Recently the Los Angeles City Council held hearings on the thorny issue of medical marijuana dispensary regulation. For years city officials have abrogated their duty to create sensible regulations for the dispensaries that have proliferated across the Los Angeles basin. The number of dispensaries has ballooned to over 500 (not the 1,000+ often claimed) following an ineffective moratorium on the retail medical marijuana outlets.
As usual, the hearings were packed, with medical marijuana patients and activists flooding the chambers to add their testimony to the record. One citizen petitioning her government for a redress of grievances was the Executive Director of the new Beverly Hills NORML 90210 (http://www.norml90210.org/become-a-member.php), Cheryl Shuman. In sixty seconds of testimony, Cheryl recounts her own personal medical marijuana tragedy, one that has befallen many desperately ill patients who use cannabis — even legally — and require life-saving organ transplants:
Cheryl’s case is not unique. All across America, hospitals are booting patients off of organ transplant lists because of their use of cannabis. Being a legal user of cannabis for medicinal purposes in the now fourteen states that recognize that right is of no help; even legal medical marijuana patients are essentially given a death sentence by hospital and insurance bureaucracies for their use of a safe, non-toxic herbal remedy.
Timothy Garon was a Seattle musician who had contracted Hepatitis C. Garon was on a waiting list for a life-saving liver transplant. The state of Washington recognizes Hep C as a qualifying condition for the medical use of cannabis. Garon’s physician, Dr. Brad Roter, authorized Garon to smoke pot to alleviate his nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite while he awaited. Garon had become dangerously thin and malnourished and the cannabis therapy helped bring him back from the brink of death.
But unbeknown to Dr. Roter, hospital transplant programs have strict rules that forbid “substance abusers” from qualifying for organ transplants. Seattle’s University of Washington Medical Center told Garon that if he ceased his marijuana use and tested clean for 60 days, he could have his liver transplant. Another medical center specified six months of marijuana abstinence before they’d save his life with surgery.
Doctors had told Garon he had about two weeks to live and he died on May 1, 2008. The cruelest irony is that cannabis is one of the few therapies Garon could have taken for pain and nausea that is not hepatoxic (liver-killing) and laden with a list of other nasty side effects.
In Hawaii, Kimberley Reyes suffered from cirrhosis and hepatitis and was given thirty days to live. She applied for and received approval for a life-saving liver transplant, only to have the rug pulled out from under her three days later when her insurance company, Hawaii Medical Service Association, discovered cannabis in her system, which she had used to relieve feelings of nausea, disorientation and pain. Ten days later she, too, was dead.
In Washington, Jonathan Simchen suffers from kidney failure. Doctors at Virginia Mason and University of Washington medical centers deny him a life-saving kidney transplant because of his participation in the Washington State medical marijuana program. According to Alisha Mark, a spokeswoman for Virginia Mason, “any patient who smokes any product — tobacco, cloves, medical marijuana — would be precluded from receiving a transplant here.”
In Georgia, a man named Walter emailed me after reading these transplant stories:
My name is Walter and my kidney transplant was denied by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia due to the fact I smoke marijuana.
In January I went to the University of Minnesota/Fairview Transplant Center for an evaluation. In order to be completely honest with all the doctors I made them aware of the fact that I smoke marijuana and have for quite some time. I also made them aware that the use of marijuana has helped me with the decline of my appetite due to end stage of renal disease. With the exception of the hospital shrink, no one seemed to have a problem with it and even commented that my smoking had nothing to do with my kidney.
Blue Cross Blue Shield approved the evaluation but [after] having received the paperwork from Minnesota has declined my transplant, stating “Kidney transplantation has not been shown to be more beneficial than other alternative treatments for patients with ongoing substance abuse. Thus, I recommended denial of kidney transplantation” (Ronald Hunt MD – Medical Director).
Jim Klahr is a well-known medical marijuana activist here in Oregon who also suffers from cirrhosis and hepatitis C. In an ironic twist, he sits on the state’s advisory committee on medical marijuana, yet hasn’t used his most effective medicine for his pain and nausea since 2004 because he’s terrified of losing his chance for a liver transplant. “I’ve capitulated because basically I don’t have much of a choice,” says Klahr. Paul Stanford of The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation, the state’s largest medical marijuana clinic, estimates at least 30 Oregonians who use medical weed have died in the past 10 years after hospitals denied them new organs.
We understand why hospitals have strict qualifying criteria for transplant candidates. Transplant organs are in high demand and doctors want every recipient to have the best chance at survival possible. Hospitals screen their transplant lists for “substance abusers” because it really doesn’t make much sense to put a new liver into an alcoholic who will just go out and drink that organ into cirrhosis and failure as well. It’s foolhardy to give a new kidney to a heroin addict who would then possibly share needles and come down with another life-threatening disease.
But in the case of cannabis users, the concern for the chance of post-transplant survival is misplaced. According to new research at the University of Michigan, cannabis use has no impact on the long-term survival rates of liver transplant recipients. After studying 1,489 liver transplant patients, 155 of whom were cannabis users, over a span of eight years, researchers concluded, “Patients who did and did not use marijuana had similar survival rates. Current substance abuse policies do not seem to systematically expose marijuana users to additional risk of mortality.”
