Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
RainDog
RainDog's Journal
RainDog's Journal
June 16, 2014
Ahnuld decriminalized mj to try to stop the legalization Proposition in CA in 2010 before he left the gov's office.
So, the problem, for Republicans, is that Americans might choose a medicine that also elevates their mood while dealing with illness.
LOL.
This is the sort of ridiculousness you get after more than a half-century of drug warrior lies.
Vote for amendment 2, Florida!
Rick Scott signs "Charlotte's Web" medical mj bill
In an expected move, Gov. Rick Scott Monday signed legislation legalizing a non-euphoric strain of marijuana widely-known as Charlotte’s Web.
“The approval of Charlotte’s Web will ensure that children in Florida who suffer from seizures and other debilitating illnesses will have the medication needed to improve their quality of life,” Scott said in a news release.
The strain is low in THC, the ingredient that gives traditional marijuana users the “high” feeling associated with the drug. The strain is high in cannbidiol, which has been used to treat things like childhood epilepsy.
The forceful support of a group of conservative lawmakers was seen as both a nod to the changing perception of medical marijuana, and an attempt to stop a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize all medical marijuana.
http://www.politicalfixflorida.com/2014/06/16/charlottes-webb-medical-marijuana-bill-gets-scotts-signature/
“The approval of Charlotte’s Web will ensure that children in Florida who suffer from seizures and other debilitating illnesses will have the medication needed to improve their quality of life,” Scott said in a news release.
The strain is low in THC, the ingredient that gives traditional marijuana users the “high” feeling associated with the drug. The strain is high in cannbidiol, which has been used to treat things like childhood epilepsy.
The forceful support of a group of conservative lawmakers was seen as both a nod to the changing perception of medical marijuana, and an attempt to stop a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize all medical marijuana.
http://www.politicalfixflorida.com/2014/06/16/charlottes-webb-medical-marijuana-bill-gets-scotts-signature/
Ahnuld decriminalized mj to try to stop the legalization Proposition in CA in 2010 before he left the gov's office.
So, the problem, for Republicans, is that Americans might choose a medicine that also elevates their mood while dealing with illness.
LOL.
This is the sort of ridiculousness you get after more than a half-century of drug warrior lies.
Vote for amendment 2, Florida!
June 16, 2014
The writer of the editorial talks about attending a mental health forum sponsored by the newspaper.
YES on Amendment 2
Help register your fellow citizens to vote! It matters!
Florida Veteran: Medical marijuana can help veterans with PTSD
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20140616/OPINION03/140619857/-1/images?Title=Chuck-Blessington-Medical-marijuana-can-help-veterans-with-PTSDThe writer of the editorial talks about attending a mental health forum sponsored by the newspaper.
...I was frustrated knowing that Florida ranks 49th in per-capita mental health funding. I also got frustrated knowing that a fellow veteran wanting to get off his narcotic pain medication was denied cannabis by the medical board at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center here.
...The Veterans Affairs department allows patients treated at its facilities to use medical marijuana so long as it's legal in the states where they live. I get upset knowing that Federal officials and veterans groups estimate that nearly 31 percent of Vietnam vets and 20 percent of returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan are dealing with PTSD.
We need to decriminalize the law in Florida for possession of marijuana now. No one should be arrested and sent to jail or prison for personal use of marijuana. The resources saved to our courts, jails, mental hospitals and prisons need to go to diversion programs, treatment and rehabilitation.
If Amendment 2 is passed in November, millions in taxes could be coming into state coffers. Let's make sure these tax dollars come back to our counties. We need to use more money to education our youth about substance abuse, provide access to our health care system for the mentally ill, provide substance abuse treatment and finally to provide food and shelter for our homeless.
...The Veterans Affairs department allows patients treated at its facilities to use medical marijuana so long as it's legal in the states where they live. I get upset knowing that Federal officials and veterans groups estimate that nearly 31 percent of Vietnam vets and 20 percent of returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan are dealing with PTSD.
We need to decriminalize the law in Florida for possession of marijuana now. No one should be arrested and sent to jail or prison for personal use of marijuana. The resources saved to our courts, jails, mental hospitals and prisons need to go to diversion programs, treatment and rehabilitation.
If Amendment 2 is passed in November, millions in taxes could be coming into state coffers. Let's make sure these tax dollars come back to our counties. We need to use more money to education our youth about substance abuse, provide access to our health care system for the mentally ill, provide substance abuse treatment and finally to provide food and shelter for our homeless.
YES on Amendment 2
Help register your fellow citizens to vote! It matters!
June 16, 2014
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/gov-cuomo-big-medical-marijuana-bill-blog-entry-1.1831030
It's so sad to see Democrats align with the drug warriors and their lies. Of course, Cuomo has genuine concerns - but they're born out of the same past that treated marijuana as something worse than heroin, when, in fact, it is less dangerous than alcohol.
