Despite the growing body of scientific evidence showing that cannabis access is associated with reductions in opioid use and mortality, the Chairman of the White House’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis today called upon the President to reject any efforts to acknowledge marijuana’s promising role in mitigating opioid abuse and dependency.
In a letter sent today to President Donald Trump by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Chairman of the Committee, he writes:
“The Commission acknowledges that there is an active movement to promote the use of
marijuana as an alternative medication for chronic pain and as a treatment for opioid addiction. … There is a lack of sophisticated outcome data on dose, potency, and abuse potential for marijuana. This mirrors the lack of data in the 1990’s and early 2000’s when opioid prescribing multiplied across health care settings and led to the current
epidemic of abuse, misuse and addiction. The Commission urges that the same mistake is not made with the uninformed rush to put another drug legally on the market in the midst of an overdose epidemic.”
President Trump established the Commission in May via an executive order. Members of the Commission issued their policy recommendations today.
In recent months, dozens of peer-reviewed studies have concluded that legal cannabis access is associated with reduced rates of opioid use, spending, abuse, hospitalization, and mortality. Summaries and links to these studies are available here.
Despite over 10,000 advocates communicating this information to the Commission, members of the committee have chosen to disregard it. Moreover, Gov. Christie opines in today’s letter that cannabis exposure increases the likelihood that one will become opioid dependent — an allegation that was recently rejected by the National Academy of Sciences, which, in a January 2017 review of some 10,000 peer-reviewed studies, failed to identify even one “good or fair-quality systematic review that reported on the association between cannabis use and the initiation of use of opioids.”
NORML thanks the thousands of you who took the time to try to inform and educate this Commission and regrets that its members continue to place political ideology above the health and safety of American lives.
…Marijuana “contribute” to overdose?! While even the DEA admits that marijuana has not caused a single overdose or any marijuana-cause-related death in all recorded human history?
Right.
This Apellate court decision in favor of rescheduling mj in NJ un Kadonsky v. Lee couldnt be better timed.
Here comes the marijuana legalization commercial:
If you are a medical cannabis patient that has suffered negative side effects from any variety of legally prescripted pharmaceutical drugs, contact Keith Stroup, NORML legal councel (contacts on this page) and ask how you can be joined to any variety of federal cases against Attorney General Sessions or Governor Christi to deschedule marijuana. It doesn’t take long to link one of these two parasites to Big Pharma blood money in some settlement after they accepted donations from the manufacturer of the very same deadly synthetic drug that you may now be substituting with whole plant cannabis. Thats evidence in a federal court.
It’s easy. Just go to http://www.opensecrets.org, punch Jeff Sessions or Chris Christi in the search tab off the menu button. Click on “doners” and start googling the names of any of the doners names that remotely look like a pharmaceutical company next to the word “settlement.” Presto! Theres the name of the drug that tried to kill you or someone you love for the campaign profit of Christi and/or Sessions. It might not indict them but it damn sure can recuse them from a marijuana descheduling case! You can do it on your lunch hour!
Look you pot heads were morons to think that they would ever let the free markets in America sale a drug that solves so many problems medically, along side it’s huge profit margins. When you include the city and state on any emerging market you gamble to loose it all to the bigger money in America. (Smoking to much of your own product), history tells you what is too come. Soon they will begin to manifest conclusions based on concerns for public safety that will then lead to the reduction and removal of marijuana from the standard business climate and place it special interests groups to manage and manipulate for profit. Big pharma ihas been making plans with this administration to capture marijuana in its entirety to pursue at its convenience around the already handcrafted pills of fortune treating the same illnesses as marijuana. There will not be any federal legalization!!! It will be a form of prescription drug with schedule punishment associated with it. Say goodbye to the mom and pop dispensary’s ( Oh that’s already happened in Colorado with weed Barron’s ), and now the state has chosen to call the patient that the whole industry was created on THE BLACK MARKET ! Local government protection for there revenue. So if ever thought this was about medicine you were a fool. Soon all dispensary’s will be considered the black market oops that is happening now… how well they sell multiple ounces to out of town customers at the recreational side with a turnstile format . As for the medical side if your plant count says you can possess 10 oz. then they are allowing you to buy that max amount per day which could potentially allow any one patient to purchase 4.4 pounds a week add a couple of friends there and well its about 15 pounds a week to go to the out of state buyers this is only a small group amounting this imagine a large group doing this;but everyone of these dispensary’s are doing this and accommodating the black market right out the front door.
