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OPNews - March 2007 edition

A Publication of Ohio Patient Network (OPN)

Medical Cannabis Users Bill of Rights

a. I am not a criminal; I am a person living with a medical condition and use cannabis to alleviate my suffering; I am capable of making fundamental decisions about my health.

b. I have the right to live free of unnecessary suffering, social stigma and interference from the state, and should not have to choose between my personal liberty and my health.

c. I have the right to produce my own medicine if I am willing and able to do so, or to access it from a safe source without fear of arrest and persecution.

d. It is the federal government's moral, legal and constitutional obligation to defend these basic and inalienable human rights, and to ensure that no organization or individual unduly interferes with them.

ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS

Randy Brush Update

Medical marijuana patient/prisoner, Randy Brush, was released to a halfway house in Cleveland on February 7, 2007.

HELP WANTED

The Ohio Patient Network is currently looking for dedicated individuals to fill the following positions:

Meeting Notes

Upcoming Meetings

Online meetings represent one of the primary ways OPN and OPAN conduct business. It's a great feeling to speak with like-minded people from all over Ohio in real time and, in the process, plan how we're going to make a big difference in this state.

STATE NEWS

Kucinich - His New Chairmanship Could Signal A Change In Drug Enforcement Policies

The Democratic sweep in the 2006 mid-term elections has done more than finally install a woman as Speaker of the House. It also has put one of the most vocal critics of the ill-starred "war on drugs" in a position to affect federal drug policy.

NATIONAL NEWS

One Uninsured Group Can Now Exhale

By Al Kamen, Washington Post (Wednesday, January 31, 2007; A13) -- Former associate attorney general and convicted felon Webb Hubbell, now working for an insurance agency, has an important message for marijuana smokers: You don't have to quit to get life insurance.

"Smokable" pain drugs promise faster action

Jan 31, 2007, By Toni Clarke, BOSTON (Reuters) - All self-respecting painkillers these days offer "fast-acting relief," a promise we accept to mean anywhere from 15 minutes to more than an hour.

RIDING HIGH

With Little Fanfare Until This Month, Los Angeles County Has Quietly Become the Country's Capital of Medical Marijuana.

NORML Teams With Leading Corporate Software Maker for Employee Marijuana Policy

Washington, DC: NORML and business software designer JIAN have partnered together to draft corporate guidelines recommending employers treat workers' off-the-clock cannabis use in a manner similar to alcohol. The policy will be included in the forthcoming edition of JIAN's "Employee Manual Builder," a popular, commercially available software program designed for corporate Human Resource (HR) managers.

US MN: LAWMAKERS AIM TO PASS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

State Sen. Steve Murphy and other Minnesota lawmakers are making another run at passing a medical marijuana bill.

US NM: MEDICAL MARIJUANA: EASY PANEL PASSAGE GIVES HOPE FOR SUPPORTERS

Yet again, a medical marijuana bill has sailed through a Senate committee, creating a sense of hope for those who want New Mexico to become the 12th state to allow patients to use the mind-altering herb for the relief of pain and nausea under doctor supervision.

US CA: POT WAR LINGERS ON FOR REGION

When it comes to current drug laws, perhaps none are more schizophrenic than the ones surrounding the issue of medical marijuana. Legal in some states - including California - outlawed in others and still very much illegal at the federal level, small counties like Amador often serve as ground zero in the battle over conflicting drug policies.

US WA: OPED: MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS NEED PROTECTION

Sharon Tracy "may have been exactly the kind of patient the voters of this state had in mind when they enacted the medical marijuana initiative, I-692."

US CA: MEDICINAL POT DISPENSARIES UNDER SCRUTINY

WHITTIER - Some arrived wearing hippie clothes and facial piercings; some wore suits; others were dressed in jeans and sweat shirts.

WASHINGTON SHOULD LEAVE POTHEADS ALONE

TWO WEEKS AGO, U.S. drug agents launched raids on 11 medical-marijuana centers in Los Angeles County. The U.S. attorney's office says they violated the laws against cultivation and distribution of marijuana.

US MI: FLINT POT VOTE MOSTLY SYMBOLIC

FLINT - The three days Charles Snyder III spent in jail after being accused of a laundry list of drug crimes strengthened his resolve to seek legalization of marijuana for medical use.

US RI: Medical Marijuana Act up for review

Thi Ho, Posted: 2/6/07 - Since the implementation of the Medical Marijuana Act last spring, Rhonda O'Donnell, a 44-year-old former registered nurse with multiple sclerosis, has used marijuana to alleviate her pain without fear of breaking the law.

US NM: SENATE OKS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

SANTA FE -- For the third year in a row, the Senate has passed a bill that would allow for the restricted medicinal use of marijuana.

Pot Prisoners Cost Americans $1 Billion a Year

http://www.alternet.org/rights/47815/

US CO: SUPPORTERS BELIEVE MARIJUANA'S MEDICINAL VALUE IS WORTH ALL THE BATTLES

James and Lisa Masters were preparing to take their daughters fishing on the morning of Aug. 2, 2006, when two social workers and two police officers knocked on their door.

US CA: A LICENSE TO CHILL

Surgeon General's Warning: Smoking Marijuana Can Be Hazardous to Your Health, Unless You Live in California and Suffer From Anorexia, Arthritis, Cancer, Chronic Pain or Any Other Illnesses...

US CA: RESEARCH SUPPORTS MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

AIDS Patients in Controlled Study Had Significant Pain Relief

POT EASES HIV PATIENTS' PAIN, STUDY FINDS

Three Marijuana Cigarettes Daily Effective, According to New Report From UCSF

US WA: CK Call Center Sued for Firing Employee Over Medical Marijuana Use

By JOSH FARLEY, jfarley@kitsapsun.com, February 14, 2007 -- A former employee of TeleTech in Central Kitsap filed suit Tuesday against the company, claiming she was fired in late 2006 for her allegedly legal use of medicinal marijuana under state law.

