Colorado Medical Marijuana Patients Denied Because of Probation
Medical marijuana has helped many individuals whose pain and suffering cannot be relieved through any other means. I am a big supporter of the right of someone to use marijuana while in great pain. It is the height of absurdity and injustice for the government to stop individuals from using marijuana, as prescribed by a medical doctor, just because enough people in society seek to continue our war on drugs.
In the state of Colorado there is legalized medical marijuana. But if you are on criminal probation in that state, even if the crime had nothing to do with drugs, than you might be denied that right to use that medication, to relieve your suffering.
Well, it depends on the judicial district of the state. The drug war is destroying our rights and wasting tax dollars, and it should really be examined. The war on marijuana is even sillier. Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. When have police ever been called to break up a fight between two marijuana smokers?
Lastly, bans on marijuana for medical purposes are even more absurd than just bans on drugs and marijuana. No other medication is banned to individuals on probation, other than marijuana, in the state of Colorado.
Nobody is denied even drugs for erectile dysfunction because of a criminal record. But district attorneys with nothing better to do are willing to go after some poor sap who smokes marijuana because nothing else will take away their pain?
That is just ridiculous.
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Jesus said to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us. None of us would want our child thrown in jail with the sexual predators for using a little marijuana. None of us would want to see our parent's home confiscated and sold by the police for growing a couple of marijuana plants to ease the aches and pains of growing older. It's time to stop putting our own families in jail. It's time to let ordinary Americans grow a little marijuana in their own back yards, and it's nice to see our culture coming to terms with this in a more wholesome fashion. This will go a long way toward putting the criminal drug gangs out of business for good! Also, check out http://www.northpoint.org / if you’d like to see some more very positive material about Jesus at work in people’s lives.
Jesus said to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us. None of us would want our child thrown in jail with the sexual predators for using a little marijuana. None of us would want to see our parent's home confiscated and sold by the police for growing a couple of marijuana plants to ease the aches and pains of growing older. It's time to stop putting our own families in jail. It's time to let ordinary Americans grow a little marijuana in their own back yards, and it's nice to see our culture coming to terms with this in a more wholesome fashion. This will go a long way toward putting the criminal drug gangs out of business for good! Also, check out http://www.northpoint.org / if you’d like to see some more very positive material about Jesus at work in people’s lives.
We should stop pretending that all the people using medical marijuana need medicine. This half measure is confusing people. Make it legal or make it illegal. However, it is unlikely that even 20% of the medical marijuana users are using it because there is no other alternative within the legitimate range of available medicines.
Legalize it or not, but making marijuana medicine isn't working.
I'm sorry, where did the qualification "because there is no other alternative within the legitimate range of available medicines" come from? That's an outrageous requirement, and it seems for some reason that there are a number of people who subscribe to that nonsense qualification.
Many, many patients use cannabis in place of oxycodone. Oxycodone fits into your qualification as a "legitimate" medicine, and demonstrates just how ridiculous your straw man qualification is. If you think that oxycodone is better for people because it's in the "legitimate range of medicines" you're quite simply out of your mind.
I've got to admit though, 20% is one of the highest estimates that I've seen come from an armchair doctor's keyboard. In Colorado that's going to be over 25,000 patients that you are willing to deny medicine to which you yourself admit have no other alternative, even using your outrageous, untrained and unlicensed opinion of what is medicine and what is not. What's next, no more pain killers for post surgical patients because people use those drugs recreationally? Recreational use is wholly unimportant when judging whether a medicine is "legitimate" or not. We've got boatloads of evidence that says that cannabis is a valid medicine. If you're unaware of the evidence you need to educate yourself, or assign the job to someone who is familiar with the evidence.
It isn't the potheads that made cannabis medicine, and at this late date it's just not arguable anymore that cannabis isn't a legitimate, needed medicine. How about you go tell the Feds that cannabis should be prescribed by doctors and carried in pharmacies, because trying to make the claim that it isn't medicine just isn't working?
We've got another straw man argument with the nonsense that says that there is anyone who believes that 100% or even approaching 100% of the patients using medical cannabis are using it for medicine. I'd ask you to please quit with such nonsense claims. The disagreement is between those who think those with a legitimate medical need should be forced to suffer more than needed because there are malingering patients accessing the system, and those that think that the malingering are unimportant and will be getting high regardless.