Whatever dude,
Never say never. I remember when posters on this very forum said, several years ago, that legalization would never be allowed to happen in Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon . . .
The moneyed interests behind prohibition have been exposed and will again be defeated. Sessions has taken on an industry that is already burgeoning. He’s too ideologically stupid and rigid to understand that he’s swimming against a hard current.
Whatever, Whatever.
“…not about medicine?”
You surrender the battle before you join the war.
Whole plant marijuana is medicine. Synthetic molecules are poison. The difference is whole plant synergy or side effects from patented synthetics ; the difference is one can overdose on synthetics but not on whole plant marijuana; the difference is our participation in contacting our Congressman or vainly retreating into defeat; the difference is in choosing to purchase a sustainable garden of whole plant medicine or choosing to sell ourselves to a synthetic poison farm of patented prohibition.
I always have a choice. Do you?
So?
So he thinks he’s a doctor now, an expert in narcotics?
He’s an expert at eating only!
You want proof? I am right here with the proof.
I as well am proof
I am proof too.
I have had Crohns 12 1/2 years 8 years spent $thousands on medications. my quality of life went straight to hell. forced into adult diapers, uncontrolled diarrhea, pain you don’t want to imagine, inflammation setting in joints like Gout. And still having two flares a week.
4 years ago I started using medical marijuana.
Today I am out of adult diapers, the inflammation is gone, the horrible pain is gone, and the fatigue is gone. I have only had two mild flares in the last year!
MEDICAL MARIJUANA GAVE ME MY LIFE BACK!
Chris Christie is a total Idiot that knows nothing
lol
RE-write as I hit limit, so please forgive shortcuts-
—–
GF son, ~40 days clean (was Oxy and Xanax and…)
we tried to help, but force is no good, and lies sidestep tender.
his older brother returned from long trip
just about the time we caught on that pills were being used.
his brother (whom he looks up to) helped by examining phone
and telling each dealer/contact that police were involved
and that they would be farked if they ever contacted him again.
also chaperoned much of his life for a solid week+
cold turkey, had shakes, and mood swings, even memory/focus issues ?
we provided support, and I got him some greens.
his brother championed, and I never expected him to rise, at all really…
and he himself fought to stand tall
and we encouraged, fought, argued, cried, battled, and more.
and after some battles, we would break out a binger or a jay-
and relax. and over time, he got clearer.
his father is in prison, again, for heroin
and we were terrified we would lose him to who knows what fate-
but he was not himself, he had waived his free will for pills.
we fought and cried, and I cried twice writing this,
and I am growling alpha male. ra…
this hurt
but we did it
CANNABIS HELPED.
and likely wouldn’t have been successful-
unless Divine Intervention…
anyway ~40 days clean
and he is aggressive against those that offer pills
he knows he cannot take a single step back or he is lost.
but
his mind is back
he looks clean and sharp
and he is free
cannabis was crucial
– fark these liars.
Growling alpha male? Or part of the diverse human family?
no sarc, no bs.
cannabis is a GODSEND.
(I mean that, literally.
note cannabinoid receptors.)
–
I offer my encouragement to those facing the same. we are only just now relaxing that it is ‘done’, – but he can never slip …
—-
we need these people
leadership, clowns, fools, …
to care more for Americans
than their lobbyist payments and their bullshit.
Cannabis, along with tough love, and… monitoring to assist-
ARE CRITICAL TOOLS FOR SOLVING OPIATE DEPENDENCY.
I cannot stress enough.
my eyes burn as I gaze through tears.
I mean what I say.
good day.
Ben
Keep putting the green on that addict, Ben. He needs the good stuff and frequently. You are a champ to help. You are doing the right thing! Replace the fog with happy clouds! I beat a bad drinking problem 18 years ago, with happy clouds! I never had anybody’s permission, either. What I did have was a couple of people like you, who put a little green on me now and then, and I got by, buddy, I made it. Thank the Lord. Your GF’s son will, too, if he applies himself and fires up frequently. I hope he does.
