ORGANIZATION NEWS:

1.  OPN Annual Meeting Planned for October 4

2.  Dr. Russo Meeting Archived on RealAudio

3.  Get Your Letter Published

STATE NEWS:

4.  Local Blacks Challenged to Resist "Code Words"

NATIONAL NEWS:

5.  Cheryl Miller Project Hosts Memorial and Day of Action

6.  Pot Compound Reduces Agitation, Improves Appetite in Alzheimer's Patients, Study Says

7.  Marijuana Use Does Not Accelerate HIV Infection

8.  ALERT:  Help Unshackle Medical Marijuana Now

9.  Marinol Death Sentence

10. The Third National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics

11. Presidential Candidates Talk About Medical Marijuana

12. Draft Bill Seeks Broad Power in 'Narco-Terror' Fight

13. ALERT: Stop John Ashcroft's Attack on Judicial Discretion

INTERNATIONAL NEWS:

14. Pot Inhibits Neurodegeneration in Animal Model of MS, Study Says

15. NHS Patients to be Given Cannabis

16. Canada's Pot Revolution

17. New Zealand Parliamentary Committee Recommends Liberalizing Nation's Marijuana Laws

The following items are included in every OPNews:

* OPNews Disclaimer

* You Are Invited to OPN Meetings

* How to Get Your Information in OPNews

* How to be Removed from the OPNews List

* How To Contact Your State Representative And Senator

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1. OPN ANNUAL MEETING PLANNED FOR OCTOBER 4

Mark your calendars for OPN’s annual meeting, which will be held Saturday, October 4, in Lodi, Ohio.  By joining the meeting, you can:

*Meet other patients and activists

*Elect the OPN Board of Directors

*Share your ideas and suggestions

*Enjoy a great dinner

*Camp over night, if you like 

Watch for more details in September’s newsletter.  For more information or to volunteer your help, contact K.R. "Doc" Miller, OPN Membership Liaison, at krmiller@ohiopatient.net .

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2. DR. RUSSO MEETING ARCHIVED ON REALAUDIO

Dr. Ethan Russo, noted expert in headaches and the clinical use of cannabis, was OPN's guest at the August Patient Forum.  Thanks to the efforts of Richard Lake and the Media Awareness Project, you can hear the forum, which is available as a low bandwidth RealAudio file at:  http://drugpolicycentral.com/real/opn/opn7aug.rm

Dr. Russo first discussed the history of cannabis therapeutics.  He then focused on the benefits of cannabis for people suffering from migraines.  After his presentation, Dr. Russo fielded questions on a wide range of cannabis as medicine topics.

Dr. Russo is editor of the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics (see http://www.haworthpressinc.com/store/product.asp?sku=J175 ).  He also conducted the "Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program: An Examination of Benefits and Adverse Effects of Legal Clinical Cannabis," which examined the overall health status of four of the seven remaining patients in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

One of Dr. Russo's principle areas of interest lies in headaches, particularly migraine headaches. He has submitted several protocols to the FDA to study the effectiveness of cannabis-based treatments in migraine headaches and was finally approved to conduct a clinical study in 1999. He has also authored a historical review of cannabis therapy in obstetrics and gynecology.

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3. GET YOUR LETTER PUBLISHED

Since a medical marijuana bill will be introduced in Ohio soon, the Writer’s Resources collection at http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ can be of great value to those people who want their views about this legislation heard.  One of the best ways to be heard is to have your letter to the editor published.

To increase your chance of being published, the Media Awareness Project collects helpful advice for writers at one convenient location.  The Writer’s Resources page includes:

*Tips for Getting Letters to the Editor Published by Robert Sharpe  http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/activist/howlte.htm

*How to Write Letters to the Editor by Cliff Schaffer http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/activist/howlte.htm

 *Tips on Writing Effective Letters to the Editor http://www.2020vision.org/resources/r_activists.htm#lte

 Other help you’ll find at http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ includes:

*Grammar and style guides

*Media links

*Activism links

Always remember that a Letter to the Editor is worth hundreds of dollars, considering the price of advertising in a major newspaper. The best part is that an LTE only costs you a very small amount of time.

