Deputy US Attorney Warns Medical Marijuana Sellers And Distributors
Editor's ChoiceMain Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Also Included In: Pain / Anesthetics; Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs; Public Health
Article Date: 03 Jul 2011 - 21:00 PDT
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opinions'Deputy US Attorney Warns Medical Marijuana Sellers And Distributors'
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James Cole, Deputy US Attorney general, sent a memorandum aimed at clarifying federal policy regarding medical marijuana. Citing marijuana as a "dangerous drug", his memo made clear the possibility of enforcement action against anybody in the business of growing, selling or distributing marijuana, as well as individuals who knowingly make those activities possible - the message was clear that state and local officials would not be excluded from such enforcement action.
Cole added:
"State laws or local ordinances are not a defense to civil or criminal enforcement of federal law."
Advocates for medical marijuana expressed dismay, citing President Obama's previous pledge not to use Justice Department resources to attempt to get around state laws. They also cite Deputy Attorney General David Ogden's memo issued in October 2009.
Ogden's memo claimed that federal resources should not be used for "individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana."
Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access, the nation's largest medical marijuana advocacy group, said:
"It is disingenuous of the Obama Administration to say it is not attacking patients while obstructing the implementation of local and state medical marijuana laws. The president is using intimidation tactics to stop elected officials from serving their constituents, thereby pushing patients into the illicit market."
Cole says his memo is consistent with Ogden's.
Sherer asked, referring to Cole's claim that his memo is consistent with Ogden's:
"How are federal threats against local and state officials who are adopting public health measures warranted at any time, let alone at a time of fiscal constraint?"
According to Cole's memo, advocates say, state government's attempts to design laws under which medical marijuana could be in clear and unambiguous compliance are rejected.
Public officials in ten states over the last few weeks have received letters threatening criminal prosecution against them if they carry through state laws that regulate the production and distribution of medical marijuana.
Advocates see Cole's memo as an attempt to reinforce those threats.
Sherer said:
"At the same time the federal government is recognizing the rights of people living with cancer and other debilitating diseases to use medical marijuana, it is also denying them the means to obtain it legally.
Until states and localities have the ability to adopt and enforce their own laws regarding the production and distribution of medical cannabis, federal interference will continue to undermine the rights of the very patients the Justice Department purports to recognize."
Source: Americans for Safe Access
Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
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26 May. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/230335.php>
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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/230335.php.
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Visitor Opinions (latest shown first)
How About Antidepressives?
posted by TonyF on 10 Apr 2012 at 1:29 pmMarijuana a dangerous drug? I agree with that, but what about those even more dangerous substance that you can just take without any legal risk at all such as antidepressives? I really wonder if they done more good than harm.
Follow the money...
posted by MadMan on 7 Jul 2011 at 12:45 pmOpposingViews / Radical" Russ Belville" / /1,12,2011
Marijuana is a Schedule I drug. That means, according to the federal government:
-- it has “a high potential for abuse” (some 16 million “abusers” every month);
-- it has “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” (despite fifteen United States that do accept it and despite United States Federal Patent #6630507 describing its medical use);
-- and there is no “accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision” (despite
sending federal medical marijuana to four...
who use it safely under medical supervision).
But while the drug warriors were busy sounding the alarm about the new super-potent, wildly-addictive “Pot 2.0: It’s Not Your Father’s Woodstock Weed!”, according to Martha Rosenberg at CounterPunch,drug manufacturers
were making billions in 2010 selling to Americans the following ten drugs that mimic some of marijuana’s medical effects yet are far more dangerous:
1) According to research compiled by Paul Armentano in the new edition of NORML’s Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids: A Review of the Recent Scientific Literature, 2000 — 2011, “[T]he use of a standardized extract of Cannabis sativa … evoked a total relief … in an experimental model of neuropathic pain“. Pfizer‘s Lyrica, Mylan Pharmaceuticals‘ Topamax and GlaxoSmithKline‘s Lamictal
are drugs that are commonly prescribed for pain and migraine. Their side effects?
1.
All three drugs increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors according to their mandated labels, in addition to the memory and hair loss patients report.
2)The use of cannabis as an anti-depressant has been anecdotally reported for decades and recent research shows that in low doses, it can have an anti-depressant effect, but it seems to reverse if one takes too high a dose. Regardless, you’re better off with the cannabis than with the side effects of Eli Lilly‘s Prozac, GlaxoSmithKline‘s Paxil, Pfizer‘s Zoloft, or other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs):
1.
In addition to 4,200 published reports of SSRI-related violence, including the Columbine, Red Lake and NIU shootings, SSRIs can cause serotonin syndrome and gastrointestinal bleeding when taken with certain drugs. Paxil is linked to birth defects.
3) Combine our first two conditions, pain and depressionwhich we’ve shown cannabis to be effective at treating, and now you have the conditions addressed by a class of drugs known as selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). Pfizer‘s Effexor, Eli Lilly‘s Cymbalta, and Pfizer‘s Pristiq are commonly marketed in a cross-over fashion to both depression and pain sufferers, who get all the same risks of side-effects as the SSRI’s listed above, plus…
1.
