172nd anniversary birthdate of Angelo Francois Mariani

b. December 17, 1838 - d. April 1, 1914

Popularizer of Coca, inventer of Vin Mariani

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2008/03/drug-warriors-ignore-history-of-coca.html

Top Anti Researcher 180

Here's what people as Pat Robertson/CBN and Edwin Meese/Heritage Foundation pretend does not exist

Top anti-drug researcher changes his mind – says legalize marijuana

http://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/top-anti-drug-researcher-says-legalize-marijuana/

June 4th, 2009 § 11 Comments

Over and over again, all the bad things we’ve been told about marijuana are revealed to be not only false, but often the precise opposite of the truth. So the next time someone tells you that marijuana is worse for your lungs than cigarettes, you might want to mention that the world’s leading expert on that subject happens to be a supporter of legalization.
(Source) 6.03.09

For 30 years, Donald Tashkin has studied the effects of marijuana on lung function. His work has been funded by the vehemently anti-marijuana National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has long sought to demonstrate that marijuana causes lung cancer. After 3 decades of anti-drug research, here’s what Tashkin has to say about marijuana laws:

“Early on, when our research appeared as if there would be a negative impact on lung health, I was opposed to legalization because I thought it would lead to increased use and that would lead to increased health effects,” Tashkin says. “But at this point, I’d be in favor of legalization. I wouldn’t encourage anybody to smoke any substances. But I don’t think it should be stigmatized as an illegal substance. Tobacco smoking causes far more harm. And in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm.” [McClatchy]

We’ve been told a thousand times that marijuana destroys your lungs, that it’s 5 times worse than cigarettes, and on and on. Yet here is Donald Tashkin, literally the top expert in the world when it comes to marijuana and lung health, telling us it’s time to legalize marijuana. His views are shaped not by ideology, but rather by the 30 years he spent studying the issue. He didn’t expect the science to come out in favor of marijuana, but that’s what happened and he’s willing to admit it.

Here’s the study that really turned things around:

UCLA’s Tashkin studied heavy marijuana smokers to determine whether the use led to increased risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He hypothesized that there would be a definitive link between cancer and marijuana smoking, but the results proved otherwise.

“What we found instead was no association and even a suggestion of some protective effect,” says Tashkin, whose research was the largest case-control study ever conducted.

Prejudice against marijuana and smoking in general runs so deep for many people that it just seems inconceivable that marijuana could actually reduce the risk of lung cancer. But that’s what the data shows and it not only demolishes a major tenet of popular anti-pot propaganda, but also points towards a potentially groundbreaking opportunity to develop cancer cures through marijuana research.

Over and over again, all the bad things we’ve been told about marijuana are revealed to be not only false, but often the precise opposite of the truth. So the next time someone tells you that marijuana is worse for your lungs than cigarettes, you might want to mention that the world’s leading expert on that subject happens to be a supporter of legalization.

Douglas Willinger on Time4Hemp Oct 12, 2010

With host Casper Leitch and co-host Kelley Christian

http://www.americanfreedomradio.com/Time_4_Hemp_10.html

Is mislabeled, with my name Douglas Willinger appearing at October 5 instead of October 12, 2010

I start about the iron law of prohibition- the shift of cocaine use from dilute to concentrated.

I then point out it the evil of this as done to protect the cigarette industry- with the USDA complaint about coca sold as a tobacco habit cure, considering the reletive effects of tobacco and coca, its way worse then drug policy reformists let on.

I point out that legalization is not anarchy. Prior to the early 1900s, but after the introduction of concentrated pharmaceutical derivitives such as cocaine hci and morphine, in chrystallyne form or liquid for hypodermic injection (a mistake with cocaine!) numerous jurisdictions enacted basic public safety laws of requiring warning 'POISON' labeling and even prescription requirments- hence providing the minimal police powers for safeguarding people's health. It was with the new drug control statutes of the early 1900s, in the U.S. culminating in the 'Harrison Narcotics Tax Act' of 1914 removing bulky dilute coca products from the market effectively giving a cocaine monopoly to the concentrated drug.

