“Where Do You Get ‘It’ From?”
Author: Publius*
Most patients don’t get asked where they get their medicine. That’s because everyone knows people get their medicine from a pharmacy. But I have to get my medicine otherwise. I have to safeguard my “source” because my medicine is cannabinoid based – and that makes it almost illegal. – But not today. Today I can answer the source question openly because it is my local pharmacy – with drive-thru service and open to dispense medicine 24 hours a day. I drive up and push a big, yellow smiley-faced button to gain access – a soft automated voice comes over the speaker to verify that I am in the right place in order to pick up my prescription. Next, the typical professional looking person – white coat with badge – slides open the window asking my name and what I need.
“I’m picking up a prescription for Publius.”
They return with a baggie and bottle containing 30 synthetic cannabinoid capsules dosed at 5mg each – that’s right, legal cannabinoids!
What are cannabinoids? Well, here is where things get interesting. As one learns in biology, the human body has many systems – the circulatory, respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems to name a few. Each system has parts: for example, the nervous system is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. By the late 1980s, science identified a new human system – the endocannabinoid system (ECS) – also referred to as the cannabinoid system. There is a cannabinoid system present in all mammals – to include humans and 15,000 other species. A mammal is any vertebrate animal distinguished by self-regulating body temperature, hair, and milk-producing females – as mammal means “breast” or of the breast.
The ECS has two main parts: cannabinoids, which are chemical neurotransmitters, and two receptors called “CB1” and “CB2.” Cannabinoids activate receptors found throughout the body – in all organs, for example. In fact, all systems in our bodies are modulated by the cannabinoid system. This means that as a body system changes, it uses the ECS to do so.
Science and popular search sites like Wikipedia use three classifications of cannabinoids:
1. Endogenous cannabinoids (also referred to as endocannabinoids), which are produced by the human body
2. Herbal cannabinoids, the kind found in the cannabis sativa plant
3. Synthetic cannabinoids, produced and distributed by pharmaceutical companies
The third kind is what I am picking up from the pharmacy – 30 Marinol (Dronabinol) capsules. Marinol is a prescribed cannabinoid from my doctor – and I am going to test it against the herbal cannabinoids I have been baking into my brownies for five years now.
The pharmacist hands me a white paper bag containing the Marinol prescribed for my Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Stapled to the top is a typical handout with cautionary medical information. The small amount (150mg) of the synthetic cannabinoid THC costs $370 – or more than $69,000 per ounce!
I sign my name on a distribution sheet and pay my $3 Medicare co-pay. The government, meaning our tax dollars, pays the other $367 for my medicine. Now I am ready to go – but not before my ‘synthetic cannabinoid’ dealer informs me of possible side effects. She warns me to be on the lookout for – “dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, feeling ‘high,’ an exaggerated sense of well-being, lightheadedness, headache, red eyes, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, clumsiness, or unsteadiness.”
Geez – sounds like a lot of potential adversity on my chemically sensitive body. From personal experience, I know that the herbal cannabinoids do not cause these side effects in my body. The pharmacist did mention one noticeable side effect that I have had with eating cannabis brownies: dry mouth – which is hardly a problem when considering the overall benefits of the medicine.
When I get home I open the bag to take a look at the Marinol. The pills are a deep maroon color and perfectly round. They remind me of Boston Baked Beans – as they look exactly like those candies. One thing is for sure: synthetic cannabinoids do not look anything like herbal cannabinoids – the ones from the plant itself. The distinct medical difference of popping pills versus the variations and qualities of consuming natural cannabis cannot be understated – and surely won’t be by me. After a week of taking one pill a night before bed, as the doctor prescribed, I do not notice any positive effects from the Marinol. It makes me hungry – but that was never a problem in the first place. However, it is my first legal cannabinoid and that is what counts, right? – Not whether it works, just whether it is legal, right?
Wrong.
Here is what I know. I have been self-medicating with herbal cannabinoids for five years to provide relief from MS, which I have had for 23 years. During that time I went through the long list of prescribed pharmaceuticals. The relief was minimal. The problem was (and is) the side effects, which became unbearable over time. I felt like a slave, dependent on a cycle of pharmaceutical use which abused my body and left me in the most depressed, hopeless, and flattened state.
I finally said enough of the pharma-tinkering with my body and the MS and tried baking herbal cannabinoids into brownies. In doing so, my alternative treatment made me a criminal. I began to eat a small cube of cannabis brownie three times a day. Within the first month my insomnia disappeared, my bladder issues calmed, nerve tingles of the arms, legs, and feet stilled. I was no longer breaking out in upper body tremors after being out in the world of loud noises, traffic, and the everyday racing of life. The MS was quieter. I found I wasn’t contemplating suicide and I felt hopeful about my life again – but realized I had become a chronic criminal.
Cannabinoids are clearly medicinal to our bodies. But there is a strange distinction between which cannabinoids are effective and which ones are legal. In the case of my MS, appetite stimulation has not been a problem – which is what the Marinol is usually prescribed for. Marinol simply did not work for me. There are other pharmaceutical cannabinoids – such as Nabilone and Sativex – available in other countries, but they remain expensive and less effective than herbal cannabinoids. Nature created cannabis and the mammalian ECS, not you or me – and it was through the use of herbal cannabinoids that I was able to wean myself from a life of pharma-cocktails and move toward a healthier life. – Just as nature designed.
