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Marijuana Advocates Protest DEA Raids
In Michigan & California Coordinated and lively protests were
carried out Wednesday by medical marijuana patient advocates in both Saginaw,
Michigan, and San Diego, California, against the Drug Enforcement
Administration for raids it conducted earlier this month. The raids were made despite an
official Justice Department policy issued in October 2009 discouraging such
enforcement. The Michigan Medical Marijuana
Association organized the Saginaw protest march, and Americans for Safe
Access (ASA) organized a rally at
the federal courthouse in San Diego. More than 100 medical marijuana
supporters demonstrated in Saginaw, coming from across Michigan after hearing
about police raids on medical marijuana growers and patients in Saginaw
County, reports Kim Russell of NBC 25. The DEA raided John Roberts and
Stephanie Whisman, two licensed medical marijuana caregivers from Thomas
Township, Mich., on July 6. The next day, on July 7, the DEA raided the
Covelo, Calif., <continued
on page 3 > |
V.A. EASING RULES FOR USERS OF
MEDICAL MARIJUANA DENVER
-- The Department of Veterans Affairs will formally allow patients treated at
its hospitals and clinics to use medical marijuana in states where it is
legal, a policy clarification that veterans have sought for several years. A
department directive, expected to take effect next week, resolves the
conflict in veterans facilities between federal law, which outlaws marijuana,
and the 14 states that allow medicinal use of the drug, effectively deferring
to the states. The
policy will not permit department doctors to prescribe marijuana. But it will
address the concern of many patients who use the drug that they could lose
access to their prescription pain medication if caught. Under
department rules, veterans can be denied pain medications if they are found
to be using illegal drugs. Until now, the department had no written exception
for medical marijuana. This
has led many patients to distrust their doctors, veterans say. With doctors
and patients pressing the veterans department for formal guidance, agency
officials began drafting a policy last fall. <continued
on page 6 > |
Washington, DC: Medical
Marijuana Dispensaries Not Likely Until Mid-2011 Washington, DC, USA: Qualified patients
will not be legally able to obtain or possess medical marijuana in the
District until at least next summer, according to draft regulations recently
issued by Mayor Adrian Fenty's office. Under the law,
which took effect in late July, the Department of Health and the D.C. Alcohol
Beverage Control Board will establish and oversee regulations for the
licensed cultivation and distribution of marijuana to registered patients.
However, according to a draft version of the regulations circulated by the
Mayor's office, the regulatory framework for the District's dispensaries and
cultivation centers won't be completed until January 2011. It is not
anticipated that the facilities will be up and running for several months
afterward. As amended, the District's medical marijuana law
only permits patients to possess marijuana legally
if they are registered with the Health Department and have obtained <continued
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* Volume 7, Issue 8 * August * 2010
* www.MercyCenters.org *
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* The MERCY News * |
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_____________________ The MERCY News Report is an
all-volunteer, not-for-profit project to record and broadcast news,
announcements and information about medical cannabis in Oregon, across
America and around the World. For more information about the MERCY News, contact us. Via
Snail Mail: The MERCY
News 1469 Capital
St. NE, Suite 100, Salem, Ore.,
97301 503.363-4588 E-mail: Mercy_Salem@hotmail.com Or
our WWW page: www.MercyCenters.org Check it
out! ___________________________ MERCY On The Tube!