This man is either incredibly stupid, misinformed, in the pockets of big Pharma, or all of the three.
Fat boy is a political hack, never did a honest days work in his life, never saw callouses on his hands except from eating. I think he got promised a role during the campaign to bring him on board with the support he could muster. He needs to lay off those hamburgers tho.
It’s not political ideology, It’s blatant corruption in collusion with big pharma, the very same players that created the HIGHLY profitable opioid epidemic.
So there you have it: when it comes to Republicans, all war is good war; and, especially so, the War on Drugs.
As commentor Clem Clark figured out on a previous blog, the strategy for fighting legalization will be to “equate” the supposed dangers of cannabis and opioids. That way, the Trump administration can collar the “legal” cannabis market for the benefit of big pharma and their lackeys, while simultaneously ramping up marijuana prohibition and forfeitures and prison sentences, on behalf of Jefferson Peckerwood Sessions.
Marijuana is the cornerstone of the War on Drugs. They’re not giving that up easily. If not full-on prohibition, then quasi-prohibition based on social class, money, and race.
I anticipate a move to Schedule II for cannabis, in order to achieve this.
The Republicans are war profiteers on a genetic level. They’re not interested in solutions — just the Drug War Gravy Train, and Corporate Profits. All hail the mighty god, PROFIT!
That’s why we must de-schedule, not re-schedule.
Governor Chris Christie is ignorant and a paid off goony for trump & sessions go buy a bag of weed and smoke some ya ignorant idiot
Reading up on the Kadonsky case… (A man who is currently incarcerated for nonviolent possession who is fighting for our freedom);
http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/attorneys/assets/opinions/appellate/published/a3324-14.pdf
And I had to share Lee’s strange explanation for refusing to deschedule marijuana;
“The Department of Health noted that marijuana is not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, and cannot be prescribed by physicians or dispensed by pharmacists. The Department explained that changing the classification of marijuana from a Schedule I substance in New Jersey would require a change in existing federal law.”
Let’s look at the first part of what Lee says; the FDA has not approved of marijuana so it cannot be “prescribed.”
So what?!
Tobacco isn’t prescribed. Alcohol isn’t prescribed… or at least it doesn’t require a prescription. Why doesn’t Lee just come out and say it? ;
“We (i.e. the pharmaceutical companies like Celgene Corp that purchased the Christi Administration) don’t own the patent on marijuana so we can’t profit off of rescheduling it to schedule 2 where we can still throw people in prison like mr. Kadonsky for growing their own medicine.”
Back to analysis, the court’s decision follows an obscure Supreme Court decision in ‘86 called the State v. Tate, where a quadriplegic man was charged with possession of marijuana… but Justice Clifford wrote that the “Commissioner of Health” in N.J. has the authority to reschedule marijuana.
I wonder, Commissioner Lee, how does it feel to get your @$$ handed to you in Apellate Court by a convicted prisoner? Is it shame mixed with self-loathing? Can you even look at people in their eyes anymore? Do you do a Daily Affirmation in the mirror when you go home teling yourself “people like me” so you can find the balls to go to work and show your face the next day? How do you do it Lee?
Thanks for sharing that case with us, Julian. The justifications we hear from these prohibitionist advocates–even the legal ones–are often so shallow, easily disprovable or specious that you would think they’d be too embarrassed to show their faces. But there’s the Keebler Elf, himself, the country’s friggin’ AG, spouting that same type of nonsense. His letters to the Governors of Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, filled with outright falsehoods and selective, misleading stats are prime examples of this.
I’ve been fantasizing that Roy Moore will drop out of the Alabama Senate race, Sessions will drop out of AG as a write-in candidate then lose to Doug Jones.
Ah, perchance to dream…
That is crazy! It does not do that.pain can cause addiction and your personality traits. Canibias is a herb that is natural unlike acholol and pain pills that are man made killers! People get addicted for many reasons young and old ! But if used as intended it is better that pain pilss and acholol.
Hey Deb, alcohol is even worse than “man-made”, if you eat too much high fructose corn sugar the “bad bacteria” in your gut turn some of it into noxious “higher” alcohols that cause depression and dumm you down so you spend money carelessly feeding the profits of walksmart and other monopoly “retailers”.