I note the time line, with the anti cocaine campaign in the United States of America popping up cir 1904-05 via USDA and AMA-'APhA's Harvey Washington Wiley, just after the 2nd time that Vin Mariani entrepeneur Angelo Francois Mariani recieved a gold papal medel declaring him a benefactor of humanity from the Vatican. I point out how the facts point to the Vatican, such as the USDA-AMA-APhA's Harvey Washington Wiley being a 'Knight'- a term applicable to a Vatican religous order such as the Knights of Malta to which his drug war collaborator William Randolph Hearst belonged. I then point out how the RCC involvement with the drug war dates back at least to the late 1400s with Pope Innocent VIII.

I note that we are talking about MAJOR agrilcultural commodities. Such as Coffee, and Tobacco.

I note the drug policy reform dynamics happen as slowly as possible, and that we have resources that could be better utilized.

I recommend my blog "Freedom of Medicine and Diet", particularly an article "Coca Comeback"

And I point out the basic absuridity of the reality of the exemption of alcoholic beverages, cosmetics and cigarettes from the basic product retail labeling requirments for INGREDIENTS- a most basic concept that the US Pure Foods and Drugs Act established an inconsistency by only requiring labeling of some drugs, e.g. cocaine but not caffeine or nicotine, and by exempting tobacco via its exclusion of authoruty of substances to only those within the US Pharmacopeia- from which tobacco was deleted in 1905!

---

http://americanfreedomradio.com/programs.html

Time 4 Hemp
Host: Casper Leitch
Website: www.time4hemp.com
Guest Schedule: T4H GUEST CALENDAR
Program Archives
Call-in Number:
(402) 237 - 2525
Time: Weeknights, 11:00 pm - Midnight Central

Casper Leitch got involved in the hemp movement in 1990 and launched the cable television series 'Time 4 Hemp' on January 5, 1991. It was the first television series in the history of broadcasting to focus strictly on the topic of cannabis, thus giving Casper the dubious honor of being known as 'The Father of Marijuana Television'. He was a participant in the United States Government Funded 'UCLA Smoked Marijuana Study' headed by Dr. Donald Tashkin and is the first person in the world have television filmed footage of themselves smoking legal marijuana in a Government funded lab.

Over the years, 'Time 4 Hemp' has remained on the cutting edge of the Marijuana Movement by opening the Time4Hemp.com website in 1999 and being one of the first sites to offer free audio and video downloads. On July 4, 2007, the first segment of the 'Time 4 Hemp - TODAY PotCast' was released and six months later, the 'Time 4 Hemp - MUSIC PotCast' made its debut. Both now rank in the number one and number two spots when the word 'hemp' is typed into the iTunes search engine.

Past guests on the series include Dr. Tim Leary; Willie Nelson; Congressman Barney Frank; Keith Stroup (founder of NORML); David Boaz (Co-founder of the CATO Institute); Kevin Zeese (Co-founder of the Drug Policy Foundation); Ethan Nadelmann (Founder of the Drug Policy Alliance); Judge James Gray; Marc Emery (founder of Cannabis Culture Magazine); Ed Rosenthal (Co-founder of High Times Magazine); Steve Hager (editor of High Times Magazine); and Eddy Lepp (Hero of the Marijuana Movement).

Continuing Delusion: CBN- Virginia Masonic Dope

Pat Robertson's Continuing Devotion to the Pro Cigarette-Pharm Mercantilism
A prime example of societal elite* (*masonic-fraternal order) rot



Everytime I've heard Pat Robertson mention Marijaunna, it's in a derogatory manner as if the government position was correct, and reflects throughout his 'Christian Briadcasting Network'. Some examples:

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2010/November/Ex-Addict-Joins-Fight-against-Califs-Prop-19/

"It gives people the personal freedom they deserve," said one proponent of legalizing marijuana. "It also stimulates the economy which I really feel we could use in America right now, especially in California."

If the initiative passes, it would allow the drug to be sold in store and taxed, just like cigarettes.

But some officials say the revenue projections are overstated.

"The supporters of Prop 19, of course, advance some wildly over-inflated tax estimates," California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore said. "What they seem to forget is that cannabus grows naturally in North America. If it gets too high - (people) will just grow their own and the state won't get any tax money to speak of."

