Central Coast Cities Pass Emergency Ordinance
It looks like the central coast is still on its right wing horse. The Hollister and Monterey City Council's have both approved different versions of an emergency moratorium…Monterey's city manager stated that its simply to give the city the time to develop a policy on medical marijuana collectives.
I'm not sure how many medical marijuana card patients their are on the central coast…but I'm sure its far more than the two marijuana collectives that currently exist and are now being closed could handle.
The state of California needs to get its act and together protect the medical marijuana patients rights…
With Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito both beginning their lifelong appointments to the Supreme Court, liberals and left-leaning moderates throughout the country are rushing to prepare their Canadian citizenship applications. However justified liberals' fear may be, there is at least one silver lining to an overtly conservative court: it may just be a step forward for the medical marijuana movement, an issue that has really only taken ground in blue states.
Perhaps this may be a pipe-dream (excuse the pun), but let me explain. Conservative jurists tend to value states' rights and generally disagree with the overuse of the Commerce Clause, which is the part of the Constitution that gives Congress the broad power to make federal regulations. The Commerce Clause allows Congress to regulate virtually anything in the United States that affects inter-state, commercial activity. In 1970, Congress used this authority to pass the Controlled Substance Act and it placed marijuana into the most prohibitive classification, Schedule One. Schedule One basically states that the substance has no medical value and is unacceptably dangerous and addictive (though cocaine and PCP are both Schedule Two drugs because they have certain medical applications). Until this law is changed, the federal government will not recognize medical marijuana, even in states like California that have passed laws in favor of it. In fact, federal agents regularly arrest terminally ill patients who reside in such states, a policy that famously contributed to the death of writer Peter McWilliams in 2000.
The last big medical marijuana case, Gonzales v. Raich, contested the federal government's ability to override state laws regarding medical marijuana. Specifically, Angela Raich, a terminally ill resident of California, argued that the federal government had no right to regulate her use of marijuana since her plants were grown and consumed wholly within California and there was no commercial exchange. In other words, if commerce had not been involved, then the Commerce Clause could not reasonably be applied. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court voted her down, 6-3. The court held that the federal government has a legitimate interest in preventing illegal drug use and that the Controlled Substance Act clearly prohibits the medical use of marijuana. Surprisingly, the three dissenting judges were some of the most conservative judges on the court! That's right, the dissenting judges were William Rehnquist, Clarence Thomas and Sandra Day O'Connor; Scalia sided with the federal government on this one.
Justice O'Connor described the decision as, “…tantamount to removing meaningful limits on the Commerce Clause.” Justice Thomas' dissent was more surprising, considering that he is a pro-life conservative who was appointed to the court by Bush the Elder. Yet, Justice Thomas was scathing in his dissent:
The majority is not interpreting the Commerce Clause, but rewriting it…. To evade even the modest restriction on federal power, the majority defines economic activity in the broadest possible terms as the “production, distribution, and consumption of commodities.” This carves out a vast swath of activities that are subject to regulation. If the majority is to be taken seriously, the federal government may now regulate quilting bees, clothes drives, and potluck suppers throughout the 50 States.
To which Thomas adds:
One searches the Court's opinion in vain for any hint of what aspect of American life is reserved to the States.
It is rather interesting that in Gonzalez v. Raich, the most sensible voices on this matter - one that is typically associated with hippies and tree-hugging leftists - were actually some of the most conservative judges on the bench. More liberal judges on the Court argued for the status quo, claiming that, “…by characterizing marijuana as a Schedule I drug, Congress expressly found that the drug has no acceptable medical uses.” Except, there are accepted medical uses in twelve states (Rhode Island most recently enacted legislation protecting patients' rights) and I find it hard to believe that all of the people who use pot medicinally are actually using a placebo.
It is worth noting that the Drug Enforcement Agency also actively rejects any applications to study the drug in private, unbiased, scientific environments. Professor Lyle Craker of the University of Massachusetts, with help from the ACLU, is currently challenging this matter in the Supreme Court. In a personal interview, Prof. Craker was very frank with me about his research: “Why don't we just study and if it works, we can help people. If it doesn't, we can drop the issue and move on.” The DEA's stated problem with Craker's research was the security of his facilities: if someone hypothetically broke into the laboratory, “there would be marijuana all over the streets of Amherst.” This is obviously a somewhat dubious claim.
