Freedom of Medicine and Diet

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Missing from the DPA Conference

http://www.reformconference.org/program

NO Panels on Coca, Opium nor Ibogaine nor any plants other than Marijuana

NO Panels on how the drug war encourage more dangerous drug forms and how that was done to protect the most dangerous drug of all

NO Panels on History- even at this final conference before next year's 100 anniversary of the infamous 1914 Congress Harrison Narcotics Act

Nor anything regarding the Drug Policy Foundation-Alliance connection with Covington & Burling- perhaps the largest Washington D.C. law firm representative of big Tobacco and Pharma.

Nor any indication yet of any scheduled appearance by their pharmaceutical industry attorney 'assigned primary responsibility for advising the [DP] foundation' - Marialuisa S. Gallozzi, nor any other such persons, regarding the Covington Tobacco-pharma influence over the direction of groups as the Drug Policy Foundation/now Alliance.

Suggested blog labels "Covington & Burling", "Drug Policy Foundation/Alliance", and "drug war scam - public health subversion"

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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Jesuit Gov to Keep Simple Drug Possession as "Felony"

The Continual Abuse of the Term "Felon"

Jerry Brown Vetoes California "Defelonization" Bill

by Phillip Smith, October 15, 2013, 07:10pm

Posted in:

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) Saturday vetoed a bill that would have allowed prosecutors or judges to charge simple drug possession as a misdemeanor instead of a felony. The bill would have made drug possession a "wobbler," meaning it could be charged either way, based on judicial or prosecutorial discretion.

overcrowded California prison (supremecourtus.gov)

Some 10,000 people are convicted of drug possession felonies each year in California, and experts estimated that, under the bill, 15% to 30% of them would have been charged instead with misdemeanors. The exact number is unknown because the bill would have left those decisions up to prosecutors and judges. But in any case, the bill would have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal justice system savings, which would have provided local governments with more flexibility to invest in drug treatment and mental health services and focus law enforcement resources on more serious offenses, along with lightening up on some of the people caught up in the criminal justice system.
The bill, Senate Bill 649, was sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and passed the legislature with bipartisan support, but was opposed by law enforcement and some prosecutors. Leno and supporters had argued that the bill would save the state money on incarceration and related costs.

The bill was premature, given that a broader criminal justice system reform is in the works, Brown said in a veto message. "We are going to examine in detail California's criminal justice system, including the sentencing structure," he said. "We will do so with the full participation of all the necessary parties, including law enforcement, local government, courts, and treatment providers. That would be the appropriate time to evaluate our existing drug laws."

Even after the state's vaunted prison realignment, California prisons remain overcrowded, and the more than 4,100 people currently imprisoned on simple drug possession charges only add to that burden. The cost of imprisoning them comes to $207 million a year.

Under current California law, which will now stay in place, simple possession of drugs such as cocaine, meth, and heroin is a felony punishable by up to three years in prison. Leno's bill left that maximum sentence in place, but would have given either judges or prosecutors the discretion to punish possession as a misdemeanor, with a year in jail as a maximum sentence. Similarly, under the Leno bill, judges or prosecutors could have diverted drug users to treatment or community programs in a bid to reduce recidivism.

Charging drug possessors with misdemeanors instead of felonies would also have created criminal justice system savings with each lower-level prosecution. That's because felony charges require a preliminary hearing, while misdemeanor charges do not.

But law enforcement groups, including the California State Sheriffs Association, the California Police Chiefs Association, and the California District Attorneys Association all opposed the bill, labeling it a threat to public safety. They argued that the bill would reduce incentives for drug possessors to voluntarily seek drug treatment because they would only face jail time, and the jails are so full -- thanks to prison realignment -- that people sentenced to jail time do only a tiny fraction of that time.

Brown could have let the bill become law without his signature, Leno noted in an interview with the Chronicle earlier this month, and pronounced himself "surprised" at the veto.

"It's quite surprising that the governor would veto a modest attempt at sentencing reform in light of our prison overcrowding crisis," Leno said Saturday.

Bill supporters, including the ACLU of California and the Drug Policy Alliance lambasted Brown's decision to veto the bill.

"By vetoing SB 649, Gov. Brown has thwarted the will of the voters and their elected representatives by rejecting a modest reform that would have helped end mass incarceration in this state," said Kim Horiuchi, criminal justice and drug policy attorney for the ACLU of California.