in Salem, Oregon area thru Capital Community
Television, Channel 23. See
us on Wednesdays at 06:30pm, Thursdays at 07:00pm, Fridays at 10:30pm and
Saturdays at 06:00pm. Visit – http://mercycenters.org/tv/ |
About
MERCY – The Medical Cannabis Resource Center MERCY is a not-for-profit, grass roots
organization founded by patients, their friends and family and other
compassionate and concerned citizens in the area and is dedicated to helping
and advocating for those involved with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program
(OMMP). MERCY
is based in the Salem, Oregon area and staffed on a volunteer basis. The
purpose is to get medicine to patients in the short-term while working with
them to establish their own independent sources. To
this end we provide, among other things, ongoing education to people and
groups organizing clinics and other Patinet Resources, individual physicians
and other healthcare providers about the OMMP, cannabis as medicine and
doctor rights in general. The mission of the organization
is to help people and change the laws. We advocate reasonable, fair and effective
marijuana laws and policies, and strive to educate, register and empower
voters to implement such policies. Our philosophy is one of teaching
people to fish, rather than being dependent upon others. Lasting change will require that each
citizen be active enough to register and effectively vote. You, and
only you, the people, can make it happen. Work with us to make this
your resource guide and all-around "tool shed" to successful
medical cannabis utilization and activism. * Want To Get Your Card? MERCY is hosting Medical Cannabis Consultations in Salem. Please call 503-363-4588 or email – info@mercycenters.org - to begin the process
of transferring records and scheduling an appointment. Meetings and Meet-Ups *
Every Wednesday (except Holidays),
7:00pm to 9:00pm * CardHolders MeetUp hosted by MERCY at The Almost Home
restaurant in Salem. Located at 3310
Market St. NE, Salem, Oregon, 97301, This
one will happen every Wednesday. *
for more info, call MERCY at: 503.363-4588 –or- visit: mercycenters.org/events/AlmostHome.htm Other
Medical Cannabis Resource NetWork Opportunities for Patients as well as
CardHolders-to-be. * whether Social meeting, Open to public –or-
Cardholders Only * visit: mercycenters.org/events/Meets.html ! Also Forums - a means to
communicate and network on medical cannabis in Portland across Oregon and
around the world. A list of
Forums, Chat Rooms, Bulletin Boards and other Online Resources for the
Medical Cannabis Patient, CareGiver, Family Member, Patient-to-Be and Other
Interested Parties. * Resources > Patients (plus) > Online
> Forums * Know any? Let everybody else know!
Visit: mercycenters.org/orgs/Forums.html and Post It! |
2 mercycenter@hotmail.com * |
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<continued from DISPENSARY INITIIATIVE, page 1 > home of Joy Greenfield,
operator of the first collective to apply for the Mendocino County Sheriff's
cultivation permit program.
Greenfield even had county-issued "zip-ties" on her plants,
designating their legality under state and local law. Then, on July 9, the DEA conducted
multiple raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in the San Diego area,
resulting in the arrests of 12 people. Among other items seized in the raids,
the DEA took money, medical marijuana and cultivation equipment, as well as
financial and private patient records. "Patients are fed up with
platitudes and half promises from the Obama Administration," said Eugene
Davidovich of the San Diego chapter of ASA. "We're here at the federal
courthouse to vocally oppose continued attempts to subvert state law, and to
push for a federal policy that actually protects patients in this
country." John Roberts, who was well below the
legal marijuana limit as a Michigan caregiver, produced a medical marijuana
oil that was used by seriously ill patients, including one six-year-old girl
with brain cancer. The young girl, who because of the DEA raid will now go
without her medication, successfully used the cannabis oil to treat her
headaches, to help her sleep, and as an appetite stimulant. Roberts had held a protest less than
a week before the July 6 DEA raid to bring attention to ongoing law
enforcement harassment of patients in the Saginaw area. "The fact of the matter is I'm
innocent," Roberts said. "I was in full compliance with the
law." Roberts believes Saginaw County
Sheriff William Federspiel encouraged the DEA to raid him after Roberts held
a protest targeting the sheriff. Sheriff Federspiel denies any involvement in
the raid, claiming he is "just doing his job." The most recent federal raids and
subsequent protests came as Acting DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart is
preparing to be confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leonhart is a Bush Administration
appointee who was deputy administrator under then-DEA Administrator Karen
Tandy. Both were responsible for more than 200 raids in California and
other medical marijuana states during the Bush Administration. In her capacity as acting
administrator, Leonhart also blocked medical marijuana research in January of
this year by refusing to grant a research |
application
from the University of Massachusetts that would have expanded therapeutic
studies in the United States.