Interestingly, established medicinal uses of marijuana frequently align with common stereotypes of the drug's effects on its users. For example, many people are aware of “the munchies,” a state of insatiable hunger that results from smoking marijuana. Well, individuals who have lost the ability to eat either from a disease or medical treatment, use marijuana to stimulate their appetites, diminish nausea, and gain weight. And the stereotype of forgetfulness among pot smokers? Recent studies have suggested that cannabinoids (the active ingredients) could be used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder as well as other anxiety conditions by blunting one's memory faculties. The drug offers many other therapeutic benefits, from pain relief to reducing intraocular pressure for glaucoma patients. Queen Victoria is said to have used cannabis to relieve menstrual cramps. Regarding the plant's general safety, it is “less toxic than many foods that we commonly consume.”
In other words, the majority decision ignored a great deal of medical and anthropological evidence that suggests that there are indeed legitimate uses for marijuana. Why, then, does the Court maintain such myopic opposition to the concept of medical marijuana? After all, Congress is not a medical body, nor is it infallible. Legislation is at times incorrect, immoral or improper. That is precisely why we have a third branch of unelected legal umpires who, to use John Roberts' analogy, “calls balls and strikes.” Congress may be a body of elected officials who supposedly carry out the will of the people, but occasionally people vote for things that are not in their best interest, like a police state that fuels itself with drug money.
Despite what many on the left have come to believe, an increasingly conservative Supreme Court is probably not the end of American liberties. Rather, it is an opportunity to further certain blue-state initiatives by chipping away at the paternalistic elements of the federal government. This has already been demonstrated by the recent decision regarding Oregon's “Death with Dignity” law. So, now we have a curious set of circumstances in which physicians in Oregon can prescribe lethal doses of barbiturates to terminally ill individuals, but those same patients cannot obtain any amount of marijuana for personal relief. That might be a bad message to kids, or a “slippery slope” as we are led to believe. Well, that is a losing argument. As a term, “states' rights” used to be clouded with racist overtones, but now with issues such as gay marriage, physician-assisted suicide and drug policy reform, the term has taken on a new meaning for liberals. Medical marijuana will eventually be the first victory in the grander scope of reforming drug policy; the public is already behind this commonsense policy. In fact, decriminalizing marijuana in general is a position supported by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Bar Association, and the National Council of Churches. Ironically, it may just take a more conservative court to get it done.
Medical Marijuana and Depression
Clinical depression is a very serious illness. People with this condition have long-term, often debilitating feelings of sadness and low self-esteem. Depression makes ordinary tasks such as going to work, cooking, cleaning, even personal hygiene, very difficult. Researchers have found that low doses of medical marijuana increased serotonin levels in the brain, which helps to improve mood.
When I was speaking with my doctor about the different medication that were available to me (and I asked him for a marijuana recommendation) he had suggested that I speak with Marijuana Medicine Evaluation Centers to see if their doctor might be able to help.
They were… and my quality of life has improved dramatically since I found my local marijuana collective on Weed Maps.
Marijuana should be legalized for only one reason and that is to be used in the medical profession for patients that need it.
Doctors use marijuana for a variety of medical disorders. It should be noted that marijuana itself is not used but THC, which is derived from Marijuana. Marijuana is only used when patients and doctors harass the government with pressure. Dr. Solomon H. Snyder, Professor of Neuroscience, Pharmacology and Psychiatry at John Hopkins University, informs the public in his book “Uses for Marijuana” that a century ago marijuana was used as commonly for medical purposes as aspirin is used today.
Marijuana could be purchased in any American drug store without prescription and was used to treat medical problems such as ulcers, epilepsy, headaches, excessive menstrual bleeding, tooth decay, glaucoma {A group of eye diseases characterized by an increase in intraocular pressure, which in atrophy of the optic nerve may result in blindness}, in the control of serve nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy, and in severe pain due to the AIDS virus.
Although marijuana was used in the Far East as medicine for thousands of years it was not introduced to America and European cities until 1839. An Irish physician named W.B. O'Shaughnessy, who had discovered it while in India, tested it on over a hundred animals to determine the safety of marijuana. O'Shaughnessy found the drug to be an excellent muscle relaxant, pain-killer, and anti-convulsant.
Hobart Hare, a noted American Professor of Medicine, wrote in his 1982 textbook, “A System of Practical Therapeutics” that “Cannabis is very valuable for the relief of pain, particularly that depending on nerve disturbances; it produces sleep; it gives relief in paralysis and tends to quiet tremors…it is used in cough mixtures and does not constipate or depress the system as does morphine.” Cannabis is also widely recommended as a substitute drug when attempting to withdraw from morphine or from any drug containing or derived from opium.
