Medicinal marijuana for ADHD and Tourettes

Source: http://www.brendastardom.com/arch.asp?ArchID=391



A woman doctor in Ventura County believes it is. Of course there's intense opposition to her findings. Ever since Reefer Madness, the world has viewed marijuana as a dangerous drug. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I'm so glad I received an email from a friend in California this morning about her daughter who has always been thought of as having ADHD (attention deficit hyper disorder). Rachel fought the school over giving Cindy the standard dangerous drugs to control her, but was dismayed at her grades and the trouble she was always in. To her shock, Cindy, now in Junior High, just got an excellent report card.

Weeks before grades came out, Rachel had written that she'd discovered Cindy smoked pot and she was beyond distraught, buying into the tried and tired bit that it's a gateway drug, leading to the hard stuff. I wrote back and told her that was total nonsense, that kids experiment at Cindy's age and not to come down hard on her, as it could make things worse. She was worried about her education and that she was headed down the wrong path and revealed that well-meaning friends and family were giving her too much advice, but it all boiled down to putting Cindy on a very short leash.

The good grades turned Rachel's head around from thinking that pot had probably turned Cindy's brain into mush and she'd flunk. What bunk! She gave me a URL to an article she'd discovered in the local paper and asked me to read it and tell her what I thought. I actually cheered upon reading it. Well, there were some boo's, too, aimed at the pathetically ill-informed debunkers.

Put that pre-judgement away and read this, please. Headlined: "Ventura physician promotes marijuana to treat attention disorders." from the Ventura County Star. I'm surprised they printed it and happy they did.

"Dr. Claudia Jensen has seen marijuana help lawyers focus in court, executives excel and adolescents get good grades.

The drug often associated with slackers can do more than Ritalin and other stimulants to motivate millions of Americans with attention disorders, says Jensen, a physician at the Center for Integrated Health in Ventura.

"It can calm you down; Ritalin amps you up," Jensen said. "Cannabis can help you sleep; Ritalin gives you insomnia. Cannabis gives you an appetite; Ritalin makes you anorexic."

Jensen is one of a handful of California doctors invoking state law to approve marijuana, medically known as cannabis sativa, for adults and adolescents who have difficulty with routine daily tasks because they have attention-deficit disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. On Thursday, Jensen will have five minutes to convince a congressional subcommittee in Washington, D.C., that the drug works."

I have to say this article has me pumped. There's been huge focus on medicinal marijuana for everything from AIDS,chronic pain to glaucoma and particularly as the substance of choice to control nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy patients. Look at San Francisco and Northern California and the strides made there to make it legal for those in need of non-chemical relief. I've never read of it being used on kids with these disorders, but it sure makes sense to me.

Back to the article, check out what one of Jensen's fellow doctors has to say. What century or better, what planet is this guy on? It's this kind of thinking that stunts progress and in turn, messes up a lot of kids whose parents take his advice.

"When someone is high on marijuana, they are not able to process properly, they have more problems with their focus and attention, and it is well known that marijuana causes short-term memory problems," said Dr. Loren Label, head of the ADD Clinic in Thousand Oaks.

Is that why Cindy got a 3.0 grade average? She's not hyped up on behaviour-controlling drugs, she smokes pot and is a top student. Doesn't that say something? Her mom didn't know she was smoking before school because Cindy knew she'd wig big time and would never understand how it helps her focus. It's a sad fact that most parents are of the belief that their pot-smoking kid is going to wind up dead in an alley with a needle that contained heroin in their arm. Wake up! That's not the case, dammit, and of course, there are kids as well as adults who shouldn't smoke the wild weed, as not all chemical make-up's are the same, but for those that it helps, where's the fucking problem?

I point a finger at the haha War On Drugs and it's complete failure. I shake one at educators who order their students to take dangerous chemicals just so they won't have to be dealt with and of course the money they receive. Pot could be a life-saver for overly hyper kids who won't take the pills. Finally, an alternative, but a very unpopular one it is, in spite of testimony from so many as to how it's benefited their lives, and the cry is always, "they're kids!!" I agree, this is a radical departure from standard treatment, but a good radical approach to organic vs chemical. Mydog, they give them something similiar to cocaine and balk at the benign marijuana?

Jensen and the others aren't alone -- they have back-up in Oregon. From hevanet, no date but it must be fairly recent. Give this puppy a read, but I must warn that it's highly technical and easy to scan through, but it gets into the different kinds of ADD and how little is known about the variants. Headline:

"Marijuana and ADD
Therapeutic uses of Medical Marijuana in the treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder"

"It was mentioned in the Portland newspaper that the Oregon Health Division is considering allowing medical marijuana to be used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. At first glance it might seem counter-intuitive to use a medication that has a public perception of decreasing attention to treat a condition whose primary symptom is a deficit of attention. But just as taking stimulants often calms those with hyperactivity, medical marijuana improves the ability to concentrate in some types of ADD." Oh yeah, this is bigger than first thought. Wow, this next part hits home!

The particular type of ADD under consideration for treatment with medical marijuana might better be termed "Racing Brain Syndrome" (RBS). A useful analogy for this mental condition is that of a centrifugal pump that is being over-driven. As the pump speed increases, cavitation sets in and the pump's output decreases. The faster the pump is driven the greater the cavitation until a point is reached where large amounts of energy are being input but nothing is being output. Without medication there is a sensation that thoughts flash through the brain too fast to "think" them. Medical marijuana slows the brain down sufficiently to achieve impressive improvements in functionality."

Listen to what a retired Harvard Medical School psychiatrist and author of 2 books on medicinal marijuana has to say about ADHD and marijuana in the question and answer section of his site, rxmarihuana.

"Dear Dr, Grinspoon:

Hilary Black at the Compassion Club in Vancouver B.C. Canada gave me your name. I am a Master's student who is conducting a qualitative inquiry on the relationship between ADHD and the use of marijuana. I have had a very difficult time finding any literature on this specific topic. It would appear that there is very little evidence on what marijuana does for these folks. My research is almost completed and the stories from the five participants are great. It is clear that cannabis offers a sense of calm and "normalcy". But my lit review is still lacking and I was hoping that you could offer me some suggestions. Has no one else ever published an inquiry on the effects of marijuana on ADHD? Has no one else ever listened to their stories?

I look forward to your response.

Thank you very much.