Source: http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2010/07/marijuana_advocates_protest_dea_raids_in_michigan.php _____________________________________________________________ THOMAS
TOWNSHIP RAID IS AT THE INTERSECTION OF CONFLICTING STATE, FEDERAL MARIJUANA
LAWS Michigan's
Medical Marijuana Act of 2008 doesn't matter. White
House attitudes toward medical marijuana don't matter, nor does a U.S.
Attorney General's directive in October ordering federal prosecutors to back
off. U.S.
Drug Enforcement Adminstration agents continue to bust up medical marijuana
growing operations around the country. In
Thomas Township last week, they struck again. Federal
agents assisted by township police stormed out of their vehicles last week,
guns drawn, and took the marijuana and an estimated $10,000 in equipment that
John Roberts and Stephanie Whisman had in their state-registered medical
marijuana growing operation. Their
Bay City attorney, Ed Czuprynski, charged that the raid was harassment for
the rally that Roberts organized the week before against Saginaw County
Sheriff's Department raids, which included his operation in April. The
rally also called for the recall of the sheriff. The
timing of the DEA action was, indeed, stinky. Although, DEA officials
deny that their execution of a federal search warrant had anything to do with
the rally. Whatever. The
point is that Michiganders who voted in November 2008 overwhelmingly said the
medical use of marijuana is A-OK with them. But
any marijuana use, possession and sale is against federal law. What
we appear to have in Thomas Township is the intersection of conflicting state
and federal laws. It's
a place where U.S. Attorney General Eric R. Holder told federal
prosecutors last fall not to go. He told them to back away from
pursuing cases against medical mariuana patients. Roberts
is a patient registered in Michigan to grow <continued on next page> |
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<continued from previous page> and use marijuana for medical reasons. He
and his
fiancee are also
state-registered caregivers allowed to grow marijuana for up to five patients
each. Roberts has said the marijuana they had on hand was less than the
amount that state law allows them to have. So,
while it may appear that they were well within the dictates of Michigan's
law, DEA agents have made a federal case out of them. State
law vs. federal law: Who's right? The
wishes of Michigan voters vs. a long-dead Congress that passed drug
laws more than 30 years ago: Which lawmaking voice should prevail? The
attorney general says feds should concentate their war on marijuana on
high-level traffickers, those using state laws as a cover for illegal
activity and on money launderers. Did
local DEA agents get that memo? Because
the search warrant in Thomas Township would seem to contradict that
directive. It's passing strange, too,
that township police accompanied federal agents on this search. Is
their prime responsibility to enforce state laws, or federal laws regarding
marijuana? Lots
of questions here, and not nearly enough answers. With
all the confusion - and ensuing excuses - in the law enforcement community
regarding the status of marjuana in Michigan, raids such as this one probably
are inevitable. And it isn't just because
Michgan authorities are still trying to figure out this new twist in the will
of the people. With
14 states, including Michigan, giving the OK to the therapeutic use of this
drug, it's time for a federal referendum on medical marijuana. It's
probbaly too much to hope for Washington to go along wth these states. But
can we get some sort of law or executive order from the White House ordering
federal agents to stand down in states where the people have voted, and given
their OK? Otherwise,
this intersection of conflicting state and federal laws is going to end up in
a crash, with more people caught up in a fight that they may not have seen
coming. Source: Saginaw News (MI) |
DEA Invades
Mendocino County 99 Plant Collective Farms! The
federal Drug Enforcement Administration has flouted Mendocino
County,California’s newly enacted medical marijuana ordinance by raiding the
first collective that had applied to the sheriff’s cultivation permit
program. A multi-agency federal task force descended on the property of Joy
Greenfield, 689, the first Mendo patient to pay the $1,050 application fee
under the ordinance, which allows collectives to grow up to 99 plants
provided they comply with certain regulations. Greenfield
had applied in the name of her collective, “Light The Way,” which opened in
San Diego earlier this year. Her property had passed a preliminary inspection
by the Mendo sheriff’s deputies shortly before the raid, and she had bought
the sheriff’s “zip-ties” intended to designate her cannabis plants as legal.