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4. LOCAL BLACKS CHALLENGED TO RESIST "CODE WORDS"

Source: The Toledo Blade http://www.toledoblade.com/ August 22, 2003.  View the whole article at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1259/a04.html

Terms such as inner city, drug-related, and crime-infested are some of the code words politicians, public figures, and the media use to identify African-Americans, and blacks should start challenging the definitions of those terms, a Columbus author speaking in Toledo said yesterday... at the Business in the Black forum put on by the Northwest Ohio Black Chamber of Commerce.

[snip]

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5. CHERYL MILLER PROJECT HOSTS MEMORIAL AND DAY OF ACTION

OPN Members Join the Protest in D.C.

Source:  Cheryl Miller Project  http://www.cheryldcmemorial.org/

On Monday and Tuesday, September 22 and 23, 2003, Cheryl Miller's family and friends will join with medical marijuana supporters to memorialize her life and contributions to the medical marijuana movement. Though she was paralyzed by decades of multiple sclerosis, Cheryl and her husband and caregiver Jim waged a long and courageous battle so patients like Cheryl would not have to suffer when a safe medicine, marijuana, could be easily available were it not for politics keeping it illegal and out of the hands of those who could benefit. Cheryl's long struggle came to an end on June 7, 2003. 

As most of her friends were unable to make memorials in New Jersey and her native Oklahoma, Jim decided that it would be fitting to have a memorial for Cheryl in Washington, D.C., a city she had visited 9 times to help educate people about medical marijuana. For years, Cheryl had been wanting to do a candlelight vigil in Washington, but unfortunately that wish was not fulfilled in her lifetime. It will be fulfilled the evening of Monday, September 22, 2003, outside the U.S. Supreme Court. On Tuesday September 23, there will be a press conference and a day for medical marijuana patients and supporters to visit congressional offices to educate elected representatives about the realities patients face each day. And supporters who cannot make it to Washington will be encouraged to contact elected representatives in Washington in a coordinated national call-in day and participate in other local actions.

Most importantly, the Cheryl Miller Memorial Project needs your generous financial help to bring as many medical marijuana patients and supporters as possible to honor Cheryl's memory and to demonstrate to Congress and the federal government that it is time to take the long overdue step of ending this ongoing federal war on medical marijuana patients. Please visit http://www.cheryldcmemorial.org/donate.htm ; your donation will make a difference!

The Cheryl Miller Memorial Project is a collaboration of a number of drug policy reform groups and individuals including The Cherylheart Project, Is My Medicine Legal YET?, Americans for Safe Access, Drug Policy Alliance, Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, DrugSense, DRCNET, MPP,. New Jersey NORML, NORML, Ohio Patient Network, Ron Crickenberger, Libertarian for Congress, SSDP, Wisconsin NORML, with more participants to be announced.

NOTE:  If you would like to join or support the OPN contingent that will be traveling to DC, contact John Precup jprecup@ohiopatient.net .

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6. POT COMPOUND REDUCES AGITATION, IMPROVES APPETITE IN ALZHEIMER'S PATIENTS, STUDY SAYS

Source:  NORML News, August 21, 2003 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5732

(Chicago, IL)  A synthetic version of the marijuana compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) reduced agitation and stimulated weight gain in patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to clinical trial data presented this week at the annual meeting of the International Psychogeriatric Association.

Researchers presented data from a retrospective review of 48 patients residing in a dementia unit of an assisted living facility or nursing home. Patients in the trial received up to 10 mg of synthetic THC daily for one month. Thirty-one patients (66 percent) experienced significant improvement in agitation, and 33 (69 percent) experienced observable functional improvements as a result of the treatment, scientists found.

In addition, all 48 volunteers gained weight during the trial. Weight loss, a common symptom associated with Alzheimer's disease, is a predictive factor of mortality.

No adverse side effects to the THC treatment were reported.

In May, speakers at the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society presented similar findings from a nine-patient clinical trial. A 1997 trial of 12 Alzheimer patients also found that THC significantly decreased negative feelings and induced weight gain.

