medical marijuana

[killemall]

can you imagine that even if you are dying the self righteous lowlife scum that run this country still will not yield to basic rights, and yes, i do not give a crap what anyone says, but i HAVE the right to smoke pot if i want to. who the hell is the government to tell me what is good and bad for me. i am really really starting to hate this country and everyone in it. its the same thing with gambling and prostitution, who the hell is the government to tell me i can not sit in my bedroom on a sunday afternoon, smoke a joint, have sex with a prostitute and gamble on a football game. how does that affect anybody elses life in any way, shape or form. there are three things you will never stop mankind from doing, and i already listed them. mankind will ALWAYS be gamblers, mankind will ALWAYS look for ways to have sex no matter what they have to do for it, and mankind will ALWAYS look for ways to alter their brains, ie: alcohol, drugs, i mean damn, people will sniff gas and paint to alter thier brains and no government, religious or self righteous entity will EVER stop us from wanting these things.




Updated:2007-03-14 15:00:40
Dying Woman Loses Marijuana Appeal
By DAVID KRAVETS
AP
SAN FRANCISCO (March 14) - A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a California woman whose doctor says marijuana is the only medicine keeping her alive is not immune from federal prosecution on drug charges.


Medical Pot Controversy
The ruling is the latest development in a long fight over whether using marijuana for medical reasons should be legal.

The case was brought by Angel Raich , an Oakland mother of two who suffers from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments. On her doctor's advice, she eats or smokes marijuana every couple of hours to ease her pain and bolster a nonexistent appetite. Conventional drugs did not work, she said.

The Supreme Court ruled against Raich two years ago, saying that medical marijuana users and their suppliers could be prosecuted for breaching federal drug laws even if they lived in a state such as California where medical pot is legal.

Because of that ruling, the issue before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was narrowed to the so-called right to life theory: that the gravely ill have a right to marijuana to keep them alive when legal drugs fail.

Raich , 41, began sobbing when she was told of the decision and said she would continue using the drug.

"I'm sure not going to let them kill me," she said. "Oh my God."

the government has said it could not guarantee that Raich or other seriously ill patients using medical marijuana would not be prosecuted. Over the years, the government has raided dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries, mostly in California.

The case is likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, but each time the high court has taken up the issue of medical marijuana it has ruled against allowing the sick and dying to use the drug.

The latest legal wrangling once again highlighted the tension between the federal government, which declares marijuana an illegal controlled substance with no medical value, and the 11 states allowing medical marijuana for patients with a doctor's recommendation.

Voters in 1996 made California the first state to authorize patients to use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. At least 10 other states followed suit.

[MrMacphisto]

Good post... I'm all for legalizing pot for medical AND recreational purposes. I'd still smoke it now, if I didn't have to worry about drug testing.

[drew70]

Ditto what Mac said. Getting tickled while high on pot? Da bomb!

[scissorman]

I agree. Pot should be legal.

[tickledgirl]

But pot's never been scientifically proven to be effective...

So, you want to do a scientific study to try to prove that? Need some pot. Sorry, pot's illegal. :disgust:

Prohibition against marijuana is ridiculous at best. At worst...well, this article is one example of how bad it can be at worst.

[JPie1]

Ditto what Mac said. Getting tickled while high on pot? Da bomb!


never tried it, but I remember when I 1st starting smoking in college (yes I was a good girl till college) I would go into these huge giggle fits without being tickled!!

hummm...must try the combination although it must be years since I last had a puff

[JPie1]

Oh and back on topic, if a sick person really has a beneficial reason for smoking pot I say let them go for it, especially if the person is terminal...if this is what gives them relief then leave it alone!

[nerobob]

there are three things you will never stop mankind from doing, and i already listed them. mankind will ALWAYS be gamblers, mankind will ALWAYS look for ways to have sex no matter what they have to do for it, and mankind will ALWAYS look for ways to alter their brains, ie: alcohol, drugs, i mean damn, people will sniff gas and paint to alter thier brains and no government, religious or self righteous entity will EVER stop us from wanting these things.

A fallacious argument in my opinion. Mankind will always have murderers, rapists and paedophiles, therefore we legalise these activities?

