Hannah Hoffman’s Triple Dose of Reefer Madness

Hannah Hoffman, your Reefer Madness propaganda is Anslinger Approved!

It’s no secret that law enforcement doesn’t like medical marijuana laws. It’s not necessarily that they have no compassion for the sick and dying; it’s just a matter of making their jobs more difficult. “That guy with the three ounces of pot and the cannabis plants in the closet – is a he a druggie scumbag I should slam to the ground, handcuff, and bust for multiple felonies or a sick patient I should protect?” the cops must think.  ”Gosh, it was so much easier when they were all just druggie scumbags.”

Law enforcement hasn’t been so successful here in Oregon at stopping our medical marijuana program.  Even when they testify at the Legislature in full uniform, wearing their firearms (in case any of those crazed patient advocates gets out of control?), they still can’t make a dent in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act.

That’s when they enlist the help of their supplicant mouthpieces in the media to help scare the public into seeing things the cops’ way.  It’s a partnership as old as Harry J. Anslinger and William Randolph Hearst.  Today’s winner of the Hearst Award for Yellow Journalism in Cannabis goes to Hannah Hoffman of the McMinnville News-Register.

This weekend Hannah has produced three stories as part of a “special report” on the medical marijuana program that might as well be press releases from law enforcement.  Our first example, and by far the most extensive part of the report, is entitled “Special report: The reality of medical marijuana use not what proponents projected in 1998“.

In 1998, advocates sold a medical marijuana program to Oregon voters by tugging on heartstrings.

“There are thousands of patients like me, people suffering from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy and a host of other diseases or illnesses that threaten their lives,” wrote grandmother Stormy Ray in that year’s voters’ pamphlet. No drug should be denied them in their efforts to cope with the resulting pain, not even marijuana, she argued.

But only about 3 percent of today’s patients cite cancer and even fewer cite seizure-inducing conditions like epilepsy. AIDS and glaucoma don’t even make the top five, which is dominated by three less special conditions that could be considered catchalls — pain, spasms and nausea.

This is a common refrain from other states as well – that there are so few cancer and AIDS patients using medical marijuana.  Somehow, the chronic pain of something like a broken back or migraines, the spasms of something like multiple sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and nausea from something like Crohn’s disease or reflux disease are just “less special conditions”… even if they might be “a host of other diseases or illnesses that threaten their lives” or make their lives far less livable.

Measure 67′s advocates projected about 500 new patients a year, which would have swelled participation to 6,000 by now, not considering attrition due to deaths or withdrawals.

Let’s take a look at what Measure 67 actually said in 1998.  The ONLY reference to “500 new patients a year” is found in the “Estimate of Financial Impact” section of the ballot.  That’s the part generated by the Secretary of State’s office, not “Measure 67′s advocates”.  That estimate also predicted $147,000 cost to the state per year when the OMMP actually generates revenue each year.  The legislature has dipped into over $1,000,000 of OMMP funds in 2005 and 2007 to help balance other human services budgets.  Those people with “less special conditions” helped poor kids keep their state health insurance.

But the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program now encompasses 48,838 users, who pay nearly $2.5 million a year for the substance. They are assisted by 25,486 caregivers and 31,896 growers, though they are allowed to grow and use without assistance, and often do.

I’m not sure where Hannah got these numbers when the State OMMP site lists 39,774 patients and 20,935 caregivers as of 4/1/11 and shares no stats for grower numbers.  Maybe she contacted OMMP directly.  Where she gets the $2.5 million annually we’re paying for cannabis is from the Department of Right Out of Her Ass.  Patients grow their own or have a grower grow for them and those patients may reimburse the grower for expenses.  Her estimate works out to $62.85 per patient per year… we should be so lucky to pay that for even single ounce!