[snip]

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7. MARIJUANA USE DOES NOT ACCELERATE HIV INFECTION

Source: Reuters Health (Wire), August 18, 2003.  View this article at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1246/a06.html

(New York)  Short-term cannabis use does not seem to adversely affect CD4+ cell counts or viral loads in HIV-infected patients, according to a report published in the August 19th issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine...

Dr. Donald I. Abrams, from the University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues assessed the outcomes of 67 HIV-infected patients who were randomly assigned to use marijuana cigarettes, cannabinoid capsules, or sugar pills ( placebo ) three times daily for 21 days.  All of the patients had been receiving the same antiretroviral regimen, which included indinavir or nelfinavir, for at least 8 weeks before the study began.

More than half of the subjects in each group had undetectable viral loads throughout the study, the researchers note.  Although not statistically significant, marijuana and cannabinoid use were actually associated with a slight drop in viral load compared with placebo use.

Marijuana and cannabinoid use did not produce a drop in CD4+ or CD8+ cell counts.  In fact, compared with placebo use, treatment with these agents was actually associated with a slight increase in cell counts.

The results suggest that short-term cannabinoid use is not unsafe for patients with HIV infection, the authors note. 

[snip]

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8. ALERT:  HELP UNSHACKLE MEDICAL MARIJUANA NOW

Source:  Drug Policy Alliance Action Center.  Take Action at: http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=11290

One of the drug warriors' favorite arguments against state medical marijuana laws and initiatives is that the medical use of marijuana has not been approved by the FDA and that more scientific research must be conducted. What they don't say is that marijuana is treated differently than all other drugs.

The federal government, through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), retains a monopoly on the supply of marijuana that can be used in FDA-approved research and has twice refused to supply it to privately-funded FDA-approved studies. Over two years ago the Medicinal Plant Program at UMass Amherst applied for a license to produce marijuana for research purposes only to be given the run around by the DEA. Finally, in July this year the DEA officially announced the program's application. A decision is expected shortly after the end of the public comment period on September 22, 2003.

The DEA has indicated that it probably won't approve the application so we have to act now to stop the cycle keeping medical marijuana from sick and dying patients.

Fax Dr. Andrea Barthwell, Deputy Director for Demand Reduction, Office of National Drug Control Policy, urging her to recommend that the DEA approve the UMass license: http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=11290

[snip]

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9. MARINOL DEATH SENTENCE

Oregon Man Denied Liver Transplant Because of Prescription -- He's Not the Only One

Source: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #299, August 8, 2003 http://www.drcnet.org/wol/299.shtml#notransplant

Oregon resident Dave Myers brought a lot back from his stint in service in Vietnam.  Myers served in the US Navy inspecting boat traffic off the Vietnamese coast and he brought back memories, good and bad, of course, and some lasting friendships, but also Hepatitis C, probably caught inspecting some dark and waterlogged junk in the South China Sea.

Now suffering from terminal liver failure due to the disease, Myers sought a transplant from Oregon Health Services University (OHSU) in Portland, one of 16 major liver transplant centers in the country.  But he was rejected by program head Dr. John Ham (http://www.ohsu.edu/transplant/bios/ham.html) because he is taking Marinol, a synthetic cannabis compound and legal prescription medicine.  Worse for Myers, Ham accused Myers of being a marijuana smoker, something Myers vehemently denies having done for at least 15 years, when he was first diagnosed.

The removal of Myers from the list of those awaiting liver transplants is a virtual death sentence. 

[snip]

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10. THE THIRD NATIONAL CLINICAL CONFERENCE ON CANNABIS THERAPEUTICS

Source:  Patients Out of Time www.medicalcannabis.com August 13 press release

Patients Out of Time is pleased to announce that it will serve as a co-host along with the University of Virginia School of Nursing, the Pain Clinic of the University of Virginia's Health System, the Virginia Nurses Association and the University of Virginia School of Law for The Third National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics to be held on May 20-22, 2004, at the Charlottesville Omni Hotel in Charlottesville, VA, USA.