Cheers,
Debbie Verkerk

Dear Ms. Verkerk,

It was more than a decade ago that I first had the experience of observing a high school student with ADHD treat this disorder much more successfully with cannabis than with his doctor-prescribed Ritalin. His mother (now deceased), a vice president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who had asked me to see him for evaluation, was also persuaded that he did much better while using cannabis than he ever did with Ritalin. Since that time I have seen a number of patients, both young people and adults, who have had similar experiences. I have also heard from many others; still I have seen no reference to this possibility in the scientific or medical literature. I think that we are now in the same situation we were with Tourette's syndrome about a decade ago; a number of anecdotal reports but nothing in the medical literature. Today you can find citations in the literature on cannabis as a treatment for Tourette's. The bottom line is that this use of cannabis for the treatment of ADHD is still in the clinical observation or anecdotal stage, and it may be impossible to find the citations you seek.

With best wishes for success with your paper,

Lester Grinspoon MD"

There you have it, it's still being studied, not much information is available, but I can't help but think if a wise parent had to choose between legal speed (which is what Ritalin and the others are) and marijuana, they'd choose the latter. I know I would. I wish Dr. Claudia Jensen the best of luck when she visits DC. I realize this is most controversial and is liable to evoke some pretty strong criticism, but all I want is for people to think about it and the lesser of evils. I thank Rachel for bringing this to my attention. I wrote, "Legally Drugging the Kids" eight months ago and it's accessed daily. What does that tell you?

"Marijuana is the safest therapeutically active substance known to man... safer than many foods we commonly consume."
-- DEA Judge Francis L. Young


Brenda Stardom
Portugal


2002-2008 © Brenda Stardom

Burnt marijuana smell not proof of drug: Canadian court

OTTAWA (AFP) - A Saskatchewan appeal's court upheld a decision that
the smell of burnt marijuana is not evidence of illegal drug
possession since by definition the proof has gone up in smoke, it said
Wednesday.
(Advertisement)

"The smell of burnt marijuana does not reasonably support the
inference that additional marijuana is present," the three-judge panel
said in newly-released court filings.

Thus, police "did not have reasonable grounds to search" the truck of
Archibald Janvier after his roadside arrest in 2004 for narcotics
possession, the judges said in maintaining his acquittal.

Police had originally stopped Janvier's truck in La Loche,
Saskatchewan, in western Canada, to ticket him for a busted tail
light.

At trial, the arresting officer testified he had smelled the "pungent
odor of burnt marijuana" coming from inside Janvier's truck, charged
him with illegal drug possession, and then searched his vehicle.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable found eight grams of
marijuana in Janvier's coat pocket, boot and truck console, but that
evidence was thrown out.

Archibald's lawyer Ronald Piche successfully argued the warrantless
search and seizure were "unreasonable" because the aroma of burnt
marijuana -- as opposed to raw marijuana -- infers that the drug has
dissipated.

"How can you say you're in possession of something that doesn't
exist," Piche told the daily Saskatoon Star Phoenix.

Senate health committee to discuss medical conditions as possession defense

Marijuana on panel agenda
Senate health committee to discuss medical conditions as defense
By James Carlson
The Capital-Journal
Published Monday, February 11, 2008

A Senate health committee will hear testimony today on a bill that
would allow certain medical conditions as a defense against
prosecution for marijuana possession.

Under the Kansas Medical Marijuana Act, people with a debilitating
disease could present to the judge a "written certification" from
their doctor attesting to the relief marijuana provides.
Print E-mail Comment

"(This bill) doesn't legalize marijuana, it doesn't decriminalize it,"
said Laura Green, director of Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition. "It
just allows a person who has a serious debilitating medical condition
who gets arrested for marijuana to bring it up to a court."

Jon Hauxwell, a physician from Hays, will testify in favor of the
bill. He used to work on a reservation in Montana where he dealt with
substance abuse issues. He said he understands the opposition to this
bill, but he added that the medical community has never allowed those
who abuse a drug to deter doctors from prescribing it to patients in
need. He listed morphine and Ritalin as other legally prescribed drugs
to which patients can get addicted.

"We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater," Hauxwell said.

Former Attorney General Robert Stephan, a cancer survivor himself,
also will testify in favor of the bill. In August, he came out in
favor of legalizing the drug for medical use.

He said at the time he believes "the state should not pre-empt the
role of the physician when it comes to deciding what is best for ill
Kansans."

The legislation defines a debilitating condition as "cancer, glaucoma,
positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune
deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic" or any other condition
that causes a host of debilitating symptoms.

Current law doesn't allow judges or juries to consider a medical
condition when prescribing punishment for possession of the drug.

"You can't even mention it," Hauxwell said.

The bill faces an uphill battle in a state wary of legislation that
even smells like marijuana legalization. Senate Health Care Strategies
Committee member Sen. Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka, opposed the
introduction of the bill. She said there was no way of standardizing
dosages of marijuana.

And committee chairwoman Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, who is in
remission from stage four non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and whose son
survived leukemia, said in a recent article about medical marijuana
that there are other drugs on the market that work.

Ottawa seeks appeal on medical marijuana ruling

Feb 07, 2008 07:32 PM
Maria Babbage
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Ottawa is asking for an appeal of a Federal Court decision that struck
down a key restriction in the government's controversial medical
marijuana program.

The Jan. 10 decision allowed growers to supply medical marijuana to
more than one patient, effectively loosening the government's tight
grip on accessing the drug.

The court erred in concluding that a restriction preventing growers
from supplying the drug to one person is unconstitutional, the
Department of Justice said in court documents filed Jan. 31.

Justice Barry Strayer also erred in concluding that the provision was
forcing medical users to obtain the drug on the black market, the
documents state.

Prior to the January ruling, medical users could grow their own pot,
but growers like Carasel Harvest Supply Corp. couldn't supply the drug
to more than one user at a time.

The federal government is seeking that the Jan. 10 judgment be set
aside and that it be awarded legal costs.

Lawyers representing medical users, who considered the Jan. 10
decision a victory, also filed for a cross-appeal of the ruling.

They say the court should be monitoring the federal government to
ensure it's not unfairly restricting access to the drug by denying
licences to growers who want to produce medical pot for a number of
users.

Strayer erred in not requiring the court to "retain ongoing
supervisory jurisdiction" over Health Canada or order the government
to periodically report back to the court on its progress, according to
a court document filed Tuesday by Toronto lawyer Ron Marzel.