Marihuana is not a narcotic and is not addicting. Can marijuana be addicting, of course. Like anything, chocolate, soda pop, barbiturates, alcohol, or my own personal addiction Mongolian Beef; that is consumed over extensively long periods of time in excess can become an addiction. So if you're sitting on your sofa drinking two whole six packs everyday, you may have a serious issue. One can use mild cannabis such as marijuana in small amounts for years and never suffer any physical or mental deterioration. More potent preparations of cannabis, such as hashish can induce psychedelic experiences similar to those of LSD but hashish is not used for medical purposes.
Some people who smoke marijuana feel no effects; others feel relaxed and sociable, tending to giggle a lot and sometimes lose track of place and time. Smokers of marijuana show in coordination an impaired ability to perform skilled acts, this usually last for a short period of time.
Alcohol can have similar side-effects as marijuana yet alcohol is not illegal. In this writers opinion that does not seem right. Scientific test suggest that a person “high” on marijuana is a much safer driver then a person who has consumed 0.05-0.1 percent of alcohol.
In 1973, the Presidential Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse came to the conclusion that: Alcoholism is Americas worst drug problem; that heroin is Americas second worst drug problem; and that legal use of “downers,” mainly by housewives is America's worst hidden problem. Cannabis use is a minor problem compared to other drugs and alcohol. The commission then restated its earlier recommendations that all criminal penalties for smoking marijuana should end, so those people who need it for a medical condition could receive it without having to purchase it illegally.
Alcohol is not used in the medical field yet it is legal. There are lots of drugs that one must use under doctors supervision such as morphine, Demerol, cocaine (Topical Anesthetic), LSD (Migraines and Alcoholism), codeine, and amphetamines all of which can kill. Aspirin causes bleeding and kills over 100 people a year; there are no known marijuana deaths.
Marijuana is currently being tested as an immunosuppressant, potentially of value for the inhibition of rejection of tissue and organ transplants. Marijuana is also being used for the treatment of hypertension, epilepsy, and depression.
Marijuana is a 'potential' drug. This drug could hold the cure for diabetes, cancer, tuberculosis, or even AIDS. Finding out if marijuana can help is not possible as long as it is illegal in all but 13 states. So when someone that is loved gets sick from a disease that has no cure or the painkillers prescribed are no longer working; that person is vomiting constantly, is in severe pain, has headaches, and other ailments are plaguing them; should they not have the right to be able to use marijuana if it can help them? This writer thinks so!
Writes Note: I would like to make it clear that I am in no way a supporter of recreational use of Marijuana. I have had many people in my family suffer greatly from cancer. My grandfather struggled for over a decade with stomach cancer which eventually would result in his death. The pain killers he was on were no longer helping. His doctor, long before Michigan even allowed medical usage of marijuana recommended it to my grandfather as an option to help his pain. He refused because that was the type of man he was.
When my aunt had her kidney transplant we were all very happy to see her doing well and not rejecting the kidney my uncle gave her. A few months ago she fell ill again, her kidneys are failing her and she needs another transplant. If there is any hope for those that suffer we should, in this writers opinion put aside our beliefs and look toward the possibility that marijuana might hold the potential to help or even in some cases cure what ails those we love.
I have Spinal Lumbar Stenosis with degeneration of the nerve endings in my legs. I take no pain killers for my pain even though my pain has never been below a 5 on a scale from 1 to 10. I manage my pain by doing what I always do, taking it one day at a time. The reason I take no pain killers is because I am drug sensitive. Pain killers such as Tramadol, Codeine, Vicodin, and Demerol have caused things like vertigo, nausea, vomiting, amongst others when I have taken them. For me as someone that suffers with large amounts of pain everyday, the whole point of taking a pain killer is to remove the pain so you can function.
I will share with you a story about why I wrote this article. Why I think it is important that we use everything available to us to help those that are suffering. I was diagnosed over 6 years ago when I started to notice that it was getting harder and harder to walk. Where before I would go jogging or walking almost everyday, I got to the point were I could not even walk 15 minutes without being hunched over in pain. As time progressed it was no longer my walking being effected. I was not able to carry a laundry basket any longer; I would have to do dishes while taking breaks after a couple, cleaning the house became like running a marathon. Just to walk around the grocery store to get groceries would put me in bed from pain afterwards.