The cases of Cheryl Shuman and all these victims of a cruel and needless discrimination against desperately ill cannabis consumers illustrate why existing medical marijuana laws, while commendable, do not go far enough. Cheryl Shuman, Tim Garon, Jim Klahr and others are all legal medical marijuana patients in their state, yet powerless under the law to force hospitals to keep them on the transplant lists. This discrimination exists because cannabis is considered an “illicit drug of abuse” in the same category as heroin and LSD. This is why cannabis must be removed from Schedule I, legalized for prescription by any doctor in any state, so that it may truly be treated like other medicines, including the prohibition on discrimination against a transplant patient for the use of his or her doctor’s prescriptions.
I would like you to unite your efforts , us to unite our efforts , with the best of the antiabortion movements . According to me abortion must be permitted only in case of rape or danger of life for the pregnant woman (probably a better sexual education should be done , too ) .
I indicate http://www.abort73.com .
Free Life , free cannabis !
I think that marjiuana and cannabis can help also to avoid violence wars and abortions .
Happy 2010 of global peace truth love freedom and justice !
jesus…i swear why cant they just make it legal ? fucking feds,and government are ass holes
This goes beyond logic and makes no sense at all. There are way more drugs out there that are more detrimental to people’s organs and cannabis is not one of them. Why don’t they remove people who consume alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, heroin and so on too? That council that voted for this should be tried in court for premeditated murder.
CM
This is just an out rage! Once more they have found a way to KILL those that are harmless. My heart gos out to these poor sick people and all those like them. This has goto be a wake up call for all.
this makes me sick to my stomach
Im sure hospitals will still accept organs from medical marijuana users that are also donors, but they will not help medical marijuana users who need transplants!?
Don’t you get it , Yet ?
I’ve been telling you it’s D.A.T. whose the force behind prohibition . Hospitals boot patients off of transplants & will would rather allow patients to die because there is money ( & lots of it ) behind pharmaceuticals .
The Drug Testing Kits are also a product invented by D.A.T. so you’ll take their drugs . By Drug testing they are literally murdering people with their Kits . This is also causing States like Cali. to go Bankrupt . When a person is unable to work because of Drug testing they often go into depression & may go as far as killing themselves . Others may turn to general assistance because of financial need to support a family & a State pays the costs . Meg Whitman is calling for a few months assistance then your booted off of any assistance . Yet you can’t work because you consume Marijuana . Then some of you will say….. ” then quit ” . That’s like saying quit taking pharmaceuticals . Well , some people cannot quit because to them it’s a matter of life & death . Meg Whitman is behind Pharmaceutical . Just ask NORML . This again will lead to Children going hungry & more dying because a Mom or Dad may need marijuana for medical reasons which cuts into the profits of D.A.T.
I myself got more ” hits ” from my talk show about Marijuana ( all i did was tell the TRUTH ) on KGO Radio than former Mayor Willie Brown & the Carey Brothers combined . I’ve contacted the Producer & General Manager 4 times trying to get back on KGO but they will not allow me back on . I got so many calls i crashed thir server lines . Why will they not allow me back on ? Because their main sponsors are Drug & Alcohol of which they receive tons of money from . People are being executed & prosecuted because of marijuana around the World . People are literally being killed over this God given Drug & that’s why i keep telling you that surely this has to be the work of the DEVIL . Only Satan could take the lives of the innocent .
Understand now ?
Sheryl – You did an outstanding job . You even suprised
me it was so good . Absolutely Wonderful .
Hey, i give blood all the time and have smoked pot for over 30 years, why don’t the red cross care if i smoke?
[Russ responds: Interesting that you mention it. I am a long time blood and platelet donor. I go to the Red Cross wearing my iconic 100% hemp potleaf newsboy cap. I often am wearing a movement t-shirt. Me and the Red Cross staff have great conversations about medical marijuana. I’m quite upfront about my daily cannabis use and they have no problem with it. I always wonder who is the lucky patient who gets my blood!
However, if you are a gay male or have even had a single gay sexual experience, you can’t donate. If you’re African or have been to Africa, no go. If you spent time in the United Kingdom in the military, you’re disqualified. If you’ve ever visited a prostitute even once, forget it.
By the way, when they first tested my blood for platelet-counts, they were very impressed that my count was over 300. “This means we can get three bags out of you!” Really, so what was my platelet count? “Four hundred and twenty!” Seriously. I have stoner blood!]
The abstract link said in it: “Marijuana users were more likely to use tobacco, narcotics, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, cocaine or barbiturates.”
We know that’s not true.
So they do a study, supposedly a positive study and then they insert this lie?
How unbelievably cruel and inhumane. To take away someones hope of a life saving transplant for using cannabis is incomprehensible. Coming from the medical community is even more incomprehensible. Shame shame shame on all of them.
What is Ronald Hunt MD email address and home phone number and his home address. ?
I think he needs a good talking to.