"The record before the court contained ample evidence that the
government of Canada, the minister of health and Health Canada have,
since 1999, delayed and frustrated reasonable access to medical
cannabis," the document states.

Lawyers for medical users had argued that the restriction preventing
growers from producing medical pot for more than one person at a time
effectively established Health Canada as the country's sole legal
provider.

They said the restriction was unfair and prevented seriously ill
Canadians from obtaining the drug they need to treat their
debilitating illnesses.

The provision had been struck down by the courts before, but was
reinstated by the government which contracted Prairie Plant Systems
Inc. in Flin Flon, Man., to grow the drug for patients.

Previous governments have been uncomfortable with their role as a
cannabis supplier. Former Liberal health minister Anne McLellan, an
unabashed opponent of the program, was reluctant to provide the drug
to patients.

Lawyers representing medical users have accused Ottawa of trying to
buy time until pharmaceutical companies come up with marijuana
products, so it can wash its hands of the program.

The case challenging the restriction began in 2004 and was heard
before the Federal Court in December.

No date has been set for the court to hear the appeal and cross-appeal.

Canadian say yes to legalizing marijuana

according to the Angus Reid poll I just took. a majority of Canadians think Marijuana should be legal in Canada

growing resources

check out these neat compact garden tool sheds fitted for growing your
own medicine.

recourse website on medicinal marijuana

http://www.medicalmarijuanainformation.com/home/

We ( Canada) aren't smart enough to legalize marijuana ( letter to the editor )

NP Network Blogs

THE EDITOR:

Re: 'Medicinal marijuana has many challenges' (Our View, Daily News, Jan. 29).

You are quite right in stating that medical marijuana has many
challenges. Unfortunately, the major one will be overcoming the lies
and propaganda perpetuated by the drug war.

Your statement that the "idea that recreational drug use is in any way
socially acceptable has to be fought" made me wonder where you have
lived all of your life. Alcohol is a drug that is used recreationally
by millions of Canadians every year. Our governments make millions of
dollars off it and you advertise and promote it in your newspaper.
While it is also true that some Canadians are irresponsible with
alcohol, most are not. The same can be said for marijuana users.

The report of the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs was a joy
to read. The nine senators stated very plainly that the war on
marijuana was a failure. Canadian citizens have been harmed far more
from marijuana prohibition than from the plant itself. The Senate
committee recommended outright legalization with people being able to
grow a reasonable number of plants for personal use. While they
realized that it was a bold step, they believed that Canadians had the
intelligence and maturity to welcome such a debate. Unfortunately, the
Senate committee grossly over-estimated the intelligence of our
government in Ottawa.

The only reason marijuana is still illegal today is because too many
people make too much money from the drug war. It is perverse to think
of how much money is wasted in the United States on the drug war,
which is partially funded by a beer company. I'm sure you cannot help
but notice the hypocrisy. The cops, the crooks, and the workers in the
court and prison system all have guaranteed employment. Now the
government wants to build more jails to lock up people who grow even
one plant. It is not hard to see whose buddies will benefit from that
decision. With all of the corruption because of the illegality of
drugs, it is hard most days to tell who the crooks are.

Growing pot poses no security threat at all, but marijuana
prohibition, and the violence that has resulted from it, certainly
does. I find it almost humourous that the public gets so concerned
about children found in homes with grow-ops, that when installed
properly would not pose a threat, but we ignore children living in
mouldy basements or worse due to poverty.

Where is that intelligence and maturity that the Senate committee was
so sure Canadians had?

Lynne Williams

Nanaimo

Source:National Post

Medical marijuana advocates cry foul

Medical marijuana advocates cry foul

By Shannon Kari, National Post Published: Sunday, February 10, 2008

Companies can fire employees who use marijuana for medical reasons
even if California law allows such use because federal law prohibits
it, the state's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

It was more than 35 years ago that the LeDain Commission recommended
marijuana be decriminalized in Canada.

Attempts to suppress or even control its use were failing, possession
laws were enforced on a "selective and discriminatory" basis and its
prohibited status invited "exploitation" by criminal elements,
concluded the Royal Commission in 1972.

It suggested the government regulate cannabis in the same way as
alcohol, which resulted in proposed legislation to decriminalize
possession. The bill died on the order paper when a federal election
was called in 1974, in the same way that a similar bill died 30 years
later.

Today, discussion about reforming the country's marijuana laws is not
on the political landscape. If anything, the country is moving in the
opposite direction.

The government of Stephen Harper has ruled out any changes to the law,
and during a visit to marijuana-friendly Vancouver last week, Liberal
leader Stéphane Dion said his party is not going to advocate for the
end of criminal sanctions for possession.

Another sign that the marijuana lobby has lost political momentum is
the recent announcement by Marc Emery that he is giving up his
extradition fight. The self-professed "Prince of Pot" is negotiating a
plea bargain with U.S. authorities to try to reduce a prison sentence
for selling marijuana seeds over the Internet.

As well, almost 45,000 criminal charges for simple possession continue
to be laid each year, up nearly 20% from a decade ago.

Even the 2,200 people in Canada authorized to possess marijuana for
medical reasons have not been able to convince Health Canada to ease
restrictions to make it easier to access a legal supply of what they
consider to be their medicine.

Late last month, the federal government appealed a Federal Court of
Canada ruling that found medical marijuana regulations to be
unconstitutional for the third time in eight years.

"There is a cycle of ignorance that seems impossible to transcend" in
any discussion about marijuana, suggested Alan Young, a professor at
Osgoode Hall law school in Toronto, who has represented chronically
ill people in a number of medical-marijuana court challenges. "We are
either running on the spot or moving backwards," he said.

Medical-marijuana users have long complained about the bureaucratic
obstacles in dealing with Health Canada, when it involves licences for
legal possession or production of the drug.

Its actions have also repeatedly been criticized by the courts. Part
of the medical-marijuana regulations were struck down in 2003 by the
Ontario Court of Appeal because there was not a sufficient legal
supply of the drug and designated producers were permitted to grow for
only one person with a licence to possess.

In response, Health Canada re-enacted virtually the same restrictions.

As a result, Federal Court Justice Barry Strayer ruled last month that
the new regulations were also unconstitutional.

He noted that fewer than 20% the people with licences to possess
marijuana, acquire it from Prairie Plant Systems Inc., the company
licensed to produce for Health Canada.

