ORGANIZATION NEWS:

1. OPN in the News

2. 15 Minute Mission of the Month

STATE NEWS:

3. Ohio Supreme Court Backs Workers in Workers' Comp Drug Test Ruling

NATIONAL NEWS:

4. Survey Suggests Widespread Use of Cannabis for MS Pain and Symptom Relief

5. MPP Continues "War on Drug Czar"

6. GAO Study Says Few Medical Marijuana Users, Little Impact on Law Enforcement

7. RAND Study Says "Gateway Theory" is Bunk

8. Conference Videotapes Now Available

INTERNATIONAL NEWS:

9. Canadian Supreme Court Postpones Marijuana Cases

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

***************************************************

***************************************************

1. OPN IN THE NEWS

The Athens News (http://www.athensnews.com/) featured the OPN’s Ohio Medical Marijuana Act and public opinion poll analysis in the article "Is Compassionate Use of Cannabis on the Horizon in Ohio?" The article, which ran Monday, December 2, is archived at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2196/a02.html.

Since the article only quoted material from our website (www.ohiopatient.net) rather than a member, OPN Vice President Jim White responded with a letter to the editor. Jim’s LTE ran Thursday, December 5 under the heading "Ask Your Lawmakers to Support Medical Marijuana Legislation." View the archived LTE at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2226/a06.html.

***************************************************

2. 15 MINUTE MISSION OF THE MONTH

by Deirdre Zoretic

Well, those of you who have been at the meetings recently know that we have some super-busy times facing us.  We will be very busy, very soon. In preparation for those times, and understanding how busy we have been the last month, this month’s mission is an easy one.  In fact, it will be kind of a fun one, too.

Paula Mercer has started a birthday committee. As part of the patient networking, she will be sending out birthday wishes to our members on behalf of OPN. As patients, we relate to each other in a different way than with others in our lives. We have an understanding. That is something that we don't want to take for granted. Paula has decided that she will be the one to show you all how much you are appreciated. She is such a wonderful, caring person that we all appreciate as well.

So this month help us get the birthday committee started. Send me (dzoretic@ohiopatient.net) an email with your birth month and day. Please use "Birthday" as your subject line.

***************************************************

3. OHIO SUPREME COURT BACKS WORKERS IN WORKERS' COMP DRUG TEST RULING

Source: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #269 - December 27, 2002 http://www.drcnet.org/wol/269.html#workerscomp

On a 4-3 vote, the Ohio Supreme Court has struck down a state law that said people seeking workers' compensation benefits must prove that drugs or alcohol found in their systems did not cause their injury.  Prior to the law, enacted in 2000, employers had to prove that drugs or alcohol caused the injuries if they wanted to contest worker's comp claims.  The 2000 law also mandated that workers who refused to take drug tests would be considered to have tested positive.

But a narrow majority of the state Supreme Court found that the law violated protections against "unreasonable seizures" in both the Ohio and the US constitutions.  "The right at stake, to be free from unreasonable searches, is so fundamental as to be contained in our bill of rights," wrote Justice Pfiefer for the majority.

The new law did not fit within US Supreme Court guidelines for what justifies "suspicionless searches," Pfiefer wrote.  "It is not directed at a segment of the population with drug use known to be greater than that of the general population.  It does not target a segment of industry where safety issues are more profound than in other industries.  The searches allowed involve everyone who works in Ohio," Pfiefer continued.

The ruling will make it more difficult for employers to challenge workers' compensation claims filed by workers who tested positive for alcohol or drugs.  According to the Toledo Blade, business groups were "infuriated" by the ruling.  The Blade reported that Republicans and business interests may try to pass the same law again this year in the hope that a newly constituted Ohio Supreme Court -- tilted more heavily toward the GOP after the November elections -- would rule differently.

NOTE: The Toledo Blade article is archived at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2324/a09.html.

***************************************************

4. SURVEY SUGGESTS WIDESPREAD USE OF CANNABIS FOR MS PAIN AND SYMPTOM RELIEF

Source: MSQR - Multiple Sclerosis Quarterly Report, vol. 21, no. 4, Winter 2002. (See www.narcoms.org.)

(San Diego, CA) Patients with Multiple Sclerosis responding to a mail survey report that 45% [of the 258 respondents] use marijuana for relief of muscle spasm or pain associated with MS. Speaking during the 10th World Congress of Pain (http://www.halcyon.com/iasp/02Cong.html), Dr. M. Sam Chong, consulting neurologist at Kings College Hospital in London, England, said the "use rate is actually higher than we expected." A total of 74% of respondents said marijuana either eliminated or controlled leg spasms that make walking difficult or impossible, while 54% said they used marijuana mainly for pain relief....

Dr. Sandra Chaplain, a clinical professor of anesthesiology at the University of California at San Diego, and a member of the organizing committee for the pain meeting, noted that researchers have identified marijuana receptors in the brain, a finding that suggests the drug may have a role in pain relief.

***************************************************

5. MPP CONTINUES "WAR ON DRUG CZAR" - MORE COMPLAINTS TO BE FILED

Source: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #268 - December 20, 2002 http://www.drcnet.org/wol/268.html#warondrugczar

Having filed federal and state complaints against drug czar John Walters for violations of the federal Hatch Act and Nevada election law in his campaign against the Nevada marijuana initiative, the Marijuana Policy Project is promising to announce a third action -- seeking criminal charges, and up to three more slated for early next year.