This is the first chapter of book in progress titled The Cannabis Papers being published by Illinois NORML.
More chapters are available for review here.
*Publius is Bryan Brickner, Julie Falco, Dianna Lynn Meyer, Stephen Young, William Abens, Danielle Schumacher, Derek Rea (1954-2008), David Nott, Dan Linn, Dan S. Wang, Brian Allemana, and many others.
Sorry scientists just dont know as much as they think. Nature has a way of taking care of things. Cannabis is on of those things made by nature , it isnt a mistake , and man made things tend to go against nature.
What would happen if the coalition of overpriced pharmaceutical corporations loses power and people are no longer dependent on them? That is not going to happen because they own the federal governmen, but they try not to act like it…..ha…yeah right.
The pharmaceutical owns majority of federal politicians, ambitious federal attorneys, federal judges, and the federal police force (DEA). The pharmaceutical companies do not own oil tycoons but they do bribe them with special deals and medical coverage for their families if they get support from them.
Military and other government contracts are not so lucky.
I’ve wonder how long the United States are going to last when it becomes a Pharmaceutical Empire?
Well by all means, we’re not suppose to cease our man-made obsession, but we should continue on in an effort to do so in collaboration WITH nature, instead of against it. I’ve been self-medicating for about 6 years now due to constant back pains that my doctor use to insist aren’t there. After my medicare dropped me, I didn’t have a choice. No more doctors… I’m simply just not allowed to get hurt.
Unfortunately, my state is one that is close to medical marijuana, but right now, I’m still a criminal. My friend who has had arthritis, and now thanks to our government’s wonderful military, a blown knee, had to suffer a bit of jail time and monumental fees that he’s still trying to pay off… all for less then 1/10th of a gram and a pipe he was planning on using it with. Enough for one tiny hit before bed.
As far as synthetic cannabinoids go… I think they’re gonna have to work on that a bit more. It sounds to me that there is absolutely no way the side-effects are worth the minimal treatment.
great read.
hope it doesn’t fall upon deaf ear’s.
This story is very true as I’ve been prescribed Marinol for nearly a year now. It does NOT work like the plant. While I’m unable to use the plant right now the memories of it’s glorious positive affects are still strong in the memory.
The Marinol is expensive and the THC in the pill form is mixed with sesame oil. Wouldn’t want to put hemp oil in there, that would be the right thing to do.
Im for any type of relief to ease the pain for the sick.I do not however agree that they can take the place of a natural herb.
Cannabis is already proven to be a successful treatment for several types of disease.
In my opinion its the easiest,safest and most cost effective way for the present and the future!
These synthetic drugs made in a lab,do not have the correct balance of the proper chemicals found in cannabis.
If they want a have a drug just like cannabis tell them to plant a seed!!!
This is the type of book the general population needs to read because these are the true stories that big pharma won’t allow into the mainstream media. Folks, after much research anyone can see that the same people who own and operate big pharma are the same people who own the numerous tv stations in this country. This is the kind of stuff they do not want you to hear. I think this book is a fabulous idea and if the American people are starting to support the end of prohibition then they are going to support this book. Even the politicians can’t do anything about that. Knowledge is power, even the satanic cult that governs our world believe that above all. The people who drive prohibition for profit believe that knowledge is the pathway to power. Knowledge is also the pathway to change for the better in the right hands. Good job Norml. Lets wake more people up and together we can trample the unrightous and bring down Americas very own Berlin Wall.
Support the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act! Grow your own cannabis!
http://www.cannabistaxact.org/
It’s probably not even the fact of scientists not being knowledgable enough.
It’s a pharmaceutical company that came up with these synthetic cannabinoids to produce a drug to make money off the helpful qualities of the natural product, while still keeping the natural herb illegal. This is an attempt to say “See, you don’t need the plant, we created a fake one and it works fine.”
Obviously it doesn’t for this person and as pointed out, the natural way is sometimes the only way (or best way).
Why are we spending billions so scientist can synthetically try to make something that naturally grows out of the ground? Not only that but it doesn’t even provide the same benifits as the plant, and cost taxpayers and people taking the medicine riduculous amounts of money for something they could get for free if allowed to grow their own. The whole illegalization of marijuana seems to be a way for government to increase their profits, at the expense of others.This behavior is unconstitutional to the american people who could use the plant for medicinal purposes. Government illegalize the free product that works so that they can make a synthetic version that’s legal and doesn’t work then charge the people more than 500% mark up. This is ridiculous!
Pharmaceutical companies do not have power over oil but they can bribe their way to the hearts of politicians.
Man made things are Alcoholic beverages and Prescription medications and they can kill and can cause irreversible harm to the human body .
A natural substance is Marijuana . It neither kills or causes harm to the human body . God gave man – kind Cannabis but man refused a gift from God & so he refined it turning it into a pill and man killed and caused harm to the human body again .
I have tons of faith that this article is legitiment. But, if you want to sound credible, never, ever, site wikipedia. Just sayin.