Requiring citizens to break the law and access the black market to
acquire their medicine is "contrary to the rule of law," said the
75-year-old judge, who was a senior official in the federal Justice
Department in the late 1970s.

The government's appeal of the decision is part of an ongoing strategy
to marginalize the medical-marijuana program, suggested Mr. Young.
"This is a program the government never wanted to undertake," he said.

For medical users who have licences to produce their own marijuana,
there is also the constant threat of criminal prosecution.

Derek Pedro, a 35-year-old former construction industry employee who
suffers from a connective tissue disorder, said he is still trying to
rebuild his life after five police officers in Hamilton, Ont., raided
his home in January, 2007. Police seized 15 seedlings and charged Mr.
Pedro with production offences, even though he has licences to possess
and to grow marijuana. Eight months later, all charges were withdrawn.
"I am stressed all the time. I start shaking when I see police," Mr.
Pedro said. "I thought I had rights."

Using marijuana has been effective in dealing with his chronic pain
and it has also enabled him to dramatically reduce his intake of such
pharmaceutical drugs as OxyContin, Mr. Pedro said. The marijuana he
produces costs him less than one-sixth the price that Health Canada
charges for the product from Prairie Plant Systems, he noted.

Even the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police agrees there is need
for improvement in access for approved medical-marijuana users.

"We need to find a better way to get that drug to them in a safe and
reliable way," said Fredericton police Chief Barry MacKnight, who
heads the organization's drug-abuse committee.

As well, the association has supported changes to the marijuana
possession laws so that police could impose fines if appropriate.
"Police officers must have the discretion to decide whether to issue a
ticket or to send it to court," stressed Chief MacKnight, who does not
support outright legalization of what he described as a harmful drug.

The tens of thousands of possession charges laid each year are likely
a result of cases where individuals face a number of other charges as
well and not someone "standing on the corner smoking a joint," Chief
MacKnight said.

The ongoing criminal prohibition against marijuana is a useful tool
for police, because it can be used as a pretext to search cars and
homes for evidence of more serious crimes, said Vancouver defence
lawyer Simon Buck.

While the public may approve of these tactics when police find weapons
or other illegal items, it is impossible to know how many times these
searches come up empty-handed, Mr. Buck said. "You never hear about
those cases," he noted.

Source: Today's National Post

In Cannabis he trusts

Source:http://www.themonitor.com/news/marijuana_8702___article.html/zuniga_use.html

Jackie Leatherman
February 3, 2008 - 2:51PM

EDINBURG — He calls himself the Rev. Adam E. Zuniga.

His religion is illegal.

According to his business card, he is ordained by the Shemshemet Ministry, which teaches the Cannabis Sacrament.

“It’s a means to my survival, spiritually,” he says.

For Zuniga, his Eucharist is pot. But he doesn’t call it that.

“Please refer to it as cannabis. I don’t refer to propaganda names. It’s sacrament. It’s herb. It is a plant.”

In July 2003, the 27-year-old had just wrapped up working security in the U.S. Air Force, and was awaiting an instructor position at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

That’s when a car accident changed his life. He hydroplaned while driving in the rain and collided with several trees.

Prior to the accident, Zuniga says he dabbled in marijuana use in high school, but switched to cigarettes when he joined the Air Force.

After shattering several bones in his left arm and tearing ligaments in his right leg during the car accident, he found himself chasing the strong pain medicine he was prescribed with beer, and still feeling the pain.

It took one year before a friend finally convinced him that he had become addicted to prescription medicine.

Right about that time, his girlfriend, a nursing major, turned in a research paper at the University of Texas-Pan American on cannabis and its medical affects.

Through his own research, Zuniga discovered the drug could help him.

What he didn’t expect was that it would also help him spiritually, too.

“I don’t just want to smoke cannabis. I want to live my life comfortably,” he said. “It’s not just ‘quote unquote’ pot.”

Shemshemet Ministry
Today, Zuniga uses a cane. Doctors tell him it’s just a matter of time before he’ll need a full knee replacement.

An anthropology student at UTPA, he lists “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato and “Constantine’s Sword: the Church and the Jews” by James Carroll — a controversial book that argues the historical fight of the church’s battle against Jews — as some of his favorite reads on his Facebook page.

It doesn’t take long to tell Zuniga has emphatically researched the history of all religions and the role that natural, now-prohibited drugs have played in them. He knows his stuff.

Though his studies, he stumbled upon the Shemshemet Ministry.

The organization’s Web site states: “Celebrating our constitutional right to practice religion in the USA.”

It further states that the ministry provides education in spirituality that will “help to protect you from arrest, prosecution and/or conviction of ‘marijuana’ charges — wherever you live — starting as soon as you sign-up, become ordained and receive your ministry documents.”

Zuniga says God made the marijuana plant and his body, which allows for the two to combine.
He advocates that natural drugs currently prohibited by law — including hallucinogenic mushrooms — should be legalized. He says his practice is a basic human rights issue. What he does with his own body, and in his own home, is his business, he says; he isn’t hurting anyone else.

“It is about the greater whole,” he said. “I’m fighting for everyone, just like the military. I want people to realize that they have a right to question.”

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño, who’s taught criminal justice courses at UTPA, says Zuniga’s assertions aren’t based on any legal fact or right. It is illegal to possess marijuana in Texas, and like in every other state but 10, its use for medicinal purposes is prohibited. The severity of the charges someone like Zuniga could face depends on the amount in possession, Treviño said.

“Obviously, he is very well misinformed,” the sheriff said. “He is putting himself in peril of being arrested for possession of marijuana.”

“Nirvana”
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declared medical marijuana patients are subject to federal prosecution even if they live in a state that allows medicinal use of marijuana. There are several grassroots groups like the Shemshemet Ministry that uphold the use of medicinal marijuana, including the credible national organization Americans for Safe Access, but their cause has struggled.

Douglas Laycock, a professor emeritus at the The University of Texas at Austin, said there is no definition of when a religion becomes a religion: “it is a question of sincerity.”

“There is a very long history of religious use of hallucinogens,” he said.

But Laycock seem skeptical that the government would ever recognize marijuana use as a religious practice.

He said in the late 1960s Congress passed the Controlled Substance Act, which allowed Native Americans to use peyote — a small cactus that when eaten has powerful hallucinogenic affects.

And Ras Tafarians, a black Zionist movement that emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s, is known for using marijuana for spiritual purposes, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

They have been on court for years advocating their rights to use pot to practice their religion and have lost, Laycock said.