Thats bullshit its better and safer than beer for your body…
How is it that so many categorically ignorant and personally cruel individuals have risen to positions of power, from which they can control the lives of others? When are we going to see the professional class in this country finally become so fed up with these excremental lies and fascist laws that they push aside their fear of retribution and stand up for what they believe in? In many ways we are living in a dark age, an age in which we are being led by fools and greedy connivers, most of whom couldn’t manage the operation of a latrine, let alone a nation.
proves, once again, THEY WANT US TO DIE !!
in WAR, the objective is to KILL the ENEMY,
as many as possible.
they are fighting a WAR against us.
trying to KILL US,
and we are TALKING to them.
AND THEY ARE IGNORING US !!
—-
so, why is progress suddenly speeding up?
people are starting to fight back;
there are now more deaths on the mexican border than in iraq or afganistan.
politicians and cops are starting to wake up, but unfortunately, it has taken a heavy body count to get their attention.
Let the tyranny and hypocracy from the insurance companies continue! How many people will die….
I had no idea that this was going on.
This is so barbaric and cruel that it makes my blood boil. Doctors of all people should be aware of the lack of danger presented by cannabis to the internal organs. I could perhaps understand this only in the instances of perhaps a lung transplant, but even then I would question the justifications for denial.
I am shocked and astounded that this practice is allowed. Doctors are sentencing patients to death simply because they use cannabis to manage their pain, this is simply wrong, and must be stopped.
The doctors issuing these denials should be stripped of their right to practice medicine as they are clearly basing their decisions on personal bias, and not sound medical science.
Was curious….if you are a organ donor and also a marijuana “user” they’ll take your organs for use. If thats the case isnt the system broke?
[Russ responds: Madeline Martinez of Oregon NORML says that we should all band together and form a Cannabis Consumers Organ list. Our organs only go to other cannabis consumers. Screw it, if they think our organs are good enough to put into non-tokers, but not us, the people giving them organs, then let’s just make an exclusive tokers-only list!
I told her it was a fabulous idea, but soon you’d find a whole lot of never-before-tokers suddenly taking it up in order to get on a shorter list. She replies, “More tokers… is that a bad thing?” Something to think about…]
i agree this article though i wanted to comment that LSD being a schedule 1 drug is a bit absurd itself, tho it may not relate to NORML… LD-25 has a lot of potential for medicinal use from what I have seen and experienced
To be fair/honest or however else you would like to say it, it’s just another reason that insurance companies can use to refuse to treat the people that pay their salaries.
This is only one more example of how this country has changed. We are ruled by the big corporations and monopolies. Pass the soylent green…
Never understood this. i mean i can give blood after what 2 or 3 days of smoking. but a transplant OH KNOW. makes me sick.
Cheryl Shuman….wow, just goes to show how little these politicians that we vote in to office care about its citizens. When will these morons realize its a plant and that they have been lied to. Such a broken country we live in. I for the life of me cant understand why we keep voting these puppets into office.
this makes me nauseated that they do this to sick and dying people that want a chance to live just the same as you and me… i need to smoke to alleviate my nausea now!
These Right Wing Neo-Facist totalitarian police state nazis are such revolting excuses for human beings. The evil conservatives must be fought and destroyed.
i am in shock that they they do this to human beings.my god….to let people die…..
PLEASE, Everyone , write ,call,email your state senators and representatives and tell them that you want them to work to remove Cannabis from Schedule 1 to schedule 111. THIS IS THE DAMNABLE LIE that our government has been perpetuating AGAINST it’s citizens for our whole generation. THIS IS THE KINGPIN to all Cannabis law reform. It is the LIE that our weak kneed prohibitionist state politicians hide behind , and we should all be damned sick of it by now.
Who would have thought that in 21st century America we, the citizens would have to fight our own government to reverse this LIE that has ruined so many lives, AND prohibited the advance of scientific study of a plant of unknown potential… YOU MUST TAKE ACTION.
Why not a law suit ? I’m sure there are lawyers who would take this on for free even if only to waste the money of the people who denied the person the transplant.
Are there any lawyers out who care ?
[Russ responds: Many. Problem is, they don’t have much in statute to sue over. It’s not an ADA (Americans with Disability Act) breach and most of these hospitals are private entities that may choose whomever they wish to give transplants or not. Some of the newer medical marijuana laws provide protection of transplant rights, but in most cases, medical marijuana laws are just an exemption from prosecution under criminal laws that apply to cannabis. Since those criminal laws do still apply (i.e. cannabis is an “illicit drug of abuse”, we just don’t bust sick people for it) the transplant centers are free to eliminate candidates involved with “illicit drugs of abuse”.]
It’s such a shame how cannabis was received in America. Instead of seeing its utility, we made it to be criminal. This led to countless disastrous effects. These will be an embarrassing 100 years to look back on when prohibition is done, but hopefully we can learn a lesson for future generations.
This is yet another false front created by the utterly useless front of “medical marijuana”. Being restricted away from an organ transplant list started with alcohol. Should we line alcoholics up for new livers after they have voluntarily destroyed their own? But the alcoholics have managed to smear all drug users with the same brush and anyone who is on the record for using any of the recreational drugs are restricted away from organ transplant lists.
