MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEBATE IN ALBANY NEW YORK HEATS UP
Monday, 09 April 2012 16:53 |
Medical-Pot Debate Rises in Albany New York lawmakers are preparing a renewed push to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, potentially reigniting a polarizing social debate that has been dormant in Albany for years.
Medical marijuana has been enacted into law in 16 states and the District of Columbia, but the issue has faced tougher hurdles in Albany, where Republicans who control the Senate have been resistant.
But now, the idea has a new champion in Sen. Diane Savino, a Staten Island Democrat who has allied herself with the chamber's Republican majority on many issues and is the lead sponsor of a soon-to-be-introduced bill. Ms. Savino and the sponsor in the Democratic-controlled Assembly, Richard Gottfried, said they're hopeful that they could pass the bill if Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, were to get onboard.
"He hasn't said no," Ms. Savino said of Mr. Cuomo. "He's willing to have a conversation."
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo didn't respond to requests for comment on the issue.
As a candidate for governor in 2010, Mr. Cuomo said the dangers of medical marijuana "outweigh the benefits." But he appeared to soften his stance last year when he told reporters that his administration didn't have a "final position" on the issue.
Mr. Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat who is leading the effort in the Assembly, said: "It can still be done this year, especially if the governor gets involved, but that would have to happen pretty soon."
Wherever Mr. Cuomo settles on the issue, there promises to be a stronger effort than in past years to get the legislation to the floor of the Assembly and Senate.
A Quinnipiac University poll from February 2010 found that 71% of New York registered voters—including 55% of registered Republicans—support the idea of allowing adults to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if a doctor prescribes it.
And there could be support from a handful Senate Republicans with an independent streak. Republicans lead the Senate with a slim majority.
Sen. John Bonacic, a veteran Republican who represents several mid-Hudson Valley counties west of Poughkeepsie, said he is "open" to medical marijuana legalization, if the drug is dispensed with a prescription from a physician. "I think if the safeguards were there, it might have some traction," he said.
The growing marijuana industry is paying attention to New York's shifting landscape. Greenwerkz, a major for-profit dispensary in Colorado, has contacted Albany lobbying firms about the possibility of doing business in New York.
"From the company's standpoint, we're interested in seeing what the bill looks like. We would love to participate in New York," said Meg Sanders, a partner at Greenwerkz.
Though advocates say support for medical marijuana is growing in New York, its potential will depend on details.
Mr. Gottfried said a new version of the bill would have a "hardship" provision allowing patients who live far away from a dispensary to grow their own pot plants. It would also extend to patients deemed too sick to travel or too poor to buy the drug. But Ms. Savino said that provision might have to be removed to attract more Republican support.
Albany came closest to passing a bill in 2005. Then, the measure had a Republican sponsor, Vincent Leibell, who has since left the Senate and pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges.
The Republican majority leader at the time, Sen. Joe Bruno, a prostate cancer survivor, said he supported the idea, but balked at language in the Assembly's version.
The Assembly—where support the measure is broad—passed a medical marijuana bill in 2007 and 2008, both times with wide margins of support.
There are also political parallels to the debate over same-sex marriage, the passage of which in 2011 depended on a small number of Senate Republican votes joining with a much larger number of Democrats.
According to lobbyists, 28 Senate Democrats are supportive of medical marijuana. While Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to the bill, advocates say they see a potential for at most a half-dozen GOP votes. The bill would need at least 32 votes for passage.
And like with gay marriage, it would also need a green light from Senate Majority Dean Skelos to bring the bill to the floor. A spokesman for Mr. Skelos said he's "generally opposed" to medical marijuana and that the issue has not come up this year.
Opposition to medical marijuana remains strong, including from the New York State Conservative Party, whose influence in Republican politics was tested in the battle over same-sex marriage.
"There is no control over who is using the marijuana. It opens a Pandora's box for the illegal use of marijuana," said party chairman Michael Long.
One important Republican in the debate, Sen. Kemp Hannon, the Long Islander who is chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said it doesn't make sense to loosen marijuana laws at a time of growing concern about illegal sales and abuse of prescription drugs.
"To start dealing with other substances which have not been vetted or tested is not something I want to go near," he said.
Under the last version of the bill, patients would have to be certified by a physician that they have a "serious condition" for which marijuana would provide a "therapeutic or palliative benefit."
The state health department would issue them registration cards that expire after a year.
Under previous versions, certified patients and designated caregivers would be allowed to possess no more than 2.5 ounces of marijuana, excluding the weight of food if distributed in edible form. The drug could not be consumed or displayed in public view.
"This is not about getting high; this is about getting relief," said Ms. Savino, whose parents and grandfather died of lung cancer. "It's incredibly painful. You only have morphine. You get to the point where nothing works."