I agree that marijuana is not really any more harmful than mankind's two legal cancers, tobacco and alchohol, but I really can't see any benefit in adding another drug to the legal list.

You're right to say that someone who smokes pot in their bedroom or to ease pain is doing no one any harm, but why legalise it? So the government can tax the hell out of you? No thanks.

[tickledgirl]

A fallacious argument in my opinion. Mankind will always have murderers, rapists and paedophiles, therefore we legalise these activities?

I agree that marijuana is not really any more harmful than mankind's two legal cancers, tobacco and alchohol, but I really can't see any benefit in adding another drug to the legal list.

You're right to say that someone who smokes pot in their bedroom or to ease pain is doing no one any harm, but why legalise it? So the government can tax the hell out of you? No thanks.

Ummm...How about so an sick woman doesn't have to choose between risking jail and dying?

Moreover, the burden of proof should be on you (well, actually on the government) to prove that a restriction is necessary. It's not on the citizens to prove that the absence of restriction would be beneficial. So "I can't see any benefit in adding another drug to the legal list" has it backwards. Everything is presumptively legal. I can't see any benefit in having this drug on the illegal list. Can you?

[steph]

I don't partake myself but I worked on the committee to get it passed here in
California. I've seen it ease a lot of pain in several of my patients.

And as far as prosecuting her for it, trust me on this. It's a bluff. If she suffers from brain tumor, she'll be dead long before anything ever comes of it.
XOXO

[nowayjose]

If you don't smoke marihuana (you can eat it, too), and use it in moderation there's virtually no harm to it. In a small minority of predisposed people it can trigger psychiatric conditions, especially with long-term use, but many things can.
There's no health bonus at all with tobacco. It is always harmful and kills many people every year. Why is it legal? The argumentation harmful -> illegal isn't the reasoning behind this or tobacco would be prohibited aswell. It's more of an arrogant display of the power of the state over the freedom of the individual (even Harry Anslinger, the one who instigated the marihuana prohibition in the US, said so).

[isabeau]

Oh and back on topic, if a sick person really has a beneficial reason for smoking pot I say let them go for it, especially if the person is terminal...if this is what gives them relief then leave it alone!

my aunt was dying of cancer back in 1980...and nauseous from the treatments they still insisted on giving her..her son snuck in pot, which helped her nausea immensely...i think it's a shame that when someone is terminally ill, the law can step in...

[SmarterthanU]

Billions of people have died from alcohol abuse. No one has ever died of a pot overdose. And I have seriously tried.

The US spends billions of dollars a year fighting a "war" on a relatively harmless substance. Pot was almost decriminalized under Carter. Clinton is the guy who really escallated the war on pot, and under Bush things are even worse.

Failure to legalize pot was one of the worst public policy errors of the 20th century...

[steph]

I'm always amazed at the people who are outraged that in their state it's illegal. People, please...If you want it legal, GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. :disgust:

(Oh and no MJ plants were harmed in the writing of this letter. Thank you and have a nice day.) :jester:
XOXO

[giantfan121262]

I am all for legalizing pot. I have been a recreational smoker (toker) since I was going for cheerleaders. If I had a say, I would treat it it like alcohol and cigarettes. Impose a sin tax on it with the intention of reducing the national debt, but with the "white house resident" that number would take a few generations to eliminate.

[MrMacphisto]

Ditto what Mac said. Getting tickled while high on pot? Da bomb!

Thanks... I'm glad we can occasionally agree on something... :D

[Iggy pop]

A fallacious argument in my opinion. Mankind will always have murderers, rapists and paedophiles, therefore we legalise these activities?

Rapists, pedophiles, and murderes have victims. People chooseto smoke weed. At what cost do we keep marijuana(and for that matter all drugs) illegal? The costs of additional prisons, additional police,DEA, turning otherwise legal citizens into criminals.

I agree that marijuana is not really any more harmful than mankind's two legal cancers, tobacco and alchohol, but I really can't see any benefit in adding another drug to the legal list.


Legalized drugs would provide extra tax revenue, extra jobs, free up resources, take away funding from gangsters and possible terrorists. There are tons of benefits.