Funny thing is, if you combine this with imported hempseed (sterilized) you essentially would have marijuana and it would be totally legal…
and yet we get years of jail if we get caught going to the source…
What a great piece of writing. You get a real sense of what a person with MS is going through. The comparisons are striking. Anyone who has been on the prescription merry go round for an ailment can relate to ride they put you through. I have had cluster headaches for over 45 years. I too have been through all of the drug companies routine. Cannabis for me is a preventative measure. I don’t have to consume mass quantities to achieve results. It helps having the correct kind of cannabis. Some seem to work better than others. Can’t wait to read the rest of this fascinating essay. We are not criminals! We simply seek relief from terrible afflictions. Many thanks to all of the people responsible for writing what we all feel. And a great big thanks to NORML.
I sometimes wonder if synthetic cannabinoids might be developed explicitly as part of a smoke and mirrors campaign by the pharmaceutical industry. No report on them is EVER encouraging – they typically carry all the side effects of the worst marijuana and only a very few of the benefits. It’s easy for the pharmaceutical companies to just say, “See? Our drugs are much healthier, more effective, AND they’re legal,” when this is what the synthetic is offering.
It also makes me wonder how heavy a hand pharmaceutical companies are playing in keeping marijuana illegal, since real clinical tests with marijuana would show it to be much more effective than the synthetic stuff, less expensive than ANY pharmaceutical, and less habit-forming than most common prescription drugs. It’s a serious threat to their business model, and one that I hope wins out sooner, rather than later.
You can’t blame scientist’s completely, when they are actually limited in their research materials by the government.
Maybe if the government wasn’t so broken,they could see that the Worlds needs are more important than their own.
The problem isn’t the scientists themselves, it is who they are working for. There are plenty of researchers who would love to work with natural cannabinoids, like the ones who found Cannabidiol could shrink brain tumours almost 40 years ago.
The problem is that they are blocked by legislators, and drug company executives who either truly ignorant, politically biased, or trying to preserve their primary source of income (chemicals that are synthetic, and therefore patentable).
Pharmaceutical companies cannot patent a plant so they try to make synthetics where they can make a profit. When will the American people say enough is enough and get rid of capitalism and politics in peoples health care? Best be soon.
Man will never be able to replicate nature. Nature is imperfect and random, but yet perfect in that there is no explanation of why things happen they way they do.
It isn’t our fault this plant, cannabis, acts on the human mind the way it does. It isn’t the plants fault it does what it does.
Humans use plants, animals, nature for whatever reason.
Most importantly… plants use humans.
It’s funny how the one thing that’s illegal is part of one of the most important biological functions in 15,000 species. I truly think people aren’t educated on this matter, which is totally causing a misunderstanding. Wait until the day everyone finds out that our body makes it’s own form of marijuana/cannabinoids.
Why try to make marijuana into a pill when it grows natural, just like a tomato plant? This is just going to cause more problems. If they try to force these pills on patient’s instead of letting them choosing the natural plant. I bet the Mexican cartels are loving this new pill hoping the law will force this to be the only legal prescribed marijuana, so they can sell there real mexican pot better once again, plz let’s just tax marijuana like alcohol. Also about the smoke above saying the joint is bad, just get a vaporizer it’s the most healthy way to smoke your herb!
Convert all places of worship 2 bong shops n’ weed dispensaries:)
Big Pharma has even bigger ambitions than most of us realize.
—-
Feb 19, 2010
McCain-Dorgan Bill could make nutritional supplements available only by doctor’s prescription:
Sen. John McCain has introduced a horrific bill, S 3002, the “Dietary Supplement Safety [sic] Act of 2010? (DSSA) designed to end your access to high potency supplements by giving the bloated, corrupt and dangerous FDA MORE power to destroy supplement access.
This bill would allow vitamins to be reclassified as DRUGS. It also provides for criminal penalties for “adulteration” of food by vitamins. Sound surreal? Think again. If this bill passes, you can forget about access to herbal medicines.
There was an old guy with a bad back that lived behind us when we were kids. Only later did we realise that the poppies he fussed over were what enabled him to grow such a great garden or likely even walk. Humans managed to live long lives in some very harsh environments for 100,000 + years without all the BS of the last century.
To read a bit more about Marinol’s relationship with the government and why its a contradiction of the Scheduling system, visit
http://weedpolitik.com/?p=20.
Ive been doing a significant amount of research on Cannabis and Law and writing analytical pieces. I’ve found some really freaky facts out.
The rights to make Marinol were sold exclusively to Unimed by the Feds, who made some money in the deal. Marinol now earns Unimed’s highest profits, drawing in over 90% of total revenue. Not only that, but Unimed has reported greater sales nearly every year since 1985, reaching a high of $9.7 million in 1995.(1)
A lot of questions need to be asked. How can the federal government rank cannabis as a Schedule I drug, which implies HIGH PROBABILITY FOR ADDICTION and ABSOLUTELY NO MEDICAL VALUE while simultaneously using its chemical derivative to discredit the medical marijuana movement?
(1) Source: John G. Kinnard & Co. Research Report. 08/27/96. Unimed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. p. 2.