At the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif., supporters of family values joined Advocates for Faith and Freedom during a fundraising event to push back the liberal agenda on marijuana.

"I've got four kids. I'm really concerned about what this is going to mean to our future generations believing that marijuana is just like another cigarette," said Robert Tyler, general counsel for the group.

Meanwhile, people like Lambert are hoping and praying California won't learn the hard way like the state of Alaska, who legalized marijuana in the 1980s. The Last Frontier State reversed its decision in 1990 when pot use among teens doubled. "I'm passionate about it because I used it for several years," Lambert said. "I would be like the rest of these people who are strung out on pot for so many years."

And stuff as this:

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2010/May/Marijuana-Use-the-New-Cool-on-TV/

We're seeing very casual treatments of that on shows that are very popular with young viewers including "Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, American Dad," Melissa Henson, a PTC spokesperson said. "All of which are animated programs and some of the highest rated programs among viewers as young as two to 11 and also very popular with teenagers 12-17 who are extremely impressionable at that age."

Historically we've seen marijuana use on TV portrayed negatively, such as in the context of an arrest or a precursor to another crime. But not anymore.

"If teens see attractive characters using pot recreationally with no consequences they come to view that as not only okay behavior, but even normal, acceptable, mainstream behavior," Henson said.

While pot smoking on TV is on the rise, cigarette smoking has decreased, purportedly because of the health risks of kids imitating what they see on TV.

CBN acts as if its oblivious to the reality that cigarettes have killed some 100 million people during the last century and is estimated to take some 1 billion this century (WHO figures), while MJ which is one of the least toxic sustances known is something to be feared as an alternative to cigarettes or alcohol.

Such is a strange attitude for a 'Christian',

King James Version- Genesis 1:29

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Yet it's par for the course for a political status quo of fraternal order minions.

Marijuana Versus Virginia Bright Leaf Adulterated Cigarettes
http://ideas-canada.ca/medmj/medmjkills.htm

Marijuana Versus Alcohol Beverages
http://www.saferchoice.org/content/view/24/53/

Continuing Delusion- Supposed "Conservatism"

That 3 out of 4 marijuanna liberalization initiatives would fail indicates many continue under the sway of the false idea that substances made illegal were inherently bad- an idea particularly infiltrating the so called political right.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20101003_The_case_against_legalizing_marijuana_in_California.html#ixzz13gxUPU9m
The case against legalizing marijuana in California

Edwin Meese III is a former attorney general of the United States and chairman of the Heritage Foundation's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies

Charles Stimson is a senior legal fellow at Heritage and author of Legalizing Marijuana: Why Citizens Should Just Say No

Advocates of legalizing marijuana have been blowing a lot of smoke in the debate over California's Proposition 19.

For starters, there's the fiction that marijuana is no different from alcohol. Indeed, the difference in health effects is striking.

The benefits of moderate alcohol consumption - reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, gallstones, diabetes, and death from a heart attack - are well-documented. There's even evidence that alcohol helps keep the mind sharp as one ages.

No one has ever associated pot consumption with mental acuity. Quite the opposite: Marijuana use has been shown to impair memory and inhibit learning ability. Among students, marijuana use is strongly associated with lower test scores and lower educational attainment. Chemically, marijuana is more like "harder" drugs - cocaine, heroin, speed, and the psychedelics - than a glass of wine or a cocktail. One study found that extended use may even lead to psychosis.

There are physical effects, too. Lung researchers report that smoking a couple of joints does more damage than a whole pack of Marlboros, and contains toxic compounds like ammonia and hydrogen cyanide. For many, pot is addictive. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that more than 30 percent of pot smokers were dependent on the drug to the point of demonstrating signs of withdrawal and compulsive behavior. Reports from drug-abuse help lines and treatment facilities show that marijuana addiction is a major problem.

Negative social effects abound as well. Take crime. Amsterdam shows what happens when marijuana is available, legally and in abundance. Amsterdam is one of Europe's most violent cities, and Dutch officials pin the blame on their liberal drug policies. A report by four government ministries finds that drug-related crime places a heavy burden on local authorities and that criminal organizations are increasingly muscling their way into the drug market, using it as a base for international operations.