Remember, alcohol is legal. It doesn’t matter that “medical marijuana” is legal, the use of marijuana is classed with “substance abuse”. Is it really right to wring our hankies over “medical marijuana” users being restricted away from organ transplants? What about the rest of the pot smokers who are restricted away for the same reason? What are they supposed to do? Die quietly, I guess.
I sense a lot of anger here…..;-)
another point: Being that cannabis has some anti-inflammatory properties, some immunosuppressant properties, doesn’t it make sense then that consumption of cannabis could conceivably HELP the body accept the new organ?
And #22: Yes and while I was in grad school I sold a lot of plasma and very often I smoked one up in the parking lot right before I went in. Imagine there were a lot of people with an inexplicable trace of thc metabolites in their system for some time after getting my plasma:-0
Cheryl Shuman:
Please know that you are thought of fondly and loved. While you have difficulties ahead of you please accept a sincere thank you from me for your bravery and the fight you’ve gone through for marijuana.
So sorry that you had to stand in front of City Council members and be given less than two minutes to give your testimony.
You are a brave woman.
They want us to die & are murdering us .
I owned property from the Sierra Nevada’s to San Francisco and North to the Oregon border & South below San Francisco .I’ve lost all my properties in 3 years with the collaspse of the Realestate market except my house & another which i am scheduled to lose next month . Being a business owner ( Developer ) i looked to no one for work until recently . I have tried to get work but have been denied because of drug
testing . I tried but due to Drug testing can’t even drive a taxi . If i quit using my medicine
( Cannabis )i will turn back to Alcohol which will cause me again to go back to prescription medications to stay alive . ( this is what they want me to do ) Why i quit drinking is because my Doctor said ” if you don’t stop drinking your going to get diabetes or worse kill yourself ” . The next day i substituted marijuana & never went back to Alcohol again . Now they are forcing me to turn back to Alcohol which will kill me . I come from a family of drinkers . My Grandfather died at 44 yrs . My Dad at 50 yrs . All my Uncles had already died by the time i left High
School . Even my Uncles kids are dead . Dead of Cirrhosis from drinking . I have lived 9 yrs . past my Dad’s death yet , they don’t want me to use Cannabis . They want me to use their drugs or i too will join those who have been murdered by those ( D.A.T. ) who use lies & deceived many because of their lust & greed for money & power over the World .
She backs , The McCain’s ( Alcohol – Drug Dealers ) & PayPal ( Drug pusher’s – Alcohol & pharmaceuticals )
Meg Whitman: “I am absolutely, 100% not in favor of legalizing marijuana for any reason.” (What about to increase tax revenues?) “That is the last reason that one should think about legalizing marijuana.” (BTW: It was good to see Whitman answer the question at a brief press avail in San Francisco after our Calbuzz Rant yesterday. Our follow-up to Meg is this: By “any reason” do you mean you oppose the medicinal use of marijuana?)
Scott Newman, former eBay vice president of customer support who was deposed in the Kepas suit, emphasized that the Adult Only section posed a quandary for Whitman.
“There was a lot of concern whether we should continue having a mature audiences site or not,” he said. Whitman “had often gone on the record saying, ‘I wish we hadn’t started that thing.’ But it was kind of like, now it’s out of the bag, and to stop it would have caused kind of a big deal, I guess, with the sellers who made their living on the ‘mature’ site.”
Brandon Scheuerman, who worked in eBay customer support between 1999 and 2006, spent part of his early time with the company dealing with customer complaints about offensive material. Early on, eBay executives “talked about doing away with that [explicit material] because it wasn’t consistent with the brand,” he recalled in an interview. Some eBay employees had complained of “get-a-load-of this” cubicle banter, where someone would point to a computer screen displaying that day’s most bizarre sex-themed auction item. “I did not think that it should exist in any shape or form, but I guess it’s whatever makes money.”
In 2006, Kepas recalled in an interview, an eBay vice president held meetings with managers at its Utah operations, “considering closing the mature audiences site.” In the end, however, the pro-porn faction prevailed. Last year, eBay moved to make purchasing adult material easier by ending a policy of prohibiting consumers from using PayPal to buy products such as Blond Cougar.
The Whitman campaign did not respond to a request for an interview about Whitman’s role as a steward of porn commerce, while an eBay spokeswoman said, “I regret to inform you I’m going to have to decline to participate in this story. My clients don’t have any information to share with you on this topic.
Scott Newman, former eBay vice president of customer support who was deposed in the Kepas suit, emphasized that the Adult Only section posed a quandary for Whitman.
“There was a lot of concern whether we should continue having a mature audiences site or not,” he said. Whitman “had often gone on the record saying, ‘I wish we hadn’t started that thing.’ But it was kind of like, now it’s out of the bag, and to stop it would have caused kind of a big deal, I guess, with the sellers who made their living on the ‘mature’ site.”
