Cannabis Law: British governments health argument in tatters
Under the weight of evidence from other countries the UK cannabis community seeks government action to decriminalise small amount for personal consumption.
In whats been a busy week so far as cannabis in the news is concerned, any slim hold the UK government may have had on an anti-cannabis policing strategy borne on the back of "public health", lay in tatters today, as a barrage of information out of mainland Europe and the US, finally brings the irrational British war on cannabis firmly into perpective.
BOOM!
The first salvo to land on our shores came from US Congressman Barney Frank (Rep. Mass), who whilst being interviewed for a TV show in the United States, (Real Time by HBO), commented that he was about to "File a bill as soon as we go back to remove all penalties for small amounts of marijuana."
Its Spring holiday season so far as US politics is concerned but when the senate reconvenes, Senator Frank is planning to set in motion, a bill which will finally put an end to the millions of US citizens being sent to jail, for possessing sometimes tiny amounts of marijuana.
BOOM!
Whilst all eyes were focused out toward the Atlantic Ocean, another volley came ranging in over the North Sea, when Dutch Health Minister Ab Clink announced in answer to parliamentary questions, that cannabis was to be excluded from the forth-coming national smoking ban which is about to come into force in Holland on July 1st 2008.
Minister Klink has said visitors to coffee shops will be free to smoke cannabis as long as it is not mixed with tobacco, which sends a clear signal with regard to the dangers of pure cannabis vapor over that which is consumed using tobacco as the delivery vehicle.
BOOM!
From over the Atlantic again this time as the former US Surgeon General, Dr Jocelyn Elders says "Mainstream Medicine Endorses Medical Marijuana ".
The American College of Physicians (ACP) is the largest medical specialty organization and the second largest physician group in the United States. Its 124,000 members are doctors specializing in internal medicine and related subspecialties, including cardiology, neurology, pulmonary disease, oncology and infectious diseases.
The College publishes "Annals of Internal Medicine ", the most widely cited medical specialty journal in the world.
In a landmark position paper released in February, this distinguished group of physicians are saying what many of us have been arguing for years: Most of our laws have gotten it wrong when it comes to medical marijuana, and it's time for public policy to get in step with science.
ACP supports its position with 10 pages of scientific documentation and references. They cite data showing relief of the nausea, vomiting and wasting that can worsen the misery of cancer, AIDS and other diseases; of the pain and tremors associated with multiple sclerosis; and for relief of pain caused by a variety of other conditions. They note that marijuana in combination with some pharmaceuticals may produce more benefit than either drug alone.
ACP also calls for more research, but then adds a critical point: In some areas, the efficacy of medical marijuana has already been established, and it's time for studies designed to determine the best dose and route of delivery.
As far as the ACP are concerned, medical marijuana is a done deal and just needs to be "rubber-stamped" into law, and this, from Dr Jocelyn Elders.
In case you haven't before heard of the good Doctor Elders, "Dr. Joycelyn Elders served as U.S. Surgeon General from 1993 to 1994, and is currently distinguished professor of pediatrics and public health at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine in Little Rock."
BOOM!
Relentless. Europe again and its been announced recently that the Supreme Court in the Czech Republic, has overuled the convictions brought upon a pensioner who grew cannabis amongst her vegetables, as she was proven to be using the plants to treat a painful foot condition and ulcers.
The Czech Republic currently allows a person to grow three plants, but some say thats not nearly enough and a recent initiative, which was backed by many prominent Czech celebrities and MP's, wants the amount to be increased.
"Only three cannabis plants, this is ridiculous," said Jiri Richter, head of the association of NGOs for prevention and treatment of drug abuse.
Richter told CTK that he believed marijuana should become completely legal. He added that quality prevention programmes needed to accompany the legalisation.
The Czech Supreme Court recently supported the appeal of the woman from central Bohemia who was charged, and convicted of a 2 year suspended prison sentence, over growing some 70 cannabis plants in her garden. The woman says she uses the plants for medical purposes.
The junior ruling Green Party supports marijuana's decriminalisation. Some politicians, including opposition leader Jiri Paroubek (Social Democrats, CSSD), even spoke of its legalisation, but drug abuse experts consider this impossible.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A veritable bombardment this time, as the Marijuana Policy Project from Washington DC announced a number of US medical marijuana patients were making themselves available to the media, so as to better inform the world of the efficacy of marijuana as a medicine.
A total of 5 patients in all, a fraction of those eleigible for medical marijuana in the US, and all suffering from a number of different conditions, have come forward to ask "Why is it possible under state law, for us to consume cannabis in the relief of our conditions, yet according to federal law we remain (as do our physicians who recommend the use of marijuana), criminals, who can be incarcerated anytime the DEA decide to act?