In the days before the raid, Greenfield had seen a helicopter hovering over
her property; she inquired with the sheriff, who told her the copter belonged
to the DEA and wasn’t under his control. The agents invaded her property with
guns drawn, tore out the collective’s 99 plants and took Greenfield’s
computer and cash. Joy was not at home during the raid, but spoke on the
phone to the DEA agent in charge. When she told he she was a legal grower
under the sheriff’s program, the agent replied, “I don’t care what the
sheriff says.” When she returned to her house she found it in disarray with
soda cans strewn on the floor. “It was just a mess,” she said. “No one should
be able to tear your house apart like that.” Greenfield called the raid a
“slap in the face of Mendocino’s government. The
DEA has been tight-lipped about the raid, but claims it was part of a larger
investigation involving other suspects. “Here Mendo is trying to step out in
front by passing this ordinance, and what do the Feds do but raid the first
applicant,” said Greenfield’s attorney, Bob Boyd of Ukiah. “The DEA is
stepping all over local authorities trying to tax and regulate,” Boyd said.
Neither Boyd nor other locals believe that the sheriff tipped off the DEA or
gave them any information about permit applicants. Mendocino County Sheriff
Tom Allman confirmed Friday that the property owner had the proper paperwork
and the marijuana was legal in the eyes of the county. “This was a federal
operation and had nothing to do with local law enforcement,” Allman said.
“The federal government made a decision to go ahead and eradicate it.” <continued on next page> |
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<continued from previous
page> Mendocino
County Sheriff Tom Allman has been supportive of medical marijuana
cultivators who go by the rules. Sheriff Allman has been highly supportive of
efforts to bring local growers into the permit program. Nonetheless,
observers fear the raid will have a chilling effect on medical cultivators,
possibly causing supply problems for local patients. “This raid is clear
evidence that the DEA is out of control,” said California NORML director Dale
Gieringer. “A change in federal law is long overdue.” “In the meantime, the
DEA needs a new director who will enforce Attorney General Holder’s pledge
not to interfere in state medical marijuana laws,” Gierigner said. The DEA is
currently directed by Michele Leonhart, a Bush Administration holdover who
has presided over numerous medical marijuana raids, and has obstructed research
efforts to develop marijuana for medicine. President Obama has renominated
Leonhart to head the agency — a move strongly opposed by drug reformers, who
are calling on the administration to honor its pledge of change. Source:
THE EMERALD TRIANGLE NEWS AGENCY …… MARIJUANA NEWS AND CULTURE FROM
HUMBOLDT AND MENDOCINO COUNTIES <http://mendonews.wordpress.com/> Share] <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=EMERALDTRIANGLENEWS> More info: *DEA Invades Mendocino County, Eradicates and * *Busts
Mendocino County Approved Medical Marijuana Collectives!* - <http://mendonews.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/dea-invades-mendocino-county-99-plant-collective-farms/>
- News Junky Post <http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/07/10/dea-flouts-medical-marijuana-ordinance-by-raiding-first-applicant/>
- Legalized HOAX: Marijuana Supporters Oppose Mendocino’s 99 Plant Ordinance <http://mendonews.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/2010/03/29/legalized-hoax-marijuana-supporters-oppose-mendocinos-99-plant-ordinance/> _____________________________________________________________ So,
Who's to Blame for DEA Medical Marijuana Raids? Yesterday
half a dozen drug policy reform groups asked President Obama to withdraw his
nomination of Michele Leonhart to head the DEA, citing her continued
enthusiasm for raids on medical marijuana suppliers as the agency's acting
administrator. "Under Leonhart's leadership," says the joint
statement by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws,
California NORML, the Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Policy Alliance, Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition, and Students |
for
Sensible Drug Policy, "the DEA has staged Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition, and Students medical marijuana raids in apparent disregard of
Attorney General Eric Holder's directive to respect state medical marijuana
laws." As an example, the statement
cites a recent raid on Mendocino County, California, grower Joy Greenfield,
who "paid more than $1,000 for a permit to cultivate 99 plants in a
collective garden that had been inspected and approved by the local
sheriff." When told that Greenfield had approval from local law