The conference is designed for physicians, nurses, healthcare professionals, legal professionals and patients. The conference theme, "Cannabis Use Throughout the Life Span" focuses on the current research and clinical applications involving cannabis as one of the therapeutic options for health problems that include: behavioral problems, general pediatric applications, use during pregnancy, dependence and addiction risk, pain, traumatic brain injury treatment and movement disorders. The educational sessions facilitated by researchers and clinicians from the United States, Canada, Israel and the United Kingdom provide a platform for discussion that include the pros and cons for considering cannabis as therapeutic option, varied delivery modalities, modern clinical research, use in the hospice setting, and other medical and legal issues related to this therapy.

[snip]

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11. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TALK ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Source:  Marijuana Policy Project www.mpp.org August 13 update

Representatives of Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM) -- MPP's New Hampshire project -- continue to generate positive press coverage as they confront the candidates. Voters are learning where the candidates stand on medical marijuana, and the campaigns are learning that they cannot get away with waffling and inconsistent answers. Candidates who support the Bush administration's attacks on patients are learning that they will face intense scrutiny.

Here are the latest developments:

* On July 15, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) reaffirmed his support for the DEA's raids on California patients, telling a town hall meeting, "The government has a responsibility to enforce the laws."

* On July 20, in response to a question from GSMM member and patient Linda Macia, Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-MO) took a major step forward. Gephardt, who voted for a bad 1998 House resolution that condemned state medical marijuana laws, told Macia and GSMM Campaign Coordinator Aaron Houston that he now supports "states' rights" on the issue. Asked if he would sign legislation to allow seriously ill people to use medical marijuana with their doctors' approval, Gephardt said, "Sure."

* On July 24, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) followed up on his supportive rhetoric with a vote in favor of an MPP-sponsored amendment on the House floor to stop the DEA from raiding patients in states with medical marijuana laws.

* During an August 4 appearance on CNN's Larry King Live, Howard Dean answered a question about medical marijuana with his standard "we need a study" waffle which, in turn, was devastatingly parodied on Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

* On August 6, questioned at a campaign forum by GSMM members, Sen. John Kerry retreated from his previous support of medical marijuana. Broadcast live on C-SPAN, Linda Macia thanked Kerry for his July 2 statement of support, provoking audience applause. She then asked him, "On the day you take office, will you stop the DEA raids?" Kerry offered to "clarify" his position, saying, "My personal disposition is open to the issue of medical marijuana.  I believe there is a study underway analyzing what the science is. I want to get that scientific review" before making any decisions.

[snip]

NOTE:  For the latest updates, see http://www.granitestaters.com/home/

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12. DRAFT BILL SEEKS BROAD POWER IN 'NARCO-TERROR' FIGHT

SOURCE:  ABCNEWS.com, August 21, 2003

As Attorney General John Ashcroft barnstorms the country to bolster support for the controversial USA Patriot Act, a new bill is quietly circulating on Capitol Hill to give even greater powers to law enforcement - in the name of fighting drug trafficking.

ABCNEWS.com has obtained a draft of the Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003, or VICTORY Act, which could be introduced to Congress this fall, and which appears to have been prepared by the office of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The measure would give law enforcement increased subpoena powers and more leeway over wire-tap evidence and on classifying some drug offenses as terrorism.

[snip]

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13. ALERT: STOP JOHN ASHCROFT'S ATTACK ON JUDICIAL DISCRETION

Source:  DRCnet August 21 action alert http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/justice/

Thanks in part to draconian mandatory minimum sentencing and insufficiently flexible federal sentencing guidelines, our nation's prisons and jails hold more than half a million nonviolent drug offenders -- more than the number of prisoners for any criminal offense in the entire European Union, even though the EU has more people than the United States.

Earlier this year, Congress passed legislation known as the Feeney Amendment (now Sec. 401 of the PROTECT Act) that will strip even more discretion from judges by requiring the US Sentencing Commission to enact changes to the federal sentencing guidelines reducing the frequency of "downward departures," affecting sentencing across the board including for drug offenses. Rep. Feeney has acknowledged that the legislation came straight from John Ashcroft's Dept. of (In)Justice, and earlier this month Ashcroft directed federal prosecutors to report and challenege virtually all downward departures.