Many of those patients “allowed to grow” are listing themselves as a grower because state law forces them to indicate a grower, whether they are growing or not.  Realistically, these non-growing patients are forced to purchase cannabis from an unregulated and untaxed market are paying $150 – $300 an ounce.  To take in state revenue with $100 annual medical marijuana patient registrations while ignoring the jobs and revenue possible in the medical marijuana market is to step over dollars to pick up dimes.

Each user can legally possess up to 1.5 pounds of processed marijuana at a time, along with up to six mature plants and 18 immature plants — limits established by the 2005 Legislature. Each grower and caregiver can possess up to the same amount of marijuana and number of mature and immature plants on a per-client basis.

Notice the repeated use of the word “user” instead of “patient”.  This is not accidental, is it, Hannah?  Nowhere in ORS 475.300-346 (The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act) does the word “user” appear to describe a patient; “patient” appears eight times, though.  There are plenty of references to “user”, however, in the remainder of ORS 475 as it defines illegal drug use.

It’s no surprise that Hannah, having played so fast and loose with numbers, is also playing fast and loose with the law.  Between the patient, caregiver and grower 1.5 pounds, six immature, and eighteen immature plants are allowed.  There is only one location allowed for the patients’ plants.  So when the grower is growing those twenty-four plants, the caregiver and the patient have zero.  If the grower is storing eight ounces and the caregiver is storing eight ounces the patient only has eight ounces.

I know some will read “1.5 pounds” and “24 plants” and think these cardholders must be swimming in cannabis.  Until you’ve been a patient, you don’t understand that these amounts are on the low end of allowances we should be granting patients and growers.

If the last time you experienced marijuana was buying a dime bag in college, you think a pound and a half is a lot of marijuana.  But picture in your mind a 1.5 pound bag of sugar.  Now imagine that you need to eat a sugar-packet’s worth every two hours or your body is wracked by violent painful spasms.  Suddenly that 1.5 pound bag isn’t a whole lot of medicine.*

*For the math on that: a 4 gram sugar packet every two hours during waking hours is 32 grams a day, times thirty days is 960 grams.  That’s over two pounds.  While a DEA “standard” joint is only 0.4 grams, we’re not talking about patients smoking ten joints every two hours.  That four grams is easily necessary for edible preparations of cannabis, which require much more product.

Then people think six mature and eighteen immature plants must be some sort of marijuana forest.  The truth is that often growers are tending to one vegetative (pre-flowering) plant as a “mother” from which they harvest the 18 little seedlings.  Some may take, some may not, sometimes there are mites or molds or fungi or other conditions that kill the little seedlings or make them unusable as medicine once mature.  Other growers may grow from seed, in which case they must grow the little seedlings long enough to determine sex (male plants don’t make medicine).  The whole time as the grower tends the plants from seedling to vegetative to mature to harvest, they must be sure the 18 seedlings don’t get over twelve inches tall (the completely unscientific designation in law of a “mature” plant) and put him over the six mature plant limit.

Again, imagine you’re that patient who’s allowed that 1.5 pound bag of sugar and you need a packet every two hours just to live without excruciating pain and spasms.  Now remember, when you run out of sugar, you can’t just go buy sugar at the market.  You are only allowed to grow the plants and produce your own sugar from them.  Imagine that the person who’s allowed to grow sugar beets to harvest your sugar is allowed only six sugar beets and he’s allowed to plant eighteen seeds, but if more than six beets break ground he’s a felon.  Plus, he’s got nowhere to purchase the sugar beet seeds, he’s got to get them from another beet farmer for free.  In addition, if there is a drought or pest infestation or wild critters that destroy the crop, you just have to go without your medicine.  Finally, once he’s done all this farming and processing for you he only gets reimbursed for costs, not labor, and you discover that his beet sugar doesn’t really treat your pain as well as some cane sugar you once had in Hawaii.  Suddenly six mature and eighteen seedling plants seems like hardly enough of a guarantee that you’ll remain pain free, does it?