.
Check out Dr. Scott Olson and his “Sugarettes” theory that sugar causes 15,000,000 deaths a year worldwide compared to 6,000,000 by $igarettes and 2,500,000 by alcohol.
The response offered by Christie is about what I would expect from an ignorant jerk!
I sure hope the people of New Jersey have learned their lesson…
Tyranny can mean “despite over 10,000 advocates communicating this information to the Commission, members of the committee have chosen to disregard it.”
Founding Father of the United States Thomas Jefferson said, “If people let government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” The Commission “urges that the same mistake is not made with the uninformed rush to put another drug legally on the market in the midst of an overdose epidemic” despite NORML reporting “in recent months, dozens of peer-reviewed studies have concluded that legal cannabis access is associated with reduced rates of opioid use, spending, abuse, hospitalization, and mortality.”
Abridged can mean “urge that the same mistake is not made with the uninformed rush”. Congress shall make no law …abridging … the right of the people … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances (Amendment 1).
Compulsory process can mean to obtain “sophisticated outcome data on dose, potency, and abuse potential”. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right …to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor (Amendment 6).
Gov. Christie needs to go away. He is a HUGe bag of bloated crap and a dirty politician. Hope he goes to jail with all the other crooked politicians. BOO CHRIS CHRISTIE BOO !!!
You’re the answer to our question, “Where’s an Anti-Christy when we need one?”
New Jersey legislators are funded BIGLY by big pharma!! Shame on you for putting your own pockets ahead of benefits for the people..
Update on the Washington v. Sessions case;
The judge granted an order for more time for the plaintiffs (Marvin Washington, Alexis Bortell, etc.) to respond to the defendant’s (Sessions, DEA, etc) Motion to Dismiss, (a motion which has not yet been granted or denied). The memorandum or “endorsement” for more time was granted yesterday:
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/22047318/Washington_et_al_v_Sessions_et_al
Great! That gives us more time to dig up a money trail from Sessions, the DEA and some poisonous prescription drugs that Marvin and Alexis substituted with marijuana for safe treatment. I was focused on depakote for Alexis, assuming she probably was prescribed this terrible mislabeled synthetic poison before. (Links are on the previous hemp blog).
But now it’s time to follow the Washington Post investigations into oxycontin, which we all know the NFL was giving to Marvin Washington during and after his career to treat his professional injuries. How do we spell the words “irreparable harm” and public interest”?
This is how:
DRAG THE SACKLERS INTO THIS CASE!
the bigger ? how come Christie is not loosing any weight?
Uninformed fools…
It is coming to your state, Mr. Christie, matter of time.
Personally I think they missed out on a viable option for the opioid addicts.I’ve shared this post and hope the politicians will open their minds to alternative herbal medications.
We won’t stop fighting
https://www.denvernorml.org/podcast/
WARNING; The latest NORML Podcast with Roger Stone has two huge potholes in it;
1): Roger Stone
2): Distraction.
Distraction from real marijuana reform legislation such as the CARERS Act or lobbying the House Rules Committee to extend the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment. Distraction from federal court cases like Washington v. Sessions that intend to DEschedule not Reschedule marijuana. (Schedule 2 is still commercial prohibition… cocaine is a schedule 2 drug Stone. You can fool Bill Maher but you cant fool all the people all the time).
I mean c’mon NORML… Stone wants to take our money and give it to his comrades at Fox News? Did you not hear him say on the Podcast he would “even work with communists?” He’s fucking with our precious time. I got news for you Stone… the Controlled Substances Act IS police state Communism. But you an Dick already knew that, didn’t you?
Ads to President Trump? Fucking really? The guy signs whatever Big Pharma puts in front of him if he can even remember to do that before waving at the camera and THATS where you want us to gamble with legalization?
REschedule to schedule 2? He said thats what he is urging the President to do. I’m all for bipartisan cooperation but this is a trick, not a treat. Roger Stone, you racist, treasonous lapdog for Putin… Rohrabacher may be a Russian spook but at least he supports policies that HELP our movement. Hope Mueller hangs you with Manafort. That Nixon tattoo on your back should help keep you from getting raped in prison where you belong.