"California voters and the legislature recognize the urgent need to reevaluate our sentencing laws and enact smart reforms, especially for low level, non-violent drug crimes," Horiuchi continued. "Doing so will allow California to reduce its reliance on incarceration and free up limited resources for the sorts of community-based treatment, education and job training programs proven to reduce crime and create safe and healthy communities. Despite this, Gov. Brown remains inexplicably opposed to meaningful sentencing reform."

"The governor let down the people of California, the majority of whom support going even farther than this bill would have gone," said Lynne Lyman, California state director for the Drug Policy Alliance. "The vast majority of voters agree with the experts -- locking up drug users is stupid, unproductive, cruel and expensive."

Despite the opposition of the law enforcement establishment, California public opinion wants to see sentencing reform. A 2012 Tulchin poll found that 75% of Californians preferred prevention and treatment as an alternative to jail for nonviolent offenders and 62% agreed that possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use should be a misdemeanor.

Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia already have such laws, and an effort to pass similar legislation is gearing up in Washington state. But in Sacramento, Gov. Brown was listening to the cops instead of the people.

"Our system is broken," said DPA's Lyman. "Felony sentences don't reduce drug use and don't persuade users to seek treatment, but instead, impose tremendous barriers to housing, education and employment after release -- three things we know help keep people out of our criminal justice system and successfully reintegrating into their families and communities."

Sacramento, CA

United States

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Make Cannabis Oil Available to Cancer Patients

A Petition:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Make_cannabis_oil_available_to_all_cancer_patients_as_a_treatment_option/?fbdm

We ask you to help explore a genuine and proven medicine and it's potential as a cancer treatment and potential cure. Cannabis has more than enough clinical evidence supporting both it's safety and efficacy as a cancer treatment, and while the full extent of it's cancer killing potential has yet to be fully explored, this petition could be help to change that shameful situation and save a lot of lives in the process.

Why this is important

Despite government and UN stance regarding cannabis as an illegal narcotic; it is now an established fact that cannabis is a safe and effective medicine, supported by a very large body of evidence and further supported by patent filed by the US government, 6630507, and while an outright cancer curing ability for all types of cancer in humans has yet to be proven 100%, there is more than enough evidence to support it's use as a cancer killing medicine, and it's safety, a fact supported by patent 20130059018. The latter patent was filed by two pharmaceutical companies, one of which, GW Pharmaceuticals currently grows cannabis under licence in the UK, and produce cannabis oil which is used to create the currently approved cannabis drug Sativex.

There is no reason why, in exchange for being allowed to produce cannabis, GW Pharmaceuticals should not be made to produce pure cannabis oil which could be provided to all cancer patients who wish to use it as a treatment option, and could be easily, and with minimal expense, provided through NHS. Similar programmes could be introduce in all other countries. With assistance from fully trained doctors and with unhindered access to high quality cannabis oil medicines, the potential for cannabis medicine, particularly as a cancer treatment, can be realised and it's cancer curing potential can be proven once and for all. Currently cancer patients are suffering and dying while governments continue to prohibit this valuable medicine, and the only current access to cannabis based medicines is through expensive and compromised drugs like Sativex and Marinol, none of which represent high grade, natural medicine.

Marinol is synthetic THC, while Sativex is natural cannabis extract/oil heavily diluted in an alcohol solution (the presents of the alcohol actually decreases the safety of the medicine, as well as drastically limiting it's potency, and there for it's medical potential). Both of these current cannabis drugs are approved as safe and effective medicines, and both are patented products. Their existence represent the hypocrisy of governments and medical authorities regarding cannabis as a medicine. While Cancer research organisations pander to the pharmaceutical industry, a genuine cancer treatment and potential cure remains ignored and suppressed.

Please support this petition to finally answer the question - can cannabis cure all types of cancer in humans?

Monday, September 2, 2013

Douglas Willinger Old Connection Into Covington & Burling

see- The Angel of Francesca and Marialuisa

'assigned primary responsibility for advising the [Drug Policy] Foundation'
via the Covington & Burling pro bono program

Covington & Burling Is Not Just Another Law Firm
http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2011/10/covington-burling-is-not-just-another.html

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2009/01/holder-breuer.html

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2008/03/drug-policy-foundation-legal-connection.html

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2008/03/drug-policy-foundation-advised-by-c.html

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2011/09/dpa-under-sells-harm-reduction.html

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2011/09/dpa-raising-suspicions-with-its.html

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2011/10/bottleneck-or-facilitator.html

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2009/02/coca-come-back.html

Saturday, August 24, 2013

DPA- Again NO Coca Panel

This is in complete disregard of Ethan Nadelmann's word given to me personally at the 2011 conference that there would be a Coca panel for the 2013 DPA conference.