As California debates legalization, Dutch officials are retooling their laws and shutting down marijuana dispensaries "to tackle the nuisance associated with them and manage crime risks more effectively."

Legalization hasn't helped the Dutch keep marijuana from minors either. Marijuana use is higher among children there than anywhere else in Europe.

Legalization also alters social norms. More Dutch children smoke pot because the social stigma
against it has dissipated. The same thing will happen in California if Prop 19 is passed next month.

Prop 19 pushers argue that by taxing and regulating marijuana, the state will reap a tax windfall. But the act would let every landowner grow enough marijuana to produce 24,000 to 240,000 joints a year for "personal consumption." Who would pay the $50-per-ounce tax on marijuana (a
100 percent tax) when he could grow it himself or buy some (illegally) from a neighbor.

Regular tobacco does not carry its economic weight. In 2007, the government collected $25 billion in tobacco taxes but spent more than $200 billion per year to cover health and other tobacco related costs. It is the same with alcohol: In 2007, governments collected $14 billion in alcohol taxes but spent $185 billion to cover health, crime, and other alcohol-related costs. The economics of legalized marijuana will be no different, and perhaps worse.

Then there are the practical problems of Prop 19. Homeowners growing pot in their backyards will become targets for pot thieves and attendant crime, just as areas immediately around medical marijuana dispensaries have already experienced an uptick in crime. And there remains the very real fact that possession, cultivation, and consumption of marijuana are still crimes under federal law - an inconvenient truth the act simply ignores. What are federal law enforcement officers to do?

Legalizing marijuana would serve little purpose other than to worsen the state's drug problems -addiction, violence, disorder, and death. Nor will such legalization produce a tax windfall for the state; rather, it will end up costing Californians billions in increased social costs.

Sound public policy should be based on facts, not smoke.

Read more:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20101003_The_case_against_legalizing_marijuana_in_California.html#ixzz171NzjGyr

Continuing Criminal Mercantilism 2010

In the U.S.

- 3 of 4 liberalization initiatives regarding MJ fail, the one that passes, for medical marijuanna, is highly restrictive and barely passes;

- officials target the caffeine content of beverages loaded with alcohol and sweetner- ignoring the long tradition of mixing alcohol with caffeine (and other stimulants- notably Vin Mariani and other wines of coca), while distracting from the utter lack of ingrediant labeling on beverages containing alcohol- hence resulting in a lack of information for consumers, for instance those seeking to avoid high fructose corn syrup, as the sweetner type is unlabled

- officials promise new warning lables on cigarettes, while all the while continually sidesteeping the matter of labeling ingrediants

In short, while activists chip at the edges, the core of criminal mercantilsim remains intact.

Yale's Dave Musto Dead at 74

Confirmed Coca and Vin Mariani's safety when asked in 1993, yet wrote numerious Readers' Digest type pieces blurring the history of Coca and cocaine, confusing the issue and thereby helping sustain this destructive criminal mercantilism

From Phillip Smith - Stop the Drug War

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2010/oct/15/pioneering_drug_policy_historian

Dr. David Musto, who chronicled the history of US drug policy in 1973's The American Disease: The Origins of Narcotics Control, died last Friday of an apparent heart attack while traveling in China. The Yale University child psychologist and Carter administration drug policy advisor was 74.

Dr. David MustoThe American Disease offered a comprehensive treatment of American drug use and drug policy from the Civil War years to the present and is to this day a key text in the history of US drug policy. In it Musto, uncovered the historical correlation between public and official outrage over certain drugs and their use by feared or hated communities.

After its initial publication in 1973, New York Times book reviewer James Markham wrote that it would "probably become mandatory reading for anyone who wants to understand how we got into our present mess." It was reissued and updated in 1987 and again in 1999.

Upon publication of The American Disease, Musto was named a presidential drug policy advisor. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the White House Strategy Council on Drug Abuse.

Musto also wrote, with Pamela Korsmeyer, The Quest for Drug Control, and was editor of One Hundred Years of Heroin and Drugs in America: A Documentary History.

Musto's historical research led him to adopt nuanced positions on drug policy that sometimes angered drug warriors and sometimes disappointed drug reformers. He was critical of employee drug testing programs, skeptical of the efficacy of needle exchange programs, and supported methadone maintenance for heroin addicts. He also complained about the impulse among the public and officials to seek quick and simple solutions to the complex problem of proper drug policy.