SNRI’s are also harder to quit than SSRIs. 739,000 web sites address “Effexor” and “withdrawal.”
4) Dr. Donald Tashkin found that people who smoke marijuana have not only less head, neck, and lung cancer risk than those who smoke cigarettes, but actually also have lower risk than those who don’t smoke at all. Some of my friends have told me smoking marijuana helped address cravings as they were trying to quit smoking tobacco, but whether it actually helps medically is not known. What is known is that Pfizer‘s popular anti-smoking drug Chantix is much more likely to affect your mental health:
1.
After 397 FDA cases of possible psychosis, 227 domestic reports of suicidal behaviors and 28 actual suicides, the government banned pilots, air-traffic controllers and interstate truck and bus drivers from taking the antismoking drug Chantix in 2008.
5) Many a toker can relate that they use marijuana at the end of a long busy stressful day to relax and unwind, especially if they are having a tough time getting to sleep. The popular sleeping pill, sanofi-aventis‘s Ambien, you may remember from the story of US Rep. Patrick Kennedy crashing his car in a fit of “sleep-driving”:
1.
Law enforcement officials say it has increased traffic accidents from people who drive in a black out and don’t even recognize arresting officers.
6) THC may have the most powerful tumor-inhibiting properties known to medicine, something our government has been aware of since 1974. There are at least four different scientific studies showing cannabinoids to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells. But then legal cannabis would severely curtail the sales of Astra-Zeneca‘s Tamoxifen breast cancer prevention drug:
1.
As a breast cancer prevention drug, an American Journal of Medicine study found the average life expectancy increase from Tamoxifen was nine days. Public Citizen says for every case of breast cancer prevented on Tamoxifen there is a life-threatening case of blood clots, stroke or endometrial cancer.
7) ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) affects millions of Americans. Recently new research has shown that cannabis can have very positive results for those trying to control their disorder. However, we’re much more likely to hear of someone with ADHD using Novartis‘s Ritalin, Johnson & Johnson‘s Concerta, Eli Lilly‘s Strattera, Shire‘s Adderall, especially on children with ADHD:
1.
ADHD drugs rob “kids of their right to be kids, their right to grow, their right to experience their full range of emotions, and their right to experience the world in its full hue of colors,” says Anatomy of an Epidemic author Robert Whitaker.
8) As strange as it may seem, many patients with asthma report using cannabis to help open their restricted airways. Cannabis is a bronchodialator and can be used in a vaporized form to avoid the respiratory distress from cannabis smoke. But cannabis is incapable of killing you, unlike the long-acting beta agonists (LABA) Foradil Aerolizer, GlaxoSmithKline‘s Serevent Diskus and Advair,and Astra-Zeneca‘s Symbicort often used to treat asthma symptoms:
1.
Studies link them to an increase in asthma deaths, especially in African-Americans and children. They may have contributed to 5,000 deaths said Dr. David Graham at FDA hearings about the controversial asthma drugs.
9) Another set asthma control drugs known as leukotrine receptor agonists are also far more dangerous to you than vaporizing cannabis, like Merck‘s Singulair and Astra-Zeneca‘s Accolate.
1.
Original FDA reviewers said asthma control “deteriorates” on Singulair and it may not be safe in children. Last month, Fox TV reported Singulair, Merck’s top selling drug, is suspected of producing aggression, hostility, irritability, anxiety, hallucinations and night-terrors in kids, symptoms that are being diagnosed as ADHD.
10) Finally, while not technically a medical use, many people use cannabis as a way to relax, have fun, and socialize with others. Stress can be very damaging to one’s body and mind and cannabis is one of the most popular drugs used to combat it. The most popular drug for socialization and relaxation, of course, is alcohol, marketed as Anheuser-Busch InBev‘s Budweiser, MillerCoors‘ Coors Light, Pabst‘s Blue Ribbon, and Boston Beer Co.’s Sam Adams. While moderate consumption of alcohol may have some minor health benefits, habitual over-consumption, according to HealthCheck Systems, can lead to:
1.
Arthritis - Increases risk of gouty arthritis
Cancer - Increases the risk of cancer in the liver, pancreas, rectum, breast, mouth, pharynx, larynx and esophagus
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – Causes physical and behavioral abnormalities in the fetus
Heart Disease – Raises blood pressure, blood lipids and the risk of stroke and heart disease in heavy drinkers. Heart disease is generally lower in light to moderate drinkers.
Hyperglycermia - Raises blood glucose
Hypoglycemia - Lowers blood glucose, especially for people with diabetes
Kidney Disease - Enlarges the kidneys, alters hormone functions, and increases the risk of kidney failure
Liver Disease – Causes fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis
Malnutrition - Increases the risk of protein-energy malnutrition,; low intakes of protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamine, vitamin B6 and riboflavin, and impaired absorption of calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D and zinc.