But the northeast established itself long ago as a alcohol culture, when prohibition was creating a criminal class and demonstrating the utter hypocrisy of U.S. govt. policy concerning the right of Americans to control their own decisions about the things they choose to ingest. When I see this sort of thing, I think the Northeast is stuck in some mid-20th century Democrat past - while the base of the party has moved forward - and it's the west that will lead America to a better future.
NY Gov. Cuomo Exhibits Signs of Latent Reefer Madness
As states across the Western United States (and some in the tippy top of the Northeast) liberalize marijuana laws, states in the South and greater Northeast are still plagued by recurring bouts of reefer madness.
Is it just a coincidence that those states with smaller African American populations are the states that are most quickly responding to the overwhelming evidence that the war on drugs has been a failure, and has, in part, been a war on African Americans?
Arrest stats indicate marijuana laws are targeted toward the African American population across the nation, while usage stats indicate whites are as likely, and sometimes more so, to use marijuana than African Americans. Should Democrats across the Northeast and the South "check their privilege" to see if their support for laws that the American public, at large, overwhelmingly does not want is really an expression of racism in their communities?
A two-part story about Gov. Cuomo's anti-medical marijuana fight with the New York Senate.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/gov-cuomo-won-part-medical-marijuana-system-wreak-havoc-blog-entry-1.1831428
Gov. Cuomo Monday morning doubled down on his aides' comments over the weekend on the concerns he has about the legislative push to legalize medical marijuana.
Appearing on public radio's "The Capitol Pressroom", Cuomo told host Susan Arbetter that he has heard major concerns from his health commissioner and superintendent of state police.
"If we can address those concerns, there will be a bill," Cuomo said. "But I'm not going to be part of a system that's just going to wreak havoc."
He also defended his desire to further restrict which diseases can be covered. He said the bill is expected to cover "serious diseases" and not include loopholes "that you can drive a truck through."
Gov. Cuomo Monday morning doubled down on his aides' comments over the weekend on the concerns he has about the legislative push to legalize medical marijuana.
Appearing on public radio's "The Capitol Pressroom", Cuomo told host Susan Arbetter that he has heard major concerns from his health commissioner and superintendent of state police.
"If we can address those concerns, there will be a bill," Cuomo said. "But I'm not going to be part of a system that's just going to wreak havoc."
He also defended his desire to further restrict which diseases can be covered. He said the bill is expected to cover "serious diseases" and not include loopholes "that you can drive a truck through."
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/gov-cuomo-big-medical-marijuana-bill-blog-entry-1.1831030
Cuomo has also told the Legislature that he wants to classify as a felony the crime of fraudulently seeking or prescribing the drug.
And he would cut down on the 20 chronic illnesses the Legislature wants to be able to treat with marijuana. The governor wants any law to cover patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, MS, HIV/AIDS, diabetics, and spinal cord injuries. It would have to be a neuropathic condition with "true nerve pain", a Cuomo aide said.
Cuomo also wants the Legislature to remove a provision from its bill allowing patients to receive up to 2.5 ounces of pot every 30 days. Instead, like with other drugs, he would allow doctors to prescribe pot in one-month doses that would be decided by the physicians. Cuomo would require doctors, and not physician assistants and nurse practitioners, to prescribe the pot. And he wants doctors to be pre-certified by the state Health Department to ensure they are specialists in the field they are treating with the marijuana, Cuomo officials said.
Cuomo wants to limit the registered organizations to five, with each one required to operate four dispensaries in different parts of the state to ensure there is easy access statewide, one Cuomo aide said.
And he would cut down on the 20 chronic illnesses the Legislature wants to be able to treat with marijuana. The governor wants any law to cover patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, MS, HIV/AIDS, diabetics, and spinal cord injuries. It would have to be a neuropathic condition with "true nerve pain", a Cuomo aide said.
Cuomo also wants the Legislature to remove a provision from its bill allowing patients to receive up to 2.5 ounces of pot every 30 days. Instead, like with other drugs, he would allow doctors to prescribe pot in one-month doses that would be decided by the physicians. Cuomo would require doctors, and not physician assistants and nurse practitioners, to prescribe the pot. And he wants doctors to be pre-certified by the state Health Department to ensure they are specialists in the field they are treating with the marijuana, Cuomo officials said.
Cuomo wants to limit the registered organizations to five, with each one required to operate four dispensaries in different parts of the state to ensure there is easy access statewide, one Cuomo aide said.
It's so sad to see Democrats align with the drug warriors and their lies. Of course, Cuomo has genuine concerns - but they're born out of the same past that treated marijuana as something worse than heroin, when, in fact, it is less dangerous than alcohol.
