government couldn't take my farm," Bernie Ellis says. "I grew cannabis and provided it free of charge to sick people, so I run the risk of losing everything I own. That just doesn't compute to me."

But a strange thing has happened while the US federal government has been trying to make an example out of Ellis. Colleagues, friends and neighbors are rallying around him -- along with a whole lot of people who had never heard of him before. The balding, bespectacled 57-year-old with the amiable manner of a favorite uncle has become an improbable cause celebre. National organizations working for the liberalization of drug laws are hailing Ellis as a folk hero and a martyr of the medical marijuana movement.

Life came unglued for Bernie Ellis on the day drug agents raided his farm like it was the fortified villa of a South American cocaine kingpin. Ellis was bush-hogging around his berry patches when two helicopters swept low over the treetops. Then, rumbling in on four-wheelers, came 10 officers of the Tennessee Marijuana Eradication Task Force. The war on drugs had arrived, literally, in Ellis' backyard. It was a major operation to strike a righteous blow against the devil weed.

It must have been a real disappointment. Ellis, a public health epidemiologist, readily acknowledged that he was growing a small amount of medical marijuana to cope with a degenerative condition in his hips and spine. He was giving pot away to a few terminally ill people too. There were only a couple dozen plants of any size scattered around his place -- enough to produce seven or eight pounds of marijuana worth about $7,000.

"I'm not ashamed of what I was doing," he says. He has provided pot over the years to perhaps a couple dozen terminally ill people -- mostly with AIDS or cancer -- who were referred to him through social workers and others. As he says, "Three things happen to marijuana users. They talk too much, they laugh too much and they eat too much. I don't see a problem with any of those things happening with sick folks." At the time of the raid, he was giving pot to four people. Three of them died within months.

Ellis, who has a proud face and talks in a warm, disarmingly direct manner, explains that he couldn't turn away a person in need. "I've grown marijuana off and on for 20 or more years," he says. He started giving it to sick people in the late 1980s when he was helping establish the AIDS program for the state Department of Health. "I decided back then if I'm going to take the risk to grow this for my own use, I need to at least be willing to help other people if they need help."

Read the entire story on Cannabis Culture. The feds are trying to seize his land. Save Bernie's Farm!

Police held accountable for drug raid death

J.Porter — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:20:19 +0000

From the New York Times: "Three Atlanta police officers, whose no-knock drug raid resulted in the death of a 92-year old woman last November, were indicted today on multiple charges, including felony murder. The woman, Kathryn Johnson, died in a hail of bullets after three plain-clothes police officers burst into her home without warning, acting on a tip from an informant who said that drugs were being dealt from that location."

It became apparent to us long ago in the medical marijuana movement that the militarization and Rambo-esque tactics of drug police was resulting in innocent deaths and trauma. I am actually surprised there aren't more violent incidents. It is not safe for anyone, including police officers and authorities who need to carry out legitimate operations. We support the police. We want them to do their jobs effectively and safely. But, they have ratcheted up the level of confrontion and aggression that it's force - by it's very nature - will be met with same.

We are a peaceful people! In my case, 14 DEA agents, county drug task team and various city police officers raided my home in full SWAT gear. Like a raid on a home of a suspected terrorist. They knew I was a medical marijuana activist and anti-war protestor. I have no criminal history. I am absolutely dedicated to peace and love. I'm an old hippie, for God's sake! They could have knocked on my front door with a warrant saying, "OK, the gig is up." I would have fully cooperated while calling my attorney. Peace Brother.

But, no. They treated me like I was a dangerous criminal terrorist drug kingpin poisoning the neighborhood children. Murderers and child abusers are treated with more respect and dignity. If anyone had been home at the time, no telling what could have happened. I thank the Lord I was spared the horrer of experiencing black-hooded government officials trashing my home, laughing at my work and service and beliefs, stealing my belongings and threatening my neighbors and friends.

All because they saw me at a legal assembly for medical marijuana. They put me under investigation and surveillance. They acted to arrest me and put me in prison. They meant to silence me.

Bill Richardson is a true statesman and leader

J.Porter — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 17:07:30 +0000

Dick Cheney appeared on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer this morning and again he speaks propaganda. By calling the Democratic Congress irresponsible and motivated to end the war in Iraq for purely partisan reasons, he continues to sow the seeds of division and disunity. We are condemned as a nation to failure and shame, he emphatically states, if we don't support the war and the president without question. This administration has made it clear they simply will not tolerate any limitations on how they are conducting the war or accept oversight of what they are really doing in our names.

I am reminded of the hackneyed phrase "Follow the money". In the case of America's War on Terror, the greatest beneficiary of government contracts has been the private mercenaries, soldiers of fortune and profiteers (carpetbaggers) that have seen billions of dollars stream into their own pockets. VP Cheney would have at least a sliver of credibility if he wasn't so heavily invested and compensated by the biggest looter of federal taxpayer funds, Halliburton and KBR. Let us never forget, the night US forces droppped "shock and awe" bombs on the city of Baghdad and the civilian population, Cheney threw a cocktail party with his friends (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Kissinger, Perle, Libby, etc) in celebration. What kind of human being, I ask, celebrates when we pre-emptively invade and kill innocent civilians in a poor struggling nation that DID NOT ATTACK US ON 9-11?

Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico and Democratic presidential candidate, promises so much more hope for our future. He has proven himself to be a peacemaker and an honest broker in very difficult international arms and weapons negotiations. He does not own controlling stock in corporations directly benefiting from the continuance of wars. He does not have a personal stake in war profiteering.

He is a leader we can trust and look up to. We need his ability to bring different views to the table and find consensus that benefits all. Our children need him. Our country needs him.