[Paul Armentano responds: The podcast is question is Denver NORML’s. Local affiliates are largely autonomous and it was there decision to interview Roger Stone. At present, national NORML has no official affiliation with Mr. Stone.]
Thank you Paul for clarifying that… I knew it was Denver NORML’s decision to meet with Stone, not National NORML. I should have clarified “Denver NORML” when I wrote that piece, sorry.
Stone is baiting us with his Coalition to Reschedule. For someone like Bill Maher, a long time advocate and NORML Board advisor who donates so much to our cause and who seems mistified by intelligent people turning to religion I’m very disapointed he doesn’t see through the Trickster’s ploy to RE, and not DE schedule marijuana.
And Denver NORML is so high profile it disturbs me more they didn’t press him right away when the words “REschedule” came out of Stone’s crooked mouth.
They did seem to press him on the validity of spending on ads to Fox news just to get the President’s short attention span not knowing how effective that will be. When John Oliver did it it was funny. Roger Stone? Distraction. Denver NORML needs to be assertive on this point, not play softball with these rhetorical questions. We don’t need ads on Fox to hope Trump reschedules; we need to lobby Congress and support Washington v. Sessions to deschedule. They should have asked him why he doesn’t lobby Pete Sessions from the start if he supports marijuana reform like he says. Placing bets on this reverse-Obama President is a dangerous strategy. All we’d be doing is reminding Trump to reverse the Cole memos.
Notice when they asked him if we should be focusing more on the President or on pending legislation in Congress he started saying he had to go. Stone is just trying to score political points and repair his image so we don’t hang him with the Mueller investigations. Funny thing is Papadopoulos probably already squeeled on him.
The interview reveals what we should already know; he deprioritizes hemp because he gets his money from the Koch brothers. Schedule 2 is still prohibition; Stone is no ally to marijuana reform and The leopard doesn’t change his spots.
I want to clarify that I dont condemn Denver NORML for talking to Stone or putting him on a podcast; I blame them for not immediately condemning his deceit when he said “I urge the President to reschedule marijuana to schefule 2,” and when he quipped that “I’ll even work with Communists.”
As I said in my previous post, the CSAct IS police state communism. Theres a reason why Marino almost became our next “drug czar,” a communist title. Nixon was the first President to travel to Communist China. He was impressed with the way the Chinese government could use police to arrest and disenfranchise minorities. Nixon’s aids revealed that “heroin could be blamed on blacks” and Mexicans and hippies blamed for marijuana, as if marijuana was to blame for our socioeconomic inequality, and not the prohibition of it.
Any attempt to play softball or remain silent with and unopposed to a comment like that from Stone is to “normlize” current cooperation with perceived communist Russia. Even though Russia has really been a criminal oligarchy since 1991 and the U.S. officially since 2010… but as long as the state-media jaded voters still THINK we have a Democratic Republic and the Russians are commies thats what Stone is selling; “communism is ok, but socialism is not.” Figure that one out. (Hint: it’s a lie).
But lets be clear, former KGB thug and oligarch puppet Vladamir Putin does not want to see marijuana legalized anywhere anytime. And thats where our white house is taking orders. Money to Roger Stone or Ads on Fox news are nothing but money going to Russian state television.
Once again our fat governor interjects himself into a situation that he knows nothing about!!! Chris Christie you are an irrelevant political ass kisser.
Go figure….We kinda thought you were doing something productive.
Just legalize it, pain patients are suffering and dying. And you are not caring at all. You are not offering anything to help them with their pain n anxiety. Get off you fat controlling asses n do the right thing. Karma will strike in vengeance. For making so many suffer
Fat Crispy Cream Christy can suck it.
Christie just oozes corruption. It will be a breath of fresh air when that blowhard is put to pasture. Congratulations to the citizens of New Jersey, your days under the corrupt blowhard are over.
Christy is the poster boy for food addiction.
How does this guy not always have a black eye.
This administration denies evidence under oath;
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/us/politics/trump-jeff-sessions-russia.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Sessions got popped by Papadopolous. That oughtta keep him busy during the Washington v. Sessions case. An attorney general that lies under oath about colluding in a Presidential campaign with a hostile foreign power should be indicted immediately.