A follow-up to #9 FAKE JUGS R ANOTHER PRIME EXAMPLE AS THEY’VE DONE WAY MORE HARM THAN GOOD!!!!!!!!!!
I like weed, but please stop posters from claiming it is some gift from god or it was created for our consumption. THC is nothing more than an insect repellent that protects the plants seeds.
Luckily, I am not an insect.
We need to end the marriage between government and science. Let’s let science speak for itself and the benefits of Marijuana will be accepted.
Vote for liberty candidates in 2010!!
[Editor’s note: Liberty candidates? Who are they? Is ‘liberty candidates’ the new code word for Ron Paul?
Again, NORML’s webpage is not a forum for your never-ending Ron Paul sycophancy…
When government divorces itself from science the public largely gets ideology from the government. Many citizens are happy and resolved to see government actually embrace science, for example the Data Quality Act.]
It’s as much a ‘gift from God’ as it is that you weren’t born an insect. Do you really think that was a story about Adam and an Apple tree? Man we all know God created the universe in 7 days. Pot many not be perfect but the big guy had a lot to do at the time. 😉
The worst part of the synthetic cannabinoids, is the fact that health care providers are scared to prescribe them. I have been suffering from chronic migraines and anxiety for three years now. I have tried every type of over the counter remedy, multiple pharmaceuticals (anti-seizure, anti-depresent/ anti-anxiety,imotrex, and a beta blocker)to no avail. I have seen a neurologist, psychiatrist, neuro-surgoen, and general practitioner, with all of them doing nothing, but “let’s try this. Oh that didn’t work? Let’s try this.”. None of the legal drugs work at all, and they often cause side effects worse than the migraines. I have tried all of their ideas, while admitting that the only relief I have found has been from smoking pot. After their failed attempts at treatment, I will ask them about merinol, and they can’t say no quick enough. These “health care professionals” act as if they did so the government would pull their license and lock them up in prison. I feel as the problem lies in the fact that people think of marijuana as a drug, and group it with drugs that have no redeemable qualities such as coke and heroin.
don’t you just LOVE FACTS???? boy, I DO!!!
Enjoyed the first chapter of the cannabis papers….thank you.
I am not an insect either,but I like to get buzzed.
I have developed a phobia for chemical medicines that someone wearing a lab coat and injecting compounds in rats brains thinks is good for me. Call it a pillaphobia.
Nature is the physician not you. From her you must learn, not from yourself. She compounds the remedies not you. See to it that you find out where Nature has her pharmacies, where her virtues have been written down, and in what boxes they are stored.
Paracelsus
God is the ultimate pharmacist and alchemist
Eric Blair
The Remedy is nothing but a seed which you must develop into that which it is destined to be”
Paracelsus
I have never had issues with Cannabis itself but I have had issues with the government and the police, both are very disappointing to say the least.
The Federal government will never legalize Cannabis until it has absolute control from patents to biological controls over Cannabis perfected.
The Dept of Health and Human services holds US Patent 6630507 Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants issued October 7, 2003 until February 2021.The government has created a monopoly on the medicinal value of Cannabis while implementing the dynamics of double speak and the tactics of a police state to maintain the grip and trump the legality and illegality of either constraint.
The government is simultaneously holding two contradictory themes believing, exploiting, and profiting from them both. (Classic double speak)
The system will create as many income streams in which expansion of the government bureaucracy will super-exploit from both ends of the spectrum.
Every time someone is arrested for cultivation, distributing and possession of Cannabis, it justifies the criminal actions of the government to protect their patent by either criminal prosecution or civil actions when in fact to make something criminal that is not a crime in the first place is the real criminal act.
“A true dichotomy of truth and lies.”
The supreme hypocrisy!
The Federal government will use whatever means to continue this concubine to oblivion.
The alphabet agencies and the U.S. attorney are addicted like a junkie to the seizure of monies, persons, and assets for the majority of their budgets rely on prohibition laws and will fight vigorously to keep the status quo. It is apparent after forty years of waging a war on drugs it has become a lost cause. The War on Drugs was never meant to be won it was designed to be a perpetual forever. Costing taxpayers at this time in history six hundred dollars per second, the cost of war rages on. Nothing has changed but the increasing costs of war, the propaganda,
the rhetoric, and the lies. All of this will be paid for by the taxpayer and that is you and me.
The numbers look real good in the newspapers or on a government statistical ledger of how many were arrested and the revenues of seizure. All of these professionals that are involved in this lair of systematic industry and assembly line justice merely support or increase the price of contraband that they determined to eliminate from society. A giant control system grid created for outlaws and outlawed molecules. The foundations of career building that is as endless as time itself. The war on drugs is an infinite beginning that has no end conducted as a government inquisitional witch-hunt by the self-indignant, self-righteous and self sanctimonious thought police with impunity from the crimes they commit in the process, to legitimize their sins, vindicate their existence, jobs, pensions and budgets. In history men have justified their professions on the foundation of lies and the basis and tenents of money. History has not changed.
Eric Blair
$69,000 an ounce for something that just needs a little dirt and water to grow naturally. To make matters worse, it doesn’t even work as well. Amazing.