Musto died in Shanghai. He was in China to attend a ceremony honoring the donation of his books and papers to Shanghai University and the creation of the Center for International Drug Control Policy at the university.

Shanghai
China

Here's his bio from Yale:

http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/musto.html

Dr. David F. Musto is the leading historian of drug policy in the United States. He is the author of four major works on drug regulation in America: The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control (Oxford 3d ed. 1999), One Hundred Years of Heroin (Auburn 2002), Drugs In America: A Documentary History (NYU 2002), and The Quest for Drug Control (Yale 2002). He has been a member of the Yale Medical School faculty since 1969. His research has centered on social history, particularly the development of policies involving alcohol, narcotics, AIDS, the family and mental health.

Dr. Musto has investigated many areas touching on history and medicine and has been called upon to serve the nation in various capacities including membership on the White House Strategy Council on Drug Abuse Policy during the Carter administration, membership from 1981 to 1990 on the National Council of the Smithsonian Institution and as historical consultant to the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic.

Dr. Musto is a charter Fellow of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, and a member of the alcohol advisory committee of the National Association of Broadcasters. Dr. Musto has published widely in professional journals and is particularly noted for his study of drug policy. His essays on social issues have appeared in the general media such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post and he has been featured as a commentator on social policy by news magazines and television networks. In 1992 he hosted and narrated the NOVA (public television science series) program, "Can You Stop People from Drinking?" Dr. Musto received the B.A. in classical languages in 1956 and in 1963 the M.D. degree from the University of Washington, and the M.A. from Yale in 1961.

Here's Yale's announcemnt of his death:

http://dailybulletin.yale.edu/article.aspx?id=7888

Dr. David F. Musto, the leading historian of drug policy in the United States died Oct. 8 while in Shanghai for a ceremony marking the donation of his books and papers on the history of drug policy to Shanghai University and the establishment there of a Center for International Drug Control Policy Studies.

Musto had been a member of the Yale faculty since 1969. He was internationally recognized as an historian of drug policy, and as a public intellectual interested in the long-term development of social issues, especially the history of controlled substances such as heroin, cocaine, and including alcohol. At Yale he was professor of child psychiatry in the Child Study Center and professor of the history of medicine at the School of Medicine. He was also a lecturer in the Department of History and the Program in American Studies, and a core faculty member in the Program in the History of Science and Medicine.

Musto received a B.A. in classical languages in 1956 and in 1963 an M.D., both from the University of Washington. While a medical student, he was awarded a fellowship by Yale to study the history of science and medicine and received an M.A. from Yale in 1961. Musto interned at the Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, and then served as a resident physician in psychiatry at Yale, completing his training in 1967. Following residency, he served in the U.S. Public Health Service as special assistant to the director of the National Institute of Mental Health until 1969. He concurrently held the position of visiting assistant professor of history at the Johns Hopkins University.

In his research on the social history of policies involving alcohol, narcotics, AIDS and mental health, he cultivated a vigorous dialogue between past and present. He published widely in professional journals and is particularly known for his path-breaking study of drug policy, "The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control," published first in 1973; the volume has been in print (in multiple editions) ever since. His other books explored such subjects as the history of heroin and a documentary history of drugs and alcohol in America. His essays on social issues appeared in the general media such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post, and he was much in demand as a commentator on social policy by news magazines and television networks.

He was a member of the White House Strategy Council on Drug Abuse Policy during the Carter administration, historical adviser to the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs from 1978 to 1980, a member of the National Council of the Smithsonian Institution from 1981 to 1990, and historical consultant to the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic. He also served on the National Advisory Committee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's program to combat drug and alcohol abuse, was a charter fellow of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and was a member of the alcohol advisory committee of the National Association of Broadcasters.