But the northeast established itself long ago as a alcohol culture, when prohibition was creating a criminal class and demonstrating the utter hypocrisy of U.S. govt. policy concerning the right of Americans to control their own decisions about the things they choose to ingest. When I see this sort of thing, I think the Northeast is stuck in some mid-20th century Democrat past - while the base of the party has moved forward - and it's the west that will lead America to a better future.
June 16, 2014
Nice article for those of you in the Sunshine state - and beyond. The author thinks it's strange, but offers some possible insight.
This proponent of casino gambling wants to oppose "sin" when possible - i.e. non-casino gambling, et al. Harry Reid still vouches for Adelson. Talk about strange. Even stranger when the guy you vouch for aligns with someone whose drug treatment program relies upon torture for "success."
What the drug warriors fear is that showing the least compassion for those with medical illnesses will open the way for Florida to become a haven for marijuana. As if it isn't already! LOL.
Why do these cranky old guys align, so often, with failed public policy - that's what I have to wonder. Why would any Floridian not want to completely legalize marijuana and receive tax revenues from the sale of the same. If anyone thinks people living in Florida, or people in Florida on vacation are not already using marijuana recreationally - well, that just indicates how out-of-touch they are.
Personally, I think anyone who treats marijuana users like prisoners of war should be the ones who are locked up. But I'm not going to try to influence law to make that happen.
Why Is Sheldon Adelson Trying to Defeat Medical Marijuana?
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/why-sheldon-adelson-opposing-medical-marijuanaNice article for those of you in the Sunshine state - and beyond. The author thinks it's strange, but offers some possible insight.
...Stranger still when you realize Adelson's own medical research organization, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation, produced a study in December showing that medical marijuana has the potential to help those suffering from multiple sclerosis.
My take on what's going on with Adelson can be summed up in two words: Mel Sembler.
Sembler, the GOP fundraiser, St. Petersburg anti-drug crusader, ambassador to Italy who couldn't speak a word of Italian -- and, oh, yes, the founder of drug-rehab-program-from-hell STRAIGHT Inc. -- is one of Adelson's oldest friends.
I've written a couple of times about STRAIGHT Inc. and its prisoner-of-war-style torture, unrelenting cover-ups and subsequent suicides. But Sembler has always defended the program, the tactics and the need to deal harshly with teens using -- even suspected of using -- drugs. My guess is, it was Sembler who went to work hustling money out of Adelson to oppose Amendment 2, and Adelson capitulated.
My take on what's going on with Adelson can be summed up in two words: Mel Sembler.
Sembler, the GOP fundraiser, St. Petersburg anti-drug crusader, ambassador to Italy who couldn't speak a word of Italian -- and, oh, yes, the founder of drug-rehab-program-from-hell STRAIGHT Inc. -- is one of Adelson's oldest friends.
I've written a couple of times about STRAIGHT Inc. and its prisoner-of-war-style torture, unrelenting cover-ups and subsequent suicides. But Sembler has always defended the program, the tactics and the need to deal harshly with teens using -- even suspected of using -- drugs. My guess is, it was Sembler who went to work hustling money out of Adelson to oppose Amendment 2, and Adelson capitulated.
This proponent of casino gambling wants to oppose "sin" when possible - i.e. non-casino gambling, et al. Harry Reid still vouches for Adelson. Talk about strange. Even stranger when the guy you vouch for aligns with someone whose drug treatment program relies upon torture for "success."
What the drug warriors fear is that showing the least compassion for those with medical illnesses will open the way for Florida to become a haven for marijuana. As if it isn't already! LOL.
Why do these cranky old guys align, so often, with failed public policy - that's what I have to wonder. Why would any Floridian not want to completely legalize marijuana and receive tax revenues from the sale of the same. If anyone thinks people living in Florida, or people in Florida on vacation are not already using marijuana recreationally - well, that just indicates how out-of-touch they are.
Personally, I think anyone who treats marijuana users like prisoners of war should be the ones who are locked up. But I'm not going to try to influence law to make that happen.
June 16, 2014
Medical Marijuana, the illegal miracle, parts 1 & 2
Not my title, btw. Can't directly link the vids, so here are links
Part 1: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/video/medical-marijuana-illegal-miracle-part-121722765.html
Part 2: https://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/watch/24242100/medical-marijuana-the-illegal-miracle-part-2/
Reports about two families whose members use medical marijuana.
The issue in Australia.
June 15, 2014
When the study came out I, and others here, said... here it comes, the propaganda onslaught, and sure enough, every Billy Bob Jo Junior in law enforcement, and those institutes and agencies who love them some LE, has stepped up to claim as holy gospel a study that in no way indicated causation of anything. This rube, too, claims proof of terrible, horrible, no good very bad outcomes if this nation tries reefer sanity rather than reefer madness. Because of a studied promoted by the very same people that have told the very same lies for years.