RATE THIS STORY 5 STARS. Get it to the top of the news!
Pot use among seniors goes up as boomers age
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35519187/
#28 I disagree with your comment that cannabis was not a gift from God:
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” (Gen 9:3).
Genesis 3:18 “… thou shalt eat the herb of the field.”
A healing plant. On either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare 12 manner of fruits, and yielding her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelations 22:1-2) A gift from God.
The Atharva Veda
(Four Veda of the Aryan religion compiled between 1400 and1000 B.C.) A gift of the Gods,
The Magical Cannabis“lowered fevers, fostered sleep, relieved dysentery, and cured sundry other ills;it also stimulated appetite, prolonged life, quickened the mind, and improved the judgement”
this is a little off the subject. Whenever i e mail the oaksterdamn university about a job in that feild they never answer mme back. Would anyone know why?
Great article. For the other readers, IL is trying to get medical cannabis legalized in this state. A bill to do so has been passed out of committee’s last legislative session and is awaiting a vote in the general assembly.
I have been trying to find something on the progress of this measure but have been unsuccessful. Does anybody know whats going with Medical Cannabis in IL?
Its senate bill 1381.
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=1381&GAID=10&SessionID=76&LegID=42617 says that on January 29th 2010 it was placed on the calendar for third reading and debate in the house. That means a vote should come somewhat soon after since it (im fairly sure) only gets 3 readings/debates/attempts at amendments. Any info would be appreciated and if NORML.org could be so kind as to include this bill in your weekly legislative updates I, and the rest of IL, would be supremely grateful.
Thank you NORML and supporters for all you do for people like the author of this article.
[Paul Armentano responds: For folks with specific state legislative inquiries like this one, please make it a habit to regularly check NORML’s Take Action Center here: http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/. The latest update on the status of IL’s bill is here: http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=14708376. Please note that there are lobby days scheduled on behalf of SB 1381 on 3/16 and on 4/20. This effort remains literally one vote away from passage!]
Question
I would like to know why when I click on the Marinol pill I am sent on a hyperlink related to the DEA and justice minister against marijuana legalization ?
[Editor’s note: The image and webpage behind it, comparing Marinol to cannabis for medical purposes, is linked so that reformers can see how their tax dollars are being wasted by the government promoting bogus science.]
You got it Paul! Forwarding those links among the internet channels to reach more and more IL residents. Thanks again.
It’s too bad that nobody is ever going to pay severely for what they have done. The pharmaceutical companies and government agencies that have kept cannabis illegal, in this case medicinal cannabis, will never have to pay for causing millions of people pain and death by denying an effective and natural medicine and forcing chemical ones. This is DISGUSTING! It is only my hope that once this all becomes legal, NORML and other organizations will find a way to make these people pay, at the very least through multibillion dollar suits that force those rich executives to sell their yachts and mansions.
i think marijuana should just be dropped from the legal stystem completely, if not just legalized. the gov. should treat it as you would oregano, for example..you know, just another herb from the ground. what one chooses to do with it should be his/her own business. but of course the government is gonna want to legalize it so they can regulate it. just give americans what they want! its already been polled, and a majority of us have at least tried it and support legalization. slowly but surely…and thanks NORML for everything you do. power to the people! 😀
I’m in the same boat as #31, I too suffer from chronic migraines and I feel like I’m in a catch 22. If I smoke pot,which relieves the headaches, I could lose my job and benefits. My job is dangerous and I would never dream of working after I’ve smoked, but would still fail a drug test. I can’t work with the migraines and I can’t work on all the pills they have me taking, demerol, percaset, anti-depressants, and seisure medicines. Not to mention the criminal penalties in my state. Damned if I do and danmed if I don’t.
Finally back. Had some technical difficulties. All I gotta say is screw marinol (added by Mobile using Mippin)
I just finished reading the writings of Publius. What a wonderful and informative piece. Lots of great information. Inspiring stories about experiences they have had. This should be widely publicized.Everyone needs to read this. It would change a lot of minds about cannabis and cannibiniods. I learned so much. “Life,Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” has been under attack long enough. We all need cannabis and cannibiniods in our life. We would all be healthier and happier if we did. Thanks again to the authors and to NORML for bringing this to us.
http://blog.mpp.org/medical-marijuana/baby-boomers-embrace-marijuana-again/02222010/comment-page-1/#comment-18064
My post #14 from above link;
Freedom { 02.22.10 at 8:18 pm } Michael @ 2 is right , jury nullification is one big way to fight back. When your a juror , the government and the court has come before you to ask PERMISSION from you to enforce a law . If you feel the law is to harsh or unconstitutional , you can say “NOT GUILTY” without punishment. Judges and court prosecuters will make it seem as if you have to agre to the laws, you dont . They cant dictate to you what is or isnt law , your there to judge the law , the defendant , the court and yes , the government. Juries are there to protect US , the citizens from harsh and / or unjust laws and over zealous courts and judges. Without juries there would be tyranny. So please people , exercise your duty. You as a juror have more power at that time than the judge,procecuters and yes …the president of the USA…and you CANNOT BE COHERSTED OR PUNISHED FOR A NOT GUILTY VOTE !
