Thank you for contacting me in regard to ending marijuana prohibition. I greatly appreciate knowing your thoughts on this important issue, but I must respectfully disagree with you.
In 2005, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) offered an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2006 Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State Appropriations Bill that would allow states to legalize medical marijuana use. I voted against this amendment for two reasons: I am strongly opposed to the legalization of drugs on both the Federal and local level and it would have far reaching implications for drug law enforcement beyond its stated intent. This amendment was soundly defeated by a vote of 161-264.
On April 17, 2008, Rep Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced H.R.5843: Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults. This resolution was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, where it did not receive any further action in the 110th Congress.
As you may know, marijuana is listed under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I drug. Therefore its manufacture, distribution, and possession is illegal under federal law. However, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the “active” ingredient in marijuana, can be obtained by prescription in pill form. I agree with the FDA who concluded, “Smoked cannabis has no acceptable medical use in treatment in the Untied States.” The FDA’s decision was based on a rational scientific approach conforming to standard drug approval mechanisms.
Thank you again for contacting my office. Please let me, or Elias Voces of my Washington staff know if I can be of assistance in the future. It is an honor to serve Kansas in the United States Congress.
Best regards,
Todd Tiahrt
Member of Congress
First of all, the entire reason marijuana is illegal in the first place is because it would not allow the government to control anything about it. Prescribed marijuana users in California are allowed to grow multiple plants in their own home for personal use. Why would the FDA want ANYBODY to be able to grow their own medicine in their own home? Simply because they would not make money off of us!
Okay, I understand that the FDA has produced a drug that is chemically similar to THC and produces similar effects. It is made of synthetic cannabinoids which stimulate these cannabinoid receptors in the brain. My question to the FDA is; why make a synthetic version of a substance when the real substance is 100% natural and more effective? In my opinion, it sounds like they want our money to go to them, instead of in our own pockets.
Marijuana would replace 80% of the prescription drugs used today. Marijuana has been proven time after time that it is far less harmful than any other legal substance in this country. In all recorded history there has never been a death directly related to marijuana. Approximately 1,500 people per year die from an overdose of acetaminophen. 150,000 people per year die from drinking alcohol, whether that be from an overdose or from long term effects. It is clear that marijuana is the safer choice here. And for you people who are against the effects from smoking, there are alternative methods that are far more effective than smoking.
Vaporization is an extremely effective method to consume marijuana. Instead of the traditional smoking method, vaporization allows the marijuana to be heated to the exact temperature to activate the THC and deliver the medicine without the harmful effects of smoking. There is also a different method which involves eating. With this method, the marijuana is never burned, it is ingested. The marijuana is ground up and heated then mixed with butter somehow (never tried it myself, but have seen it done). After this the marijuana is ready to be cooked with. Cakes, brownies, cookies, chocolate, pies, you name it, virtually anything requiring butter in the recipe can be replaced with marijuana butter. This method is the safest in my opinion. Simply because it tastes great and is harmless.
My opinion:
Marijuana should be at least decriminalized, if not legalized. I can understand if our government never reschedules marijuana, but at the very least, allow it for recreational use. I have never smoked marijuana and had the idea to do anything violent, harmful, disruptive, or even disrespectful. If this is truly the land of the FREE and home of the brave, then please, include marijuana in our freedom.
Some of the facts above can be found in the movie:
American Drug War: The Last White Hope
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1033467/
I don’t see any medical benefit in the smoking of anything. Smoke inhalation is what kills people if the fire doesn’t (in a house fire) for instance, BUT, the founding fathers of the USA smoked it, and farmed it, and they said to grow it liberally for its uses. They were right.
Todd Tiarht lost his son to suicide, and it may have been drug related mania that he was dealing with. So don’t expect Todd to help legalize even marijuana.
The Veterans Administration has recently okayed the use of medical marijuana in clinics in states where it is allowed by law. http://article.wn.com/view/2010/07/25/US_okays_medical_marijuana_in_some_VA_clinics/
I am caught in the typical federal govt. catch 22 of the spinal cord injury (SCI) doctors knowing that marijuana is the best anti-spasmodic substance and has many more patient benefits. Contrast that with a positive piss test for weed voids the “Opioid Pain Agreement” we veterans MUST SIGN to receive medications NEEDED for chronic, severe, pain. So I can’t smoke nature’s spasm medicine cause if I do and get caught, NO MORPHINE FOR YOU!
What a smart guy huh? The manufacturing of marijuana! You can tell this guy know what he is talking about here. Let me sum up his response for you. “Dear Potheads, We here at your state and local governments currently make alot of money in court costs, fines, and other legal charges by keeping this drug illegal. The people who pay me off have interests in this matter.” Here is a quote from a Kansas Sheriff I will not name for my own privacy, “You can come back out here (the lake) and pick up any marijuana you might have stashed after I leave, I wouldn’t want to see a child run across it, (sigh) Then We’d have an overdose on our hands.” Straight from the mouth of a county sheriff here in Kansas. Are all of our community leaders this misinformed?
In summary, enormous doses of Delta 9 THC, All THC and concentrated marihuana extract ingested by mouth were unable to produce death or organ pathology in large mammals but did produce fatalities in smaller rodents due to profound central nervous system depression.
The non-fatal consumption of 3000 mg/kg A THC by the dog and monkey would be comparable to a 154-pound human eating approximately 46 pounds (21 kilograms) of 1%-marihuana or 10 pounds of 5% hashish at one time. In addition, 92 mg/kg THC intravenously produced no fatalities in monkeys. These doses would be comparable to a 154-pound human smoking at one time almost three pounds (1.28 kg) of 1%-marihuana or 250,000 times the usual smoked dose and over a million times the minimal effective dose assuming 50% destruction of the THC by smoking.
Thus, evidence from animal studies and human case reports appears to indicate that the ratio of lethal dose to effective dose is quite large. This ratio is much more favorable than that of many other common psychoactive agents including alcohol and barbiturates (Phillips et al. 1971, Brill et al. 1970).
It’s time we voted for competant well informed leaders who have the people’s best interest, not their pockets!!!
It’s too bad it’s so easy for all these morally dead politicians to use the unfortunate disaster we call the FDA, as a cop out in these circumstances. Examples of cowardice and corruption abound our legislatures… we have become desensitized… and it is getting worse.
Please visit http://www.kcnorml.org! We need all the help we can get for Missouri and Kansas! – Brandon Ryan
You are right slash5city….”another politian has outlived any usefulness”
“The FDA’s decision was based on a rational scientific approach conforming to standard drug approval mechanisms.”
WTF!!
I totally agree with you Slash5city. What a shame Kansas has this representing them.
Yet another politician that has outlived any usefulness…