enforcement, the DEA agent in charge of the raid reportedly replied, "I
don't care what the sheriff says." NORML et al. argue that "the
DEA's conduct is inconsistent with an October 2009 Department of Justice memo
directing officials not to arrest individuals 'whose actions are in clear and
unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use
of marijuana.'" Far be it from me to defend
Leonhart, but her raids are not necessarily inconsistent with the DOJ's
policy, which (as I've noted before) leaves lots of wiggle room for continued
raids, seizures, arrests, and prosecutions. If there is any disagreement
atall about the meaning of the relevant statutes, the DOJ can (and does)
argue that growers and distributors are not "in clear and unambiguous
compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of
marijuana." In California, for example,
local officials continue to argue with each other and with state officials
about issues such as the definition of a patient "collective" (or
"cooperative"), what kind of cultivation is permitted, and whether
over-the-counter sales are legal. So while Mendocino County's sheriff may
have been satisfied that Joy Greenfield was complying with state law,
officials in other jurisdictions might have taken a different view. Even if every law enforcement official in California were of one mind about the requirements for marijuana cultivation,
the DOJ could still choose to interpret state law differently. It is not even clear that the
DOJ would defer to the California Supreme Court's interpretation of the law. Like
I said: lots of wiggle room. And you can't blame Leonhart for that. It was
Attorney General Eric Holder who formulated the new policy, and it was
President Obama who let him do it, despite his repeated campaign promises to
leave medical marijuana patients and their suppliers alone. The
definitive test of whether anything has changed will be in jurisdictions such
as Maine, Rhode Island, <continued on next page> |
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<continued from previous page> New Jersey, and the District of
Columbia, which have laws that explicitly authorize and regulate the
production and distribution of medical marijuana. In Colorado, which had a
law that, like California's, left crucial issues related to cultivation and
sale unresolved, the state legislature recently enacted new regulations that
clarify the law's requirements. If
the DEA nevertheless continues to raid medical marijuana suppliers in
Colorado, including dispensaries that are licensed, regulated, and taxed by
the government, Obama's bad faith will be clear and unambiguous. Source: Opinion by Reason Foundation - in Society / Drug Law - By Jacob
Sullum, visit - http://www.opposingviews.com/i/who-s-to-blame-for-dea-medical-marijuana-raids. Posted by Suzy of Drug Policy Forum of
Texas - www.dpft.org “From a physician's perspective, marijuana is a
minor ailment. The supposed cure, criminalization, is like the IV administration
of a toxic, expensive antibiotic to treat a cold.” - Larry A. Bedard, MD,
past president of the American College of Emergency Medicine,
"DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA: IT'S FAR LESS HARMFUL THAN ALCOHOL," San
Jose Mercury News, 16 Jul 2010 “In the 40 years since U.S. President Richard Nixon declared a
"war on drugs," the supply and use of drugs has not changed in any
fundamental way. The only
difference: a taxpayer bill of more than $1 trillion.” - David Luhnow,
SAVING MEXICO, Wall Street Journal, 26 Dec 2009 _____________________________________________________________ And, why should we care? Because, sometimes … Cops Raid The Wrong House Georgia
Drug Bust Gone Bad: Elderly Woman Hospitalized An elderly woman is in
Georgia hospital after suffering a heart attack during a mistaken drug raid
at her house — a house police had under surveillance for two years. This
incident comes on the heels of a highly publicized Missouri
drug-bust-gone-bad that was captured on video and ended with a dead dog. Helen Pruett, 76, was
home alone in her trailer Tuesday morning, when Polk County policed officers
and DEA agents went to her house — with guns drawn — to serve an arrest
warrant. “It was not a search
warrant,” Polk County police |
Chief Kenny Dodd told WSB
Radio. “She came to the door, opened it and talked with us on the steps.
The house was never breached.” After speaking with
Pruett at the front door, officers “realized that the subject we were looking
for was not there,” Dodd said. However, the woman’s
daughter tells a slightly different story. Machelle Holt says officers
swarmed the house. “She was at home and a
bang came on the back door and she went to the door and by the time she got
to the back door, someone was banging on the front door and then they were
banging on her kitchen window saying ‘police, police,’” Holl told WSB.
