Letter to the Editors
 
MANY BENEFIT FROM MEDICAL MARIJUANA
 
It seems the Bush administration is opposed to medicinal marijuana. Well, that's fine they're entitled to their opinion even if it's wrong or completely without merit. Let's keep track of all those opposed, and when they come down with a period of ailments that marijuana eases, then they should be barred from the benefits. Years ago at least 20 very sick people testified to Congress how marijuana reduced their misery. This is not about a harmless giggle; it's about very ill in-dividuals in wheelchairs getting some relief. Reid Vogelman Hamilton
 http://www.mapinc.org/newsopn/v04/n1819/a02.html?224259
 
THERE'S NO PROFIT IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA
 
In the Supreme Court's consideration of states' rights versus federal authority regarding marijuana use for medical reasons, the government refuses to disclose the real reason for its opposition. The big pharmaceutical manufacturers can't claim they invented it, get a patent on it or make huge profits selling it. Therefore, no politician is going to get drug company campaign contributions by allowing for the possibility that an easily homegrown plant might be more effective than the ineffective pain management being prescribed. Dan Wagner West Chester Township
http://www.mapinc.org/newsopn/v04/n1762/a05.html?224259
 
QUESTIONS MESSAGE
 
To the Editor, It's a little insulting to be reading propaganda prepared by tax exempt so-called "anti-drug" organizations, disguised as a letter to the editor. Any effects that marijuana has on the developmental abilities and/or the cognitive functions are temporary based on the evidence presented through scientific research. Any educator out there will tell you that there is a specific "learning curve" in any given population of students. Some students will be at the top of the curve with all A's, and some will be at the other end, possibly, with something lower than a D. However, most will be somewhere in between, and none of that has anything to do with marijuana use whatsoever. Consider the implications.
 
http://www.mapinc.org/newsopn/v04/n1619/a06.html?224268


DRUGGED DRIVING SENATE BILL 215
 
OPN is pleased to see that Senate Bill 215 died at the end of the legislative session. Please comment on a counter proposal authored by OPN member Robert Ryan at
 
http://www.robryan.org/SB215

PATIENTS CAN NOW REGISTER FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA TREATMENT

 
Montanans who want to use marijuana to treat serious illness can begin registering with the Department of Public Health and Human Services immediately, state officials announced Tuesday. The office has already received more than 30 requests for application forms. "We're ready to implement the will of voters, who passed Constitutional Initiative 148 in November," said Roy Kemp, chief of the department's licensure bureau. "We've got a registry system established, and application forms are now available." Kemp said there has been a lot of interest in the program since the initiative passed from both people who are ill and from people who want to be caregivers. Montana voters passed I-148 by a 62 to 38 percent margin.
 
Effective immediately upon passage, the initiative allows certain patients with specific medical conditions to alleviate their symptoms through the limited use of marijuana under medical supervision. The new law also allows qualified patients and their caregivers to grow and possess a restricted number of marijuana plants. Montana is the 10th state to pass a medical marijuana law. Under federal law, it is still illegal to grow, sell, purchase or use marijuana, even for health-related reasons.
 
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering when and if federal law takes precedence over state law with regard to the use of marijuana for health reasons. A decision is expected in mid-2005. To be eligible for the program, people must suffer from a debilitating medical condition defined in the Medical Marijuana Act. Such illnesses include, cancer, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, or a chronic debilitating disease that produces cachexia or waiting syndrome, severe or chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures or severe or persistent muscle spasms.
 
http://www.mapinc.org/newsopn/v04/n1850/a05.html?227559




 

EUROPEAN UNION PASSES REFORM

Strasbourg, 15 December 2004
“ The European Parliament approved today the “Catania Report” on the EU Strategy on Drugs. The document criticizes the failure of current prohibitionist policies on “drugs” and urges a revision of the overall European strategy along the lines of alternative strategies implemented by some EU Member States. In particular, the EP denounces the repressive policies that cause the marginalization of narcotic users and “frequently violate human rights”. The Parliament urges the Council not to approve the new 2005-2012 strategy without having considered the results concerning the evaluation of the past policies also in terms of cost-benefits.

A series of amendments introduced by Marco Pannella, already approved by the Committee on Public Liberties, were confirmed by the vote in the plenary. In addition to the denouncing the fact that none of the targets set by the EU has been met, the document urges the Union to:
- base its policies on “drugs” on scientific data and evaluations;
- give priorities to the health of people that use illicit substances;
- support substitution substances, in particular in prisons;
- promote alternative measures to incarceration for consumption of illicit substances;
- carry out a scientific study on the costs and benefits of current policies on narcotics (cannabis and its therapeutic potentials; distribution of heroin under medical control for therapeutic reasons; costs of prohibitionist policies; impact on third – producing - countries);
- favor the production for medical and scientific reasons of opiates, and launch pilot projects to industrialize derivatives of cannabis and coca leaf.
For more see http://www.antiprohibitionist.org/press.html



















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