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Statement Made on the Senate Floor by Senator Tom George
Senator Tom George made the following statement on the Senate floor on March 6, 2008:
I rise to comment on the State Board of Canvassers’ recent certification of the initiative to legalize smokeable marijuana for medical use. I oppose this measure because I find that it is unnecessary. The proponents, the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, have misused medical studies in arguing that their measure is needed to treat symptoms in certain medical conditions.
Prior to joining you here in the Legislature, I worked for five years as a medical director for a hospice program in my district. I was board-certified in the specialty of hospice and palliative care. In this capacity, I made house calls and routinely treated the symptoms of dying patients. Occasionally, I prescribed medical marijuana. I was able to do this because it has been legal to prescribe marijuana in pill form in the United States since 1986. This oral form of marijuana is known as Marinol, and it has a very narrow use profile. It is used mostly as a third- or fourth-line therapy to treat persistent nausea or as an appetite stimulant. Its use is limited primarily because much more effective medications are available to treat pain, nausea, agitation, and loss of appetite.
Marinol is, however, better than smokeable marijuana because it does not contain the additional chemicals, impurities, or hazards associated with smoke. Also the resulting blood levels from Marinol and hence the effects are more predictable with Marinol than with smokeable marijuana.
Now the proponents might argue that smokeable marijuana has a special use in the treatment of nausea because patients who are nauseated have difficulty swallowing pills, but recent technology has now given us topical antinausea medicines that are absorbed through the skin. There are at least four of these preparations, and they are all more effective than smokeable marijuana. In addition, other delivery systems such as an oral spray and a metered inhaler device are being developed. Last year, the oral spray received FDA approval to begin clinical trials in the United States. So I’m telling you as a former hospice physician that it is of no benefit to legalize smokeable marijuana because more effective treatments are already available.
Additionally, if one reads the language of the petition initiative, you will see a reference to a 1999 National Academy of Sciences report given as evidence of the benefits of marijuana use. Also the spokesperson for the coalition in favor of the petition initiative cites a report by the American College of Physicians as supportive of legalizing medical marijuana.
I would advise you, colleagues, to read both of these reports. They are available online. Neither of them calls for legalization of medical marijuana. Both, in fact, call instead for more study of the effects of marijuana. The Institute of Medicine report, for example, says, “Purified cannabinoid compounds are preferable to plant products, which are of variable and uncertain composition.” Whereas, “smoke able marijuana is a crude delivery system that also delivers harmful substances.” Likewise, the American College of Physicians’ position paper supports further research and states it “encourages the use of non-smoked forms of marijuana that have proven therapeutic value.”
Both documents then, cited by the proponents, actually then support the position that the ballot initiative is unnecessary because marijuana’s therapeutic use is limited; and in the instances where it is beneficial, a non-smoked form, which is already available, should be prescribed.
Comments
One term statement
Mr. George is like so many of our politicians he does not listen to the people, he is on his own crusade.WE THE PEOPLE NEED HELP ! NOT HARRASEMENT . So please do your job during the only time you will have a chance to do so because i seriously doubt you will have another term. So try to do something positive for the people in MICHIGAN.
what?
I have been a hospice volunteer. Not an administrator; but a person working for free- with dying people.
Dying people Senator. You have to be evaluated by a doctor and be within 6 months( in most states) ~of death ~ to get on a hospice program.
And you Senator are worried about the 'possible side effects of the use of Marijuana?'
These people are dying!
You would withhold a medication that could provide relief from pain from dying people-because of the possible side effects: of a drug that has been shown not to have side effects- unlike the other drugs you mention?
I am glad you are no longer involved in the politics of hospice.
You really need to be ignored on this subject; and I hope your not re-elected.
Lies and Greed
It is a matter of free choice that our founders gave us when this country was founded. Now because of greed they say no the legal drug pushers don't want the competition and pay our leaders to jail us. It is the worst case of slavery I know of the system our law makers have created to insure corporate profits. It is time to take our freedom and country back from the corporations. I don't give a damn what this guy says the majority of Americans want to use cannabis that is enough for me.