Brandon Scheuerman, who worked in eBay customer support between 1999 and 2006, spent part of his early time with the company dealing with customer complaints about offensive material. Early on, eBay executives “talked about doing away with that [explicit material] because it wasn’t consistent with the brand,” he recalled in an interview. Some eBay employees had complained of “get-a-load-of this” cubicle banter, where someone would point to a computer screen displaying that day’s most bizarre sex-themed auction item. “I did not think that it should exist in any shape or form, but I guess it’s whatever makes money.”
In 2006, Kepas recalled in an interview, an eBay vice president held meetings with managers at its Utah operations, “considering closing the mature audiences site.” In the end, however, the pro-porn faction prevailed. Last year, eBay moved to make purchasing adult material easier by ending a policy of prohibiting consumers from using PayPal to buy products such as Blond Cougar.
The Whitman campaign did not respond to a request for an interview about Whitman’s role as a steward of porn commerce, while an eBay spokeswoman said, “I regret to inform you I’m going to have to decline to participate in this story. My clients don’t have any information to share with you on this topic.
And now we know where her talks of bringing jobs to California comes from , Smut , Alcohol & Pharmaceuticals ;
Smut Peddler, Guv Hopeful Meg Whitman Waffles on Porn Subsidies
By Matt Smith in Politics
Wed., Apr. 15 2009 @ 4:37PM
Domimeg2.jpg
Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, who as eBay CEO proved her mettle as a hardcore fetish pornography entrepreneur, did not respond to an inquiry Wednesday about whether as governor she would seek to continue a California program that, until recently, subsidized the production of smut.
Next week’s SF Weekly includes an exclusive report about a California economic development program that has routed tens of thousands of dollars in subsidies to an Internet pornography producer. Continuing — or even bolstering — this practice would seem a tailor-made campaign issue for Whitman, who bills herself as a business whiz ready to revive the California economy. She backs her economic talk with real chops: In 1998, just as eBay was preparing an initial stock offering, Whitman oversaw the creation of a special eBay site exclusively for the sale of pornography. The move was prescient — though much porn consumption has shifted to streaming Internet video, there’s still a market for specialized fetish material best sold in DVD — or otherwise physically-shippable form.
In this spirit, Whitman’s “eBay Adults Only” brainchild is a place where, on April 15, $5.94 got one into the bidding for a DVD titled Redneck Trailer Torture. With $12 one could vie for “porn star Brianna Ryder’s personal g-string,” and $7.99 put one in the running for the DVD Grandma Has Sex With Everybody! Anal, Oral, Group!
By mid-day on April 15, Whitman’s adults-only Web-auction brainchild had more than 87,000 items for sale, with prices the $5-$20 range. If this is typical, a back-of-the-used-thong calculation suggests an eBay porno-based income of several million dollars per year, potentially funding dozens of California jobs.
On Wednesday SF Weekly asked Whitman spokesman Mitch Zak whether, given Whitman’s smut-peddling success, the porn-industry could count on her support as governor. Zak had not responded by press time
Hi, my name is Colin and I have been looking forward to cannabis’ legalization for a couple years now. I don’t have any political experience or expertise, but after reading a comment on another blog post,(part of which read “You can’t wake someone who is pretending to be asleep”)I began to realize that this isn’t a battle of facts, or else we would have won long ago. Perhaps instead of fighting fire with fire, and trying to directly debate and contradict politicians’ points and views, we should starting fighting fire with water, and exercise our rights as employers to fire our employees.
I believe that if a few politicians lose the careers that they based their whole future on, and are forced to find employment in fields they don’t have expertise in, then the rest of the politicians might start reconsidering their stances on this issue. It seems that facts about the benefits of legalization aren’t tangible enough to interest most politicians, but I can’t think of anything more tangible to them than their entire career.
Again, I don’t have any political experience, and you guys have been intimately involved with this struggle far longer than I have, so if there are any problems with my idea, or if the efforts you are currently making are better than than this, please feel free to tell me so and explain why. Thank you, and may freedom be restored swiftly and surely.
Cannabis legalization = HeathCare reform.
They argue that people who use medical cannabis will abuse other drugs. That’s wrong in at least two ways. Cannabis has been proven safe and effective as a treatment for substance addictions like opioids and alcohol. Plus it boosts the immune system, which helps chemo patients, but also helps with organ transplants.
If you or someone you know is a possible MMJ patient, send links to friends and family. Watch videos at CannabisTV.org or CannabisTV.blip.tv
“POSTED BY: Scott These Right Wing Neo-Fascist totalitarian police state Nazis are such revolting excuses for human beings. The evil conservatives must be fought and destroyed.”
that’s such a naive comment. a true conservative is pro marijuana. Both parties have been took over. the democrats have gone the progressive route and the conservative the fascist neo-christian route. Once you understand this we can vote them out and get open minded people in. Our president is the most leaning PROGRESSIVE out there. listen to his speeches, he mention his PROGRESSIVE policies all the time and mentions progressive. want freedom vote all incumbents out….