While growers are limited to four clients, there is no limit for the number of clients a caregiver may have. Caregivers are authorized to assist patients who might not be able to manage on their own.

In fact, one Portland marijuana advocate is listed as the official caregiver for 46 users and official grower for four more. Thus, he can legally possess up to 75 pounds of processed marijuana at any given time, plus 300 mature plants and 900 immature plants.

No, he cannot.  The grow site address is listed for four patients, therefore, 96 plants could be at that grow site.  As a caregiver for 46 + grower for 4, he could theoretically possess 75 pounds, but only if all fifty of the patients he is serving currently possess zero.  A caregiver can only be growing plants if he is designated as the grower as well (a person can be both, or, in fact, a patient, a grower, and a caregiver all at once.)

A pound of locally grown marijuana sells for anywhere from $1,500 to $4,000, according to law enforcement sources. In fact, a pound of top-quality product could be swapped for a pound of cocaine, they say.

Or, perhaps, swapped for a pound of child porn DVDs.  Or maybe a pound of radioactive waste for a dirty bomb.  What difference does it make that the medical marijuana grown to supply sick and disabled people could be worth as much as cocaine (which, by the way, is a legal Schedule II medicine in all fifty states)?  If anything, it is a reminder of how prohibition has caused something that literally grows like a weed domestically to be worth as much as a processed and imported illegal drug.

A mature plant typically yields seven to 15 pounds, so the net allowance could run thousands of pounds of marijuana, worth millions of dollars.

“Typically?”  Just how “typical” is an estimate that has a greater than 100% range?  You might as well say the typical person is between 3.5 to 7.5 feet tall.  At least that would be an accurate (like a shotgun) estimate.  These 7-15 lb plants are exceptionally rare productions of outdoor gardens.  The vast majority of plants are grown indoors and average 4oz-6oz production per plant.

What’s more, today’s marijuana is vastly more potent than the casual observer might expect.

The active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, typically tested about 6 percent in the marijuana being smuggled in from Mexico when the drug began gaining popularity in the 1960s, according to the Yamhill County Interagency Narcotics Team. Today, YCINT says, local growers using sophisticated equipment and techniques are producing pot with a THC content of up to 30 percent — five times as much.

YCINT is lying to you, since the ability to test marijuana potency didn’t exist until the 1970s.  At least Hannah’s not feeding us the “0.5% THC Woodstock Weed” line.  Six percent is a reasonable estimate of potency of average 1970s-1980s cannabis.  There have been growers achieving 30% THC potency.  One seizure even produced a record 37% THC.  The average is really closer to 10%.

But so what?  Hannah opens up by complaining about so many patients (or “users”) having so many plants and so much medicine.  If the medicine were as weak as 6% THC, patients would need to have even more medicine!  From a medical standpoint, the potency is important; it can mean using less cannabis less often.  From a safety standpoint, however, potency is irrelevant, since cannabis is non-toxic.  Hannah’s complaint is even less scary when you realize the FDA approved Marinol, a 100% pure synthetic THC in a sesame oil capsule.  How is it we’re supposed to be scared of a plant with 30% THC when the FDA says a 100% THC pill is safe and legal?

According to data analyst Aaron Cossel, participants are allowed to enumerate multiple conditions and sometimes do. That makes the low number citing conditions like cancer or AIDS even more striking.

While Aaron may do a fabulous job analyzing data, Hannah does a lousy job interpreting the results.  See, if one participant can cite multiple conditions, that doesn’t make the “low number citing cancer or AIDS more striking”.  The number of people using cannabis for cancer and AIDS remains the same, even if they also cite the nausea and pain they suffer due to cancer and AIDS.

The language in the 1998 Measure 67 made it clear that marijuana was to be used only for severe, debilitating and potentially life-threatening illnesses, and then only as a last resort for patients not getting relief through conventional treatment. That’s what led advocates to project only about 500 people a year would qualify.