Revolution
This man is elected to be our representative. But who is he helping perhaps the corporations that contribute millions to our reps every year. They are guided by greed not the responsibility to their constituents. WHY DON'T YOU READ A POLL BY THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS THAT SAY LEGALIZE AND REGULATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THEY LIE WE FIGHT READ THE TRUTH
This man is bought and paid for just like the Drug Free American Foundation it is funded by the major legal drug providers that are protecting their profits. It makes me so mad when anyone advocates putting more non-violent Americans in jail for making a personal choice, a freedom guaranteed by our founders. They have changed the laws and overridden our rights for pure greed. America will never be drug free millions of Americans take drugs every day. They don’t really want American to be drug free they want a monopoly on the drugs you take. They cannot control or profit from a drug you can grow and use free this is what scares them. They will lie, bribe and insist you be put in jail if you choose to use and grow cannabis over their over priced dangerous drugs.
The major drug companies make profits of approximately 680 billion a year. Thanks to our leaders who changed laws to allow them to charge whatever they want for their product. Doctors in California where cannabis for medical purposes has been legal since 1996 say cannabis could replace 80% of the synthetic drugs. That would mean a 544 billion loss to the legal drug companies. Now you know why cannabis is still illegal it is a total lie a way to control the market and maximize profits for the legal drugs. They contribute through lobbyist every year paying our lawmakers to make sure cannabis is kept illegal. Although the majority of Americans say legalize and regulate cannabis our leaders continue to jail Americans so they can continue to receive their PAC money every year. Why else would they fight is so hard even after the majority of voters say make it legal? With the backing of our misled supreme court they will come to the states that voted it legal and still arrest you. It is all for greed cannabis has been used for thousands of years and this herb has harmed not one person. (Let me say thank you to our leader President Obama has finally backed the FEDS off states where the people have voted it legal this man has our best interest at heart thank God an honest person in charge)
The most blatant attempt by our lawmakers to help the legal drug pushers follows, it is all true look it up. The active ingredient in cannabis is THC our lawmakers have put THC in a lower category keeping cannabis itself in a category with the most dangerous drugs. Now the legal drug pushers can synthetically produce THC and sell a drug called Marinol. It is nothing more than legal cannabis. Our lawmakers because of its popularity have allowed the legal drug pushers to synthesize cannabis and sell it legally. To me this means it has some medical uses. But to allow the drug companies to monopolize and sell it legally to me it is the ultimate slap in the face. If I plant cannabis (A HERB) in my back yard and use it to treat my depression I go to jail my property is taken my life is destroyed why? But if you are a major drug company and contribute millions to the lawmakers and sell the molecular identical drug it is legal. If you cannot see through this conspiracy you must be blind. That is why they still control this herb and still jail almost one million people every year to protect corporate profits and insure the millions in bribes paid every year to keep it this way.
They know this is a poor mans drug it always has been that is why it was made illegal to begin with. Mainly blacks smoked it and the law was used to enslave blacks in the south. Since slavery was illegal this law allowed racist to enslave and use black to fill their chain gangs. The same is true today except now all races are sacrificed for greed. The major legal drug pushers pay our lawmakers to keep it this way. Now we have the private jail system the drug testing industry the all paying to insure they have a steady stream of non-violent drug users to ever increase their profits.
Ask yourself this why are legal drugs legal? They are more addictive worse on your body and kill 100,000 every year. More people get addicted to Oxycontin than anything I have heard of but it is legal. Many legal drugs are synthetic clones of the illegal drug and worse for you. Like Methadone what our FEDs pay the major drug companies and give it to people addicted to heroin, it is worse for you more addictive but legal.
We could end the war on drugs take the money and pay for free health care for all Americans and have money left over. Then if some one gets hooked on Oxycontin or crack they could get free health care if the wanted it. Stop putting Americans in jail for making a choice especially if the choice is cannabis the best, most helpful and least harmful herb in the world
Absolutely correct
Marijuana is at best a recreational drug. There is no need to try to justify it as some sort of medical necessity, where more functional remediations exist.