A measure introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), the JUDGES Act (S. 1086 and H.R. 2213), would repeal Sec. 401 and other unjust provisions of the PROTECT Act, and a major national lobbying campaign is underway to get it passed when Congress returns in September.

Please call and e-mail your US Representative and your two US Senators and ask them to support the JUDGES Act. You can call Ohio Sen. Voinovich at (202) 224-3353 and Sen. DeWine at (202) 224-2315 to make your views known. [You can find your Representative’s phone number at http://congress.org/stickers/?dir=congressorg&officials=1 .]

Please also e-mail your Rep. and Senators using our web site.  Visit http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/justice/ to access and send the sample letter.

Mandatory minimum sentencing and mass incarceration are historic human tragedies that cry out for redress. Don't let John Ashcroft set this humanitarian cause back even further! Repealing Sec. 401 of the PROTECT Act would send a signal that the tide is turning against unjust drug sentencing. So please take action today!

NOTE:  Visit Families Against Mandatory Minimums http://www.famm.org for further information on this issue.

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14. POT INHIBITS NEURODEGENERATION IN ANIMAL MODEL OF MS, STUDY SAYS

Source:  NORML News, July 30, 2003 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5719

(London, U.K.)  Cannabinoids and the cannabinoid receptor system offer neuroprotection against allergic encephalo myelitis (EAE), an animal model of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), according to findings published in the July 22, 2003 issue of the journal Brain.

Scientists at London's Institute of Neurology determined that mice deficient in the cannabinoid receptor CB1 developed "substantial neurodegeneration" as a result of EAE Researchers also noted that "exogenous CB1 agonists (agents that bind to the receptor, such as THC) can provide significant neuroprotection from the consequences of inflammatory CNS disease in an experimental ... model."

Authors concluded: "Therefore, in addition to symptom management, cannabis may also slow down the neurodegenerative processes that ultimately lead to chronic disability in multiple sclerosis and probably other diseases."

Multiple sclerosis is believed to be a neurodegenerative disease that is triggered by an inflammatory attack of the central nervous system. Although several previous human studies have demonstrated that marijuana may provide symptomatic relief to common symptoms of MS such as muscle spasms, depression and incontinence, the U.K. study is one of the first to indicate that cannabinoids may potentially stave the onset of the disease.

A previous study published in the May 6, 2003 issue of the journal NeuroReport similarly noted that "cannabinoids could provide neuroprotection" and "modify neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease."

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15. NHS PATIENTS TO BE GIVEN CANNABIS

Source: BBC News (UK Web) http://news.bbc.co.uk/ August 20, 2003.  The complete article is archived at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1279/a02.html

NHS patients are to be given cannabis as part of a government-funded trial.

The study, which is being run by the Medical Research Council, aims to find out if the drug really can help to relieve pain.

Scientists will randomly select 400 patients who have undergone surgery from 36 hospitals across the UK to take part in the study.

They will be given one of four pills after undergoing surgery, two of which will be a form of cannabis.

They will receive a capsule containing standardised cannabis extract or a capsule containing tetrahydrocannabinol - the active ingredient in cannabis.

The remaining patients will receive either a standard pain-relieving drug or a dummy pill.

Researchers will ask the patients about their pain and general well-being at least once every hour while they are awake, over a six hour-period.  The patients will be able to request additional pain relief at any time.

The researchers will then be able to compare the experiences of patients in each of the four groups and, hopefully, determine whether the cannabis-based treatments are effective.

The UKP 500,000 trial is being headed by scientists at Imperial College London.

[snip]

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16. CANADA'S POT REVOLUTION

North of the Border, Marijuana Policy Is Changing Radically and the White House Is Not Happy

Source: Rolling Stone magazine http://www.rollingstone.com/ September 4, 2003.  View the complete article at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1263/a07.html

By: Stephen Glass

...In the past few months, a storm of legal reforms in Canada has made it likely that marijuana will be decriminalized before the year is out.  By then, Parliament is expected to have passed a bill that will make the possession of small amounts of marijuana merely a ticketable offense, much like speeding. Meanwhile, this past spring, an Ontario court voided the country's possession law on technical grounds, meaning that in the province at least, there is currently no law against possessing small amounts of marijuana. And this fall, the Canadian Supreme Court will determine whether the country's laws prohibiting marijuana possession are unconstitutional and therefore must be struck down altogether.