Again, please show us, other than the Secretary of State’s financial impact, where advocates projected only 500 patients per year.  Meanwhile, as I check out the text of Measure 67, which I hope the voters read as they approved it in 1998, I see a very clear definition of medical marijuana being allowed for “debilitation conditions”:

(2) “Debilitating medical condition” means:

(a) Cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or treatment for these conditions;

(b) A medical condition or treatment for a medical condition that produces, for a specific patient, one or more of the following:

(i) Cachexia;

(ii) Severe pain;

(iii) Severe nausea;

(iv) Seizures, including but not limited to seizures caused by epilepsy; or

(v) Persistent muscle spasms, including but not limited to spasms caused by multiple sclerosis

Now in the ballot summary and the explanatory statement, there is this language:

This measure allows for the medical use, possession, delivery and production of limited amounts of marijuana, without pharmaceutical control (due to federal regulation), to alleviate the symptoms or effects of debilitating medical conditions, including cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, HIV, and other conditions.

But also on that ballot that gets mailed to Oregonians comes a voter guide that includes arguments in favor and against the measure, giving voters plenty of opportunity to learn what the measure is about.  Stormy Ray’s statement in favor talks about her use of cannabis for migraines and severe pain.  Dr. Bayer’s statement spoke of cannabis use for spasticity, for the dying, and to alleviate suffering.  Oregonians for Medical Rights’ statement references use of cannabis for pain instead of morphine.  Nurses led by Ed Glick, RN, stated concern for dying and suffering patients.

There is NOTHING in the language of Measure 67 that even suggests that an illness needs to be “life threatening” or that medical cannabis should only be used as a “last resort for patients not getting relief through conventional treatment”.  Throughout the entire Measure 67 language, explanatories, and arguments, the word “dying” is used 13 times, “suffering” is used 21 times, “debilitating” shows up 40 times, and even “pain” appears one more time than “dying” does.

Back in 1998, advocates led voters to believe that would typically come from a patient’s primary care physician. However, in practice, that has never proven the case.

Last year, about 80 percent of all new certifications were provided by a single Portland source — a chain of “clinics” operated by the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation.

Scare quotes for “clinics”, Hannah?  What do you call an office where someone visits a licensed doctor, receives medical consultation, and updates their medical records?

I find nothing in the 1998 ballot language that indicates that advocates were claiming this would be all about primary care physicians.  I didn’t live in Oregon at the time and maybe I missed advocates on TV, radio, and newspapers making such a claim (a “journalist” might provide citations).

However, I can imagine that’s how advocates could have envisioned the system.  If so, they didn’t count on VA doctors being unable to sign, doctors working for major hospital corporations being forbidden to sign, HMOs and private insurers threatening to drop doctors if they sign, private clinics and physician groups forbidding their doctors from signing, and some doctors who just fear the stigma of being labeled a “pot doc” who won’t sign.  Specialty clinics for medical marijuana sign for the majority of cardholders because patients can’t get that recommendation from their own doctor.

Still, almost four thousand doctors in Oregon have signed for medical marijuana recommendations, out of about 12,000 doctors (and DOs) in the state.

[Cops] say Mexican drug cartels use proceeds from marijuana sales to fund trafficking in other drugs, including methamphetamine, powdered cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin. And they said local medical marijuana growers are increasingly taking the same tack on a vastly smaller scale.

Sounds like a really good argument for taking the business of producing and selling marijuana out of the hands of Mexican drug cartels to me.  Fifteen million Americans use cannabis on a regular (monthly) basis and only six million use all those other drugs combined.  From what I understand, Mexican cartels haven’t been able to fund their meth, coke, and heroin trafficking with sales of Corona, Dos Equis, and Pacific Beer.

In one recent local case they prosecuted, a registered medical marijuana caregiver was caught selling pot to support his meth habit. He was supposed to be assisting his ex-girlfriend with her medical needs, but she had left both him and the area.