EVEN THE EDITOR OF A MAJOR ONLINE SCIENCE PUBLISHER called out the freaking propaganda on that one - he saw it was coming too.
Since the DEA, the FDA, and the NIDA have conspired to exclude marijuana studies from those receiving approval, other nations have had to do the work that America used to be able to proudly proclaim as its own - unbiased scientific research not deformed by drug warrior Inquisitionists. Well, there was that time Reagan did get a scientist to suffocate Bonzo and claim that suffocating an animal demonstrated that marijuana was bad.. but it was the research that was bad... research that wasn't released for peer review until some 6 years later by force of a FOIA and was found to be a fraud. What sort of junk science needs to be hidden from review? The kind drug warriors promote.
And that's the kind of science this guy is promoting.
But there is plenty of evidence that marijuana has medicinal value. Otherwise it wouldn't be approved for use for MS in 10 other nations. This guy could look in this drug policy forum and find link after link to studies that have indicated a therapeutic use for marijuana. In fact, LaGuardia disproved your drug warrior ass lies in the 1940s - and yet you're still at it. What a racket!!!! How much money have these people scammed from the American people with their lying lies? Trillions, we know that. It pays well to lie, obviously, or we wouldn't see it so often from "powerful and important thinkers" like this guy.
With another bedtime for bonzo story for the reefer madness crowd.
But some American doctors have been able to do research on pulmonary aspects of marijuana. Did this policy institute "visonary" bother to read the work of Donald Tashkin? ...the doctor who has done the most research on this topic in the U.S. and has stated marijuana is not causally related to lung cancer - in fact, those who smoke mj have lower rates of lung cancer, even better than those who don't smoke anything? You know, the ones with thousands of patients, not twenty students that you're using to make a claim, Mr. Murray?
(the links are all here in the drug policy forum.)
If this person really gives a shit about the science, why doesn't he acknowledge that studies were published in the 1940s that indicated marijuana was useful for epileptic seizures - and then ask why the federal govt. didn't act on this? They certainly knew about it. The study was found in Anslinger's files. Why, the American people should ask, do people like Mr. Murray and others support harming the American people because they suffer from reefer madness? Shouldn't those with this madness be locked away, and not those who tell the truth about their propaganda?
Here the Rand study guy, from the Rand Institute offshoot, pulls out the REAL reason he wants voters to say no to medical marijuana -
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/12/4174571/medical-marijuana-no-proven-clinical.html#storylink=cpy
Yes. Once again the unemployed are the only people who want or need medical marijuana (if you're getting a sniff of Paul Ryan "making" scrotum sweat about now, yeah.) As McCamy Taylor, a doctor, wrote here earlier, doctors (as well as this guy) are bigots toward people with health problems. If you have major chronic pain - or "chronic pain" as this ass puts it, no medicine for you, sir! No pain relief for you. You should suffer and you should also not be prescribed opiate medication because you're just going to sell it - and, no, I will not put that cart behind the horse and ask if an adequate safety net, adequate health care, adequate people in positions of power might mitigate some of the problems for those with chronic pain.. because it's really just "chronic pain." Or just... they want the chronic, right? Oh, and look, another lie to claim that opiates are not more likely to be abused, because they actually create dependency, while marijuana is as addictive as coffee.
One guy with chronic pain, back in the 1990s, choked on his own vomit because upstanding men like you, Mr. Murray, were saying the same things about men like him... except back then, the period that was at the end of the death sentence for Peter McWilliams was that he was gay and, thus, he deserved it - according to other important and powerful think tanky men like you, Mr. Murray.
Just go ask Bush Sr., who made sure he shut down the federal compassionate investigative care program so that gays wouldn't be asking for marijuana from the government. How repulsive can you get, to be a President that works to increase the suffering of people with cancer - because they're gay? As repulsive as Bush and Reagan... and, frankly, Clinton.
Oh, but those guys with "chronic pain" already have prescriptions for opiates, prescribed by a doctor for "chronic pain?" Well, don't let the reality that cannabis can help mitigate the use of stronger and addictive opiates stop you from defaming entire populations of Americans with actual illness... or "chronic pain" - right, Mr. Murray? Don't let the reality that opiates have been under such scrutiny it is hard to believe doctors are out there writing scripts and tossing them to patients like confetti because, hey, those guys with "chronic pain" aren't working... maybe the chronic pain might have something to do with it, but why ask that question when you can try to smear every woman with breast cancer and every child with epilepsy and every daughter with MS because we all know who reallllly uses medical marijuana, right? Those with "chronic pain."
David Murray was chief scientist at the White House, Office of National Drug Control Policy and is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research. Which White House? I've looked but can't find it. Is he embarrassed to say which administration he worked for?