If you want it legalized, don't try to do it over the bodies of people with medical disorders. They already have enough problems as it is. They really don't need your recreational baggage.
Reform Michagan drug laws, not medical practice.
Tomcat, have you ever cared for a dying person?
I think you are honestly uncommitted, but I would like to tell you my story. My 89 year old mother was placed on 30 medications, half of which were prescribed to counteract the side effects of the other half. The 'legal' medications they gave her made her legs swell so much that the skin split and oozed. She suffered from neuropathy, intractable pain, depression, and insomnia. Nothing the doctors gave her provided any relief. I begged her to try medical marijuana. She hesitated for a long time because it was 'illegal'. Finally, she agreed, more, I think out of love for me, than a belief it would help. But help it did, and hugely. She was able to sleep, to handle her neuropathy, and manage her pain. Her depression lifted, she got her personality back, and we were able to have long, happy conversations again. She was able to get off of ALL the other medications, except for her blood thinners, and high blood pressure pills. She was a wonderful Hungarian lady, and the daughter of a very iconoclastic and anti-authoritarian publisher in Budapest. In one of the last conversations we had, just as she was falling asleep, she turned to me and said "wouldn't it make my father smile to know that the only thing that helps me is illegal." What she said was funny at the time, but then I thought to myself . . . why is it illegal? And it upset me. If it had legal, then she would have tried it sooner, and been able to avoid a lot of unnecessary suffering.
It is a medicine. A very special one, and I shall be eternally grateful that it gave me more time with my mother, and lifted her spirits, and gave her the will to live a little longer.
How can you be so sure?
There was no "more functional remediation" for me. I don't consider incredibly expensive chemotherapy drugs to be a better alternative than using cannabis... let me compare the side effects of methotrexate (ugh! too many to list!) with the side effects of cannabis (accidentally cured my years-long anxiety and depression). I don't understand how you can authoritatively say that there are no benefits without being the sort of expert on cannabis research that simply does not exist, except perhaps for a few scientists in Europe.
My experience is anecdotal and I would not attempt to use it for justification for any blanket statement. However, while my single experience does not prove that it's right for everyone or even many, it does disprove your blanket assertion that there is no need. It absolutely turned my life around, and no ill-founded arguments you make will magically change my life.
Fortunately I don't live in Michigan!
To many people are being forced to die.
Antibiotic resistant staff infections.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=45809
small quote:
According to the survey, the active infection rate is 8.6 times higher than the most recent estimate of the rate of infection by CDC (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/25). CDC in 2005 estimated that the rate of infection at inpatient hospitals was 3.9 of 1,000 patients, with an estimated mortality rate of 4%. However, some researchers believe that based on the new survey, the mortality rate from MRSA infection could be as high as 10%, according to Lance Peterson, director of infectious disease research at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare. If that mortality rate is accurate, as many as 119,000 patients could die of MRSA annually based on the new data (Chicago Tribune, 6/25)
Cannabinoids have been shown to have a strong ability to kill most bacteria including this infection.
One example in the news lately: http://www.spectroscopynow.com/coi/cda/detail.cda?id=19457&type=Feature&chId=5&page=1
Currently, in a hospital setting, doctors have one cannabinoid they can use. THC or marinol.
It seems clear, to me, that if the staff infection is on the surface, a marinol caplet can be broken open and applied topically. I would suggest one 10mg caplet applied three times a day for a week.
For internal infections, the doseage is foggy, for me. I suspect that 10mg 3x per day would kill the infection. These are guesses on my part. However the doseage may have to be much higher to get enough into the infected area. Say 50mg 3x/day? Which is a lot of THC
Outside the hospital, one method for an external infection could be to make a poltice of good herb and keep it on for a week. Changing the poltice at least once per day.
The antibiotic properties of cannabinoids function in an entirely different method than any existing antibiotics today.
Current bacterias haven't had the ability to develop resistance to cannabinoids, yet, since cannabinoids aren't being used for antibiotics.
This form of medical marijuana could save as many as 119,000 people's lives per year.
