(Washington Post) The Justice Department says it’s backing off the prosecution of people who smoke pot or sell it in compliance with state laws that permit “medical marijuana.” Attorney General Eric Holder says “it will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers.” Party hardy! I mean — let the healing begin!

I don’t think the federal government should be spending a whole lot of time on small-time druggies, and I’m undecided about legalizing pot, which enjoys 44 percent support among the general public, according to a recent poll. Recreational use is not the wisest thing — and if my 12-year-old son is reading this, that means you! — but it’s no more harmful than other drugs (e.g., alcohol) and impossible to eradicate. On the other hand, I worry it’s a gateway to harder stuff. So I think we probably should have an open debate about decriminalization.

The Institute of Medicine in 1999 and every peer-reviewed study since has concluded that there is no such thing as a “gateway effect” from marijuana to “harder stuff”.  What this writer, Charles Lane, wants is the government acting as parent to keep his 12-year-old off of pot by saying “don’t do it, it’s illegal”.  Which, by the way, has been a colossal failure; almost forty years into the War on (Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free) Drugsâ„¢ and kids still say it is much easier to acquire weed than whiskey and blunts than beer.

But it should be a real debate, about real decriminalization, and not clouded — pardon the expression — by hokum about “medical marijuana.” … I do not deny that for some people, including some terminal cancer patients and pain-wracked AIDS sufferers, marijuana is a blessed relief. Let ‘em smoke, I say, just as the Justice Department has usually ignored such cases since long before Holder spoke up. But if you believe there is any scientific evidence that smoked marijuana has the multiplicity of therapeutic uses that advocates claim — well, I’ve got a bag of oregano I’d like to sell you.

There are over 17,000 peer-reviewed studies documenting the bona fide medical uses of cannabis and cannabinoids for a variety of conditions.  Would that count as enough “scientific evidence” for Charles Lane of the Washington Post?

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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Oregon Senate Bill 728 passed the Senate by a vote of 26-2, the House passed it 58-1, and the Senate concurred on amendments 26-3.  It now awaits Gov. Kulongoski’s signature.  The measure adds new sections to Oregon’s law on controlled substances:

SECTION 2. The State Board of Pharmacy shall classify marijuana as a controlled substance in Schedule II, III, IV or V.

SECTION 4. (1) The State Board of Pharmacy shall classify marijuana in accordance with section 2 of this 2009 Act no later than 180 days after the effective date of this 2009 Act.

Oregon’s drug scheduling definitions mirror those of the federal government, so what this means is that Oregon no longer considers marijuana to be a drug with “a high potential for abuse” that “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” and no “accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”

Instead, no matter where Oregon places marijuana on the scale from II to V sometime in early 2010, the state recognizes that marijuana “has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

This doesn’t mean that Oregon doctors will begin prescribing marijuana; the federal Schedule I classification will still be in effect and doctor’s ability to prescribe narcotics usually requires a federal license.  However, it does mean that the entire sentencing structure for “crimes” involving marijuana changes in Oregon.  It also provides another point for those who challenge the federal assertion that marijuana has no recognized medical use in the United States – one of your states has written it into the law!

Oregon activist Laird Funk notes:

While the bill’s author, Sen Prozanski, opined at hearings that mj should probably end up in schedule 3, the Board will make its decision based on the result of evidence presented at a hearing or hearings. There is significant evidence that mj should be lower than schedule 3 and part of that evidence is contained in SB 728 itself, where it discusses schedule 4 substances which cause death. If schedule 4 substances can cause death, and cannabis has never caused death, (a fact I pointed out in the House hearings on 728) then logically it should be in schedule 5, given the mandate of the bill to place it in 2 thru 5.

I am asking all folks involved in cannabis reform efforts nationwide to take advantage of this opportunity and help Oregonians prepare the needed convincing evidence to place mj as low as possible. To that end, I am asking all who read this, who are on other lists to please re-post this to those lists so that all might be best prepared to make this opportunity to reschedule work best for us all.

I will be contacting the Board of Pharmacy soon to ascertain their thoughts on the scheduling of the hearings and other parts of the process and will keep all informed as to the results of that contact. With a collaborative approach, we may be in a position to guide the Board to the right conclusion.

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(WOAI.com) SAN ANTONIO — Controversy is brewing over a patch used for pain relief. At least two people in San Antonio have died after using the Fentanyl patch, and their families are blaming what they say is a defect.

Like most medicinal patches, Fentanyl is used by peeling off a sticky side and placing it against the skin of a patient. The patch is left on the skin for up to 72 hours and is supposed to provide the exact amount of medication needed.