[SmarterthanU]

Opium wasn't considered a problem in the US until there was mass fear of Chinese immigrants. Heroin wasn't illegal until it was perceived as a "black" drug. Pot wasn't illegal until it was considered a "minority" drug.

Pot in particular is far less harmful than alchohol. But because it's perceived to be a drug used by "others," it's illegal. For the most part, our lawmakers don't smoke pot (socially). They stand around at parties with drinks in their hands.

It used to be drinks and cigarettes. Now that smoking has been demonized, it will be a little harder to get sympathy for pot legalization. But as long as cigarettes and alchohol are legal, there's not much in the way of a good argument for pot remaining illegal.

I agree that if you want to help end the madness, you have to be politically active!

[nowayjose]

If I had a say, I would treat it it like alcohol and cigarettes. Impose a sin tax on it with the intention of reducing the national debt, but with the "white house resident" that number would take a few generations to eliminate.

That won't work because most people would simply grow it at home.

[killemall]

I'm always amazed at the people who are outraged that in their state it's illegal. People, please...If you want it legal, GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. :disgust:

(Oh and no MJ plants were harmed in the writing of this letter. Thank you and have a nice day.) :jester:
XOXO


thats the problem, our fascist federal government does not believe in the constitution anymore. there r a numberof states that have tried but the fascist pigs keep overriding them, even though this is NOT a constitutional issue, and since it is NOT a constitutional issue, it should be left up to the individual states, but when ur federal government is run by fascist pigs, the constitution means nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hivoltage]

I started another thread about this subject ("dying woman can be arrested for possession) from the angle of our catastrophically failed "War on drugs".

750,000 Marijuana arrests per year.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[steph]

Yanno what I found though? Getting people to hop on board was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I'd guess a good 75% of the STRANGERS I spoke to were in favor, especially for medicinal purposes.

You have to present it to people in a way they can relate to if you want it to work. Some of my friends who weren't exactly warm to the idea crossed over when I presented it to them like this: "Look, you know Nick's smoking it anyway, because you found it in his room. Don't you want to keep him out of jail? Sign my petition then." It was so much fun to see that, "Oh crap, she's right" look cross their faces... :D

XOXO

thats the problem, our fascist federal government does not believe in the constitution anymore. there r a numberof states that have tried but the fascist pigs keep overriding them, even though this is NOT a constitutional issue, and since it is NOT a constitutional issue, it should be left up to the individual states, but when ur federal government is run by fascist pigs, the constitution means nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[giantfan121262]

That won't work because most people would simply grow it at home.

People make beer at home, but alcohol still sells by the boat load. You don't think that if it was legalized, there are some that could produce pot, like tobacco is produced?

[jkb]

I just love the whole hypocrisy of the War on Drugs' "protecting the citizen" motif. I love how a harmless (yes, it is quite harmless) drug is LESS dangerous to me and LESS of an infringement on the freedoms of the American people than giving men in uniform the thumbs-up to force me at gunpoint not to smoke this harmless drug. Because that's what a law is; something that the government is allowed to force you to do at gunpoint.

Then again though, the government does have a point. Maybe they are protecting you from marijuana by putting nonviolent offenders in prison. After all, when you're put in a jail cell for months and months and years and years and can't get out, fined hundreds of thousands of dollars by the government to the point where you can't even buy food, and being beaten by prison guards and raped by the cast of Oz, I'll tell you what you're not doing: smoking pot. Wow, I feel so much safer. Thank you, U.S. Government!

[tickledgirl]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4635873.html

SANTA FE, N.M. — Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, poised to sign a bill making New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana, said Thursday he realizes his action could become an issue in the presidential race.

"So what if it's risky? It's the right thing to do," said Richardson, one of the candidates in the crowded 2008 field.

Well damn. I know nothing about the guy, but he sounds worth checking out. I think someone mentioned him in a thread of 2008 candidates?

[killemall]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4635873.html



Well damn. I know nothing about the guy, but he sounds worth checking out. I think someone mentioned him in a thread of 2008 candidates?



this is all worthless since our pig federal government will only override it anyway because there is no more constitution.