This "reputable" and "upstanding" "authority" on this subject regurgitates the same old Reagan-era lie that marijuana has no medical value at the end of his editorial. That's an outright lie. Even Gil Kerlikowske had to admit that was a lie.
In 2009, the American Medical Association, the largest physician organization in the U.S., admitted that marijuana has medical value.
So, what's your medical speciality, Mr. Murray?
What do you know that you could share with the American Medical Association, Dr. Donald Tashkin, GW Pharmaceuticals and its leading researcher, Roger Pertwee, 10 other nations with fewer lunatics running the asylum, apparently, Dr. Robert Melamede, Dr. Guzman, with his studies of humans with gliomas, the FDA, which fast tracked a study on cannabis and pediatric epilepsy after Dr. Sanja Gupta shared the reality that you and your friends have lied to the American public all these years and continue to do so here.
Seems like all you know is how to repeat the lies you've been paid to tell for far too long.
This nation is so over people like you. Go away.
The BULLSHITTERS are laying it on thick at the Miami Herald
et tu, Miami Herald? Why in the (bleep) does a major newspaper in a major city post such garbage uncritically? Honestly, should you trust getting your news from a paper that reprints lies that are as old and fossilized as the statues at the Vizcaya?
And who is David Murray, the author of this ditty? A fellow at The Hudson Institute.. supposedly a forward-thinking repository... begun by a man who was considered one of the inspirations for Dr. Strangelove because the founder, Herman Kahn, applied Nash's game theory to nuclear war...and decided it was winnable. OF COURSE someone there is expounding upon the lies of the DEA and pretending they're fact. Of course someone from there thinks the drug war is winnable - if only we arrest enough Americans and build enough private prisons...amirite? high fives all around for the neverending trillion dollars wasted drug war! It's made some people rich or rich enough... like this guy writing this pile of garbage.
But while the voices of residents and legislators are being heard, one crucial group has been left out of a debate — the scientific community that is assessing marijuana’s efficacy as a medical treatment.
What does this community have to say about marijuana being sold at dispensaries before it is proven effective through the FDA’s drug approval process? According to a recent study by Yale Medical School published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in May, there are very real risks associated with treating marijuana as a medical treatment, including structural brain damage, an irreversible lowering of the IQ, respiratory damage and increased risk of psychotic disorders.
What does this community have to say about marijuana being sold at dispensaries before it is proven effective through the FDA’s drug approval process? According to a recent study by Yale Medical School published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in May, there are very real risks associated with treating marijuana as a medical treatment, including structural brain damage, an irreversible lowering of the IQ, respiratory damage and increased risk of psychotic disorders.
When the study came out I, and others here, said... here it comes, the propaganda onslaught, and sure enough, every Billy Bob Jo Junior in law enforcement, and those institutes and agencies who love them some LE, has stepped up to claim as holy gospel a study that in no way indicated causation of anything. This rube, too, claims proof of terrible, horrible, no good very bad outcomes if this nation tries reefer sanity rather than reefer madness. Because of a studied promoted by the very same people that have told the very same lies for years.
EVEN THE EDITOR OF A MAJOR ONLINE SCIENCE PUBLISHER called out the freaking propaganda on that one - he saw it was coming too.
Since the DEA, the FDA, and the NIDA have conspired to exclude marijuana studies from those receiving approval, other nations have had to do the work that America used to be able to proudly proclaim as its own - unbiased scientific research not deformed by drug warrior Inquisitionists. Well, there was that time Reagan did get a scientist to suffocate Bonzo and claim that suffocating an animal demonstrated that marijuana was bad.. but it was the research that was bad... research that wasn't released for peer review until some 6 years later by force of a FOIA and was found to be a fraud. What sort of junk science needs to be hidden from review? The kind drug warriors promote.
And that's the kind of science this guy is promoting.
But there is plenty of evidence that marijuana has medicinal value. Otherwise it wouldn't be approved for use for MS in 10 other nations. This guy could look in this drug policy forum and find link after link to studies that have indicated a therapeutic use for marijuana. In fact, LaGuardia disproved your drug warrior ass lies in the 1940s - and yet you're still at it. What a racket!!!! How much money have these people scammed from the American people with their lying lies? Trillions, we know that. It pays well to lie, obviously, or we wouldn't see it so often from "powerful and important thinkers" like this guy.
With another bedtime for bonzo story for the reefer madness crowd.
But some American doctors have been able to do research on pulmonary aspects of marijuana. Did this policy institute "visonary" bother to read the work of Donald Tashkin? ...the doctor who has done the most research on this topic in the U.S. and has stated marijuana is not causally related to lung cancer - in fact, those who smoke mj have lower rates of lung cancer, even better than those who don't smoke anything? You know, the ones with thousands of patients, not twenty students that you're using to make a claim, Mr. Murray?