I can’t help but feel that all the problems Sessions is having these days, the hearings and threats of hearings about his false testimony regarding his contacts with the Russians MUST be helping our cause, MUST have him at least slightly distracted in regards to his jihad against pot. I’m hoping the rat will be fired by the Prince of Orange, or else just resign out of frustration and fear of prosecution (though prosecution itself would be far more apropos).
I don’t think Sessions resigning (or even better, running for Senate again as a write-in and losing) can prevent him frim being prosecuted by the special councel. If anything Sessions is using whatever power as AG to divert the investigation weighing that punishment for violating his recusal is less than getting caught.
Beauty is he and everyone in the Trump administration including the Orange Wonder already got popped by Popadopolous. Mueller can now leverage his evidence. And theres still a Grand Jury reviewing evidence against Trump for everything from emoluments to high treason. (“High” Treason indeed… these tabloid freaks are blowing my high).
Meanwhile theres a lot of high profile cases going around federal courts… (get it? “High” profile? Ok, I’ll stop). Washington v. Sessions is high on my list. (I swear, that one slipped…)
What is the source of data Mr. Christie uses for his opinion? Any court Judge would require proof before making a ruling. Does he think he can just “bully” his personal opinion on the American people like some Russian thug? Holy bake sale, Mr. President! Put someone in charge who will make America great again!
@ John Cooper,
Why are you surprised?
Trump appointments are a fraud by design, because Trump himself is a fraud. This wasn’t an accident. Isn’t this evident to you by now?
“Mr. Pr*esident?”
Wrong, sucker!
Trump ain’t no President, he’s a fascist wanna-be dictator who never had any intention of serving America as President, or in any other capacity.
The Trump “administration” in its entirety is a goddamn criminal scam.
That’s where you missed your turn, I suspect!
Trump: He fawns over Duterte and Putin. He castigates Sessions for recusing himself over Russia collusion, rather than more openly abusing his power as AG, on Trump’s behalf. Trump rails at the press about his frustration about why he “isn’t supposed to” be able to prosecute and jail his personal “enemies” if he wants to (and he wants to!)
Whatever Trump is, it ain’t a President.
Trump has been in violation of his oath of office since day one, because of his flaunting of the emoluments clause. When challenged on it, he said the voters has factored that into their vote.
Trump picked America’s pocket, then waved the wallet in our faces in order to gloat.
Trump is going to get indicted for obstruction of justice, emoluments from hostile foreign powers, money laundering, tax evasion and high treason.
And he’ll shrug it off. He wont resign. And Congress, complicit in the theft of our Democratic Republic won’t impeach him, even with the long list of lying under oath Trump will soon join Sessions in being a part of when he gets deposed for oral deposition.
But what will get rid of this “President” (aka “The Orange Menace”) is another way of being “deposed,” through the 25th amendment. The bad billionaire batman villains that put this incompetant “fucking moron” (to borrow a phrase) into power… namely Goldman Sachs, JP Dimond, John Paulson, Paul Singer, Sheldon Adelson, David and Charles Koch, Robert and Rebbekah Mercer, the Sackler family, the Penguin, the Joker and Vladamir Putin… just to name a few… are now quite certain that Trump is so much of a distracting imbecile that McConnel and Ryan cant get their reverse Robin Hood tax cuts passed. With Pence at least they have a shot at robbing our economy in plain daylight. Trump is useless.
But Congress cant impeach him without dredging up their own Constitutional violations for supporting him. So the only solution is to declare the obvious… that Trump is mentally unfit for the office of the President and depose him under the 25th amendment. Trump’s own doctor provided documented proof back in February when we found out how much finasteride Trump is taking. (Side effects include “psychosis” and “small genitalia.” And suicide… if only…)
Let’s just make sure the mentally challenged spoiled bully doesn’t nuke the planet in a rotten tantrum before Maddog Mathis has to tackle the briefcase out of his little hands when he gets deposed.