Write to Jacob Gershman at
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CALLING ON PREZ TO IMPLEMENT A NEW APPROACH
Wednesday, 04 April 2012 13:01 |
Six National Drug Policy Organizations Call on President Obama to End Unnecessary Assault on Medical Marijuana Providers
Coalition to President Obama: "It is time for a new approach on marijuana policy."
Contact: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, (202) 483-5500
Washington, DC -- In the wake of recent attacks on medical marijuana providers and patients by multiple branches of the federal government, including Monday's raids on Oaksterdam University in Oakland, CA, a coalition of six national drug policy reform organizations is appealing to President Obama and his administration to follow its own previously stated policies respecting state medical marijuana laws. In the letter, posted in full below, the organizations call on the Obama administration to bring an end to the federal government's ongoing campaign to undermine state efforts to regulate safe and legal access to medical marijuana for those patients who rely on it.
The Obama Administration's National Drug Control Strategy Report 2012, reportedly being released in the coming days, is expected to cling to failed and outdated marijuana policies which further cement the control of the marijuana trade in the hands of drug cartels and illegal operators, endangering both patients in medical marijuana states and citizens everywhere. The members of this coalition stand together with members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, current and former Latin American leaders whose countries are being ravaged by drug cartels, state officials from five medical marijuana states, and tens of millions of Americans in their call for a more rational approach to marijuana policy.
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THE LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA:
April 4, 2012
President Barack Obama The White House Washington D.C. 20500 Via Fax: 202-456-2461
Dear Mr. President:
Our coalition represents the views of tens of millions of Americans who believe the war on medical marijuana patients and providers you are fighting is misguided and counterproductive. As your administration prepares to release its annual National Drug Control Strategy, we want to speak with one voice and convey our deep sense of anger and disappointment in your lack of leadership on this issue.
Voters and elected officials in sixteen states and the District of Columbia have determined that the medical use of marijuana should be legal. In many of these states, the laws also include means for providing medical marijuana patients safe access to this medicine. These laws allowing for the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana actually shift control of marijuana sales from the criminal underground to state-licensed, taxed, and regulated producers and distributors.
Instead of celebrating - or even tolerating - this state experimentation, which has benefited patients and taken profits away from drug cartels, you have turned your back as career law enforcement officials have run roughshod over some of the most professional and well-regulated medical marijuana providers. We simply cannot understand why you have reneged on your administration's earlier policy of respecting state medical marijuana laws.
Our frustration and confusion over your administration's uncalled-for attacks on state-authorized medical marijuana providers was best summed up by John McCowen, the chair of the Mendocino County (CA) board of supervisors, who said, "It's almost as if there was a conscious effort to drive [medical marijuana cultivation and distribution] back underground. My opinion is that's going to further endanger public safety and the environment - the federal government doesn't seem to care about that."
The National Drug Control Strategy you are about to release will no doubt call for a continuation of policies that have as a primary goal the ongoing and permanent control of the marijuana trade by drug cartels and organized crime. We cannot and do not endorse the continued embrace of this utterly failed policy. We stand instead with Latin American leaders, members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, and the vast majority of people who voted you into office in recognizing that it is time for a new approach on marijuana policy.
With approximately 50,000 people dead in Mexico over the past five years as the result of drug war-related violence, we hope that you will immediately reconsider your drug control strategy and will work with, not against, states and organizations that are attempting to shift control of marijuana cultivation and sales, at least as it applies to medical marijuana, to a controlled and regulated market.
Sincerely,
Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)
cc: Eric Holder, Attorney General, Department of Justice James Cole, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
CANNABINOIDS AGAINST MODERATE PROGRESSION OF HIV ( STUDY)
Saturday, 31 March 2012 10:21 |
Cannabinoid Agonist Moderates HIV Progression, Study Says
New York, NY: The activation of specific endogenous cannabinoid receptors moderates the progression of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), according to preclinical data published online in the journal PLoS ONE.
Investigators at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City assessed whether the administration of a selective cannabinoid agonist could regulate HIV-1 infectivity. Researchers reported that activation of the CB2 receptor inhibits HIV infection in culture.
Authors concluded, "[T]he clinical use of (selective CB2) agonists in the treatment of AIDS symptoms may also exert beneficial adjunctive antiviral effects ... in late stages of HIV-1 infection."
Last year, investigators at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center reported that the long-term administration of delta-9-THC, the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana, is associated with decreased mortality in monkeys infected with the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a primate model of HIV disease.
Writing in the journal AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, authors concluded: "Contrary to what we expected, ... delta-9-THC treatment clearly did not increase disease progression, and indeed resulted in generalized attenuation of classic markers of SIV disease. ... These results indicate that chronic delta-9-THC does not increase viral load or aggravate morbidity and may actually ameliorate SIV disease progression."
Separate trials in human subjects have previously documented that the short-term inhalation of cannabis does not adversely impact viral loads in HIV patients, and may even improve immune function.