Predictably, these reforms have the Bush administration steaming. Asa Hutchinson, a senior official in the Department of Homeland Security, warned Canadian journalists that their country would face "consequences" if it passed decriminalization...

And John Walters, the drug czar himself, hinted in an interview with the Boston Globe that the northern border of the U.S. may have to be restricted, maybe even semimilitarized, like the border with Mexico. That's a significant threat to the Canadian economy, which relies heavily on fluid trade with the U.S.

But for all its bravado, the Bush administration has Canada's marijuana laws all wrong. The Canadians don't see the proposed new law as a step towards legalization; officials there see it as a soft and sensible way to crack down on drug use. Adults caught with fifteen grams or less (about half an ounce) would be fined $150 (U.S. $107); minors would owe $100 (U.S. $71) and a letter would be sent to their parents. That would be the extent of it. No handcuffs, no mug shot, no overnight in lockup, no court appearance. Moreover, as with parking violations there would no cumulative punishments - as long as you paid your tickets, you could rack up an infinite number of infractions without fear of additional or harsher penalties.

In larger cases, when an individual is caught with between fifteen and thirty grams, police would have the discretion to issue a ticket (with double the fines) or file criminal charges, carrying the old penalties - up to six months in jail.

Unlike in the U.S., where pot prosecutions have skyrocketed during the past few years - more than 640,000 people were arrested for possession in 2001, nearly double the number arrested for all marijuana offenses in 1992 - Canada's judicial system only rarely enforces its own pot laws.

In 1999, Canadian police charged only about 21,000 people with cannabis possession. And that's only about half the number of times law enforcement reported an "incident" of cannabis possession. In other words, police looked the other way just as often as they arrested people...

In short, Dudley Do-Right isn't doing much. And the country's leaders are realistic about it. "We don't believe that charging [and] prosecuting some 25,000 people a year really sends a message about the harmful effects of marijuana," says Richard Mosley, a senior official in Canada's Department of Justice. A Canadian Senate committee came to the same conclusion last year, noting that "any deterrent effect [the current law] may have [is] seriously in doubt."

Instead, the Department of Justice expects that when the penalty is reduced to a mere fine, nabbing offenders will be more efficient, and in turn a far greater number of Canadians will be pinched for pot. Criminologists call this phenomenon the "net-widening effect."

"[This reform] is not in any way an endorsement of a relaxed approach to the possession and use of cannabis," Mosley says. "The level of enforcement will go up."

Moreover, the bill, if anything, ought to lessen the flow of pot from Canada to the U.S., not increase it - making the Bush administration's concerns even more off the mark.

The proposed law will double the penalties - from seven to fourteen years - for large-scale growers: those with fifty plants or more, who presumably cultivate much of the pot that is shipped south. At the same time, it leaves untouched the current draconian penalties for trafficking or exporting drugs - offenses that still allow life imprisonment.

In sharp counterpoint to the U.S., Canada simply lacks any strong voice in favor of strict enforcement of criminal penalties for marijuana use. Last September, Canada's Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs issued an exhaustive 600-page-plus report that examined every aspect of the country's marijuana laws and concluded that legalization was the necessary reform...

Ironically, it's the pot activists who seem most upset about the upcoming changes in the law, seeing them as a rear-guard attempt to recriminalize pot possession after it had already been decriminalized in practice (though not in law).

[snip]

NOTE:  For the latest news about Canada’s marijuana laws, see http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm

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17. NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS LIBERALIZING NATION'S MARIJUANA LAWS

Says Moderate Adult Use Associated With Few Health Risks

Source:  NORML News, August 13, 2003 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5726

(Wellington, New Zealand)  Members of a select committee urged Parliament to give "high priority" to reclassifying cannabis so that minor offenders no longer face a criminal conviction, in a final report released last week by the House Health Committee. Their conclusions mark the end of a three-year inquiry by the committee to assess marijuana's health risks and determine an appropriate legal status for the drug.

