Ohio Patient Network - November 2007

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OPNews - November 2007 edition

A Publication of Ohio Patient Network (OPN)

ORGANIZATIONAL NEWS

Coming in November ... OPN's Annual Meeting

Please join us on Saturday, November 3, at the Westerville Public Library for OPN/OPAN's Annual Meeting. We'll be electing officers who will lead our organization and carry forward our mission during the next year.

From the President of OPN

Connecting with the Congregation

By Mary Jane Borden (10/23/07) -- Sometimes we have choices. We can stay in our groove and speak to the choir, or we can step outside of our comfort zone and interact with the congregation. Drug policy reform conferences, while interesting and energizing, often involve the same people in similar places and under common circumstances. More rarely do we converse with those whose ideas and attitudes are uncommon to us. I recently had such an opportunity in Pittsburgh where former police officer Tim Datig and I represented Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) at the annual ICMA conference.

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

OH: POTSPOTTING/PUB-LTE

Marijuana eradication 'an ongoing battle' for law enforcement

NATIONAL NEWS

MPP saves 12 states' medical marijuana laws

Sep. 24, 2007 - Late last week, Congress passed a measure involving the FDA that did not include a dangerous amendment that could have undermined the 12 state laws that are protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail.

GRAY AREAS - Conflicting Laws Lead to Arrests, Confusion

California voters passed Proposition 215 - permitting the medical use of marijuana - more than a decade ago.

Osteopathy Doctors and Medical Marijuana

(Molalla, OR) - For those who don’t know, Osteopaths or DOs are about the same as MDs, but they also perform manipulations usually for bad backs, MDs can’t.

MEDICAL POT AND THE IRAQ VETERAN

We're Back From the War. We Can't Sleep. We're Getting Divorced. If Marijuana Is Good for Post-Traumatic Stress, Who Are We to Deny Its Medicinal Properties?

CA: STATE STILL HASHING OUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULES

More Than 10 Years After Voters Spoke, a Surge in Dispensaries Has Cities and Counties Scrambling to Regulate, Fend Off DEA

Marijuana's $42 Billion Question

USA -- In the U.S., marijuana is a $113 billion annual business that costs taxpayers $41.8 billion in enforcement costs and lost tax revenues, according to a study to be published later Monday.

WI: MONDOVI WOMAN LEADS FIGHT FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Democratic Lawmakers Hope Law Will Get Passed This Time Around

CA: Superior Court Rules in Favor of ASA Suit Challenging Ban on Patient Collectives

The legal team for Americans for Safe Access won the first round this month in their fight to protect the right of California patients to organize as collectives for cultivation.

Activists Persuade Congress to Intervene with DEA

45 Reps Sign Letter Urging Research Cultivation License

MCCAIN SHOULD KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Through all his years in politics, despite the endless obligation to shake hands, smile for the cameras and coax money out of contributors, John McCain has somehow avoided becoming a complete phony-something that John Edwards and Mitt Romney managed to achieve within a week of entering politics. Annoy McCain, and you won't have to wait long to find out.

CA: Baker's pot bust bares legal clash

By Stan Oklobdzija - Bee Staff Writer (October 6, 2007) -- Paula Brown used to be the Betty Crocker of medical marijuana in Sacramento.

WI: MEDICAL MARIJUANA GETS HEAVY SUPPORT

Mary Powers of Madison takes marijuana to relieve nausea caused by AIDS and cancer.

Brian Barnstable of Milwaukee uses it to ease multiple sclerosis pain.

Both patients can get the pot they smoke and bake with on the black market, but they say medical marijuana should be legal.

CA: FBI makes medical marijuana seizures in Lakeport

by Elizabeth Larson, Lake County News (October 5th, 2007) -- LAKEPORT – The Federal Bureau of Investigation and local authorities last week seized nearly 100 marijuana plants from a home whose owner said he was growing it for medicinal purposes.