This, is nothing short of MURDER. If seeing that woman fight for her innocent life, full of tragedy and pain is not enough to convince you, what is? HOW DARE THEY THINK THEY HAVE THE RIGHT CHOOSE! Who do they think they are? God? This is a democracy, is it not? That is what we claim it to be, why it is so great. Because you can not get away with MURDERING INNOCENT PEOPLE! That was for the NAZIS! How long will the lies about marijuana haunt us? This is no longer a fight for medication. It is a fight for life, a fight for her life, a fight for your life, and a fight for mine. It must be faught. May God help that woman….and all in her position.
It is no secret prohibitionists loathe cannabis consumers. They do not want to just put you in prison, take your property, destroy your family, get you fired from your job, and deprive you of your God-given freedoms and liberties as acknowledged and cited in the Constitution of the United States. No, indeed. The depth of prohibitionists’ fear and hate are way beyond that. Their goal is totally destroy you, what you consume, and everything around you, in every way possible. I doubt every cannabis consumers’ soul burning in hell for eternity would be good enough for prohibitionists. They want you dead, now.
Corporatists kill. No surprise in that. They’ve been doing it in places like Guatemala and El Salvador for decades, with the full assistance of the U.S. government. Now that they’re running out of third world countries to exploit, they’re targeting citizens of the United States.
It’s ironic, if not barbaric, that health insurance companies are denying medical marijuana users a second chance at life. The health insurance industry has already benefited immensely from people who choose to medicate with marijuana instead of relying upon Big Pharma synthetics that the insurers would otherwise have to pay for. As a neuro-protector, cannabinoids should be seen for what they are: an economic boom to the insurers.
But corporations have no conscience. They are like sharks that eat money. In this case, the corporate insurers use the social stigma of drug use as a phony excuse to profit from the execution of some of their best customers in their direst hour of need. Again, no surprise.
i feel like our government is kissing the ass of the insurance industry to cut out cannabis. i see that they would go that far now….give the hospitals a break if they deny someone an organ….that ill teach ’em to consume cannabis….now i see why my job of thirty two years suddenly started drug testing. an now they have their own insurance set up. this whole thing makes me want to purge. what a bunch of friggen criminals their are in our government……it makes a person, not so proud to live in this country…i will be writing some more letters………
Hey Norml Comment Mods, pass this one along if it hasnt already been posted…nice article in..wall street journal on the 19th of january on marijuana and the brain….its actually positive…I think this may have been posted, but if not…there you go
You can believe what you want but Marijuana is a Schedule # 1 drug because of money given to those who are actually controlling the classification & that is D.A.T. & it may even become worse due to the recent Supreme Court’s ruling on NO limitations in contributions by big Corporations & lobbyists to the Law makers .I suspect Pharmaceutical is the one with the most money …..more than a trillion dollars . Wyeth Drugs alone wss worth 68 billion dollars when sold to
Pfizer last year .
ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2009) — Substituting cannabis in place of more harmful drugs may be a winning strategy in the fight against substance misuse. Research published in BioMed Central’ open access Harm Reduction Journal features a poll of 350 cannabis users, finding that 40% used cannabis to control their alcohol cravings, 66% as a replacement for prescription drugs and 26% for other, more potent, illegal drugs.
They’re systematically killing us all.
To our wealthy corporate government leadership, we are the source of their wealth and power.
Like the ranchers cattle, we graze away at life never knowing what the next day will bring.
Bitter cold, blistering heat, suffering, pumped full of hormones, castrated and tagged, all to make our killing more desirable.
What would you expect from mankind ?
I agree 100% James and Sir, but remember. “Cannabis has no accepted medical value so you are 100% wrong”
got what a joke
Schedule 1 my ass
The World Health Organization on Monday slammed as “irresponsible” critics who claim swine flu is a fake pandemic created for the benefit of drug companies.
The World Health Organization on Monday slammed as “irresponsible” critics who claim swine flu is a fake pandemic created for the benefit of drug companies. What does this tell you about the drug company? Can’t trust them along with the Oil, Tobacco and Alcohol industries.
I knew there would be a catch. Our government makes it appear to be attempting to make a “difference” by legalizing medical marijuana, but if we all dig just deep enough, we will see that it’s bogus. In NM it has been legalized, but the doctors have been given such strict guidelines, they are afraid to prescribe it. They are afraid to lose their dea license. Just when you think a change is coming …
we can help make a difference by also going to this website and voting for medical marijuana, winners will have idea submitted to the obama administration… its a chance to show obama we are serious about marijuana legalization at least on the medical level.
http://www.change.org/ideas
Wow ….number 51 , that makes so much sense . Please get the ” word ” out there . I believe this a thousand times a thousand times.I never took the shots because i actually doubted the ” Swine Flu ” story & i never contacted any flu .
With the legalization of Marijuana D.A.T. will take a huge ” hit ” or loss & they are killing people to make their point .
I put D.A.T. in that order because the strongest opponent to legalization is the Drug Industry , next Alcohol & last is Tobacco . Tobacco you say ? Yes , tobacco . Not here in America but , in other Countries where they are deceiving & lying to the populous . As a rich Country we don’t need them but , in other Countries particularly in poor Countries they gladly accept their money .This is why i said in illiterate Countries they believe this rubbish which increases the use of Tobacco & increases the penalties against Marijuana .