“If (marijuana) were exempt (from law for religious practice), how would the government ever enforce the marijuana laws?” Laycock said. “Every one would say they are a Ras Tafarian.”

Zuniga said when he “practices,” he uses the time for meditation and insight on historical and current global issues, as well as his own life. It allows him to reach deeper questioning, he said.

He said his first religious experience with cannabis came to him in winter 2005. He realized “the creation” says humans came from dirt, which is from where cannabis comes. So, when he puts the herb into his body and exhales the smoke, he is merely furthering the circle of life and releasing the organism back into Earth, a part of which he will be again when he is dead and buried.

“For me, it is a living organism that has the ability to show me that there is something that transcends me,” he said.

“It helps me to become a better human being. … I am reaching what Buddha called Nirvana.”

Community gardens for medical marijuana users? NEAT Idea.

Source:http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/04/editorial/editorial02.html

A state legislator from Maui has proposed a facility where patients using marijuana for medical purposes could grow their own under state protection. While well-intended, such a facility would invite a raid by the Bush administration's Department of Justice and probably would be unnecessary under a more compassionate federal government.

Rep. Joe Bertram would authorize the state Department of Health to create a facility on his island where a patient or caregiver would be given space to grow as many as 98 plants at a time. Such a facility would wave a red flag to federal zealots who stubbornly regard marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical value.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that the federal government may prosecute medical users of marijuana, even in the 12 states, including Hawaii, where marijuana is permitted for medical use. The Justice Department has been raiding California medical dispensary facilities since then, while Hawaii, which has no marijuana facilities, has kept a relatively low profile.

The state Narcotics Enforcement Division administers the medical marijuana law, and its chief, Keith Kamata, says the growing facility would violate federal law. More than 4,000 Hawaii patients have medical marijuana cards and such a facility would give them false assurance that their therapy with marijuana would be protected.

A better approach would be to improve protection to doctors recommending marijuana treatment for such ailments as nausea, vomiting and AIDS. Existing state law also could be revised to expand the "adequate supply" of marijuana, now limited to three mature plants, four immature plants and one ounce of usable marijuana.

USA Federal government stands in the way of a state-run medical marijuana distribution

SOURCE:http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080204/NEWS/440177627
By Dave Frank
February 4, 2008, 4:01 AM


The water, the lights, the seeds, the soil. The problem could be several things.

Some patients will learn how to grow, said Claude Miller, a Nevada medical marijuana consultant. Some won't.

"There's patients who can't grow a flower," he said. "Much less medical marijuana."

That's part of the reason he started his business. Many of the 900 patients in Nevada's program know little about the plant when they register.

But those patients, despite a provision in state law, must grow their marijuana themselves or find a state-approved "caregiver" who will grow it for them.

"(Marijuana) is a godsend and it really helps people," said Miller, who supports medical marijuana only under a tightly regulated system.

Patients, however, will not be able to get the drug like other prescriptions the state recognizes unless the federal government changes its stance.

Following a 2000 ballot initiative, the state Legislature wrote the constitutional amendment into law including a section that ordered the University of Nevada School of Medicine to research marijuana and develop a program to distribute it to patients.

The 2001 law says the Legislature understands the state's "obligation" to research a distribution program, but also says it must do it with the permission from the federal government.

The ballot initiative, approved by 65 percent of voters, called for "appropriate methods for supply of the plant to patients authorized to use it." These patients include residents diagnosed with illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma and AIDS.

The federal government, however, rejects the opinion of the 12 states with medical marijuana programs.

"Smoked marijuana has not withstood the rigors of science," according to the Web site of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "(It) is not medicine, and it is not safe."

Federal authority

Federal policy, supported by the past three presidents, has stalled research and development of a state distribution program.

Dr. Dave Lupan, an associate dean at the state school of medicine, said the university has made "no progress whatsoever" on the legislature's mandate. It will stay that way at least until there is a new president, he said.

It is unlikely the policy will change under the next administration, though. Republican presidential candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney do not support legalizing medical marijuana. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are undecided.

But the university would have more problems than policy if it tried to start a program. Not only does the federal government have no interest in the school's research, Lupan said, the state has given no money for it.

"It's not only a matter of bucking federal government authority," he said, but of finding doctors to work for free.

The federal government itself has had medical marijuana evaluated several times. A 1999 federally-commissioned study by the Institute of Medicine reported, "the accumulated data indicates a potential therapeutic value for cannabinoid drugs, particularly for symptoms such as pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting and appetite stimulation."

The Federal Drug Administration, however, said in 2006 the medical use of the drug is not supported by science.

Green and black thumbs

A change in federal policy that led to state distribution could, according to supporters, help many patients.

Jennifer Bartlett, who manages the current state program through the Nevada Department of Agriculture, said "there are some who can't grow it, and it's a struggle."

She has not endorsed state distribution, however, and said many patients have no problems growing their own marijuana or finding a caregiver.

A state program would help all patients, though, not just those who have difficulty growing it, said Dan Hart, who managed the group that led the medical marijuana ballot initiative.

The state could make sure the medicine was good quality, he said, and this also would particularly help patients with a debilitating disease.

But some medical marijuana advocates, such as Chandler Laughlin, said the state should not be involved with marijuana and that a state-run program is a bad idea.

The Silver City resident and radio host did say many patients like him can't grow high quality marijuana.

"I have a black thumb," he said.

Bruce Mirken, who supports marijuana legalization, said a state-run program could make it easier for the state to both guarantee effective use for patients and track illegal use by others.

It can't be difficult for patients to get the medicine they need under the current program, he said.

"You could grow your own tomatoes, but if all your plants die, you don't have a salad that day," said Mirken, a representative for the Marijuana Policy Project, which has unsuccessfully pushed ballot initiatives in Nevada to partially legalize marijuana.

A model program

If Nevada eventually does set up a distribution program, it probably won't be the first state to do it.

New Mexico, which legalized medical marijuana in April, is working on the rules its department of health would need to run a distribution program.

This will allow patients to get the drug the way other patients get their medicine, said Reena Szczepanski, director of the anti-drug prohibition New Mexico Drug Policy Alliance. It would help prevent patients from going to the black market, she said.

But New Mexico's system might not work for Nevada, because of the state's sparsely populated areas. She said a state-run system where the drug is distributed through pharmacies might be better for Nevada.