Come on Baby boomers , help us …you kids and grandkids…regain our country. Helps us stop the corruption , the corrupt government that has stolen our prosperity !!! Ending prohibition is the lynch pin to start undoing all that they have done to enslave the people.
Please read.
http://www.slate.com/id/2245188/?GT1=38001
“The only way we as people of the United States Of America will get anything done for this cause, is not by signing online petitions that nobody will ever mind, or wait for years with false hopes, whenever things had to get done, people organized on macro (mass) level, and marched in Washington DC, until with the help of the media, the world’s eyes would be upon us, and the crooked could not afford to ignore us anymore. Until we march in masses that we really are, we will never see any change. “
I’ve recently been diagnosed with Occipital neuralgia.
Occipital neuralgia is a term used to describe a cycle of pain-spasm-pain originating from the suboccipital area (base) of the skull that often radiates to the back, front, and side of the head, as well as behind the eyes.
The occipital nerves are two pairs of nerves that originate in the area of the second and third vertebrae of the neck. While most people’s nerve roots originate in similar places on the spine, cadaver studies show a wide variety of differences between individuals as to the course of the nerves once they leave the spinal column. Often the nerves follow a curving course that passes through various muscles in the upper back, neck and head. Also causes extreme vomiting.
The pain is absolutely excrutiating at times. Two to four hits from my pipe and the pain is gone. I have tried many, many prescription and over the counter drugs, spent thousands, and none of them help. Cannabis is the only thing that helps.
Great article. Funny how “fiscal conservatives” in government so often side with law enforcement and state that there are “other alternatives” to raw cannabis. The costs alone are enough of a consideration, -let alone the superior efficacy of raw cannabis. Clearly, these all-knowing legislators have never had to take a cocktail of pharma meds and suffer the side effects. Peoples’ exhausting of “traditional” pharma drugs is precisely what brings them to try cannabis in seeking medicine without horrible side effects, or that actually WORKS! It can also be a part of a treatment regimen that includes pharmaceuticals being it has no dangerous drug interactions. It quite literally is nature’s perfect drug. I would love to see articles about the past cannabinoid medicines that were on the AMA pharmacopoeia before it was outlawed.
our governments is so corrupt, they only care about making money…
I have severe nerve damage in my leg’s. I too have been on the prescription road and developed a severe reaction to the prescription drug’s that were given for the nerve pain. Being a child-of-the-60’s I experimented with using marijuana as a teenager. Now I have been using marijuana and get more relief from my nerve pain than with the prescription drug’s that gave me a severe reaction. Personally I feel the use of natural marijuana is much better for my body than what the mighty drug compainies can offer. Since the FDA can not patent a plant that grows wild in nature they can not make $$$ off of it! This is the bottom-line why cannibis is still illegal in the United States. Eventually I HOPE the TRUTH will prevail and those seeking the use of medical marijuana will be able to obtain it without going to jail. I want the government to stop turning their deaf ear’s to the cries of those who can testify that the use of marijuana can be medicinal!
post more updates!
“While most of our politicians increasingly resemble the Borg, resistance to their constant barrage of misinformation is not futile.
Resistance is essential, especially in the face of endless sound bytes that are geared to incite and inflame. Frankly, I’m convinced these alien invader machines and their continuous effort to promote ignorance is really a dastardly plot to enslave us through stupidity. Be smarter.”
To my fellow citizens of Kansas please gather close and read my words.
One of our House of Representative has acted with uncommon bravery and introduced a comprehensive medical use of Cannabis legislation into the Committee on Health and Human Services of our Kansas State Congress. It is HB 2610, House Bill 2610 which will allow the medical use of Cannabis. Now I know those of you who live in Kansas under the oppressive foolish cannabis laws have been waiting and often jealous of other folks who live in states where the laws are more realistic, well kinda, anyway we have a crack in the door, this legislative crack doesn’t show itself everyday in Kansas so we must unit and push upon this crack with all our educated might. If there was ever a time for all us Kansan email and send letters requesting our jurisdiction’s legislator(s) support this HB 2610.
I know I have talked about other approaches to changing the law in this State. Jury Nullification just to name one, but we would be so damm foolish as to pass up this opportunity presenting itself in our State Congress. So I call on all you Kansan who have waited for so long for this opportunity to force this crack further. I am like most of you, want the just thing right now, today, hell yesterday, and this medical use of cannabis is just a small baby step but better to make this small baby step into the light than stay in darkness. Look at this legislation as a baby step and help our congress make it happen. You and I know there will be a later, there will be a reckoning not to far off in the future. By supporting this bill HB 2610 we can bring about this baby step which will one day lead us to walk and run.
It is time to step up to the plate, time to be counted.