They are murdering its people . As of this writing three people have been sentenced to death in Malaysia for Marijuana .One by hanging . He was just sentenced after already spending 7 years in prison . You should see him . It looks like he weighs 80 pounds .
Our friend needs a Liver transplant because of Hepatitis C but is being denied, Now the doctors are saying it will get better, Strange how they changed their minds about how bad it was after they found out she was using Cannabis, They are now doing almost nothing for her, But they NEVER came right out and actually stated that her Cannabis use was WHY they would not give her a Liver Transplant, They are probably afraid of being sued if it ever becomes a fully legal Medicine, It`s about time for some “REAL” Health Care Reform, Transplants Should be listed as “Necessary Reasonable Care” Regardless of WHAT Medication you personally decide to use whether it be “Herbal” or Not! Along with the Reform of “Feel Good” Laws that are actually in conflict with the “Bill of Rights”, To tell someone that they have to Die just because “You” a “Politician” does NOT agree with your choice of Medications, IS VERY WRONG!!!!!!!
The very Concept of Prohibition is WRONG!!!!!!
This is EXACTLY the reasons why I would NEVER get a Dr. recommendation. Although I would qualify with ease here in CA…Legitimately…I could not sleep at night knowing that I started a paper trail that could come back and literally kill me down the road.
There are no protections or guarantees that your medical records will not be used AGAINST you. I would rather pay the $100 fine and have a misdemeanor criminal record than a “license” that stays on my medical record for ever.
I will continue to stay underground until the lunacy stops once and for all.
Don’t fall for the illusion of safety that a recommendation allegedly gives you because as they say “Any thing you ‘say’ can and will be used against you.”
I’m in the same boat, Hep-C for 40 years, now it’s advanced to cirrosis and auto-immune… I can’t get any marijuana here, unless I wanted to go to the high school where it is redily available… but I can get Morphine from my DR… just had my dose doubled to 30mg and 120 pills…. I hate the stuff, pot works, works fast and doesn’t leave me wacked out…
Isn’t there some kind of a law that a law is invalid if it is not for valid reasons, marijuana has killed no one yet alcohol and cigs have killed millions… where is the parity as to the reasoning as to why one is illegal and why another is not…?
I am a disabled mom of three. I am in constant pain, I barely eat and I am a TOKER!! NYC is a wonderful place, but it is backwards. We punish those who need help the most and empower those who destroy the very fabric of society. The drug companies are running the US not the President. They make too much money keeping us dependent on these legal drugs and they want to keep it that way. NO limits on corporate contributions, ok–that means all politicians can be pimped for more money!! GOD have mercy on us. What have we become, when killing citizens is legal and encouraged.
The issue here is really not at all about whether marijuana should be given to sick people. From a medical standpoint, if the drug relieves suffering without dangerous side-effects, then it is a good therapy. So, the ordinary citizen should not be required to decide whether it should be allowed or not since it is a medical decision alone. The ten thousand other drugs that physicians use are not placed before a committee of laymen to decide whether they should be used or not, so what is so special about marijuana? Why is such an issue put on the ballot for the uninformed and uneducated people to vote on? Quite simply – the people are being brainwashed.
When the media rages through both sides of the debate – some saying “Yes” and others saying “No” – without really attempting to clarify the situation, then you know that neither a “yes” nor a “no” is their goal.
The main goal of this debate is to brainwash the People with the idea that marijuana is a pharmacological drug that is prescribed only by doctors to people who are sick, and NOT a recreational
substance on the same level as alcohol. They want the People to begin thinking of marijuana as something that a pharmacy dispenses for a fee, and not as an agricultural product that anyone can grow.
The Medical Marijuana Debate is just another swindle. Its goal is not to determine the advisability of letting cancer patients take an illegal drug or not. After all, most of the drugs that cancer patients take are not only highly illegal without a prescription but extremely toxic as well. There is no debate on whether to allow cancer patients to take morphine patches or swallow a hundred other drugs prescribed by their doctors. Why is this? The goal of the Medical Marijuana Debate is to convince people that marijuana should be a controlled substance that only the doctors and pharmacists should be allowed to dispense.
#60, yes, the Medical Marijuana Debate is just another swindle. But the medical profession really has nothing to do with it. The real culprits are organized crime and “medical marijuana” is proof as to how corrupted our society has become and exactly what role the medical profession plays in this corruption.
The other missing parts of the “medical marijuana” debate are the absence of dosage in the dispensing of “medical marijuana”. If the medical profession were really looking after its own interests in providing “medical marijuana” to “patients”, then a real prescription would be involved. But that’s not what we got. What a doctor gives a “medical marijuana” patient is the right to purchase and consume as much marijuana as they want. The doctor does not prescribe dosages or any kind of limits on consumption at all. And how often does a doctor spontaneously provide for “medical marijuana”? We can reliably guess that the patient is the one taking the initiative here, not the doctor. This not only contradicts the economy of the drug industry, but ancient medical ethics as well.
It also helps to remember that many drugs legally prescribed by doctors are on the black market and it is not difficult to assume there are many medical doctors who are making money on the black market as well.