These are things that people who do not suffer from pain take for granted. Imagine everything you do in your day, from playing with your children or picking up your baby, playing fletch with your dog, working on your car, riding your horses, mowing your front yard, working in your garden, working. Whatever it is you do in your day picture it, and then picture yourself not being able to do it for more then 5 minutes or not being able to do it at all. You can not pick up your 2 year old daughter and carry her to her bed, you can not walk down your stairs to do the laundry, or take your tire out of the trunk to fix your flat.
This is my life and the life of many who suffer from pain. I was prescribed lots of different things that did not seem to work until I was prescribed Tramadol. This stuff was fantastic, the only problem with it was once I took it I could not do anything anyways. Oh to be certain my pain was long gone but the vertigo that transfixed me was so bad I could not stand up without feeling dizzy.
The whole point of taking painkillers is so you can function and many people that take them still can not do the things they want to do. I am currently on no medications at all and no I do not smoke marijuana for those wondering. I have decided that for me the best thing I can do for myself is to push past the pain. Do things in moderation even if it means it takes me an hour to fold the laundry. This was the right thing for me, but for someone else it might be to use marijuana to help with their pain. That should be their right.
I would never tell anyone what they should or should not do with their bodies. Actress, Susan Somers, refused chemotherapy for the treatment of her cancer. That was her choice and she made the right one for her because she survived. Patrick Swayze chose to starve his cancer which had dire consequences, again that was what he thought was right. My humble opinion aside, in the end we only want what is best for our loved ones and we should explore all possibilities and research them thoroughly, making an informed decision, and that includes the ones involving marijuana for medical purposes. Don't just take your doctors word for it, look into it, whatever treatment it is they want you do, make sure you are informed.
Sources
Taber's Online
Goggle Books
Wikipedia
L.A. Marijuana Collectives …
Well it looks like there will be a thinning of the heard regarding the medical marijuana collectives in L.A. County…1/19/2010 the L.A. City Council has just voted to give preliminary approval to shut down hundreds of legal marijuana collectives in L.A. County. The upside is that while there may be fewer places to go get your medicine, at least if you have your medical marijuana card you will to still have 70 places to choose from in L.A. County
It was bound to happen, especially in California! We have vending machines for almost everything these days–coffee, soda, chips, sandwiches, ice cream, bubble gum, postage stamps, condoms, newspapers, and marijuana. Marijuana??? (That's correct–according to a CBS News Report, aired January, 2008, there are now medical marijuana vending machines.) I recently wrote an article for Associated Content about the abuse of medical marijuana in California. (Please see the link at the end of this article.) I wrote about the legal, quaint little pot shops on the corner, known as dispensaries (or marijuana clubs). All that is required to obtain the drug legally, is a doctor's note. The vague wording of California's Proposition 215, a law passed over 10 years ago, not only allows those suffering from the pain and nausea of AIDS or cancer to legally acquire the cannabis, but also includes “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.” (That could include almost anyone in pain.)
Now, in addition to the storefront pot shops, there are going to be medical marijuana vending machines. Anytime Vending Machines will be available 24/7 in standalone rooms, with ever-present security guards. The machines resemble ordinary soda vending machines, with numbers to press for the product of your choice-wild cherry, OG Kush, Purple Haze, White Widow, Indica, Grandaddy Purple and many other brands and flavors. There's also a place for the money, and a slot at the bottom to pick up the purchase. (It is vacuum sealed for freshness.)
Herbal Nutrition Center, a medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, will be entering uncharted territory, beginning this week. Patients will be allowed to purchase their prescriptions from a vending machine. And it won't just be medical marijuana. They can also purchase pain medication, antidepressants, and even Viagra. All patients will go to the dispensary first, present their prescriptions, and then pick out their favorite pot, or other medically necessary drug. As part of the procedure, patients will be fingerprinted and given a special access card. If they need to access the store after hours, they will simply scan their prepaid credit card, containing their profile and dosage, to get into the store, (similar to the new hotel key cards), and will then be greeted by a security guard, and fingerprinted with a scan, to make sure that they are the owner of the card. As they move toward the medical marijuana vending machine, a camera photographs them, they choose the drug they want, and off they go. The owners claim that use of the machine will make purchases safer, more convenient, and most importantly, a great deal cheaper. Because of lower overhead, savings are passed on to the patients. There will be two of the PVMs (prescription vending machines-also known as AVMs) opening in the Los Angeles area at this time, but it is likely that very soon there will be many more available in California.