Holl says the house
was surrounded and she was scared to open the door. When Dodd finally
convinced her she was safe, she let them in. Hey, everybody makes
mistakes. It just gets problematic when those mistakes end up with dead
mothers, hospitalized grandmothers, and dead
pets – not to mention billions
and billions of dollars of taxpayer money flushed down the
proverbial toilet each year. I should probably say something about the
definition of insanity at this point. In any case, if you
keep your eyes and ears open you’ll see that these instances are hardly
unique. This kind of thing happens all across the country, every single day.
And there is no end in sight, even when 81%
of Americans have come to the belief that medical marijuana should be legal. Source:
By E.D. KAIN, This
is your war on drugs: visit - http://trueslant.com/erikkain/2010/05/14/seventy-six-year-old-woman-hospitalized-after-cops-raid-the-wrong-house/ _____________________________________________________________ <continued from VA EAES RULES, page 1 > "When states start legalizing marijuana we are put in a bit of a unique position because as a federal agency, we are beholden to federal law," said Dr. Robert Jesse, the principal deputy under secretary for health in the veterans department. At the same time, Dr. Jesse said, "We didn't want patients who were legally using marijuana to be administratively denied access to pain management programs." The new, written policy applies only to veterans using medical marijuana in states where it is legal. Doctors may still modify a veteran's treatment plan if the veteran is using marijuana, or decide not to
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<continued from previous page> prescribe pain medicine altogether if there is a risk of a drug interaction. But that decision will be made on a case-by-case basis, not as blanket policy, Dr. Jesse said. Though veterans of the Vietnam War were the first group to use marijuana widely for medical purposes, the population of veterans using it now spans generations, said Michael Krawitz, executive director of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access, which worked with the department on formulating a policy. Veterans, some of whom have been at the forefront of the medical marijuana movement, praised the department's decision. They say cannabis helps soothe physical and psychological pain and can alleviate the side effects of some treatments. "By creating a directive on medical marijuana, the V.A. ensures that throughout its vast hospital network, it will be well understood that legal medical marijuana use will not be the basis for the denial of services," Mr. Krawitz said. Although the Obama administration has not embraced medical marijuana, last October, in a policy shift, the Justice Department announced that it would not prosecute people who used or distributed it in states where it was legal.
Laura
Sweeney, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, would not comment
spefically on the veterans department policy. "What we have said in the
past, and what we have said for a while, is that we are going to focus our
federal resources on large scale drug traffickers," she said. "We
are not going to focus on individual cancer patients or something of the
like." Many
clinicians already prescribe pain medication to veterans who use medical
marijuana, as there was no rule explicitly prohibiting them from doing so,
despite the federal marijuana laws. Advocates
of medical marijuana use say that in the past, the patchwork of veterans
hospitals and clinics around the country were sometimes unclear how to deal
with veterans who needed pain medications and were legally using medical
marijuana. The department's emphasis on keeping patients off illegal drugs
and from abusing their medication "gave many practitioners the feeling
that they are supposed to police marijuana out of the system," Mr.
Krawitz said. "Many
medical-marijuana-using veterans have just abandoned the V.A. hospital system
completely for this reason," he said, "and others that stay in the
system feel that they are not able to trust that their |
doctor
will be working in their best interests." In
rare cases, veterans have been told that they need to stop using marijuana,
even if it is legal, or risk losing their prescription medicine, Mr. Krawitz
said. David
Fox, 58, an Army veteran from Pompey's Pillar, Mont., uses medical marijuana
legally to help quiet the pain he experiences from neuropathy, a nerve
disorder. But he said he was told this year by a doctor at a veterans' clinic
in Billings that if he did not stop using marijuana, he would no longer get
the pain medication he was also prescribed. A
letter written to Mr. Fox in April from Robin Korogi, the director of the
veterans health care system in Montana, explained that the department did not
want to prescribe pain medicine in combination with marijuana because there
was no evidence that marijuana worked for noncancer patients and because the
combination was unsafe. "In
those states where medical marijuana is legal, the patient will need to make
a choice as to which medication they choose to use for their chronic
pain," Ms. Korogi wrote. "However, it is not medically appropriate
to expect that a V.A. physician will prescribe narcotics while the patient is
taking marijuana." Mr.