At Yale he was a fellow of Davenport College, a member of the editorial advisory committee of the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell, an active member of the Beaumont Medical Club, and curator of historical scientific instruments at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Musto's passions ranged from the Sherlock Holmes Society (a Baker Street Irregular, he presided over a talk each year at Yale that would relate Holmes to some larger issue, followed by a film screening, usually starring Basil Rathbone), to the preservation of the Grove Street Cemetery. He was known as a gifted storyteller with a dry sense of humor, who was admired by both his colleagues and the students in his popular Yale College lecture course, "Alcohol and Other Drugs in American Culture." He was a member of the Standing Committee of the Grove Street Cemetery, where he will be buried.

Musto is survived by his wife Jeanne. Their four children include: Jeanne-Marie Musto of Sewanee, Tennessee; David Musto, wife Katie and children Kyle, Jonah and Hazel of Philadelphia; John Musto and wife Francesca of New York City; and Christopher Musto, wife Moriah and child Callum of Boston.

A memorial service will be held at noon on Dec. 18 in Dwight Chapel, 67 High St.

Wasting Money on Big Pharm - Sativex - Mercantilism- Germany 2010

Germany to Approve Sativex, But Not Medical Marijuana
by Phillip Smith, September 01, 2010, 12:49pm, (Issue #647)

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2010/sep/01/germany_approve_sativex_not_medi

German press reports a couple of weeks ago carried headlines saying "Lawmakers Ready to Approve Medical Marijuana" and "Germany Plans to Legalize Medical Marijuana." Those reports were incorrect, and so was the Drug War Chronicle story based on them, "Germany Legalizing Medical Marijuana." (The title to that story, which we have since updated, now reads "Reports of Germany Legalizing Medical Marijuana Are Premature.")

Tetrahydrocannabinol (courtesy wikimedia.org)

According to the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine, whose executive director, Dr. Franco Grotenherman, also heads the German Association for Cannabis as Medicine, what actually happened is that the German government has modified its drug laws to reclassify marijuana from Annex I (no medical use) to Annex II, as long as it is "intended for the productions of preparations for medicinal purposes" -- not raw marijuana.

The health ministry also approved adding "cannabis extract (extract obtained from plants and parts of plants belonging to the species cannabis) in preparations approved as medicines" to Annex III of the drug law. That means that Sativex, a sublingual marijuana extract composed primarily of the compounds Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol, will qualify as medicine under German law, and that its maker, Britain-based GW Pharma, can now apply to market it there.

GW Pharma is partnering with the pharmaceutical giant Bayer in marketing Sativex. Approval to use Sativex in Germany is expected to happen next year. It will only be approved for the treatment of spasticity in multiple sclerosis.

GW Pharma's move in Germany is part of a broader roll-out of Sativex, which has already been approved for limited use in Britain, won preliminary approval in Spain, and this week, was approved for MS spasticity in Canada. The company also plans to seek approvals in other European Union countries, including France and Italy.

"There are media reports that the German government is intending to ease the access to cannabis for medicinal purposes," said Dr. Grotenhermen in response to a Chronicle query. "Most of the reports are misleading. The German government has agreed to allow pharmaceutical companies to apply for approvals on cannabis-based medicines in Germany. No other changes with regard to the medical use of cannabis are intended by the German government. The German Association for Cannabis as Medicine is calling the media reports initiated by the German government 'misleading,' since they suggest that cannabis will be available in Germany soon for many patients, while it is only for spasticity in MS after the approval of Sativex for this indication," Grotenherman said.

"The German government announced a 'major breakthrough' for cannabis as medicine in Germany, and nearly all the newspapers repeated this without knowing what the 'breakthrough' actually was," explained German hemp activist Steffen Geyer. "The next day, the real decision was made public, and it basically said they will change the law so Bayer can sell Sativex to patients with multiple sclerosis. The 'breakthrough' is really a small step, and they aren't doing it for the patients, but for the companies."

Cannabidiol (courtesy Cacycle, wikimedia.org)

And that means no relief in sight for most of Germany's medical marijuana patients. As things now stand, people in Germany who want to use medical marijuana have two choices: If all other treatment options have been tried already, they can be prescribed Marinol, which is expensive and typically not covered by health insurance. Or, since a German court ruling forced the government's hand, they can apply to the government for special permission to use medical marijuana.

