Tonight on CCS, you can bet Paul Stanford’s going to talk a bit about being called “King Bong” and a “Legal Pot Pusher” by CNN. You can bet Madeline Martinez will be talking about being interviewed by CNN and opening up the Oregon NORML Cardholders Meeting to CNN, yet not appearing on camera but for one brief flash of the meeting with the implication that it was run by Paul. And I’ll be there playing bass and adding my two cents when necessary.

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Remember back in 2002 when CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta was going off about how cannabis use leads to depression, schizophrenia, and psychosis?

But the three studies you are talking about talk specifically about schizophrenia and depression, and the fact that marijuana use earlier in life actually may lead to an increased — 30 percent increase — in schizophrenia later in life.

Or back in 2006 when he was writing the article “Why I Would Vote No on Pot“?

Frequent marijuana use can seriously affect your short-term memory. It can impair your cognitive ability (why do you think people call it dope?) and lead to long-lasting depression or anxiety…. But I’m here to tell you, as a doctor, that despite all the talk about the medical benefits of marijuana, smoking the stuff is not going to do your health any good.

Now in 2009 it seems like the good doctor has finally paid attention to the over 17,000 studies showing marijuana’s medical efficacy.  Here’s a transcript from his appearance last night on the Anderson Cooper 360° show (emphasis mine):

ANDERSON COOPER: Sanjay, let’s get at it. Are there benefits to medical marijuana? Is there a case for its use, because the patients we talk to swear by it?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the answer is yes. I mean, there are some medical benefits to marijuana, and this is more than just anecdotal evidence now, Anderson. There are some studies to sort of back that up.

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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Well, now if I were the president of this land
You know, I’d declare total war on The Pusher man
I’d cut him if he stands, and I’d shoot him if he’d run
Yes I’d kill him with my Bible and my razor and my gun

God damn The Pusher
Gad damn The Pusher
I said God damn, God damn The Pusher man

–Hoyt Axton

Tonight on Anderson Cooper 360°, as part of the continuing series, “America’s High: The Case For and Against Pot”, CNN managed to malign this podcast’s sponsor and a personal friend of mine, Paul Stanford of The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation.  I knew we were in for something sinister when during the preceding Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Mr. Cooper promoted the segment by saying we’d meet “the man some call ‘King Bong’”, a reference to a derogatory moniker given by the headline writers of the Willamette Week.

During the Joe Johns interview of Mr. Stanford, the onscreen graphics called him “Legal Pot Pusher” and a bullet point showed he runs a “$3 million business”.

push er -noun
1. a person or thing that pushes.
2. Slang. a peddler of illegal drugs.

ped dler -noun
1. a person who sells from door to door or in the street.
2. a person who tries to promote some cause, candidate, viewpoint, etc.

According to my dictionary (dot com), the only way Paul Stanford is a “pusher” is if he is “a person who tries to promote the cause of illegal drugs”, technically true, since he produces a TV show and sponsors this podcast both dedicated to promoting what is defined as an illegal drug.  As in a “pusher” for “legal pot”.

But we both know what you really meant, and it’s that Hoyt Axton lyric wailed in the late Sixties by John Kay and Steppenwolf, “the pusher is a monster, good God, he’s not a natural man.”  As in a “legal pusher” OF “pot”, not a “pusher” FOR “legal pot”.

Combined with the graphic of “Owns a $3 million business”, your viewers will be led to the conclusion that Paul Stanford is able to legally sell marijuana and become a millionaire.  Will they hear Joe Johns’ voice explanation that his business is a medical marijuana consultation and referral business and that he gives away medical marijuana, or will they see “Legal Pot Pusher”, “Owns a $3 million business”, and a screen full of pot plants?  They won’t ever know from your report that Paul Stanford doesn’t sell so much as a gram of marijuana, but he gives away literally hundreds of pounds of it, or that nearly all his money is plowed back into the marijuana movement while he lives a very frugal lifestyle.

However, Paul has his talk down, especially when he smacks down the idea that the social costs of legalized marijuana would outweigh the tax revenue and savings with, “That’s assuming that marijuana is like alcohol and tobacco, and it isn’t.  Marijuana is a healthy alternative and much safer than alcohol and tobacco.”  I’m still waiting for someone to point out that people are already smoking marijuana now, so we’re absorbing any social costs already without gaining any tax revenue and we’re spending money on a fruitless effort to prohibit marijuana.  That $20 billion number CNN flashed on the screen is how much new marijuana users, above and beyond the 22 million current annual users, would have to cost us before that theory makes any sense.  And even if it did, then you have to explain why we’re so eager to take a loss on alcohol and tobacco, but not demonstrably safer marijuana?