Fox was shocked by the decision, he said. "I
felt literally abandoned," he said. "I still needed my pain meds. I
thought they were supposed to treat you. It was devastating for me." Mr.
Fox, who said that at one point he was weaning himself off his pain
medication for fear of running out, has held one-man protests in front of the
clinic, carrying signs that read "Abandoned by V.A., Refused
Treatment." Veterans
officials would not comment on specific cases, citing medical privacy laws. This
month, Dr. Robert A. Petzel, the under secretary for health for the veterans
department, sent a letter to Mr. Krawitz laying out the department's policy.
If a veteran obtains and uses medical marijuana in accordance with state law,
Dr. Petzel wrote, he should not be precluded from receiving opioids for pain
management at a veterans facility. Dr.
Petzel also said that pain management agreements between clinicians and
patients, which are used as guidelines for courses of treatment, "should
draw a clear distinction between the use of illegal drugs, and legal medical
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<continued from VA EAES
RULES, previous
page> Dr. Jesse, the veterans department official, said
that formalizing rules on medical marijuana would eliminate any future
confusion and keep patients from being squeezed between state and federal
law. Steve
Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, which
favors the legal regulation of the drug, called the decision historic.
"We now have a branch of the federal government accepting marijuana as a
legal medicine," he said. But
Mr. Fox said he wished the policy had been extended to veterans who lived in
states where medical marijuana was not legal. He
said it was critical that the veterans department make its guidelines clear
to patients and medical staff members, something officials said they planned
on doing in coming weeks. Said
Dr. Jesse, "The whole goal of issuing a national policy is to make sure
we have uniformity across the system."
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/health/policy/24veterans.html - Author: Dan Frosch , Pubdate: Sat, 24
Jul 2010 - New York Times (NY),
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Cited:
Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access http://www.veteransformedicalmarijuana.org/
_____________________________________________________________ <continued
from DC DISPENSARIES, page 1 >
cannabis from a licensed
dispensary. NORML Legal Counsel Keith Stroup criticized the
delay. "Many of the patients that this law is specifically designed to
protect -- such as D.C. residents with HIV, cancer, and multiple sclerosis --
need medical cannabis now, not a year from now. These people should not be
subject to arrest and incarceration for using a medicine that helps
them. Who knows how long D.C.
politicians and regulators may drag their feet on this issue? Why should
patients have to suffer in the interim?" For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, at:
(202) 483-5500. |
Marijuana Compound Halts Breast Cancer Tumor
Growth Madrid, Spain:
The administration of THC reduces the tumor growth of metastatic breast
cancer and "might constitute a new therapeutic tool for the treatment"
of cancerous tumors, according to preclinical data
published online in the journal Molecular Cancer. Investigators
from Complutense University in Madrid assessed the anti-tumor potential of
THC and JWH-133, a non-psychotropic CB2 receptor-selective agonist, in the
treatment of ErbB2-positive breast tumors – a highly aggressive form of
breast cancer that is typically unresponsive to standard therapies. Researchers
reported, "[B]oth Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol ... and JWH-133 ...reduce
tumor growth [and] tumor number [in mice]. ... [T]hese results provide a
strong preclinical evidence for the use of cannabinoid-based therapies for
the management of ErbB2-positive breast cancer." In
2007, investigators at the California Pacific Medical Center Research
Institute reported that the administration of the nonpsychoactive cannabinoid
CBD limited
breast cancer metastasis in a manner that was superior to
comparable synthesized agents. Previous
preclinical studies
assessing the anticancer properties of cannabinoids have shown that they
inhibit the proliferation of a wide range of cancers, including brain cancer, prostate cancer, oral cancers, lung cancer, skin cancer,
pancreatic cancer, biliary tract cancers,
and lymphoma. For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy
Director, at: paul@norml.org.
Full text of the study, "Cannabinoids reduce ErbB2-driven breast cancer
progression through Akt inhibition," is available online at: http://www.molecular-cancer.com/content/9/1/196. |
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