(the links are all here in the drug policy forum.)
If this person really gives a shit about the science, why doesn't he acknowledge that studies were published in the 1940s that indicated marijuana was useful for epileptic seizures - and then ask why the federal govt. didn't act on this? They certainly knew about it. The study was found in Anslinger's files. Why, the American people should ask, do people like Mr. Murray and others support harming the American people because they suffer from reefer madness? Shouldn't those with this madness be locked away, and not those who tell the truth about their propaganda?
Here the Rand study guy, from the Rand Institute offshoot, pulls out the REAL reason he wants voters to say no to medical marijuana -
Who actually uses these facilities? Participants in the study found them to be overwhelmingly male (73 percent), substantially unemployed (31 percent), largely reporting “chronic pain” (58 percent) as their medical condition (nearly half of them already having a prescription for opiates), with another 44 percent reporting either a mental or sleep disorder as their reason for needing marijuana.
To date, there is no compelling clinical need for what smoked marijuana purports to do; the medical conditions for which it might be applied are already treated by non-marijuana medicines that have been found safe, effective and without risk of abuse.
To date, there is no compelling clinical need for what smoked marijuana purports to do; the medical conditions for which it might be applied are already treated by non-marijuana medicines that have been found safe, effective and without risk of abuse.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/12/4174571/medical-marijuana-no-proven-clinical.html#storylink=cpy
Yes. Once again the unemployed are the only people who want or need medical marijuana (if you're getting a sniff of Paul Ryan "making" scrotum sweat about now, yeah.) As McCamy Taylor, a doctor, wrote here earlier, doctors (as well as this guy) are bigots toward people with health problems. If you have major chronic pain - or "chronic pain" as this ass puts it, no medicine for you, sir! No pain relief for you. You should suffer and you should also not be prescribed opiate medication because you're just going to sell it - and, no, I will not put that cart behind the horse and ask if an adequate safety net, adequate health care, adequate people in positions of power might mitigate some of the problems for those with chronic pain.. because it's really just "chronic pain." Or just... they want the chronic, right? Oh, and look, another lie to claim that opiates are not more likely to be abused, because they actually create dependency, while marijuana is as addictive as coffee.
One guy with chronic pain, back in the 1990s, choked on his own vomit because upstanding men like you, Mr. Murray, were saying the same things about men like him... except back then, the period that was at the end of the death sentence for Peter McWilliams was that he was gay and, thus, he deserved it - according to other important and powerful think tanky men like you, Mr. Murray.
Just go ask Bush Sr., who made sure he shut down the federal compassionate investigative care program so that gays wouldn't be asking for marijuana from the government. How repulsive can you get, to be a President that works to increase the suffering of people with cancer - because they're gay? As repulsive as Bush and Reagan... and, frankly, Clinton.
Oh, but those guys with "chronic pain" already have prescriptions for opiates, prescribed by a doctor for "chronic pain?" Well, don't let the reality that cannabis can help mitigate the use of stronger and addictive opiates stop you from defaming entire populations of Americans with actual illness... or "chronic pain" - right, Mr. Murray? Don't let the reality that opiates have been under such scrutiny it is hard to believe doctors are out there writing scripts and tossing them to patients like confetti because, hey, those guys with "chronic pain" aren't working... maybe the chronic pain might have something to do with it, but why ask that question when you can try to smear every woman with breast cancer and every child with epilepsy and every daughter with MS because we all know who reallllly uses medical marijuana, right? Those with "chronic pain."
David Murray was chief scientist at the White House, Office of National Drug Control Policy and is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research. Which White House? I've looked but can't find it. Is he embarrassed to say which administration he worked for?
This "reputable" and "upstanding" "authority" on this subject regurgitates the same old Reagan-era lie that marijuana has no medical value at the end of his editorial. That's an outright lie. Even Gil Kerlikowske had to admit that was a lie.
In 2009, the American Medical Association, the largest physician organization in the U.S., admitted that marijuana has medical value.
So, what's your medical speciality, Mr. Murray?
What do you know that you could share with the American Medical Association, Dr. Donald Tashkin, GW Pharmaceuticals and its leading researcher, Roger Pertwee, 10 other nations with fewer lunatics running the asylum, apparently, Dr. Robert Melamede, Dr. Guzman, with his studies of humans with gliomas, the FDA, which fast tracked a study on cannabis and pediatric epilepsy after Dr. Sanja Gupta shared the reality that you and your friends have lied to the American public all these years and continue to do so here.
Seems like all you know is how to repeat the lies you've been paid to tell for far too long.
This nation is so over people like you. Go away.
June 15, 2014
Is This Woman a Criminal?