Only about 40 patients are permitted to do so, and they must buy their medical marijuana from a Dutch supplier, Bedrocan, in German pharmacies. They cannot grow their own, and no one can grow it for them, either. Just last month, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices rejected a patient's bid to grow his own. The patient had permission to get cannabis at the pharmacy, but said he could not afford it.

"Most patients who tried Marinol said it didn't work like natural cannabis, so after a couple of years, the institute 'invented' an extract made from cannabis flowers and sesame seed oil," said Geyer. "That didn't work, either. It was even worse than Marinol. Again, a couple of years went by, some more patients died, then the court ruling forced the government to allow some patients to use cannabis as medicine. But that Dutch medical marijuana is expensive, so most patients can't afford the amount they actually need. But since, like everybody else, they are not allowed to buy or grow their own, some of them are in jail."

Pharmaceutical Bedrocan goes for $18-30 a gram, while black market marijuana sells for $6-15 a gram, Geyer reported.

"So, none of this changes, and now the wonderful news that Germany will be the next country where Bayer can get richer by selling Sativex," the activist sardonically noted. "But it won't be in the pharmacies, it will only be for specified conditions, you will still have to try all the other therapies first, and health insurance won't pay the bill."

The German government's resistance to expanding access to medical marijuana comes even as opinion polls show strong support for it among the citizenry. An August poll had 76% of German voters in favor of medical marijuana and only 18% opposed. Similarly, 65% said health insurance should pay for it.

Medical marijuana patients and would-be patients need to continue to organize, said Geyer. "We need to get the German patients more political," he said. "For the last 10 years, there was often a gulf between 'good' patients and 'bad' recreational users, and that sucked the political power out of the movement. But patients started to see this as a problem, and have begun to ask hemp activists about advice for political campaigns. This year, for example, for the first time, we had legal patients marching in the Hemp Parade, and that led to widespread news coverage related to cannabis medicine."

Geyer has a plan. "The next step on my medical cannabis agenda is to get more patients to ask for legal permission to grow their own marijuana," he said. "The cost problem may make that possible. Both Marinol and the Bedrocan are far, far more expensive than the plant, and most patients just don’t have the money. There is a chance this will work soon. After the first couple of 'I Can Grow' patients, I would like to establish a patients' cannabis social club, but that's at least two or three years away."

Germany has allowed corporate cannabis medicine a foot in the door, but it is so far still leaving the vast majority of possible beneficiaries of medical marijuana -- the patients -- on the outside waiting to get in.

Masonic Political Dynamics?

Rand Paul chooses 'States Rights' Over Freedom,
would allow continuing the 'drug war' criminal mercantilism via State rather then Federal govt.

http://blog.mpp.org/medical-marijuana/paul-campaign-clarifies-medical-marijuana-stance/08202010/

MPP's Mark Melo sums up this clarification of Rand Paul's position on continuing MJ prohibition:

Many readers have been questioning the accuracy of an Associated Press article I blogged about recently claiming Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul, who has defended the rights of states to pass medical marijuana laws, “is opposed to the legalization of marijuana, even for medicinal purposes.”

As a former reporter, I always strive for accuracy, so I just got off the phone with a representative of the Paul campaign in order to clarify the candidate’s position — which isn’t as simple as the AP made it out to be.

“Doctor Paul’s stance has not changed, and that is a case of sloppy reporting,” said Nena Bartlett, Paul’s assistant campaign manager. “His position is that it’s a states’ rights issue.”

However, when I asked Bartlett if Paul personally supports medical marijuana laws, and would, for example, vote for a bill protecting patients from arrest if he were a member of a state legislature, she demurred.

“I’m actually not positive that he’s taken that stance,” Bartlett said. “He just believes it should be left up to the states … I’m not sure if that’s a position he would take at this time. It’s a decision for doctors and patients at the local level.”

So there we have it. Rand Paul believes the federal government should not interfere in state medical marijuana laws. But he does not support such laws himself, at least not at this time. It was therefore inaccurate for the AP to say he “is opposed” to medical marijuana laws. (Though the Paul campaign will not say he’s “in favor” of them either.) I regret having helped to spread that misinformation, and want to apologize to our readers.