US MA: JUDGE SIDES WITH BOTANIST ON POT SUPPLY

A Massachusetts botanist should be allowed to grow marijuana for medical study, a hearing officer said Monday in a ruling that would end a longtime government requirement that all federally approved researchers get their pot supplies from the University of Mississippi.

US CA: MARINA REJECTS MARIJUANA PROPOSAL

Marina City Council members want no part of their community becoming the first site in Monterey County for medical marijuana clinics.

US OR: BILL WOULD ALLOW MEDICAL-MARIJUANA USERS TO BE FIRED FOR FAILING DRUG TESTS

Employees who legally use marijuana under Oregon's voter-passed medical-cannabis laws could be fired for flunking a drug test under a proposed Senate bill under committee consideration Wednesday.

JUDGE TELLS U.S. TO GROW MORE POT

WASHINGTON -- Medical researchers need more marijuana sources because government supplies aren't meeting the demand, a federal judge has ruled.

'PROGRESS' IN A GLACIAL DEBATE

In addition to DEA Administrative Judge Mary Ellen Bittner's non-binding recommendation that Professor Lyle Craker be allowed to grow cannabis for research purposes (see http://www.doctortom.org/archives/2007/02/a_little_known.html), a second cannabis-related medical milestone was reached this week: a paper from the University of California Medical School in San Francisco reporting that inhaled cannabis significantly reduced AIDS-related neuropathic pain in a small, but carefully controlled series of human subjects, was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Neurology (see http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/1667_11275.shtml). Of the two events, the latter seems more likely to have both immediate and lasting impact on drug policy. There is also a decent possibility that the almost simultaneous announcement of the two events might have a synergistic effect by deterring Bitten's DEA superiors from rejecting her recommendation as they would otherwise be certain to do.

US CT: PATIENTS DESERVE CHOICE OF MARIJUANA THERAPY

Connecticut House Bill HB 6715: An Act Concerning the Palliative Use of Marijuana decriminalizes marijuana as a therapy "to alleviate a qualifying patient's symptoms of...debilitating medical conditions (such as) cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity, epilepsy, cachexia or wasting syndrome."

US MA: MARIJUANA RESEARCH A NEW FIELD AT UMASS?

What a long, strange trip it's been for Lyle E. Craker, a professor at the University of Massachusetts who wants to grow marijuana for medical research.

US IL: Medical marijuana bill introduced

See http://il.mpp.org/site/c.ijIQI0PIKqG/b.1771231/k.BCFA/Home.htm for updates on this fast-moving bill.

MN medical marijuana bill introduced

Chaska Herald (MN), February 7th, 2007 -- A bill was introduced to the Minnesota House Monday that would legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota. A similar bill was recently introduced in the Minnesota Senate.

CA: Court to refine medical-marijuana law

by Howard Mintz, Mercury News, February 8th, 2007 -- The California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to consider whether being a primary caregiver can be a defense against criminal charges of cultivating marijuana under the state's 1996 medical marijuana law.

US CO: Marijuana Advocate Ken Gorman Dies In Shooting

Stories about the Colorado activist's death

Group challenges feds on medical pot

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer (February 21, 2007) -- OAKLAND, Calif. - Armed with a new study showing the drug can ease pain in some HIV patients, medical-marijuana advocates sued the federal government Wednesday over its claim that pot has no accepted medical uses.

Twin medical marijuana bills introduced this month in Tennessee

http://tn.mpp.org/site/c.kvKULcMUIqG/b.1774405/k.BDD2/Home.htm

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WHO expert committee recommends reclassification of dronabinol

The WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) met in Geneva from 28 to 31 March 2006. It recommended that dronabinol (THC) should be rescheduled from Schedule II to the less restrictive Schedule III of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances of the United Nations. This recommendation will be made to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which may accept or reject this recommendation.

REGULAR FEATURES

OPNews Disclaimer

OPNews, a publication of Ohio Patient Network (OPN), provides medical cannabis news that affects Ohio patients, caregivers, and health professionals. Articles are intended for information purposes and do not reflect an official position by OPN or the OPN Board of Directors.

YOU ARE INVITED TO OPN MEETINGS

The OPN Board of Directors invites you to participate in OPN/OPAN meetings, which are held at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern time) every Wednesday. Electronic voice/text meetings are held at the DrugSense MAP sponsored chatroom in Teamspeak. More information about meetings and using Teamspeak is available at http://www.ohiopatient.net/v2/content/view/435/160/.

HELP THE OPN SUPPORT PATIENTS

The Ohio Patient Network's goal is to provide a voice for Ohio's medicinal cannabis patients and create an environment where this vital medicine becomes an accepted and legitimate therapy. To do this, we need your help. We'd like you to personally become involved in OPN by donating your time. Please check out our various committees on our website.

If you'd prefer, you can also support medicinal cannabis and what we are doing by contributing monetarily to OPN. Please note that the Ohio Patient Network is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation in the State of Ohio. Donations to OPN are tax deductible to the extent provided by law. Please visit our website (http://ohiopatient.net) and click on the Donate button on any page to make a contribution using your credit card. Please note that these donations will be processed through Paypal.

If you would prefer to donate by check or money order, please make them payable to the "Ohio Patient Network" and mail to P.O. Box 26353, Columbus, OH 43216.

Thank you for supporting the Ohio Patient Network

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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.

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