CA: More than 200 physicians attend workshop on medical marijuana

On September 19, a leading physician specializing in cannabis therapeutics gave a workshop for more than 200 doctors. The Continuing Medical Education (CME) workshop on medical marijuana was the first hosted by Kaiser Permanente in San Jose.

WI: REEFER MADNESS 2007

The People Want Medical Marijuana, but Uncle Sam Is Hooked on Demonizing Weed

MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS, STATE BY STATE

More than 30 states passed medical marijuana bills in the 1970s and '80s, including Wisconsin, but all of those left the responsibility of supplying the marijuana up to the federal government.

FEDERAL POT SMOKER BURNS BOTH ENDS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Every month George McMahon receives a silver tin of prescription marijuana courtesy of the federal government. He is one of five survivors in the Federal Drug Administration's Compassionate Investigational New Drug program.

Memorial to Robin Prosser, Montana MMJ patient

Oct. 20 - I write with profound sadness to confirm a rumor some of you may already have heard.

Montana medical marijuana patient Robin Prosser took her own life in the wee hours Friday morning.

OR: A SMOKESCREEN FOR CRIMINALS

Police Estimate 40 Percent of Medical Marijuana Growers Break the Law, but Patient Advocates Say It's Just a Few and the Real Issue Is Lack of Supply

A FEW PEOPLE GET UNCLE SAM'S WEED

EUGENE -- The U.S. government's official policy on marijuana is that it's dangerous and illegal, even in states such as Oregon and California that have approved its medical use.

Research Leaves No Cloud In Medical Pot Debate

by Paul Armentano, Hawaii Reporter (October 18th, 2007) -- As the author of the recent publication, “Emerging Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids: A Review of the Scientific Literature,” I take umbrage with those politicians and law enforcement officials who argue, "Smoked marijuana is not medicine." This allegation -- most recently asserted on the DEA's new website -- http://www.JustThinkTwice.com -- is false, plain and simple.

WA: Marijuana patients caught in a cloud of confusion

By EDIE LAU and JOSH FARLEY / Kitsap Sun (Oct, 21, 2007) -- BREMERTON, Wash. -- Steve Sarich had just finished watering hundreds of marijuana cuttings and stepped into the shower in January when he heard a commotion downstairs. He managed to slip on a bathrobe before a cop walked through the door.

Too Much Cannabis and Pain Relief Goes Up in Smoke

By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today; Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (October 24, 2007) LA JOLLA, CA -- Smoking marijuana may relieve pain, but only within a narrow therapeutic window, and higher doses can actually intensify pain, investigators here have found.

CO: MARIJUANA RETURNED TO CAREGIVER

A small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia was returned by Jefferson County authorities today to a medical marijuana caregiver who was issued a summons at Mount Falcon Park earlier this year.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

IACM 2007 Conference in Cologne

On 5-6 October the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM) held its 4th Conference on Cannabinoids in Medicine. Here are some excerpts from presentations.

THC and Driving

An international working group of 11 experts from six countries suggests a limit of 7-10 ng/mL THC in blood serum for driving under the influence of cannabis. This would compare to a blood alcohol concentration of about 0.05 per cent. The group states that zero-limit laws, which are in effect in several countries and in several states of the USA, are not science-based and classify many non-impaired drivers as being under the influence of cannabis. (Source: Grotenhermen F. et al. Addiction 2007 Oct 4; [Electronic publication ahead of print])

Pot Compound Should Be Evaluated As Brain Tumor Treatment, Study Says

Ramat-Gan, Israel: The primary psychoactive agent in cannabis, THC, possesses anti-tumoral activity in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cell lines and should be evaluated in clinical trials as a treatment for brain cancer, according to preclinical data to be published in the journal Acta Oncologica.

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

HOW TO SUBMIT NEWS

You may submit news items via email. To have your information considered for publication, submit your story to feedback@ohiopatient.net with NEWS SUBMISSION in the subject. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS.

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.

To Unsubscribe from this Newsletter

You can remove yourself from this list at any time. Please go to http://ohiopatient.net/v2/content/view/169/95/ to unsubscribe.

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