Should the DEA and Congress be allowed to arrest her, or to remove her children from her custody because she uses medical marijuana? She's not the only one in such a circumstance.
Congress - have you no shame?
Remove cannabis from the controlled substances act.
June 14, 2014
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/06/kids-not-do-drugs-chill-out.html?wpsrc=nymag
An international team headed by the European Institute of Studies on Prevention interviewed 7,718 European kids between 11 and 19 years old. Applying the results to an established psychological model of four different parenting styles — authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, and neglectful — the researchers found that "the indulgent and authoritative models are those that work best, both for substance use and in personal disorders." Authoritative sounds a bit like authoritarian, but while the authoritarian style is defined by strictness, authoritarian authoritative parents "give clear rules and affectionately and flexibly reason with the children when asking for their compliance," as one of the researchers put it in the press release. Though the kids of authoritarian parents were more likely to do drugs, there's also such a thing as too hands-off, of course: The neglectful parenting style produced similar results.
The key takeaway is that those parents who are most obsessed with their kids not doing bad-kid stuff and who take the strictest approach to preventing that may be the ones most likely to drive kids straight toward those behaviors.
I'm sure a lot of people will read this and go, no, d'uh - but it honestly explains, imo, a lot of the problems in the south and other right wing religious enclaves in relation to parenting styles of religious conservatives. As an authoritative parent, you can say... I expect you to wait to have sex until you're more mature, and I expect you to resist all the pressures surrounding sex in the beehive that is high school. But, if you are going to have sex, you need to make sure you do so with protection against pregnancy and/or STDs. So, if you need birth control, we need to visit the doctor for reliable birth control. Or, you need to keep condoms available, if you're a male, and never assume birth control is a female's responsibility. I think the overall lack of this sort of parenting among "abstinence only" authoritarians causes a lot of unplanned pregnancies.
Teens of authoritarian or neglectful parents more likely to use drugs
While "moderate and reason-based" parenting styles - authoritative, not authoritarian, or indulgent parenting styles result in fewer teens who use drugs, or teens who fall into patterns of substance abuse.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140611102203.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fmind_brain+%28Mind+%26+Brain+News+--+ScienceDaily%29
Authoritative differs from authoritarian (my way or the highway, no leeway), because authoritative sets boundaries but will talk to the reasoning part of the teen's brain, using affection and two-way communication (i.e. not use shaming/blaming language - which is authoritarian). More on parenting styles here (iow, read this for explanations, don't make up your own in this context.) Authoritative parenting is generally considered the best because of expectations for self-mastery that parents place upon their children, without negative baggage, and without the entitlement that sometimes becomes an issue for kids who grow up with indulgent parenting.
(I admit my personality is more comfortable with indulgent parenting, but I also know good things have happened for my own children with authoritative parenting as part of their life experience, even if it's not my most comfortable "setting" as a human in general.)
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/06/kids-not-do-drugs-chill-out.html?wpsrc=nymag
An international team headed by the European Institute of Studies on Prevention interviewed 7,718 European kids between 11 and 19 years old. Applying the results to an established psychological model of four different parenting styles — authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, and neglectful — the researchers found that "the indulgent and authoritative models are those that work best, both for substance use and in personal disorders." Authoritative sounds a bit like authoritarian, but while the authoritarian style is defined by strictness, authoritarian authoritative parents "give clear rules and affectionately and flexibly reason with the children when asking for their compliance," as one of the researchers put it in the press release. Though the kids of authoritarian parents were more likely to do drugs, there's also such a thing as too hands-off, of course: The neglectful parenting style produced similar results.
The key takeaway is that those parents who are most obsessed with their kids not doing bad-kid stuff and who take the strictest approach to preventing that may be the ones most likely to drive kids straight toward those behaviors.
I'm sure a lot of people will read this and go, no, d'uh - but it honestly explains, imo, a lot of the problems in the south and other right wing religious enclaves in relation to parenting styles of religious conservatives. As an authoritative parent, you can say... I expect you to wait to have sex until you're more mature, and I expect you to resist all the pressures surrounding sex in the beehive that is high school. But, if you are going to have sex, you need to make sure you do so with protection against pregnancy and/or STDs. So, if you need birth control, we need to visit the doctor for reliable birth control. Or, you need to keep condoms available, if you're a male, and never assume birth control is a female's responsibility. I think the overall lack of this sort of parenting among "abstinence only" authoritarians causes a lot of unplanned pregnancies.
June 14, 2014
Teen Marijuana Use Remains Flat Nationwide As More States Legalize
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/13/teen-marijuana-use-flat_n_5492135.htmlThe biennial High School Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that the rate of marijuana use among U.S. high school students remained virtually unchanged from 2011 to 2013. It's also about 3 percent less than the peak of teen marijuana use in 1999, when nearly 27 percent of teens said they had recently used marijuana, according to the CDC data.