[snip]

Visit http://www.mpp.org/WarOnDrugCzar.html for further information about MPP’s efforts.

NOTE: Find out more about the Drug Czar’s crusade against marijuana in the article "Fighting Drug Legalization Through Prosecutors," which is archived at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n2330.a07.html

***************************************************

6. GAO STUDY SAYS FEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS, LITTLE IMPACT ON LAW ENFORCEMENT - FEDS, SOME COPS DISAGREE

Source: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #266, December 5, 2002 http://www.drcnet.org/wol/266.html#gaostudy

A report released last week by the US General Accounting Office (GAO), an executive branch agency that acts as an investigative arm of Congress, found that registered medical marijuana users make up a tiny fraction of state populations and that state laws allowing for medical marijuana have had little impact on law enforcement.  The study was conducted at the request of arch-drug warrior Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform's Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, but Souder is unlikely to be smiling at the results.

[snip]

Read the report, "Marijuana: Early Experiences with Four States' Laws That Allow Use for Medical Purposes," at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-189.

***************************************************

7. RAND STUDY SAYS "GATEWAY THEORY" IS BUNK

Source: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #266, December 5, 2002 http://www.drcnet.org/wol/266.html#randreport

The RAND Corporation's Drug Policy Research Center released a study Monday that casts grave doubt on the validity of the "gateway theory," the intuitive but unproven notion that the use of marijuana leads to the use of harder drugs.  The "gateway theory" has guided US drug policy for a half-century and has been used by prohibitionists to justify imposing tough penalties for even the possession of small amounts of marijuana.  In recent months, drug czar John Walters and others of his breed have seized on the "gateway theory" to campaign against relaxing marijuana laws in the states.

While the RAND researchers found links between marijuana use and the subsequent use of harder drugs, they determined that the "gateway theory" was bunk -- or in the more diplomatic terms of the study's lead author, Andrew Morral:  "We've shown that the marijuana gateway effect is not the best explanation for the link between marijuana use and the use of harder drugs.  An alternative, simpler and more compelling explanation accounts for the pattern of drug use you see in this country, without resort to any gateway effects.  While the gateway theory has enjoyed popular acceptance, scientists have always had their doubts.  Our study shows that these doubts are justified," he said.

"The people who are predisposed to use drugs and have the opportunity to use drugs are more likely than others to use both marijuana and harder drugs," Morral said.  "Marijuana typically comes first because it is more available.  Once we incorporated these facts into our mathematical model of adolescent drug use, we could explain all of the drug use associations that have been cited as evidence of marijuana's gateway effect."

[snip]

NOTE: RAND’s research brief "Using Marijuana May Not Raise the Risk of Using Harder Drugs" is available at http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB6010/. The accompanying press release "RAND Study Casts Doubt on Claims That Marijuana Acts as ‘Gateway’ to the Use of Cocaine and Heroin" is at http://www.rand.org/hot/press.02/gateway.html.

As noted in the press release: "The RAND study and a series of commentaries about the report are published in the December edition of the British journal Addiction, a peer-reviewed scientific publication."

***************************************************

8. CONFERENCE VIDEOTAPES NOW AVAILABLE

Tapes from the sessions of the Second National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics, held last May in Portland, OR, are now available for purchase at $8 each plus $2 shipping. For information or to order, contact Patients Out of Time, 1472 Fish Pond Rd., Howardsville, VA 24562, (434) 263-4484 or Al@medicalcannabis.com.

***************************************************

9. CANADIAN SUPREME COURT POSTPONES MARIJUANA CASES

Cites Parliament Report, Justice Minister Statement on Decrim

Source: The Week Online with DRCNet, Issue #268 - December 20, 2002 http://www.drcnet.org/wol/268.html#canadacourt

Canada's highest court backed away from a potentially groundbreaking set of marijuana cases on December 12, the day after the House of Commons committee on drugs issued its report calling for marijuana decriminalization and three days after Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said he would attempt to introduce decriminalization legislation early next year.  In three cases set to be heard by the court this week, convicted marijuana smokers were ready to argue that federal marijuana laws are unconstitutional because the drug is relatively harmless.  Now that court date is pushed back to the spring session, according to the court, and perhaps for much longer, according to one of the attorneys arguing the case.

While both lawyers for the defendants and the Crown sought to proceed with the hearing, the Supreme Court demurred.  Speaking for the court, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said it would not make sense to proceed given that Canada's marijuana laws appear to be in flux.  "A central question is the Minister of Justice has announced his intention to introduce legislation in the parliament that will decriminalize, in some ways, possession of marijuana," she said.  "The underlying basis will be taken up in parliament and widely discussed for months to come.  In considering all of these circumstances, the court will adjourn."

[snip]

***************************************************

***************************************************

***************************************************

The following items are included in every OPNews:

***************************************************

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).

***************************************************

YOU ARE INVITED TO OPN MEETINGS

The OPN Board of Directors invites you to participate in the OPN planning meetings. Electronic voice/text meetings are held at the OPN chatroom in PalTalk.

To receive PalTalk and meeting room instructions, as well as date and time information, contact info@ohiopatient.net.

***************************************************

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.

***************************************************

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.

***************************************************

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.