As people are dying right now, it would be best if doctors could get to work right now with the medicine they have available to them.
What keeps them from saving the lives of their patients is the fear they have learned from our public servents and laws that only serve to keep police in jobs.
The Senator has lost touch with the people
Overwhelming support is not on your side. Why is it that politicians will not listen to their constituents regarding Marijuana? This Senator is on the right track to loosing his job.
Good, the Senator has prescribed medical cannabis.
I admire the Senator in that he admits he has prescribed medical cannabis. Unfortunately, because of our pig-headed laws surrounding hemp, he was only able to prescribe Marinol, which is a synthetic version of THC, one small component of cannabis (and very, very expensive).
As to smoking, the good Senator must know by now that a much better delivery system is available through the use of vaporizers. Cannabis can also be consumed effectively in edibles such as brownies, butter, tincture, etc.
He must also realize that the 17,000 papers released last year alone on emerging cannabinoid research bespeaks volumes of the coming explosion of new cannabinoid medications.
Unfortunately, to continue the prohibition of the herb itself (proven to be safe and effective, having been in use for 5000 years), only results in continued and protracted suffering of those who otherwise would find it to be a useful, inexpensive and effective treatment for disease.
I ask the Senator to read up a little more on exactly what is going on in the field, and then revisit this argument on the proper side: YES! on legalization of medical cannabis.
But why arrest people?
Mr. George gives no reason to criminalize adults who use marijuana medically. Since the plant is non-toxic, and since all big case studies (Taskin, Kaiser-Permanente, etc,) show no increased mortality or lung issues from any level of marijuana use, there is no reason to deny anyone from trying it as a first line therapy rather than a third or fourth line as he suggests. If it doesn't work for the patient, then move on to the expensive synthetic alternatives.
The endocannabinoid system
The senator seems to have no knowledge of our bodies cannabinoid system.
In 2006 the federal government published a report in which they documented
our current understanding of our bodies endocannabinoid system. The report
is 76 pages long and documents an explosion of new information being
discovered right now.
The senator used to be involved in hospice care and has since become
involved in the public sector. Most of the discoveries about cannabinoids
and our bodies have been made since 2000. This helps to explain why someone
that seems to be knowledgeable in health care can be so short of
understanding about the endocannabinoid systems of the human body.
For instance there is documentation that shows that there are cases where
chemotherapy, against cancers, can be ten times as effective when
supplemented with cannabinoids. This is new information. The senator is
probably not aware of this since he is not in the medical profession at this
time.
Marijuana should be studied more? To someone like the senator, that means
that it should be looked at to discover the bad effects of marijuana. These
bad effects must be there. After all, it is an illegal drug.
No one has ever died as a result of consumption of marijuana. Never. Not one
single person.
Studies have shown for a long while now (first in 1974) that cannabinoids
kill cancer cells. So that effect should be studied? How many people need to
die from cancer before marijuana could be applied against it?
People are using extracts of marijuana right now against cancer. There are
former terminal cancer patients that are now cancer free. They attribute
being cured of cancer by these marijuana extracts. The senator thinks these
people should go to jail.
The question before the voters on Nov. 4 isn't should people be able to cure
their cancer with marijuana. The question is should they go to jail for
doing so. The senator would have people go to jail for trying to save their
very lives without the blessings of the FDA.
Marijuana seems to extend the lives of people suffering from ALS. One
person, of the five people allowed, on the federal program which supplies
medical marijuana has had their ALS put on hold for twenty-five years now.
The senator wants to put people suffering from ALS in jail for doing the
same.
Extracts of marijuana seem to be much more effective in fighting diabetes
than any other medicine available today. These extracts cause a reduction in
the inflammation of the pancreas. Which, in turn, allows it to return toward
normal function. People already use marijuana for diabetes. Without the
blessings of the FDA. The senator proposes these people should die while
they wait for the FDA to discover that marijuana might work.
In fact, the senator seems to be more interested in the health and
well-being of the FDA than the voters. To preserve the power of police and
government, people are dying.
Reports from the US congress and the DEA have found that marijuana is safe
for medical usage.
