Pro Legalization Group Hails Victory For Medical Marijuana
by Caren WoodsonI am blogging with good news from Washington, DC. Today, ASA helped to kill an amendment aimed at obstructing the effective implementation of duly enacted state medical cannabis laws!
Earlier this week, ASA’s National Office was notified that Sen. Coburn (R-OK) intended to add a medical marijuana amendment to S. 982, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Frustrated by the Obama Administration’s continued pledge to not interfere with state medical marijuana laws, Sen. Coburn (R-OK) attempted to slip in legislation designed to undermine these programs.
The text of Sen. Coburn’s amendment is as follows: MEDICAL MARIJUANA. The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall- (1) require that State-legalized medical marijuana shall be subject to the full regulatory requirements of the Food and Drug Administration, including a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy and all other requirements and penalties of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 USC 301 et seq.) regarding safe and effective reviews, approval, sale, marketing, and use of pharmaceuticals; and (2) require that any State-legalized marijuana likely to be offered to, or purchase by, consumers as marijuana intended to be consumed as a cigarette or through the oral cavity will be subject to section 900 of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (as amended by section 101).”
At present, the only way for medical marijuana to be properly evaluated by the FDA is for privately-funded sponsors to conduct FDA-approved clinical trials (like any other drug evaluation). If Senator Coburn’s intentions with regard to the medical efficacy of marijuana were genuine, he would consider first removing the monopoly imposed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on licenses for the cultivation of medical-grade cannabis for research purposes. Currently, the DEA exclusively licenses the cultivation of medical-grade cannabis to the National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA), which primarily investigates only the negative effects of cannabis. This monopoly obstructs any investigation and research in the U.S. into the medical properties of cannabis and thwarts the normal drug approval process.
This isn’t the first time Sen. Coburn has attempted to add this amendment to unrelated legislation. Recall, he made a similar attempt in 2007 when he tried to append the amendment to an unrelated FDA prescription drug bill. In fact, then-Senators Obama and Clinton voted against the measure. While Sen Coburn managed to slip it in at committee level, ASA managed to get it removed during conference committee.
Today, in a 10-13 party-line vote, we managed to kill the amendment in Committee! Senators Dodd (D-CT) and Reed (D-RI) were key opponents to the amendment.
Pro Legalization Group Hails Victory For Medical Marijuana
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"everybody must get stoned,"
Thanks Caren Woodson, so glad to here ASA is busy stopping more legislative insanity and reefer madness!
Scientists have discovered that one of Bob Dylan's most famous
lines, "everybody must get stoned," tells it like it is. They have found that our brains manufacture proteins (canabinoids) that act like marijuana (THC) at specific receptors in the brain itself.
An Internet search for "THC cancer " brings up thousands of research papers. Ooooops! Who spilled the beans? SCIENTISTS and PATIENTS all over the world, that's who! This truth will not be suppressed, until every household knows the clamor, the swelling protest, exposing dark, dirty secrets of heinous crimes against humanity!
The debate over medical marijuana , hemp or cannabis is really a scandalous controversy over whether this very effective, safe and easy-to-grow herb should be allowed to compete with expensive and dangerous pharmaceuticals . Cannabis oil is the cure all our ancestors relied on and thank goodness, did not let us all be brainwashed into forgetfulness about.
Patients testify to Cannabis' help in treating post traumatic stress, depression, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, gastrointestinal (GI) tract disorders, Alzheimer's, Cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, hepatitis C and HIV / AIDS and more! They swear it is an effective safer replacement for very dangerous pharmaceuticals.
Morally bankrupt profiteering has no place in medicine, which must be concerned with the well being of the individual not the bottom line. Doctors who have monitored cannabis use by hundreds of thousands of patients in California and Oregon can document a consistent pattern of using less pharmaceuticals including cutting opiates use by half. Repealing prohibition of marijuana would bring other much needed health care reform.
http://mccoolportraits.com/2008rebelwithjustcause.htm #Ooooops!
- Colleen McCool
May 21, 2009 12:45PM
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