Legalize Recreational Use of Marijuana
The war on drugs has been waged long enough, and more lives have been destroyed and families torn apart by the prison system than by marijuana itself. Legalization of marijuana would save countless time and money from being wasted by law enforcement and by our courts. It would save national and state governments an estimated $7.7 billion on law enforcement and generate an additional $2.2 billion in tax revenue, according to a report by Professor Jeffrey A. Miron and endorsed by 500 economists. This doesn’t include all the economic benefits of industrial hemp. Legalization also would have a “substitution” effect; some consumers would substitute marijuana for the more harmful legal drugs tobacco and alcohol, saving us money in health care costs. Drugs should be a public health issue, not a criminal justice issue. America demands action on this important issue NOW! No more lies and propaganda, let’s base our policies on reality and scientific findings.
browse by criminal justice and vote
Will anyone listen to me yet that talking about how marijuana will make the government millions and get this country out of the hole will work…THE GOVERNMENT DOESNT CARE ABOUT THE MONEY….THEY PRINT BILLS EVERYDAY,MARIJUANA MAKES YOU THINK THEY DONT WANT PEOPLE THINKING ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!TIME IS RUNNING OUT
NORML=1PERCENT OF USA……PERCENTAGE NEEDED TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA 49.1 PERCENT……WE NEED ALOT MORE PEOPLE NORML HEHEHEHEHE
YOUR TELLING ME YOU PEOPLE GET YOUR OWN ORGANIZATION IN WASHINGTON DC AND FOR SOME REASON POLITICIANS TURN THE OTHER WAY…..I SMELL CONSPIRACY DISASSEMBLE NORML!!!
What’s up with response #29 from the editor?! I decided to look back at some other posts and every time Brian has anything resembling his own opinion the editor just can’t deal with it and makes childish trolls in response.
Now you may have a problem with Ron Paul and Ron Paul supports editor, but as the most recognized republican candidates who openly supports ending the drug war why would you be in such a rush to fight off potential allies?! We don’t have to think the same to work together.
[Editor’s note: NORML does not fight off potential political allies…NORML and Ron Paul have worked together for over 20 years, and he receives NORML PAC money. NORML is non-partisan and works with all stripes.
What NORML does not promote and encourage is immature, naive or dead-end political advocacy that is conflated by some with necessarily non-partisan cannabis law reform advocacy.
Ron Paul is a friend to NORML, a great American and political maverick.
Should reformers support third party candidates who support for reform? Indeed, they should and do.
However, analytically-speaking, he is not going to be elected president and cannabis law reformers should not waste their precious time or money deluding themselves that Ron Paul or so-called ‘liberty’ candidates are going to get elected in numbers sufficient, if at all, to impact federal legislation, let alone the executive branch.]
If I control what you consume, you are my slave. If you allow me to control what you consume, you are my willing slave. In either case, I own you. Freedom and liberty were once highly valued in this country. Now most people are pathetic sheeple (sheep/people), slaves of a hypocritical prohibitionist government that wants you either enslaved, or dead.
So they would rather use a synthetic, man-made substances over a natural one. “This response is directed to the marinol, first thing I read was synthetic, had to laugh”. Pretty sad when they have to make fake thc, or cbd, based medicine. And the stoner’s are the ones with bad morals? I wonder how many other chemicals are in those pills. Are morals worth a generation stuck on anti-depressants, anxiety, sleeping etc. pills filled with unneeded chemicals to make you more reliant, or make the exact same thing they are treating, worse and possibly add more and more mental disorders. That’s the future I see if things continue this way. You put the mass on mental health medications, they are to ignorant to see the negative effects, and that maybe its from the pills. So they just keep getting more and more. New and new side effects, they don’t think, maybe its my medication, no they think “I must be showing signs of something else.” Oh and only Now that I have wrote this. I’m thinking what does this have to do with the article I’m responding too? Well I was one of those people. Loosing 25+ pounds in less than a month from anti-depressants, or feeling worse from the side effects, almost a feeling of insanity. Now I’ve switched myself from the mainstream medicine, to natural medicine, with no unnecessary man-made substances added. Not just weed. To people that say, “Ohh well you were probably smoking on the pills and it didn’t mix.” Well I don’t believe that opinion. I consider weed a hallucinogenic plant. Hallucinating is not, oh woah did you see that dude!? No it is a euphoric, thoughtful ride. No you don’t really see things, but yes you see things in your mind. Hmm doesn’t weed bring a sense of euphoria, doesn’t it make you think? Yes it does.
There was an article I read about spoiler candidates in the Presidential elections. Ross Perot was one of them and it’s my belief that Ron Paul is too. Surely he knows this. If memory serves me the spoiler candidates still get money from running their bogus campaign and that’s why they do it.
Can’t remember the name of the article, Two Party System or something like that. When I read it it made a great deal of sense.
Not belittling Ron Paul, he’s, from what I know, by all accounts a good man and I like him, however, the Editor comment is right, Ron Paul will not win.
—————–
Umm, PleaseKeep: Go away, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Frakking Bozo.
Lee raises an important question– the entrenched duopoly (two-party system, as warned against by President Washington) defeats true democracy by making a “spoiler” out of a Paul, Kucinich or Nader. That is because we now have a CAPTIVE PRIMARY where voters must declare their party preference, i.e. endorse a party, to get a right to vote. Instead, check out INSTANT RUNOFF (which would make primaries unnecesaary).
Here’s my single-election scheme:
1. Candidates (about a half-dozen ideally) who get enough nominating signatures are entitled to have their names presented, correctly spelled, on the ballot, but
2. All votes are write-in, to be hand-lettered in rows of little boxes labeled First Choice, Second Choice etc. down to maybe five.