However, the families of two San Antonio women who died say the patch they were prescribed to relieve their pain ended up killing them.

According to lawsuits filed by family members, both women suffered chronic pain. So, their doctors suggested Fentanyl patches.

Fentanyl is stronger than morphine. When it is applied to the skin, it then delivers a certain amount of Fentanyl into the patient.

While wearing the patches, Donna Singleton and Ellen Burks died. Their families say both suffered an overdose of Fentanyl because the patches were defective.

Similar patches have been recalled before because a cut along the side of the patch allowed too much Fentanyl to leak and cause a possible overdose.

Wait a minute, didn’t the Food & Drug Administration approve the use of these Fentanyl patches?  Why, doesn’t that mean it’s safe?  We know for sure that the FDA wouldn’t let people stick a patch on their body loaded with a Schedule II drug if it weren’t safe, even if this Fentanyl is just one isomer short of being Schedule I “China White” heroin.

We know this because they protect us from that evil Schedule I medical marijuana that never killed anybody in 5,000 years.

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"Rethink and Decriminalize..." Doesn't everybody want to be NORML? (credit K.B.)

This is your chance to tell the White House what you think about the Government’s long-standing refusal to acknowledge the medical benefits of cannabis and its obstruction of medical cannabis research.

Visit http://www.safeaccessnow.org/ScientificIntegrity and choose one of the following three options to comment on:

1. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services must correct statements disseminated on federal websites and in the Federal Register that falsely declare that cannabis “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”
2. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration must accept the Administrative Law Judge Bittner’s February 2007 Opinion and Recommended Ruling in the matter of Lyle E. Craker, Ph.D., Docket No. 05-16, to grant a competitive bulk-manufactures license to establish a privately-funded facility to cultivate cannabis exclusively for clinical research.
3. The U.S. Department of Justice must remove cannabis from the list of Schedule I controlled substances in light of a growing body of research, including four double-blind placebo controlled clinical trials, which supports the therapeutic use of cannabis and in accordance with DEA’s own 1988 Administrative Law ruling in which Judge Young opined that “the provisions of the CSA permit and require the transfer of cannabis from schedule I to schedule II.”

Tell Obama to Stand for Scientific Integrity in Medical Cannabis, Too!

“President Obama has made it clear that his administration will hold science over political ideology and value the input of people like you.

Last month, the President signed a Memorandum on Scientific Integrity affirming that policy decisions that are made are done so with facts and data, not political agendas. And now the Office of Technology and Science Policy (OTSP), the agency responsible for overseeing the scientific integrity pledge, created a way for you to provide feedback.

There is a scientific consensus that cannabis can control symptoms of serious and chronic illness. In the past decade alone, clinical research has demonstrated that cannabis and its constituents can safely and effectively treat nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, pain and spasticity. And a growing body of literature suggests that cannabis may hold the key to unlocking new treatments for HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, and many other conditions. Year after year, the research has been twisted or ignored to suit a political ideology.

The federal government is lying when it states that the therapeutic use of cannabis has no accepted medical value in treatment in the United States.”

via This is your chance to tell the White House… | Gather.

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[Welcome to the Stash the prolific MrSpof, who will be dishing out some of that Fresh Stash right here on the Main Page.  This is an experiment that may end at any time, but I really want to expand the Stash, on a model somewhat like "DailyKos", where there will be additional front page contributors.  I will maintain editorial control.  If you want on the Main Page, show your stuff on the Fresh Stash.  Don't solicit me for Main Page; if I spot you from thirty-to-fifty or so words, quality links, and persistance, I'll contact you. -- "R"R]

It is almost beyond dispute that the federal laws are unjustified by science or common sense. Under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has no medical use and cannot be prescribed by a physician. The many medical uses of marijuana are well documented, and it is not nearly as addictive or intoxicating as less-restricted Schedule 2 drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine. Moreover, the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, can be sold in pill form as a Schedule 3 drug. So what makes the plant so dangerous?

via Editorial: Reefer-tax madness – Los Angeles Times

It is quite refreshing to see a major media source like the LA Times bringing up one of the things that frustrates me the most about the War on US Citizens. Why is marijuana a Class 1 drug with ‘no medicinal value’ if the The United States of America, as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services holds US Patent 6630507 titled “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants”?

The patent claims that “Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and HIV dementia.”

via Digital Journal US Government Holds Patent For Medical Marijuana, Shows Hypocrisy

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