Read their stories:
Medical Marijuana Patient & registered nurse Gretchen Steele makes time for the media
Medical Marijuana Patient & HIV/AIDS sufferer Paul Doyle makes time for the media
Medical Marijuana Patient & Multiple Sclerosis sufferer Julie Falco makes time for the media
Medical Marijuana Patient & Cancer sufferer Scott Paplowski makes time for the media
Medical Marijuana Patient & Osteoarthritis sufferer Lisa Lange Van Camp makes time for the media
BOOM!
With the government chasing their tails looking for PM Gordon Brown who was, as 70's pop star Bonnie Tyler would have put it, "Lost in France", America, in the shape of the MPP, once again opened up with another volley. A Salvo which must finally put paid to the crumbling British health argument, once and for all.
A medical marijuana patient from Texas has set new legal precedents as he received an acquittal for the charges of marijuana possession which were brought upon him by Amarillo Police in Texas.
Tim Stevens, 53, had never been in trouble until Amarillo police arrested him for possessing less than 4 grams of marijuana. As a result of his HIV infection, Stevens suffers from nausea and cyclical vomiting syndrome, a condition so severe that he has required hospitalization and blood transfusions in the past.
Extensive research has established medical marijuana as an effective treatment for nausea and vomiting associated with HIV/AIDS and cancer chemotherapy, uses recently acknowledged by the prestigious American College of Physicians.
Key in establishing Stevens' medical necessity was the testimony of Dr. Steve Jenison, medical director of the Infectious Diseases Bureau for the state of New Mexico's Department of Health.
"This case proved to be a testing ground for public attitudes toward medical marijuana," said attorney Jeff Blackburn, who represented Stevens. "Even in a very conservative part of a very conservative state, jurors were willing to listen to the facts about medical marijuana and give Tim a break, and I hope this case will help to create a trend in Texas."
"The common sense and decency exhibited by this Amarillo jury is typical of what we see from voters around the country," said Ray Warren, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., and a former North Carolina Superior Court judge. "The American public doesn't want to see seriously ill patients arrested and jailed for simply trying to stay alive with the help of medical marijuana. It's time for legislators in Texas and around the country to follow the public's lead and take action to protect patients, so that no one battling a life-threatening illness has to live in fear of arrest."
Forlorn Hope!
With the battlements and turrets of "Fortress Whitehall" crumbling before our eyes under the barrage, news coming from central government HQ this week has been, perhaps unsurprisingly quiet, and the press has had only a smattering of cannabis bust stories to show for the millions of pounds spent annually on enforcing cannabis law.
At the top of the pile, standing as a "forlorn hope" in the breached walls, is a story out of the BBC, which is so ridiculously fantastic, it makes you wonder what exactly they were trying to achieve apart from pulling more visitors onto their website?
Parent Role Model
Apparently Nicky Taylor, a mother of three from Kidderminster in Worcestershire, who smoked cannabis for a month as part of a BBC documentary has described how the drug left her paranoid and frightened.
She said that the effects of a powerful version of the drug called "skunk" were "absolutely horrendous", though not long-lasting.
Ms.Taylor took part in the experiment in Amsterdam, where the drug is generally decriminalised in small amounts. She said she also became "psychotic" after an injection of an active ingredient of cannabis.
But certain quarters of society are convinced she was "quite mad" prior to the experiement, which could have had far reaching consequences.
Although she had previously used cannabis two decades ago at university, Nicky said that she wanted to find out what would happen to her children if any of them went on to take "today's version" of the drug, although how her foolish actions prove anything except her own stupidity, remains unanswered.
At this stage its probably worth mentioning this is not the first time Nicky has become a guinea pig - other programmes have seen her binge drinking, and undergoing plastic surgery, which puts this news report firmly in its place as no more than a publicity seeking stunt.
Which just about sums up the constant barrage of anti-cannabis propoganda we are subjected to as a nation, when our Prime Minister hasn't "misplaced himself" whilst away on official business. What must the French think?
Canna Zine Comment
Simply ignoring the advice of experts from around the world, because it doesn't fit in with government policy is not going to make the UK cannabis issue go away. Quite the contrary in fact.
Locking people in prison for consuming cannabis is an infringement of human rights in light of this most recent battery of information, which surely challenges the UK government to either back up their claims of the health issues which will apparently occur if the British populus decides to use cannabis, and in doing so disprove the theories presented by 124,000 doctors and physicians, or, fall in line with the rest of this European Union we are meant to be a part of, and make allowances for almost 4 million UK citizens, a million of which lay firmly in the "target" 16-24 age bracket, who decide to use cannabis medically, recreationally, or both.
Someone, somewhere is telling us lies. Isn't time we asked who, and why?
We invite the UK Health Minister, the Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP, to release a statement, either decriminalising a small amount of cannabis for personal consumption, or give a credible reason why its not going to happen and why people are being arrested here in the UK, for doing no more than the law allows in the United States, in Germany, In Portugal, in Belgium, in Holland, in Spain, in Canada and in the Czech Republic? Every country an ally of ours!
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