"We recommend [that] the government ... give a high priority to its reconsideration of the reclassification of cannabis," authors of the report concluded. Authors also recommended first time marijuana users be diverted to drug treatment rather than face criminal sanctions.

Marijuana arrests currently comprise an estimated 95 percent of all drug arrests in New Zealand, the report found. Marijuana possession is punishable by up to three months in jail and a $500 fine.

Recently completed federal inquiries in Canada and the United Kingdom have similarly recommended the reclassification and/or decriminalization of marijuana. A 1998 review by the New Zealand Health Select Committee noted that "the negative mental health impacts of cannabis appear to have been overstated," and urged Parliament to review the existing law.

Other findings by the 2003 committee include:

*Marijuana has not dramatically increased in potency. "There is no evidence of a significant general increase in cannabis potency over the past 25 years." (p. 14)

*Marijuana does not lead to delinquent behavior in young people. "Evidence suggests that cannabis use does not cause behavioral difficulties; instead it is frequently used by youth who are predisposed to deviant behavior." (p. 19)

*Marijuana does not induce violent behavior. "There is ... a debate over whether cannabis use produces violence. ... We understand that the most currently available research demonstrates that this relationship does not exist." (p. 19)

*Marijuana does not cause serious long-term cognitive deficits. "There is no evidence that there is irreversible brain damage from cannabis use. Long-term use does raise concerns about cognitive changes. ... However, research into residual cognitive changes after cessation of cannabis use has found only minor deficits or no difference between users and non-users." (p. 18)

*Marijuana does not cause schizophrenia. "There is no convincing evidence that cannabis causes schizophrenia." (p. 17)

*Marijuana does not cause psychosis. "[R]esearch does not appear to substantiate a link between cannabis use and psychosis." (p. 17)

The complete report, entitled "An inquiry into the public health strategies related to cannabis use and the most appropriate legal status," is available online at: http://www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz/Content/SelectCommitteeReports/i6c.pdf

[snip]

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The following items are included in every OPNews:

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OPNews DISCLAIMER

OPNews, a publication of Ohio Patient Network (OPN), provides medical cannabis news that affects Ohio patients, caregivers, and health professionals.

All articles are intended for educational purposes and do not reflect an official position, either positive or negative, by the OPN or its Board of Directors.

Ohio Patient Network does not endorse any candidates running for office. The reports of campaign-related activities are for educational purposes only.

For more information, contact Jean Taddie, Editor (editor@ohiopatient.net).

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YOU ARE INVITED TO OPN MEETINGS

The OPN Board of Directors invites you to participate in OPN patient forums, which are held at 7:30 p.m. (eastern time) the first Thursday of each month.  You are also welcome to attend the weekly OPN business meetings. 

These electronic voice/text meetings are held at the OPN chatroom in PalTalk (http://www.paltalk.com/).  To receive further information, including instructions for the PalTalk meeting room, check out http://www.ohiopatient.net/Paltalk instructions.htm or send e-mail to info@ohiopatient.net.

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HOW TO GET YOUR INFORMATION IN OPNews

OPNews is published monthly. To have your information considered for publication, submit your story to editor@ohiopatient.net.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS. Please do not boldface or italicize text. Include a contact name with a phone number and/or e-mail address with submissions.

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HOW TO BE REMOVED FROM THE OPNews LIST

You may sign off this list at any time by using the webform at www.ohiopatient.net.

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HOW TO CONTACT YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND SENATOR 

Find your Representative in the Ohio House at http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp

Find your Ohio Senator at http://www.senate.state.oh.us/senators/

Write to your officials care of their district office, or send your letter to their Columbus office at:

The Honorable (name)

Ohio House of Representatives

77 South High Street

Columbus, Ohio 43266-0603

-or-

The Honorable (name)

Ohio Senate Building

Columbus, Ohio 43215

Telephone calls and emails are also persuasive, especially when the constituent contacts the district office.