However, as mentioned in my previous article, it is still illegal to purchase medical marijuana under federal law, and as a result, the feds often raid the medical dispensaries, tearing the place upside down, and sometimes arrest the owners. (Most often they just seize the assets.) For the law to be helpful to those who really need the drug, the federal and state laws need to match. Also, as in any business involving drugs, there is a criminal element. Unfortunately, instead of growing the cannabis themselves, many vendors are actually buying it off the black market, providing millions to criminals.
All forms of medical marijuana are being hawked, from cookies, to brownies, to pizza, to medicated BBQ chicken breasts, and even chocolate milk. The sale of medical marijuana has become a lucrative commercial endeavor for many. The dispensaries look like old apothecaries, with glass showcases of the generally high quality prescription weed. Additional offerings are hash, muffins, pot lollipops, pot candy bars, pot peanut butter, pot ice cream, and pot sodas. There are even “breath strips” with pot on them.
Medical marijuana use is beneficial to many people suffering from constant pain, nausea, etc. It is legal for medical marijuana patients in Calilfornia, to possess a half-pound of weed. Special agent, Sarah Pullen, of the Los Angeles DEA explains, “We don't differentiate between those who use state law to dispense marijuana, and those who traffic in marijuana on the street. Marijuana is marijuana is marijuana.”
It is evident that a great deal of abuse takes place, and some people just want to get high. Obliging doctors have made getting a prescription note a very easy task. Because marijuana is still a controlled substance, and not legal, even in a medicinal form under federal law, the doctors are hesitant to write the prescriptions on their personalized pads. Some medical advisory boards have threatened to suspend the doctors' licenses, so this is risky business, in relation to their careers. They will often use a Word document, and print it out on the computer. The evaluation and note are good for one year, and costs about $150.00. The estimated number of statewide medical marijuana users in California is about 250,000. And wouldn't you know it–the visit isn't covered by medical insurance. But not to worry-some doctors often run a special money back deal. If they don't approve you-your visit is free!
Sources: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3752777n
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13390669/the_great_california_weed_rush/2
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/556293/the_abuse_of_medical_marijuana_in_california.html?page=3
Medical Marijuana Cards Are Helping Patients in California
New Mexico's Governor Richardson has now made history by becoming the first presidential candidate to enact a medical marijuana law while trying to become the Democratic Party's nominee. Along with Hawaii, Rhode Island and Vermont, New Mexico passed its medical marijuana law by a bill in its legislature. This makes New Mexico the 12th state to let people who are seriously ill to get the marijuana without being arrested and/or jailed as long as they have their doctor's prescription for it. The new law went into effect July 1, 2007.
The New Mexico bill authorizes the state government to distribute the medical marijuana to qualifying patients. There are 12 other state level medical marijuana laws. This also has the state government trying to figure out how to license the makers of medical marijuana and when and how it will be given out.
California enacted its medical marijuana law in 1996 and made some changes in 2003. It lets patients and/or caregivers to grow the medical marijuana. This has created a problem locally. Some counties have banned the dispensing of medical marijuana all the way to some issuing their own regulations.
Oregon and Maine are in the process of expanding their state's medical marijuana law by opening dispensaries. Colorado, Alaska, Montana, Nevada and Washington have medical marijuana laws that were placed on the ballots in their states and enacted into law.
This continues to be a controversial area. Just in the last few days, a “candy store” that sold marijuana in the form of candy, cookies and other materials was raided in California where medicinal marijuana can be grown and sold. It was supplying the supposed medical marijuana through the mail. This is still against the law according to the DEA.
Many of the states that have enacted the medical marijuana laws are having a lot of trouble policing the stores. They are finding that they are not just selling the marijuana to sick people. Many are wrestling with other ways of providing the relief that the marijuana gives to patients that are terminally ill and in great pain. Some of the ideas include making it available only through a doctor with a prescription. The problem with this is who is going to grow the marijuana and how do you make sure that only the pharmacies get the crop. And of course we know that there are doctors who will give patients a prescription for anything.
There has been no questions ask about these laws in the current debates. No one wants to tackle this important concept to the legalizing of marijuana. Maybe it is in one of the candidates programs with their universal health care.
It seems that if the news media is aware of Governor Richardson's stand on this they are ignoring it. If he will push for this in his home state, it would seem he would try to make it a national referendum.