Nervous Disorders – Causes neuropathy and dementia; impairs balance and memory
Obesity – Increases energy intake, but not a primary cause of obesity
Psychological disturbances – Causes depression, anxiety and insomnia
So why in the world would we prevent people from using the safe, natural, effective, non-toxic herb cannabis with so many proven benefits and so little risk of side effects? Why would we force people to take a plethora of pills with proven dangerous side effects? Why would we celebrate the use of poisonous alcohol and demonize the smoking of a benign weed?
2010 Reported Corporate Revenues:
Johnson & Johnson = $61.90 billion
Pfizer= $50.01 billion
GlaxoSmithKline = $45.83 billion
Novartis = $44.27
Sanofi-Aventis = $41.99 billion
AstraZeneca = $32.81 billion
Merck & Co. = $27.43 billion
Eli Lilly = $21.84 billion
Anheuser-Busch InBev (2007) = $16.70 billion
MillerCoors = $3.03 billion
Pabst = $0.50 billion
Boston Beer Company = $0.46 billion
Every legal cannabis producing company combined = $0
Legalize it like wine
posted by longbud on 5 Jul 2011 at 3:49 pmLegalize it like wine
make it so it's not a crime
to use a little to unwind
for patients with glacoma who are going blind
or for someone with a crack in their spine
stop wasting all this time
trying to make it hard to find
cause we can all just grow it on a vine
oh legalize it like wine legalize it like wine
no more killing for a dime
no more bad boys on channel nine
no more underground mine
crossing our borderline
just listen to my ryhme
get a president to sign
to legalize it like wine
and everything will be fine
The Human Body Needs Cannabinoids
posted by ActivistCat on 5 Jul 2011 at 1:14 pmIn a resent study, Mortality Within the First 2 Years in Infants Exposed to Cocaine, Opiate, or Cannabinoid During Gestation - pediatrics.aappublications.org A total of 2,964 infants were drug-tested at birth to see if they were positive for drugs - cocaine, opiates and cannabis were studied and compared to drug free infants. The death rates were :
“No drugs at birth” deaths……15.7 deaths per 1000 live births
“Cocaine positive” deaths………17.7 deaths per 1000 live births
“Opiate positive” deaths……….18.4 deaths per 1000 live births
“Cannabis positive” deaths…… 8.9 deaths per 1000 live births
The “cannabis positive” infants rate of death is almost half of what the “No drugs” infants death rate is! When it comes to failure to thrive, cannabis shows a significant improvement in the outcome.
If the body is low on cannabinoids, just as with any other deficiency, the body does not function correctly since the endocannabinoid system regulates all other systems in the body. Misinformation has done much damage over the last 73 years as has the war on a plant and those who use it. Cannabis has continually been shown to be a remarkable anti-inflammatory which could be of great help to the 86 million people that suffer chronic pain. No one ever died from cannabis/marijuana though much suffering has taken place from the prohibition of it. It is time to end this travesty.
Lack of cannabinoids - can cause cancer, digestive ailments, migrains, fibromyalgia, just to name a few. We are now generations into cannabinoid deprivation and the health consequences are showing.
Do Feds Support Drug Cartels?
posted by don on 4 Jul 2011 at 4:28 pmBy the Federal crackdown on 'legal' MMJ options, they are stengthening the 'illegal' Drug Cartels hold on America.
Who's side is the Fed Govt on?
Follow the money - drug busts and Cartel kickbacks.
And YOU, the patient, are caught in the middle.
My advice - if you use MMJ, be invisible, just like when it was a crime.
Alcohol is a drug
posted by JB on 4 Jul 2011 at 8:58 amAlcohol is in fact a drug, since binds to receptors for the neurotransmitter GABA, and potentiates the action of GABA at those receptors. Like many drugs, it's also a toxin in that it disturbs the normal healthy functioning of the body. Drug and toxin are not mutually exclusive categories.
Rumor has it that Obama actually wants to be a one-termer...
posted by Cassie on 4 Jul 2011 at 8:12 am...so that he can go on the lecture circuit, earn huge money, and work on his golf game.
Policy announcements like this one give support to that theory.
How hard can the democrats push away and insult their base before people simply don't show up on election day? It's looking like we'll find out.
Dems and Reps. different pages from the same bad book.
posted by Mike on 4 Jul 2011 at 6:14 amI'm shocked! Imagine a politician going back on his word. Near 50% of the people favor legalization, 70% favor Med MJ and the Obama Administration is still adhering to Pres. Nixon's war against "God Damn Hippies."
President Obama, are you really trying to be a one termer?
Dems and Reps. different pages from the same bad book.
Wrong
posted by DS on 4 Jul 2011 at 12:33 amCiting marijuana as a "dangerous drug" - what about alcohol? Seriously, alcohol is not even really a drug, but a toxin to the human body. Why do these politicians keep arching up about such a useful natural product? They spend literally trillions of dollars fighting all these stupid wars on everything, killing hundreds of thousands of people in the process - yet Cannabis is a dangerous drug! The American Government is a dangerous cancer, far worse than alcohol.
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