So my take on this is how is Chris Christie still in any seat of office, for any government entity, he has been caught using cocaine and lord knows what else, but has a problem with cannabis use? Why is that? Hum lets see, 1. Munchies 2. Self realization of stupidity 3. No million dollar campaign donations from pharmaceutical companies 4. Local and federal governments can’t gain revenue from stolen goods seized in unlawful raids. 5. The American people can grow their own medicine and not need healthcare as much. (big loss in revenue) it all comes down to how much money drug companies, and healthcare providers, and local and state to federal governments are making off of the (#waron drugs) and how much they are standing to lose if cannabis is legalized. It’s not that they care about you or me or anyone else in this country, it’s all about the almighty dollar and how much of your money they can get, and when you don’t have healthcare or money then you are expendable, but if you try to grow your own medicine then your put in jail and maybe prison for a plant. (stupidity at it’s finest)
christi go eat some donuts and leave us pot smokers alone
I can’t believe we are still having to look at Chris Christie and he is still screwing the people so royally. Bridgegate. Governor’s Beach. How is he still around to be a wart on the arse of society? He is the worst possible person for this job. I bet he owns millions in pharmaceutical stocks. Pot makes them stop taking the pills! They are not motivated to take the pills! We must ignore the evidence for marijuana, and pound the drug war drums against it! Chomp on a big chicken leg! Get me the phone! Get me Trump on the phone! Tell him to get out of bed! Tell him to get over here, I want to suck his titty! Get him over here! Chomp!
Here are the sentences that you left out of the quote from Governor Christie’s letter of transmittal:
“Recent research out of the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse found that marijuana use led to a 2 ½ times greater chance that the marijuana user would become an opioid user and abuser. The Commission found this very disturbing.”
[Paul Armentano responds: The study cited by Christie is anomalous, as is evident by the fact that the National Academy Sciences failed to identify even one “good or fair-quality systematic review that reported on the association between cannabis use and the initiation of use of opioids.” Further, the data cited by Christie is nearly two decades old, did not assess use patterns among those using cannabis therapeutically, and likely has little relevance to current trends.]
For additional information on “The effects and impacts of marijuana use”, see http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com . Also see http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/opce/marijuana.htm for information concerning a 3-week online course being offered by Auburn University Outreach on that topic in which Governor Christie’s Commission’s work will be discussed. The course content will also include discussion of a video exchange between Dr. Nora Volkow of NIDA and the Dalai Lama on the subject of addiction. That exchange on addiction includes brain scans. According to a recent longitudinal study, one in six youth who use marijuana become addicted and one in ten adults. The Volkow/Dalai Lama exchange is hopeful in that ways of overcoming addiction and regaining one’s will power and authenticity and mental well being are discussed.
Cite your studies.
I could say 1 in 6 people with the last name “Gordon” are saprophytic trolls that suck the blood of sick, poor, innocent marijuana consumers but without citing any evidence I’m just down to just one “Gordon.” (Well, maybe you and Flash Gordon… that punk can sneak a toke faster than we can pass a joint… dirty scavenger).
Look, I’ll show you how it’s done;
I just googled “JAMA opioid %37 marijuana”
And the second link to pop up was the peer-reviewed, controlled, longitudinal study I was looking for from the 2014 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing a %37 reduction in opioid addiction and overdose in states with legalized medical or recreational marijuana. Yeah, that’s because marijuana helps people STOP addiction, and you’re full of $#!+.
Then I copied the link in the header and paste it here;
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4392651/
Shazaam!
Took me less than three minutes. You should try it, y’know, researching and sharing the truth… especially when making baseless, regurgitated propaganda like your website link in the previous post.
You’re threatening the safety of epileptic children and about 140 Americans per day that die from opioid overdose with your evil, deceptive website. But you can still save your soul! Trash that website and join NORML! With a joint and a little charity you might not live out your final days with your conscience on fire and miserably alone eating a box of your own bull$#!+
@ Paula,
Wow, that’s a lot of impressive sounding, high-powered bullshit, also known as reefer-madness. I’ve been listening to that quackery for too many decades to have any patience with you.
I call “bullshit.”
Haha… NORML calls a collective “Bull$#!+.” I think I even heard Jesus say “bull$#!+” when he read Dr Gordon’s post.
Paul I dont want a “not like” or thumbs down icon for this webpage but we really need a bull$#!+ button meter for trolls like Dr Gordon. You know, like if enough people call “bull$#!+” the meter on the post shows a growing poop emoji with a bull on top. The moderator gets to fact check before posting it. It will help me stop cussing!