Marijuana has a several thousand year record of medical usage. Why should
people be force to die by law? Why should people be denied life saving
medicine? The senator seems to think that forcing US citizens to die will
prevent the kid down the street from trying marijuana.
I have news for the senator. That kid can get pot any time they wish to try
it. Laws against it have never stopped that.
cigarettes inhibit colon cancer
I doubt that anyone in the medical community will refrain from blaming even a stubbed toe to cigarette smoking. I also doubt it will stop lawyers from making their retirement off the tobacco industry, or even politicians from using it as some sort of tax base, for things, otherwise unpopular with their constituents.
Face it people. It is us who are to blame. We pushed politicians into the corner by feeding off of crime statistics, and buying into the idea that casual marijuana use needs to be punished by legal force. Michigan has the insane zero tolerance laws, and it was the people of Michigan that put it there. This is what happens when you put zealots in charge, and is what will always happen, common sense be damned.
Don't like the Michigan laws? Don't live in Michigan. Let them know why you are leaving as you finish packing. Considering their ecconomy in that state, they will likely be glad you are leaving.
Don't like the laws?
This is supposed to be a government of, by and for the people.
The majority of the people of this state are willing to let doctors be doctors even if that means marijuana gets used.
If you don't like the people of the state of Michigan, perhaps you should move.
Myself .. I'm looking forward to the day when the government of Michigan begin to respect the citizens of this state.
I love my state .. I fear it's government.
Please view this news video to see the lies and half truths exposed
Here is a video to demonstrate that this gentleman is telling half truths and outright lies to further his agenda:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA75wWjmRUo
come on Chris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUC99h5aCyc&feature=related
It is and always will be about recreational use. Change the anti-drug laws in Michigan. The real problem is that you can't. You have consistently elected politicians that capitalize on the sensationalism. You have media more than willing to pipe the story to the public to the point that the citizens have no real clue as to what is happening, and you have zero tolerance zealots willing to prey on the public for their own agenda, no matter the cost.
Tomcat - a couple of things
1. I advocate this man's right to stand up and speak his mind. Similarly, in the video you linked, I totally agree with the idea of the police department speaking out on something they view as a major issue. That's each man's right; to think and say what he believes.
2. That doesn't mean others have to believe what prohibitionists believe. There may be motives behind his statements we do not see... money... control... both?
3. The Question Michigan voters face takes the issue out of the hands of those in power and puts it in the hands of the people. Only people who are easily swayed by the arguments of others will lose their voice.
4. There have been 17,000 studies done on cannabis and cannabinoids for medicinal purposes, and almost none of them were done in America. Why? Prohibition.
5. Finally, if what you say is true, and it's all about recreational use, then I struggle to understand why there exists:
US Patent # 6630507.
"Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants."
The US government holds the patent. They obtained it in October 2003. Why go to the trouble of patenting something as a medicine if its all about getting high?
The Senator's statement is an argument for rescheduling cannabis.
IN the Senator's statement, he very honestly admits the theraputic value of cannabis. Even though he qualifies it by saying that it has, in his experience, a narrow field or limited number of treatable conditions, he has been very forthcoming in relating his own personal experience in the administration of cannabis and its efficacy. This alone is an argument for the rescheduling of the drug. Rescheduling cannabis, however, is not the question at hand. Perhaps that explains the statement.
The question may get marred in details such as which medical association has said what, but this ignores the real issue. The real question is do you want to continue turning otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals as a result of bad legislation enacted by the federal government 70 years ago? Do you want to continuee wasting valuable tax resources prosecuting peaceful people who have committed no crime except that which is a function of the prohibition itself? In short, the laws against cannabis are more harmful than the drug itself.
In using his position to come down on the side of continued prohibition of cannabis, he is advocating sustaining the black market that prohibition creates rather than a more logical approach of eventual taxation and regulation. It is not a question of details, it is a question of compassion and common sense. Elimination, or at least a reduction, of a black market condition created and sustained by our federal and state governments that has wasted billions of dollars and needlessly ruined peoples' lives is what I would classify as a legislative necessity.