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at:
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. Full text of the study, "Cannabinoid Receptor 2-Mediated Attenuation of CXCR4-Tropic HIV Infection in Primary CD4+ T Cells," appears online in PLoS ONE. Additional studies documenting the disease modifying potential of marijuana is available in the NORML handbook, Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids: Fourth Edition, available online at: http://norml.org/library/recent-research-on-medical-marijuana.
HELP NEW HAMSHIRE. MAKE THE CALL!
Saturday, 31 March 2012 07:55 |
This is my father as a medical marijuana patient. The marijuana alleviated his nausea and allowed him to eat. It eased his pain to a tolerable level and allowed him to function, instead of being in a zombie like state from being doped up on the pharmaceutical pain killers he was prescribed. The marijuana helped him sleep so his body could rest and fight his ailments. This was taken a year and a half before he died. BEFORE he was forced to give up his natural herbal medicine in the hope of receiving a necessary transplant. I was 17 years old when this picture was taken.
This picture was taken when I was 18 years old. After he was forced to give up medical marijuana. I was a teenage girl and watched my father suffer. His nausea was so bad that he was unable to eat and we watched him waste away from day to day. His pain was unbearable and made him unable to sleep soundly. Because he was unable to eat and unable to sleep his blood sugar went out of control and he slipped into diabetic comas almost weekly. As an 18 year old child I drove my father to the emergency room. I cried by his hospital bed hoping for him to wake up. I encouraged him to NOT find comfort in a natural medicine that worked for him, because I was selfish and wanted him to live. I allowed my father to suffer needlessly throughout his last year on this earth because I believed that if he could just tough it out he might live. I encouraged him to suffer while knowing there was medicine that could comfort him. No child should be forced to choose between giving up hope for their parent’s survival or their parents comfort. You want to know what a medical marijuana law would do for the children? It would renew their faith in the law. The current situation harbors a deep disrespect for the law and makes things more difficult for all those involved – not just the children, not just the patients, but for law enforcement as well. Forcing people to needlessly suffer is bad policy.
This is the last time I ever saw my father alive. The next time I saw him was in a casket at the funeral home when I was 19 years old. This is the reason why I advocate for medical marijuana. As a child I watched my father suffer needlessly. I encouraged it. I am tormented by that fact and not only does that hurt still impact my daily life, it affects all those around me. My children watch me cry and are helpless to do anything about it. There is no reason why anyone should be forced to suffer when there is a solution available. You have the ability to stop the suffering, by supporting SB 409. My father is dead and gone. SB 409 will not help him, but there are living patients right now who are suffering – that you CAN help. I hope you find it in your heart to side with compassion and do what is right. Stop forcing people to suffer.
NH's SB 409 passed the senate 13-11 at 9:00pm Wednesday March 28, 2012. The schedule for the public hearing, the executive hearing, and the senate vote were all changed repeatedly at last minutes notice and stretched out in an attempt to make it impossible for patients and advocates to attend. The bill moves to the house, where it has a lot of support, but Governor John Lynch has "promised" to veto the bill. Gov. Lynch has been told by the State Police association and the Attorney General's office that passing medical marijuana will make a police officer's job more difficult. I believe that making a cops job easier should not take precedence over making a patient's LIFE easier. I am asking if you could please keep this email going, get it to reach as many eyes as possible. We need people to call Gov. Lynch at 603-271-2121 and urge him to side with compassion and reason. Please do NOT veto SB 409, instead sign it into law.
Thank you for your time, Sarah Levesque
TIME FOR TOTAL LEGALIZATION!
Saturday, 24 March 2012 09:48 |
Medical Marijuana Activist and Cancer Patient Angel Raich Thrown Out of Hospital for Vaporizing Marijuana
A spokesperson for the hospital claimed that use of the vaporizer violated their non-smoking policy. First of all, vaporizing is NOT smoking!
Then, the hospital claimed that even marijuana in vapor form can damage the lungs of other patients. I challenge the hospital to deliver evidence of this, especially considering that a recent study shows marijuana, even smoked marijuana, has little effect on long-term pulmonary function. To the best of my knowledge, there is no data showing any second-hand effects from vaporized marijuana.
This patient happened to be none other than Angel Raich, a long-time medical marijuana activist who battled the federal government in the U.S. Supreme Court for the right to use marijuana to treat the symptoms of her incurable brain tumor.
Marijuana is an accepted medicine in the state of California. For a state university hospital to threaten a terminally ill patient with arrest and federal prosecution, instead of making accommodations so that the patient could use her medicine, is inexcusable.
Just to give you another example of people being denied treatment simply because they use marijuana to treat their conditions, here is a video from our friends at Reason about a man who was taken off a kidney transplant list because he used a legal medicine that his doctor recommended.
Medical Marijuana
Monday, 09 April 2012 16:53 | 