The Republican Governor’s Association is strongly funded by the many Pharma (Merck, Novartis, J&J, etc.) and numerous Health Insurers in NJ.
Christie and his protege’ Kim Guadagno are financially aligned to those interests.
The sudden concern over opioid addiction ignores the causal effect that the exaggeration and lies about cannabis has created. D.A.R.E. and “Just Say No!” were admittedly well intended, but time shows them as ineffective.
When in doubt, tell the truth, and let youth make informed decisions free from fear of undue punishment.
Telling kids that cannabis is ineffective as a medicine, and much more dangerous than it is blurs the needed concern about hard drug usage.
I have a severe allergic reaction to Opioids and would be glad to be a spokesperson for the cause. I am a registered medical cannabis patient in my state, smeared and fired from my job, am currently partially disabled and would address president Trump directly through emails if necessary. I am not a drug addict as much I here. This like predatory lending and as far as patient confidentiality is concerned at least as it here in Maryland. I am registered since May2017, but cannot purchase after paying the outrageous cannabis doctors fees. When my primary at Kaiser denied me medical cannabis, lying to me in the process, I found out they could have from the beginning, but chose BIGPHARMA addictology instead and tried to prescribe antismoking meds instead.
what is an idiot spend the day in my shoes having to take all these drugs and most of the side effects are killing me anyways I’m sorry but they’re idiots I would love to have 5 minutes alone just to talk to these dumb mother this stuff can help a lot of people but the government is too stupid they want to get the pharmacies involved in this so they can get when is the government going to be about the people not about big business I ain’t being nice on this one but if I ever met him I have a few Choice words for the dumb son-of-a-bitch
IGNORANCE of the subject matter will make even an otherwise smart man look like a fool. If he’s accepting money from BIG pharma for his opinion he should be dismissed from his post. INTEGRITY is everything and then some.
external view of all this; self evidently
attempts to stall the inevitable are based on
corruption,, starting with corruption of process.
fortunately tho, these corrupt parasites
are nearing their use-by-dates..
together with a tidal wave of existing
rational responses worldwide to cannabis
realities, especially real therapeutic uses..
– not canada on your doorstep –
not to mention countries down south..
black markets dont pay taxes
but do oil the palms of many..
positive economic realities already
demonstrated, will add weight to
rational uncorrupted forces
for release of this god given herb
from the clutches of brainless fools..
christie is just trying to get a job via Trump by taking a stance that is totally anti decriminalization. the same guy who took family to the beach while it was closed to the public for some stupid reason when it was christie who didn’t want people to bother them i guess. he’s a crook like hillary. beware.
Chris Christie is nothing like Hillary, and entirely like Trump: a GOP asshole.
Nice try, Trumpanzee. Fuck you.
Haha, Republicans lost control of New Jersey. Time to take Christi out to pasture.
Christie and his commission also dismisses the fact that more serious drugs are always replaced with less threatening ones to combat illnesses or pain relief.
For instance, if motrin can relieve the pain before condeine, then they will use motrin.
He instills fear in this manner “The Commission urges that the same mistake is not made with the uninformed rush to put another drug legally on the market in the midst of an overdose epidemic.”
They just don’t want anybody to realize that the owner to this country still owns us. It’s all about the money and one world order 🙁
For new information on research and reports that substantiate the connection between the legalization and exposure to and use of marijuana with high THC levels and opioid use, see my Letter to the Members of the Canadian Parliament dated 2/23/2018 posted at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com. (The THC levels in marijuana have increased greatly in the last twenty years, and even more so since 2014. Also see other items posting posted on that website, especially Dr. Stuart Reece’s 4/15/2018 review of cannabis literature and arteriopathy, teratogenicity, and genotoxicity. Those promoting the use of marijuana, prescribing it, selling it, distributing it, or producing it may indeed be opening themselves up to law suits owing to the wide range of harms caused by it.
The entire world is waking up and legalizing cannabis, the only medicine safe enough for self-medication, as doctors become increasingly inaccessible to the poor. 30 countries provide their citizens with universal healthcare, but Americans consider it to be too extravagant. We still believe it’s better to burn out than to fade away, but someday, our culture of burnout will gradually evolve into a culture of health. May it come to pass in our lifetime.