...The CDC's findings are similar to those in a recent report published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, which compared 20 years of CDC YRBS data about high school teens' marijuana habits in states that have legalized medical marijuana compared with neighboring states that continue to ban the plant. It found that legalization of marijuana for medical purposes did not result in greater illicit use of the substance by high school students.
“Rates of teen alcohol and cigarette use have dropped, and we didn’t have to arrest any adults for using them,” Tvert said. “We could see the same results by regulating marijuana. Regulation works.”
Data was available for Colorado from 2009 to 2011, during a period of rapid medical marijuana dispensary expansion in the state, which ballooned to around 500 shops statewide. That data showed Colorado high school students' marijuana use decreased by nearly 3 percent.
...The CDC's findings are similar to those in a recent report published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, which compared 20 years of CDC YRBS data about high school teens' marijuana habits in states that have legalized medical marijuana compared with neighboring states that continue to ban the plant. It found that legalization of marijuana for medical purposes did not result in greater illicit use of the substance by high school students.
“Rates of teen alcohol and cigarette use have dropped, and we didn’t have to arrest any adults for using them,” Tvert said. “We could see the same results by regulating marijuana. Regulation works.”
Data was available for Colorado from 2009 to 2011, during a period of rapid medical marijuana dispensary expansion in the state, which ballooned to around 500 shops statewide. That data showed Colorado high school students' marijuana use decreased by nearly 3 percent.
June 12, 2014
Debbie Wasserman Schultz - Which side are you on?
ETA: For those who want to make false claims against the legalization movement - please note AGAIN, while an amendment is under consideration, we have LAW ENFORCEMENT officers claiming that legalization of marijuana will cause crime rates to soar. It's in the link I provided.
oh, and who is saying this? Grady Judd. Who is Grady Judd? Why, he's the guy whose remarks were posted by an anti-legalization propaganda supporter here on DU the other day. Here's the link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025064189
From the previous thread:
So, clearly Judd is a propagandist working with Republicans and their backers in Florida - and these same people have advocates here on DU who defend their propaganda. Just so you know what's what here, DU-ers.
Sheldon Adelson/GOP pump money into FL to stop medical mj legalization
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/medical-marijuana-opponents-gain-money-and-allies-including-billionaire/2183785Opponents to a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana in Florida gained firepower Tuesday when campaign finance records showed that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson had cut a $2.5 million check to bankroll the opposition effort.
Also Tuesday, a coalition led by the Florida Sheriffs Association announced it was launching a separate statewide campaign to defeat the amendment, known as Amendment 2 on the November ballot.
The contribution by Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire and a heavy contributor to Gov. Rick Scott's re-election effort, not only juices the antimarijuana movement, it effectively brings the medical marijuana debate into this year's governor's race.
The largest proponent of Amendment 2 has been John Morgan, an Orlando trial lawyer and chief supporter of Scott's top Democratic rival, Charlie Crist.
Also Tuesday, a coalition led by the Florida Sheriffs Association announced it was launching a separate statewide campaign to defeat the amendment, known as Amendment 2 on the November ballot.
The contribution by Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire and a heavy contributor to Gov. Rick Scott's re-election effort, not only juices the antimarijuana movement, it effectively brings the medical marijuana debate into this year's governor's race.
The largest proponent of Amendment 2 has been John Morgan, an Orlando trial lawyer and chief supporter of Scott's top Democratic rival, Charlie Crist.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz - Which side are you on?
ETA: For those who want to make false claims against the legalization movement - please note AGAIN, while an amendment is under consideration, we have LAW ENFORCEMENT officers claiming that legalization of marijuana will cause crime rates to soar. It's in the link I provided.
oh, and who is saying this? Grady Judd. Who is Grady Judd? Why, he's the guy whose remarks were posted by an anti-legalization propaganda supporter here on DU the other day. Here's the link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025064189
"This amendment as a matter of fact is a wolf in sheep's clothing," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, president of the Florida Sheriff's Association.
He warned that the proposed amendment is "cleverly written" for "use and abuse," will lead to children legally obtaining marijuana and predicted crime rates will soar.
"You will pay more taxes because it's going to take more policing,'' he said.
He warned that the proposed amendment is "cleverly written" for "use and abuse," will lead to children legally obtaining marijuana and predicted crime rates will soar.
"You will pay more taxes because it's going to take more policing,'' he said.
From the previous thread:
"This is just another example of marijuana abuse linked to child abuse," Judd said.
So, clearly Judd is a propagandist working with Republicans and their backers in Florida - and these same people have advocates here on DU who defend their propaganda. Just so you know what's what here, DU-ers.
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayMember since: 2002
Number of posts: 28,784