MPP’s blog — like nearly every other one online — relies almost entirely on outside news organizations to provide us with information that we then analyze and make entertaining for our readers. As this episode demonstrates, sometimes news outlets get it wrong—even ones as old and esteemed as the AP. With that in mind, I hope our readers will appreciate where we’re coming from, and understand that we will always do what’s in our power to promote accurate information — and correct something when it’s wrong.

The expenditure of billions $$$ annually for a constitutionally criminal, immoral 'drug war' designed as market protection and initially pushed through the U.S. government via the U.S. Department of Agriculture is somehow OK if run by the various States rather then the Federal (national) government? Also note is utter failure to condemn MJ and other drug prohibition, nor dare say he would oppose it as a state legislature.

This sort of intellectual dance and cowardice, IMHO reeks of a fraternal order racketeering to protect various markets as long as they can.

That something as 'Virginia Bright Leaf' cigarettes, of a variety of the plant designed to provide little psychoactive satisfaction while being 'smooth' to be drawn deeply into the lungs, and described as more physically addictive then injected heroin, and sold with 100s of additives designed to increase usage (aka burn accelerants) and health problems and house fires, taking some 440,00 lives annually in the U.S. alone is "legal", while MJ, Coca and Opium which take no lives (unless made highly more concentrated then as they exist in nature- with their use likewise perverted) are "illegal"?

To me this reeks of an international shadow government, as plainly hidden in open site, as one the $1 bill, back and to the left, and via the label of the #1 brand of this Virginia Bright Leaf cigarette "dope".


Asking about the fraternal order membership -- note that many college fraternities were founded by masons, along with their logos' assorted masonic and roman catholic imagery -- of any political candidate, occurs with Rand Paul, along with that of his father, Ron Paul (the 1988 U.S. Libertarian Party and a candidate for the U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination in 2007).

As it should with any others.

For instance, IIRC, the 2008 U.S. Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr is reportedly a mason- hence showing that masonry's political infiltration goes beyond the 2-party Democrat-Republican duel-opoly.

Rand Paul's father, Ron Paul's Fraternal Connection
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/124082


Explaining People like FDR, Clinton, the Bushes, etc
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/11/explaining-people-like-fdr-etc.html


College Frats as Satanic (Luciferian) Romish-Masonry?
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/08/college-frats-as-satanic-romish-masonry.html


.

Is Evo Morales Continually Keeping TPTB Peeved?

(TPTB- The Powers That Be)

http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2010/08/times-green-spin-against-evo-morales.html

Sociopathic Texas

Medical Marijuana Patient Faces Life in Prison for a Half Ounce in Texas

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by Phillip Smith, August 11, 2010, 01:30pm, (Issue #644)

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• Arrests
• Medical Marijuana
• News Brief
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A Texas asthma sufferer who went to California for a medical marijuana recommendation and then got busted in June on a Texas highway with small amounts of marijuana and hashish is facing up to life in prison after being indicted by a Brown County grand jury. He is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, a first-degree felony in the Lone Star State.

Chris Diaz

Chris Diaz, 20, has been jailed on $40,000 bond since the June 27 arrest. He was busted with 14 grams of weed and hash.

Under Texas law, possession of less than two ounces of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail, while possession of hashish is either a state jail felony punishable by up to two years for less than a gram, or a second-class felony punishable by up to 20 years if less than four grams, although probation is also possible. It is unclear exactly how much hash Diaz had.

Diaz was pulled over for an expired license tag while en route from California to Austin, and according to the DPS trooper's report, could not produce a drivers' license or proof of insurance. He was then arrested for failure to identify, and during a subsequent search, police found a small amount of hashish on his person. A search of the vehicle then turned up more hash and marijuana in pill bottle from a California medical marijuana provider.

The DPS report said the search also turned up a cell phone "containing text messages referring to drug sales" and a notebook with "drug and law writings." Those are apparently the basis, legitimate or otherwise, for the drug distribution charge.

Texas does not have a medical marijuana law, and its authorities do not recognize having a recommendation from another state as a defense against prosecution.

Diaz has attracted supporters both inside Texas and nationally. The Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care and a group called I Am Sovereign are publicizing the case and pressuring Brown County officialdom. And the asthmatic Diaz sits in jail in Central Texas awaiting trial, without his medicine.

Brownwood, TX

United States

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