The federal government itself has the only active government-run distribution program in the country. The Compassionate Investigational New Drug program was started in 1978 and closed to new patients by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. A few people are still in the program, though, and they get monthly supplies of marijuana grown at the University of Mississippi.

Miller, head of Nevada Medical Marijuana Consultants, said a state-run distribution program could be good for Nevada, but the state should be careful not to legalize it or regulate it the way California does, with marijuana available at licensed clubs.

"We don't want a bunch of drug-dealing thugs in this," he said.

But Miller, who became a patient after a spine surgery, said the drug is more safe and effective for many people who would otherwise be prescribed pain killers. Those people, he said, deserve to have their medicine.

Opponents, he said, don't understand the research or the state's program.

"We're not just a bunch of yahoos smoking reefer," he said.

Check out this Link: CAMP- Christians Against Marijuana Prohibition

Christians Against Marijuana Prohibition

*** Welcome Friends of CAMP ***

love comes from Jesus It is written...

This page was blessed with the task of informing the people of the outright lies being propagandized by the Federal Government. The prohibition of marijuana is an affront to the Bible and all who worship the one true God. As an example in Genesis 1:29 the bible clearly states "...I give every green plant for food. And it was so."

Until the U.S. government decided God was wrong.

check out more of this website...

http://members.aol.com/ubermurph/CAMP.htm

Medical pot users need job protection in California: Opinion of Starbulletin.com

OUR OPINION

Medical pot users need job protection
THE ISSUE
The California Supreme Court has ruled that employers may fire workers
for using doctor-prescribed marijuana for medical purposes.

THE latest threat to ailing people who use doctor-recommended
marijuana to ease their pain comes from a strange ruling by the
California Supreme Court. The court ruled that employers may fire
workers for using marijuana for medical purposes, which will prompt
legislation to undo the ruling's damage. As one of 11 states that have
legalized medical use of cannabis, Hawaii should enact similar
workplace protections.

In a 5-2 ruling last week, the California high court upheld the firing
Gary Ross, a former Air Force mechanic who used marijuana to ease the
pain from injuries to his lower back in a fall off an airplane in
1983. A doctor prescribed the marijuana, but the court ruled that
California's legalization of marijuana deals with criminal
prosecution, not terms of employment.

Laws allowing medical use of marijuana were approved by California
voters in 1996 and by the Hawaii Legislature four years later. As many
as a thousand Hawaii residents have been registered with the state to
use marijuana to treat their illnesses.

Those laws have been attacked by the Bush administration, which won a
U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2005 that subjects medical marijuana
users to prosecution. However, that decision does not cover workplace
rules.

The telecommunications company that fired Ross argued that it feared a
raid by federal authorities. A state assemblyman from San Francisco
said he plans to introduce a bill to provide medical marijuana users
some workplace protections.

Left over from last year's Hawaii Legislature is a bill that would
expand the use of medical marijuana and restrict physicians' role to
conform with court rulings. While the California ruling does not apply
to Hawaii, a precautionary provision providing workplace-protection
should be attached to that bill and enacted into law.

California Supreme Court rules Medical Marijuana Users can be fired by employers just for being a MM card holder.

Calif. Court: Medical Pot Not OK at Work

By PAUL ELIAS – 3 days ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Employers can fire workers who use medical
marijuana even if it was legally recommended by a doctor, the
California Supreme Court ruled Thursday, dealing the state another
setback in its standoff with federal law enforcement.

The high court upheld a small Sacramento telecommunications company's
firing of a man who flunked a company-ordered drug test. Gary Ross
held a medical marijuana card authorizing him to use the drug to treat
a back injury sustained while serving in the Air Force.

The company, Ragingwire Inc., argued that it rightfully fired Ross
because all marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which does not
recognize the medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other
states.

The justices upheld that argument in a 5-2 decision.

"No state law could completely legalize marijuana for medical purposes
because the drug remains illegal under federal law," Justice Kathryn
Werdegar wrote for the majority.

The U.S. Supreme Court declared in 2005 that state medicinal marijuana
laws don't protect users from prosecution. The Drug Enforcement
Administration and other federal agencies have been actively shutting
down major medical marijuana dispensaries throughout California over
the last two years and charging their operators with felony
distribution charges.

Ragingwire said it fired Ross because it feared it could be the target
of a federal raid, among other reasons.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and the Western
Electrical Contractors Association Inc. had joined Ragingwire's case,
arguing that companies could lose federal contracts and grants if they
allowed employees to smoke pot.

The conservative nonprofit Pacific Legal Foundation said in a
friend-of-the-court filing that employers could also be liable for
damage done by high workers.

Ross had argued that medical marijuana users should receive the same
workplace protection from discipline that employees with valid
painkiller prescriptions do. California voters legalized medicinal
marijuana in 1996.

The nonprofit marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access,
which represents Ross, estimates that 300,000 Americans use medical
marijuana. The Oakland-based group said it has received hundreds of
employee discrimination complaints in California since it began
tracking the issue in 2005.

Safe Access attorney Joe Elford said the group will now focus on
urging the Legislature to pass a law protecting workers who use
medical marijuana.

"We remain confident that there will be a day when medical marijuana
patients are not discriminated against in the workplace," he said.

Assemblyman Mark Leno, a Democrat who represents part of San
Francisco, said he will introduce legislation addressing those
concerns in the next few weeks.

The ruling "strikes a serious blow to patients' rights," he said.

Eleven states have adopted medical-marijuana laws similar to
California's: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New
Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

The American Medical Association advocates keeping marijuana
classified as a tightly controlled and dangerous drug that should not
be legalized until more research is done.