This further confirms the serious need to expose the bad influence over the DPA (which was the DPF prior to the merger with the Lindesmith Institute in 2000).

Hi Douglas--

Thank you for your continued interest in the conference and for always bringing this topic to us. For 2013, we considered the topic of coca, but felt that it could not carry a whole session. We expect it to be addressed on sessions where discussion of the Latin American scene will take place, of which there will be at least two.

Please do keep doing your important work, and hope to see you in Denver.

Stefanie

Stefanie Jones | Event Manager
Drug Policy Alliance
Voice: 212.613.8047 | www.drugpolicy.org

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Holder to Slightly Reduce Drug Sentencing?

U.S. Attorney General and once Covington & Burling pharmaceutical industry attorney Eric Holder announces a change in U.S. Justice Department prosecutorial procedure to omit the amount of contraband from charging documents, though not from the actual sentencing- admitting that the US spends some $80 billion annually for incarceration.

But if he were truly serious, there's so much more that he and the Obama Administration could do.

From the comments section at the Facebook page of the Drug Policy Alliance:

Barack Obama could end the Federal Drug War right now if he wanted to and he either doesn't want to end it or he doesn't have the courage to end it!

I am interested in your comments but please read ALL of this before you try to apologize for him and tell me that it isn't his fault or that he doesn't have the power. Read on . . .

As President, Barack Obama has the power of the Bully Pulpit to set the tone for change and refuse to sign new laws that further the oppression and discrimination of the War on Drugs. Barack Obama also makes appointments to many offices that could use their position to change drug policy and the enforcement of drug laws:

Department of Justice:
Attorney General
Deputy Attorney General
Associate Attorney General
Administrator - Drug Enforcement Administration
Deputy Administrator - Drug Enforcement Administration
Director - Federal Bureau of Investigation

Office of National Drug Control Policy:
Director - "Drug Czar"
Deputy Director
Deputy Director - Demand Reduction
Deputy Director - State and Local Affairs
Deputy Director - Supply Reduction

Department of Health and Human Services:
Commissioner of Food and Drugs
Director - National Institutes of Health
Administrator — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

The President appoints the Attorney General and the Attorney General is accountable to the President. The Attorney General can change the classification of Marijuana from Schedule I to any other schedule that he chooses so that it can be considered to have medicinal value and immediately put a stop to the Federal Raids on Medical Marijuana Clinics in states that have Medical Marijuana Laws.

Here is an excerpt from The Controlled Substance Act where the Attorney General’s authority to reclassify or remove drugs is defined:
____________________________

Section 811. Authority and Criteria for Classification of Substances

(a) Rules and regulations of Attorney General; hearing

The Attorney General shall apply the provisions of this subchapter to the controlled substances listed in the schedules established by section 812 of this title and to any other drug or other substance added to such schedules under this subchapter. Except as provided in subsections (d) and (e) of this section, the Attorney General may by rule–

(1) add to such a schedule or transfer between such schedules any drug or other substance if he–

(A) finds that such drug or other substance has a potential for abuse, and

(B) makes with respect to such drug or other substance the findings prescribed by subsection (b) of section 812 of this title for the schedule in which such drug is to be placed; or

(2) remove any drug or other substance from the schedules if he finds that the drug or other substance does not meet the requirements for inclusion in any schedule.
____________________________

Barack Obama's appointed Attorney General can reclassify, the DEA and FBI can change their priorities and use their resources elsewhere, the DOJ can prosecute real criminals, and the FDA and NIH can allow unbiased studies on Medical Marijuana. All of these agencies answer to the President and their directors are appointed by Obama.

Barack Obama would be able to effectively end the Federal War on Drugs if he wanted to and had the courage! Yes he could!
____________________________

Sources:
Controlled Substance Act: http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/21usc/811.htm
Presidential Appointments: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_positions_filled_by_presidential_appointment_with_Senate_confirmation

Like · Reply · 4 · 2 hours ago

Monday, August 12, 2013

Gupta 180 on MJ

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/08/health/gupta-changed-mind-marijuana/index.html?sr=sharebar_facebook