If all of the medical cannabis laws were to disappear without a trace of their existence at 9 AM the malingering cohort would have headstash in hand by noon and would be high by 4:20. In Montana there are 81 cardholders that are over age 81. I wonder if these octo- and nonagenarians would be so easily able to find the shadowy places where the black market vendors lurk. Those malingering still have their black market vendors phone number programmed on speed dial.
(age brackets on page 5:
http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/medicalmarijuana/MMPRegistryInformation.pdf )
What in the world makes anyone think that the malingering would be anything more than inconvenienced if medical cannabis weren't available? It's one of the more mind boggling aspects of this situation to me. There seem to be people that think that prohibition actually keeps people from getting high. No CRW, that's just plain, unsupported fantasy. Forcing the malingering to buy cannabis from the black market is not more desirable to a compassionate society than getting needed medicine to the sick. You should be ashamed of yourself for even suggesting that it is.
What is or isn't medicine should be decided by licensed doctors and accredited scientists. It is not a decision that should be made by Know Nothing prohibitionists playing doctor on the Internet, and most definitely shouldn't be a decision made by hack politicians pursuing a self serving political agenda.
What the heck is so unreasonable about leaving medical decisions to medical doctors?
Since I assume you are not a member of the AMA, so kettle meet pot :)
The medical marijuana law in Michigan was sold as a last resort medical alternative for people for which there was no other source of relief. Due to the ambiguity in the law, dispensaries are popping up like mushrooms, people are getting arrested, warehouses are getting raided, etc. The people of Michigan are rightfully asking, what did we vote for?
The people, who are not doctors, voted on the law. They were told one thing, voted on something else, which has morphed into a bloody mess. Consequently, it is not doctors who are making these decisions.
Your statement:
"What the heck is so unreasonable about leaving medical decisions to medical doctors?"
is a gross oversimplification of what is going on today.
My statement still stands. Either legalize it, tax it, and treat like booze or truly treat it like a schedule 1 drug. This ambiguous status is helping no one.
It is truly bizarre that there are those who would characterize a law that gives doctor's the legal basis to make the choice is actually making a choice. It's beyond absurd.
It's also stunningly arrogant to pretend that the naysayers had no voice in the campaign. Just another bit of rewritten history brought to us by the folks at Know Nothing prohibitionist central. Then again, bald faced lies, half truths, and hysterical rhetoric are all that they have to argue with. I've got to tell you I'm not sure that insulting the intelligence of the electorate is a very smart strategy for the Know Nothings to adopt. We'll see how it shakes out because it appears that the Montana lawmakers are going to repeal their voter approved medical cannabis law despite the continuing support of a supermajority of Montanans, using the very same argument that the Montana electorate is stupid. The last time that that happened in 1996, the Arizona lawmakers found themselves stripped of the ability to overturn voter initiated laws without a supermajority of 75% after the 1998 elections.
My statement stands as well, and most people agree with me on this issue, and that includes the people of Michigan. This is just not a decision appropriately made by political hacks with a self serving political agenda.
http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/harrisinteractive/44743 /
Toodles!
The issue is not whether the public supports medical marijuana use. Obviously they do. The issue in Michigan is that the law is very poorly written and very poorly implemented.
The Michigan law needs a "do over." It is truly ironic to drive down Michigan Ave toward the capitol only to see more marijuana dispensaries than restaurants and only two pharmacies.
Yes... doctors and patients should make their own medical decisions. However, when you have a group of MSU students posing for pictures while taking bong hits and holding up their medical marijuana cards, it is damaging to the medical marijuana position. There is a backlash forming among the electorate that could result in the law being overturned. Hopefully, it will simply lead to either full legalization or better clarifications of medical usage.
When a new medicine is manufactured, there is a process of approval and testing, etc. The problem with marijuana is that it started out as a recreational drug in the US, and is now trying to be marketed as medicine. People support medicinal uses, but ask three people to define what that means and you will get three different answers.
The AMA does not specifically endorse any of the current state medical marijuana laws. In fact, the AMA has asked the federal government to ease its restrictions on medical research around marijuana so the proper and peer reviewed research can be done to identify the legitimate medical uses for marijuana.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-5614233-503544.html
Consequently, your claim that doctors know best about the medical uses of marijuana is actually a bit of fact and fiction. The extent of marijuana's medical use is not known today, including dosages, specific treatment uses, etc.
http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/csaph/csaph-report3-i09.pdf
Read the conclusion of the PDF to identify exactly where doctors should stand on the medical use of marijuana.
This needs to more research to advise doctors and patients on the best medical uses of marijuana, or we should simply legalize it and move on.