Reefer Madness, an artcile by Alex Nikolic

Source: http://www.westcoaster.ca/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=3521

Reefer Madness

Published Date: 2008/1/28 0:10:00
Article ID : 3521
Version 1.00

By Alex Nikolic
Columnist

It has nothing to do with getting high. In reality, Canada's drug
policy is written in Washington and has everything to do with socially
conservative political manipulation, and money.
It is little more than controlling, intimidating and marginalizing
otherwise respectable and law-abiding citizens and infringing on the
basic freedoms and rights of the general population.
Until 1906, marijuana and hemp was cultivated for the production of
clothing, sails, ropes and medicine.
There was nothing illegal about it, but it did cut into the profits of
rich white people.
William Randolph Hearst had significant interests in the timber
industry, which manufactured newsprint for his many newspapers,
something that hemp had been used for until then.
DuPont had also patented a process that converted fossil fuels into
plastics, something that hemp-seed oil had been used for until then.
After losing nearly a million acres of prime timberland to Pancho
Villa, Hearst engaged in a campaign that portrayed Mexican immigrants
as violent, lazy, degenerate, job-stealing pot smokers.
The money behind DuPont, Andrew Mellon, was also Herbert Hoover's
Treasury Secretary. He appointed the US's first Drug Czar, Harry
Anslinger who proceeded to demonize marijuana by employing such
rhetoric as "Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men …
Marijuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing ... the primary
reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races …This
marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes."
Not much has changed.
Drug laws based on this fear-mongering propaganda and racist
yellow-journalism are still enforced today. Instead of addressing the
world's largest demand for narcotics in its own backyard, the US
amerrogantly sends the DEA into developing countries to eradicate the
coca crops of Bolivia and opium fields of Thailand and Afghanistan,
destroying the livelihoods of farmers who have grown these crops for
centuries longer than the US has existed.
Of course, Canada's current batch of "leaders" continues to do the
bidding of American petrochemical companies and backward-thinking
scaredy-cats that have come up with their own rationalized
justifications.
Let's explore two of these myths: that marijuana is a "gateway drug"
for more destructive substance abuse, and that criminals use the
profits from pot sales for purchasing guns and cocaine.
It would be difficult to find a politician insensitive enough to deny
the use of medicinal marijuana to cancer-patients undergoing
chemotherapy. If marijuana is a "gateway drug," why aren't these
people getting hooked on heroin and crack? If they aren't jumping
through the "gateway," why would anyone else?
Undeniably, criminals are buying guns and cocaine with the profits
from marijuana sales. Pot is as guaranteed a commodity market as
anyone could find. It's the same thing Prohibition did for Capone and
his friends. However, if pot were controlled in the same way as
alcohol and tobacco, the government would be making the profits and
the criminals would lose their most lucrative means to carry out real
crimes. Marijuana laws fuel organized crime.
In 2003, Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney introduced Bill C-420 that
would "place natural health products under a food directorate, rather
than as a subclass of drugs." He also recently commented that "our
government has no intention to decriminalize marijuana"
The irony extends beyond the name of the bill. Last I heard cannabis
and hemp could be grown naturally. And, if marijuana isn't a health
product, why does Health Canada grant access to marijuana for medical
use? It seems Mr. Lunney is advocating declassifying pot as a drug.
Perhaps he is more progressive than I may have imagined, despite the
Conservatives dropping the term from their name.
Nonetheless, here we are today, bowing to the Bush administration by
extraditing Marc Emery to be prosecuted under the US's archaic and
draconian laws. At the same time, we won't kick up too much of a fuss
about the US executing one of our own citizens. Meanwhile, handguns
remain legal in Canada. Where, oh where, are our priorities and
sovereignty?
If we were to decriminalize pot and treat it the way we do alcohol and
tobacco, imagine the money taxpayers would save by collecting the
taxes and diverting resources from law enforcement and correctional
facilities towards truly pressing matters such as health care and
education.
What nonsense to criminalize something that God has seen fit to plant
on His green earth! It is the chemicals used to process opium into
heroin, or coca into cocaine, that should be illegal rather than
naturally occurring plants. I wonder what DuPont would say about that.
Because it's all about money and has nothing to do with getting high.

Positive Letters in National Post about Medicinal Marijuana

SOURCE:http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=268202

Another recurring topic on the letters page is legalizing marijuana.
Last week we carried a passionate letter from a woman who said that
"drugs stole my brother's life and dignity [leaving him with] HIV/AIDS
and serious nerve damage." She blamed pot for being the gateway drug
that led to his other drug-related problems. That statement did not
sit well with many other readers.

"On behalf or the millions of Canadians who have smoked pot, it must
be noted that at least 99.9% of us don't wind up as junkies, and have
never used needles, except when given inoculations or blood tests,"
wrote Barry Samuels. "The one and only problem with marijuana is that
it remains illegal, despite its beneficial medical uses and relative
harmlessness."

"Numerous studies prove conclusively that marijuana is not a gateway
drug, since the vast majority of marijuana users do not use hard
drugs," added George Kosinski. "If drug policy in the United States
and Canada were based on fact, and drug education were based on the
actual effects of drugs rather than the ideology of drug prohibition,
perhaps your letter-writer's brother would have been wise enough to
restrict himself to marijuana."

We also heard from a handful of people who rely on marijuana to treat
their medical conditions.

"I am a retired law enforcement officer, disabled from chronic,
progressive multiple sclerosis and an excruciating pain in my face,"
wrote Alison Myrden. "As of October, 2007, 2,261 people in Canada
carry a licence for cannabis, the so-called 'gateway drug.' I can tell
you that all cannabis consumers should take offence to this letter.
Doctors gave me cocaine and heroin for the pain I live with, but the
drug that helped me most was cannabis sativa. Now, does that not blow
this 'gateway theory' out of the water?" - Earlier this month I
offered letter writers 10 tips on how to improve their chances of
publication. One was to not send the same letter to multiple
publications, as we all desire exclusivity. Here's proof that readers
also value that attribute.

Group lights up in favor of medical marijuana-Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse tour the state to reveal the truth about legal drugs

Group lights up in favor of medical marijuana
Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse tour the state to reveal the truth
about legal drugs
By: Katie Wilson | Freelance Reporter |
Issue date: 10/15/07 Section: News

source:http://media.www.dailyemerald.com

Everyday people are destroying their bodies with perfectly legal and
easily accessible drugs, says Sandee Burbank, executive director for
Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse.

The worst part? They have no idea that they are doing this to themselves.

Burbank spoke at the downtown Eugene Public Library last Friday as
part of a state-wide MAMA tour. The organization is on a mission to
pull back the veil on what Americans are being told to put into their
bodies.

"It's amazing how uneducated we are about the drugs out there," Burbank said.

MAMA advocates the Medical Marijuana Program primarily because it has
seen people destroyed by pain when the medicine prescribed by doctors
didn't work. Often, it made things worse.

"The more (medications) they gave me, the problem got worse," said
Alice Ivany, who traveled with Burbank to share her story.

Ivany's left arm was amputated after an industrial accident in 1977.
She was on a number of pain pills which made her very ill. Nothing
worked. Life was further complicated by a surgery.

