Dying Woman Loses Appeal on Marijuana as Medication

[Undertoad]

It is a myth that THC is the only active ingredient in the weed. There is actually a whole signature collection of cannabinoids, and different strains of the weed will carry different collections, which will settle into a brain's receptors differently. That's why different varieties will have different effects; and research should be done into which are best for medical purposes. Marinol isolates one particular chemical -- which is why it doesn't really work.

/read a lot about the topic
//for no particular reason

Exactly, which is why if you need them you do not get "stoned", your body uses them where they are needed instead of storing them in the brain.
There are cannaboinoids in mother's milk to help babies deal with growing so fast and we naturally produce them during our teen growth spurts and during times of high stress and pain.

http://lists.csociety.org/pipermail/...il/000118.html

http://www.november.org/thewall/case...cormick-t.html

http://www.cannabisreport.com/blog/a...p_investig.php

This is what the cops & AMA are about... increasing the suffering and harm of those who are sick and have found something that relieves some of that suffering. Even to the point of reducing the life expectancy of those individuals, this is what those pigs want.
They deserve nothing but our basest contempt.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/49597/

It's Been an 'All Out War' on Pot Smokers for 35 Years

By Paul Armentano, AlterNet. Posted March 22, 2007.



Since 1972, U.S. taxpayers have spent well over $20 billion enforcing criminal marijuana laws and 16.5 million people have been arrested. It's time to put an end to this waste.
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Thirty-five years ago this month, a congressionally mandated commission on U.S. drug policy did something extraordinary: They told the truth about marijuana.

On March 22, 1972, the National Commission on Marihuana (sic) and Drug Abuse -- chaired by former Pennsylvania Gov. Raymond P. Shafer -- recommended Congress amend federal law so that the use and possession of pot would no longer be a criminal offense. State legislatures, the commission added, should do likewise.

"[T]he criminal law is too harsh a tool to apply to personal possession even in the effort to discourage use," concluded the commission, which included several conservative appointees of then-President Richard Nixon. "It implies an overwhelming indictment of the behavior, which we believe is not appropriate. The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior, a step which our society takes only with the greatest reluctance.

"... Therefore, the commission recommends ... [that the] possession of marihuana for personal use no longer be an offense, [and that the] casual distribution of small amounts of marihuana for no remuneration, or insignificant remuneration, no longer be an offense."

Nixon, true to his "law-and-order" roots, shelved the report -- announcing instead that when it came to weed, "We need, and I use the word 'all out war' on all fronts." For the last 35 years, that's what we've had.

Consider this: Since the Shafer Commission issued its recommendations:




Approximately 16.5 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana violations -- more than 80 percent of them on minor possession charges.


U.S. taxpayers have spent well over $20 billion enforcing criminal marijuana laws, yet marijuana availability and use among the public remains virtually unchanged.


Nearly one-quarter of a million Americans have been denied federal financial aid for secondary education because of anti-drug provisions to the Higher Education Act. Most of these applicants were convicted of minor marijuana possession offenses.


Total U.S. marijuana arrests increased 165 percent during the 1990s, from 287,850 in 1991 to well over 700,000 in 2000, before reaching an all-time high of nearly 800,000 in 2005. However, according to the government's own data, this dramatic increase in the number of persons arrested for pot was not associated with any reduction in the number of new users, any reduction in marijuana potency, or any increases in the black market price of marijuana.


Currently, one in eight inmates incarcerated for drug crimes is behind bars for pot, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $1 billion per year.



Perhaps most troubling, the factor most likely to determine whether or not these citizens serve jail time or not isn't the severity of their "crime," but rather where they live. Today there are growing regional disparities in marijuana penalties and marijuana law enforcement -- ranging from no penalty in Alaska to potential life in prison in Oklahoma. In fact, if one were to drive from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Ore., he or she would traverse more than a dozen jurisdictions, all with varying degrees of penalties and/or tolerance toward the possession and use of pot.

Does this sound like a successful national policy?

There is another approach, of course. The Shafer Commission showed the way more than three decades ago.

Marijuana isn't a harmless substance, and those who argue for a change in the drug's legal status do not claim it to be. However, as noted by the commission, pot's relative risks to the user and society are arguably fewer than those of alcohol and tobacco, and they do not warrant the expenses associated with targeting, arresting and prosecuting hundreds of thousands of Americans every year.

According to federal statistics, about 94 million Americans -- that's 40 percent of the U.S. population age 12 or older -- self-identify as having used cannabis at some point in their lives, and relatively few acknowledge having suffered significant deleterious health effects due to their use. America's public policies should reflect this reality, not deny it. It makes no sense to continue to treat nearly half of all Americans as criminals.



Tagged as: pot, shafer commission

Paul Armentano is the senior policy analyst for NORML and the NORML Foundation in Washington, D.C.

[KGZotU]

I tend to agree with Bruce, seeing this issue in the light of a culture war. I'd guess that anybody who stands to actually lose from the legalization of marijuana and actively opposes it probably has convinced themselves that it's not a money issue.

I agree that this isn't a federal matter. For a long time now the federal government has done everything it can to have its fingers in as many pies as possible. Witness the "federal" drinking age, et all. Unfortunately we're long past respecting the Constitution. Anybody who tries to excise only federal drug laws will find little precedence.

If federal laws do not make allowances for medical conditions than these judges made the right choice. It's either this or throw it up for constitutional review.

I say, smoke 'em if you got 'em. I'm confused, the story doesn't say that she was convicted of anything, just that she brought suit against the federal government. Aside from the shadow of the federal government, is there anything to keep her from continuing to use medicinal marijuana under the laws of her state?

--Joe

Edit: I'm guessing we'll see, at the least, federal decriminalization of personal use of marijuana in the next 20-30 years.

[TheMercenary]

Legalize it and tax the hell out of it to give money to the people for healthcare.