3. Computer reads all the names and counts all first choice votes.
4. The written-in candidate with fewest votes– say, Mickey Mouse with 7– is eliminated and his/her Second Choice votes distributed.
5. Second lowest candidate– say, Elvis Presley with 13– likewise, and so on until
6. There are only two candidaters left and one has more votes and is the winner. Fewer elections, less voter fatigue.
So pro-legalizers who have ambitions for using the political system are encouraged to get firmly behind this or some comparable proposal before launching more doomed candidates and making us look stupid.
It’s about time that we legalize marijuana and stop stigmatizing users, especially those who use it medicinally. We’ve come a long way but there’s more fighting to do. And we must acknowledge that synthetics will never equal natural cannabinoids.
Quoting the bible to prove cannabis is a gift from god……
yep… the bible is definitely a source for facts LOL
god made all plants and animals for a reason. we all know why he made marijuana to help people. it’s natural and should be legal.
#28 Kasado Says:
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:24 am
“…nothing more than an insect repellent that protects the plant’s…”
RE: Kasado,
– The same could be said of MANY other plants which people use for food, medicine
and flavoring; The essential-oils found in wintergreen, thyme, rosemary, eucalyptus, cloves, oregano, sage and mint, (for example), ALL function as insect repellents,
as well as having anti-microbial properties, (“kills bacteria on contact…”).
– YET…they’re used for flavoring foods and confections…
as cold-decongestants, for topical pain-relief and
as the “active ingredients” in antiseptic mouthwashes… 😯
– Are not ALL of THESE “Gifts from God / Nature”, created, custom-made for OUR
sustenance and well-being, or are they just merely “insect-repellents”…??? 🙁
(Subject to disapproval-for-human-consumption by the FDA, DEA &/or EPA…)
Pot-APOLOGETICS,
not
pot-apologies…!!!
😈
Unfortunatly it is very very stupid to take anything that grows from the ground and injest it! If it wasnt synthetically processed you have no idea how dangerous it could be! The absolute smart thing to do is make 100% sure that anything you injest food or medicine is somehow chemically derived by a supersmart science guy! For this keeps this nation safe and very healthy! Just look at Avandia(diabetic medicine) responsible for only 500 deaths a month and some 83,000 all together! Just make sure if you do medicate with marijuana that your supplier is not profitting one bit.We need only companies like the maker of Avandia,bayer, pfizer and any other super smart drug providers to prosper! Thank You and just do what your told!:(
gosh those pills are expensive thats crazy they know the goverment is picking up the tab but they are really screwing the taxpayers
In response to 72.
Vic says. (out of context)
“Just look at Avandia(diabetic medicine) responsible for only 500 deaths a month and some 83,000 all together!”
If we’re looking for safe track records how about cannabis- 0 deaths from ingestion every year/maybe 1 death?(probably not) total.
side effects may include but not limited to-cottonmouth, feeling “high”, increased appetite, etc.
Our species grew up smoking the plant, why should we all of a sudden not be allowed to by our “leaders” because of biased opinions?
Well for any of us who can’t get a prescription because of no physical ailment, there are other legal options. I have been smoking spice for more than one year now, the problem is that it is not consistant. I mean I have smoked spice that is amazing and some that plain sucks. Finally, I decided to make my own batch. Yep!!! So I bought 1 gram and turned it into 50 grams of spice and the quality is the best I’ve had. Buying the pure JWH-018 is the key, I bought mine from mountainindustry.com. They seem to have the best stuff. Anyway, once you make your own, you will never buy spice again. Trust me. 🙂
And use coupon code L27MHJ1
There are multiple avenues of profit available in the cannabis industries growing at exponential rates throughout the states where cannabis is legal. Prohibitionists have been placing their heads underground promoting ignorance and indifference. Patient rights used to be a primary fixture in democracies before profits from healthcare went from hospitals to prisons. Managing behavior through fear and institutional theft has bankrupted this nation and left it weak internally. A war against the american people under the auspices of child protection has left no foundation to stand upon.
It makes me sick to know that the government made cannabis illegal. It makes me sick knowing that the government knows ALL about the medical benefits of cannabinoids and how basically without proper cannabinoids, our brains and body’s start having problems. Our government knows this. They know it so well actually that they decided to make the plant so illegal so that they can force “medicine” down our throats to make a profit. Like where else can we get cannabinoids? Screw Marinol, and the ones we produce in our bodies, our endocannabinoids, we don’t produce nearly enough as what cannabis gives us. Cannabinoids and our ECS was named after the plant Cannabis! Oh cmon, seriously? You’re going to ban a plant who’s name is used to call one of our systems in our body which is vital for some bodies to even function on a normal basis, but then go ahead and sell tobacco and alcohol at every gas station in the nation and wonder why so many of us Americans are hooked on pain killers. It’s all one big fucking trap that I REFUSE to get sucked into. Can’t wait until this prohibition is over and everyone starts realizing that we need cannabis in our lives to not only enhance it, but to treat it as a vegetable and eat on a daily basis to ensure a long healthy life.