It’s appalling that anyone would be denied medical care because of the use of something so benign as marijuana. It’s time for some sensible regulations regarding the amount of marijuana a person can cultivate and possess with out fear of prosecution or, in the case of these patients, medical persecution. How about personal use and cultivation permit, maybe 8 ounces of ready-to-use and a dozen growing plants? Maybe a $100 per year fee, like a fishing license, but with the fee waived for persons showing a medical need?
It’s appalling that anyone would be denied medical care because of the use of something so benign as marijuana. It’s time for some sensible regulations regarding the amount of marijuana a person can cultivate and possess with out fear of prosecution or, in the case of these patients, medical persecution. How about personal use and cultivation permit, maybe 8 ounces of ready-to-use and a dozen growing plants? Maybe a $100 per year fee, like a fishing license, but with the fee waived for persons showing a medical need?
Change.org is asking for more ideas…. I am asking that Marijuana be removed from a Schedule I substance (I think you would all agree this should happen).
Please go vote and tell your friends to as well (you have to sign up with change.org first):
http://tinyurl.change.org/OCWVx
Yeah… I realize this may be glossed over once again, but it doesn’t hurt us to keep pressing the issue!!! The vote gathering will go on until Feb 18th and we need to make sure this idea gets to and stays in the top three. I emplore you to take two minutes and sign up and vote. Pass this around on facebook, myspace, twitter, and any other pro-pot websites so that we can get the most attention as we can.
these people are just to worried abouth the negative effect of marijuana instead of thinking of the positive side…They should think about how those people’s life could have been saved if they hadnt been told to stop smoking marijuana if they wanted a transplant. If they hadnt been rejected they might have been still living to their 80s but no thanx to those ignorant people who disagree with medical cannabis those innocent people are DEAD
How about all cannabis users remove themselves from the donor lists until this practice changes. Make sure to also emphatically state to your spouse or family that in the event of your death that
you do NOT wish to have your organs donated and to tell the harvesting organizations representative why you have decided not to do so when they come calling. (added by Mobile using Mippin)
if we are able too grow reefer what about people that want too steal our plants?there are people all over the country that will.crooks are all over.ill grow if it comes up
My boyfriend was denied a heart transplant at 38 years old due to the fact he used marijuana to cope with the pain and nausea and to be able to eat. The doctors at UCLA medical center refused him pain management so he had to smoke it a few times. In order to receive any help (transplant, bridge to transplant etc….)you have to be perfect according to the doctors as well as be able to put up with more then any human being has ever put up with. I was totally disgusted at the doctors and the transplant team(who you NEVER see or meet) but you know them by the paperwork they send you. I think had they had to face the real person that they are talking to on paper they might have to have compassion and they don’t so they hide behind their paperwork and send the doctors to deliver the bad news to your family. They don’t even have the grace to tell you, the patient. Then they tell you stories about other transplant patients that make you sick to your stomache.I heard of patients that were abusers prior to and are abusers after. In the hospital they call you frequent visitors and they get to know you. I met one man who got a heart and was an alcoholic and used cocaine. Since his heart he has been in the hosp no less then 25 times because he wont stop abusing his body. Another was an overweight man who got a heart and never was told to get into shape. He has only gained weight since the transplant and is also a frequent visitor to UCLA medical center. How dare the “transplant” team play GOD. Their job is to SAVE lives not deny life!!!!! It makes me sick to think that my Boyfriend, Christopher Anderson, lost his life to the people playing God and not to nautral causes at a ripe old age. If I had one wish for him I would wish that the life of someone related to the transplant team had to be saved and because that person was not “perfect” the other members of the team vote NO NO NO!!!!! Then maybe the playing GOD will go away but until such time the Transplant teams and the Health insurance providers can all do way more then lick my ass!!!
Gather for signatures please PLEASE visit this website and sign:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/decriminalizemarijuana
I’m Pissed. My best friend just found out today, they told her if she wants to live and get the double transplant she needs, she has to stop smoking pot. She has her card. She got diabetes as a child. She is in renal failure, and on dialysis twice a week. Because her gal bladder isn’t working, this causes gastro peresis. Constant vomiting, once she starts it’s triggered, she cant stop. Thank God the the Marijuana butter, its takes the nausea away and of coarse her appetite is awesome. My friend will die without the marijuana. WHAT EVER I CAN DO, I’M ON BOARD!!! WE NEED TO RALLY A MILLION MARIJUANA MAN MARCH (FOR THE CAUSE) LIKE BREAST CANCER AWARENESS, WE’LL JUST MAKE IT GREEN!!!!! WHAT DO I NEED TO DO GET SIGNATURES?? I WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS.
Going through the same thing had bladder cancer and had a transplanted kidney fail due to grafting after 11 years which is good considering it was a cadaver. I finally got cleared for my cancer even though I can’t do any treatment besides being evaluated every 3 months and hopefully scrapping it out everytime. Being high risk with immunosuppressed system I am compromised. Now I have a donor and am being told the same bs. I have 2 young kids and been on dialysis again and they get to watch me die …thank you big pharm,legislatures, governments , and all groups who don’t want people to live!!!!