[Cops] caught the grower, Jay Marrington of Lafayette, with 12 mature plants and 26 immature plants. The agency said he was selling it to fund his meth habit.

[Cops] said the association is a common one. In fact, it’s the rule.

They say they discover marijuana in about 98 percent of their meth busts.

Let’s take that logic and run with it, Hannah.  Let’s suppose that a “journalist” like Jayson Blair is fired from the New York Times for plagiarism.  Then we discover word processing software on Jayson Blair’s computer.  Then we discover that such software is found on 98 percent of the computers of “journalists” busted for plagiarism.  Now Hannah, does the word processing software on your computer tell us anything?

Of course not!  We’re supposed to be shocked that these meth busts turn up marijuana, but that tells us nothing about the vast majority of medical marijuana patients who are following the program to the letter.  Someone who committed the crime of buying meth also committed the crime of selling his medical marijuana?  What do you know, criminals commit crimes!  That does not make the 40,000 medical marijuana patients and 20,000 caregivers criminals involved with meth.

Hannah’s second scare story, a short piece entitled “One man’s medicinal herb another’s dangerous drug“, she creates a sort of “greatest hits” package of reefer madness against “Mary Jane”.

When her leaves are dried and burned, they burden the body with more carcinogens than tobacco, they say. Her beguiling smoke impairs the memory, dulls the mind, destroys the powers of concentration, focus, purpose, ambition and motivation, they say.

She’s habituating, they argue. And she invites use of more potent and addictive drugs – true narcotics like coke, crack and meth, they maintain.

“They” say, she writes, referring to critics in that anonymous third person that allows her to write her own opinions and claim it is news.  The facts are:

• Cannabis smoke has the mostly same carcinogens as tobacco smoke, campfire smoke, or burning house smoke.  The question is whether is causes cancer. Tobacco smoking causes cancer.  There are cancer wards full of cigarette smokers.  THC in cannabis smoke, however, has an anti-tumoral effect that seems to inhibit cancer growth, as demonstrated in numerous laboratory and animal trials, confirmed in long-term study by Dr. Donald Tashkin at UCLA, who found cannabis-only smokers even had a lower incidence of head, neck, and lung cancer.
• Long term studies of cannabis smokers have found no impact on long-term memory, short-term memory, and cognitive abilities of cannabis smokers.
• Nobody has ever proven any sort of “amotivational syndrome” for cannabis users and the athletes, musicians, and full-time employees who get busted for cannabis use every year disprove any notion that cannabis use destroys purpose, ambition and motivation.  (Michael Phelps only set six world records in the eight gold medals he won shortly before getting busted in a bong photo.  If only he hadn’t ever smoked pot, maybe he’d have gone eight for eight.
• Every study that has ever looked at the so-called “gateway theory” has declared it to be a myth.  Nothing about using cannabis compels you to use any harder drugs.  The only thing cannabis has in common with cocaine, meth, and heroin is illegality (truly, since cocaine and meth are legal for any doctor to prescribe, but not cannabis.)

In Hannah’s third scare propaganda, the shortest piece entitled “Legal growers become inviting target“, she tells of the danger facing the legal growers of Yamhill County from the thieves attracted to 15 pound plants that produce $4,000 / lb marijuana:

On the street, marijuana brings between $1,500 and $4,000, depending on its quality and potency. And the buyer doesn’t care whether the seller grew it himself or robbed a legal grower licensed under Oregon’s medical marijuana program.

At least two Yamhill County growers learned that the hard way.

So in the dozen years the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program has functioned and with 853 patients in Yamhill County, Hannah offers two stories of growers being attacked by home invasion robbers.  This is certainly troubling but it once again shows how maintaining a prohibition on cannabis for healthy people jacks up the price of cannabis to the point where violent criminals will attack you for it.  That criminals attack and rob people providing medicine to sick patients is no more argument for ending the program than robberies of liquor stores are an argument to repeal the 21st Amendment.