(The final absurd point about the cartels “ramping up” their sales of methamphetamine and cocaine made me laugh.  Wouldn’t it be nice if people weren’t buying one of your products anymore, you could just “ramp up” their demand for some of your other products?  Who are these cartels going to sell coke and meth to?)

This not-so-subtle stereotyping is beneath you, CNN and Anderson Cooper.  You know millions of people watching your broadcast primarily get their information from the pictures, not the audio.  While I’m happy you prominently displayed the addiction rates for various drugs and that Dr. Gupta seems to have gotten some education since he was writing “Why I Would Vote No on Pot” for TIME Magazine, you needlessly slandered a good man who has helped thousands of the most vulnerable Americans and is employing hundreds of dedicated activists.

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(Detroit News) Madison Heights — When Dr. Eric Eisenbud takes the stand in an Oakland County courtroom today to defend a medical marijuana prescription, he’ll be thrust into an unwelcome spotlight.

Forcing doctors to court to discuss patient cases often has a chilling effect on other physicians, and, in this case, on doctors who are considering prescribing pot to sick patients, legal experts, doctors and observers all agree.

“I am concerned about it having a chilling effect on a physician’s willingness to write recommendations for people who are deserving patients,” said Matthew Abel, a Detroit attorney for medical marijuana patients.

“They might have some concern of being put in the spotlight, but the major concern is a doctor is there to treat patients and not testify in court.”

Eisenbud, a Colorado-based ophthalmologist licensed in Michigan who sees patients at the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation clinic in Southfield, is expected to discuss his evaluation of patient Torey Clark, who is charged along with co-defendant Robert Redden with growing marijuana plants inside their Madison Heights home. Clark and Redden have asserted a medical defense.

Madison Heights Judge Robert Turner ordered Eisenbud to testify today about the document Eisenbud signed March 4 that qualifies Clark, who has cancer, to use medical marijuana.

I still can’t get over a licensed eye doctor who recommends medical marijuana whose name sounds like “Eyes and Bud”.  It always reminds me of alcohol and drug researcher Dr. Earleywine and his cannabis studies student, Miss Smoker-Barnwell; the pioneering cocaine research done by Dr. Blow; and the LSD research perfomed by Dr. Fried.  (All actual names of bona fide drug and alcohol researchers!)

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THCF Medical Marijuana garden, Portland, Oregon

CNN’s AC360 special, “America’s High: The Case For and Against Pot” continues tonight at 10pm ET with a look at Portland, Oregon’s The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation’s (our podcast sponsor) medical marijuana garden.

You have to wonder about security. A narcotics officer told us that they got most of their leads on cannabis grows because of tips from neighbors saying they can smell it. For anyone in the neighborhood, it would be pretty obvious what was going on in this backyard, and it was easy to imagine people climbing the fence and stealing the plants. The garden owners said it was a concern, and sometimes they build up the fences a bit higher, but that barbed wire would just attract more attention. Mostly they just relied on friendly neighbors and a fierce-looking gardener.

I wonder if that “fierce-looking gardener” is my friend Junior, a 6′5″ Mexican-American transplant from East L.A. who rocks some bitchin’ tattoos and a cool soul patch?  He’s a right gentle and dare I say tender fellow, despite being a Lakers and Raiders fan.

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All week long CNN’s Anderson Cooper focuses on the popularity of marijuana legalization.  Oregon NORML and NORML Board’s Madeline Martinez and the Oregon NORML Cardholders Meeting should be on Wednesday night, as well as THCF’s Paul Stanford and his outdoor medical garden.

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via MyFox Detroit | Some Patients Turning to Pot Clinics.

Click to see a great TV news video about the THCF medical clinic in Michigan (no embed available). — “R”R

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MyFox Detroit | Marijuana Clinic Opens in Detroit

Our primary podcast sponsor, THCF Medical Marijuana Clinics, has opened up the first clinic in Michigan!  Click the link to watch video from the FOX News Channel in Detroit.

THCF can help you Michigan patients until the state issues cards in April.  Their paperwork certifies that a doctor has evaluated your qualifying medical condition and recommended marijuana as treatment.  This will provide your affirmative defense to any marijuana charges in court.

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