She began taking Tylenol and continued taking it for 10 years. As a
result, she developed high blood pressure and will be on medication
for that condition for the rest of her life.

Running out of options, she discussed medical marijuana, also called
cannabis, with her doctor.

"I hadn't thought of it as a medication at the time," she said. "It's
given me a quality of life I didn't have before."

After a life spent physically pushing his body, Jack Thomas finally
came crashing down when he destroyed discs in his spine.

The doctors prescribed three daily doses of 600 milligrams of ibuprofen.

"By the time I finished that, my stomach was gone," Thomas said.

Doctors prescribed more medication to treat the new problems, but this
only led to further complications until Thomas was, more often than
not, flat on his back in pain.

What helped him was cannabis.

"Here is something I realized," Thomas said. "In my life, I didn't
drink. I knew alcohol might kill me. I was told marijuana would kill
me, so I didn't want to do that. Then they gave me meds and that
almost killed me, so now I'm back to marijuana."

Prescribed drugs have their benefits and their place, Burbank said,
but she also holds that "a drug is a drug is a drug."

She said many people are allergic to certain drug ingredients, and
some medications are just plain dangerous. Yet, doctors and
pharmacists are ignoring the safe and effective cannabis option.

"They are telling us these (other) drugs are safe. They aren't. There
is a better way," Burbank said. "We used to say, 'Go talk to your
doctor, talk to your pharmacist.' It's no longer enough to do this if
you want to be safe. You have to get over the thought that because the
doctor told me to and because (the medicine) is legal that it's safe.
You need to get online and do some more research. Just because a
doctor tells you to take a pill doesn't mean it's right for you."

Currently, the medical marijuana program is on rocky ground, so MAMA
is working to educate the people in power and the people in pain about
the benefits of cannabis and the dark side of legal medications.

Burbank pointed out that it is impossible to overdose on marijuana.
It's not so hard to overdose on legal drugs. She wants to stop the
flow of misinformation coming from school boards, political figures,
and "The War on Drugs."

Ivany said MAMA has a motto: Follow the money.

"Who is profiting from marijuana prohibition?" she asked.

"Somebody's getting rich," Thomas added.

"I think of doctors and pharmacists as representatives," Ivany said.
"It's a powder, it's a cream, it's a pill. It's all marketing and
sales."

"It's amazing how messed up it is," Thomas said. "It's like they're
trying to get rid of us."

He thinks part of the problem is the emotion that the subject of
medical marijuana brings to the surface.

"When you start being emotional, logic is gone," he said. "All I know
is this stuff works, and without it I wouldn't be here."

"The war on drugs has failed," Burbank said, citing the meth problem
that didn't exist in past years in the way that it exists now. "What
we're doing isn't working, and we need to change it around."

She wants people to "tell the truth, and stop the lies."

"People have to get their minds out of the '60s," Ivany added.
"(Medical marijuana) is not about getting stoned."

Feds raid downtown L.A. medical marijuana dispensary

Feds raid downtown L.A. medical marijuana dispensary
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By Stuart Silverstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 12, 2007
Federal agents seized marijuana and cash Thursday night from a medical
marijuana dispensary in the loft district near Little Tokyo, officials
said.

Twenty agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration raided the
Arts District Healing Center in the 600 block of East 1st Street.

DEA spokesman Jose Martinez said the agents searched the two-story
building for 3 1/4 hours.

There were no arrests.

Authorities had not determined as of late Thursday night the amount of
cash and marijuana they seized, Martinez said.

The affidavit submitted by the DEA to search the offices stated that
marijuana is classified as a schedule-one controlled substance, "which
under federal law means that is not recognized for having any
medicinal value."

Steven Schectman, a lawyer for the center, said he wasn't surprised by the raid.

He said the DEA has threatened to take legal action against the
landlords unless they evict the marijuana dispensary, and that the
real estate dispute will be the subject of a hearing Monday.

Referring to the raid, Schectman said, "Unfortunately, we have
anticipated something like this could happen, given our past
experience with how the situation has been developing in Los Angeles
with the Drug Enforcement Agency and the courts."

California voters legalized marijuana's use for seriously ill people
with the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996. State laws legalizing
medical marijuana have been challenged. However, in 2005 the U.S.
Supreme Court reaffirmed the right of the federal government to wage
criminal prosecutions against patients and suppliers, in California
and other states where cannabis is legally prescribed by a doctor.

Montana’s most outspoken advocate for medical marijuana commits suicide

Prosser commits suicide

By: Jessie McQuillan
Posted: 10/25/2007

Robin Prosser didn't look or sound much like a fighter, but she was. A
mother and a musician, the Missoula woman also acted as Montana's most
outspoken advocate for medical marijuana, the only remedy that could
ease the ravaging pain of the lupus-like immunosuppressive disease she
endured for 23 years. Prosser's fight ended Oct. 18 when she took her
own life.

In recent months, Prosser, 50, would sit at the kitchen table in her
small apartment, pain welling up in her eyes, and talk quietly about
the victories and defeats the last several years had delivered.
Allergic to nearly every pharmaceutical that could render her chronic
pain bearable, she had learned that the political fate of medical
marijuana also carried intensely personal implications.

She remained proud of the 60-day hunger strike she undertook in 2002
to draw attention to the need for medical marijuana, the effort that
first brought her into the public eye. She spoke, too, of her 2004
agreement with the city of Missoula—when police charged her with
marijuana possession following a thwarted suicide attempt—that
deferred prosecution and al
lowed her to use marijuana before medical use was legalized.

During the subsequent campaign for medical marijuana, which won
support from 62 percent of Montana voters, she became a literal poster
child for the effort, appearing in campaign ads. And when the state
issued her a medical marijuana ID card, things seemed to be looking
up.

Then in March, federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents seized a small
shipment of medical marijuana in transit from Prosser's state-approved
caregiver. Though she was never criminally charged, Prosser was
crushed. She said caregivers became afraid to supply her with the
medicine she needed so badly.

In July, she penned an op-ed piece in the Billings Gazette, pleading
with Montana's politicians and her fellow citizens to speak out
against the DEA's actions and improve the lives of people like her.

"Give me liberty or give me death," she wrote. "Maybe the next
campaign ought to be for assisted-suicide laws in our state. If they
will not allow me to live in peace, and a little less pain, would they
help me to die, humanely?"