Rx for marijuana
Scott Ward uses marijuana, but he is a far cry from the stereotypical image of a “pothead.”
Instead, the clean-cut Rob binsville resident who suffers from multiple sclerosis represents those who have turned to marijuana to ease the pain and symptoms associated with such conditions as MS, cancer, AIDS, chronic pain, migraines, glaucoma and epilepsy.
Ward testified earlier this month in support of a bill that would make New Jersey the 13th state to allow the medical use of marijuana. The bill, A804, sponsored by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, D-Princeton Borough, appears to be stalled in committee, with no vote scheduled on the measure. A state Senate panel heard testimony on a similar bill two years ago but never took action on it.
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New Mexico’s Medical Marijuana Law Is Working, But Still Has Some Kinks
After an exhausting seven-year struggle, New Mexico joined the ranks of the medical marijuana states last year. As of July 1, the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program will be a year old, but while parts of the program are well underway — patients are registering and obtaining ID cards — the state law’s innovative system of state-licensed production and distribution of medical marijuana is stalled in the regulatory process, with no end in sight anytime soon.
Under the New Mexico law, the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, patients suffering from a narrowly circumscribed set of illnesses — cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, spinal cord damage with intractable plasticity, and HIV/AIDS — can, with a doctor’s recommendation and upon registration with the program, legally possess and use up to six ounces of marijuana, four mature plants, and three seedlings. The law also calls for a medical advisory board to determine whether other conditions should be added to the list.
It’s time to wake up and see that cannabis can help others
It is very unfortunate that a prominent senator from such a prominent political family should be stricken with such a life-threatening brain tumor. It is more unfortunate, however, that a real cure has not been found for these types of cancers by now with all of the technology at our disposal. Fifty percent of patients with this type of tumor die within a year and most are dead within three years. It is also very unfortunate that we have suppressed research into the one plant which may be that cure.Research on cannabis (marijuana) has been suppressed in this country for more than 35 years. The only research that was allowed after the Shafer Commission report told President Nixon that marijuana possession should not justify criminalizing the American public, was research to prove it was harmful. Since they couldn’t find anything harmful, they didn’t allow any at all.
Support Medical Marijuana in NJ Before Thursday’s Hearing
Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey is gearing up for the first ever legislative hearing on medical marijuana in the Assembly! This Thursday, May 22, the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee will hold an informational hearing on Assembly Bill 804, the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.Much is riding on the success of the hearing—if this initial informational hearing goes well, it will help us advocate for hearings in the fall that will lead to votes in committee and then in the full legislature. You can help to ensure that the committee holding Thursday’s hearing understands how much support this legislation has among New Jerseyans. Please take a moment to contact the members of the committee telling them you support Assembly Bill 804!
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Medical groups back legal marijuana
Jim Miller’s letter on medical marijuana and his late wife, Cheryl, highlights the need for New Jersey elected officials to support bills S-119 and A-804. (”Medical marijuana needs new focus,” April 25.)
Each year, thousands of New Jerseyans are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis. The symptoms and suffering caused by these illnesses can be devastating, especially when currently available medicines do not offer relief for some patients. For these patients, medical marijuana may offer hope for relief from terrible symptoms such as pain, nausea, loss of appetite and wasting, as found in the congressionally-chartered 1999 Institute of Medicine study.
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Medical Marijuana Users Denied Organ Transplants
In a handful of states, it’s legal for doctors to prescribe use of marijuana for medical purposes. But patients who partake may pay a big price: transplant denials.The Los Angeles Times details such cases this morning, including that of Timothy Garon, a 56-year-old Seattle musician who was rejected for a liver transplant in part because he’d used medical marijuana to ease symptoms of hepatitis C. He subsequently died. (See this editorial supporting Garon in the Ventura County Star.)
Another patient, a 33-year-old diabetic whose kidneys and pancreas failed, told the Times he couldn’t get transplants at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle or University of Washington Medical Center because of medical marijuana.
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Call to import cannabis cancer treatment
The New South Wales Government says it will ask the Federal Government to support the importation of a cannabis-based drug for cancer, multiple sclerosis and AIDS patients.
The State Government wants to trial the drug Sativex, which delivers a cannabis ingredient through an oral spray or pill.
The drug can be used to counter the wasting aspects of the diseases, and also helps cancer patients with the side effects of chemotherapy.
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R.I. Senate approves marijuana sales to ill patients
PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Rhode Island’s Senate has approved a bill permitting up to three nonprofit stores to sell marijuana to chronically ill patients registered with the state.
A spokesman for Senate President Joseph Montalbano says the proposal passed Thursday 29-6. It now heads to House lawmakers.
Sen. Rhoda Perry, the bill’s sponsor, has said the proposal fixes a loophole in Rhode Island’s medical marijuana program.
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Obama on medical marijuana
In a little-noticed remark in the Willamette Week, a Portland, Oregon weekly, Barack Obama indicates he’s open to allowing medical marijuana in the several states that have voted to permit it.
The paper asks if he would stop federal Drug Enforcement Agency raids on the state’s medical marijuana growers. His response:
I would because I think our federal agents have better things to do, like catching criminals and preventing terrorism. The way I want to approach the issue of medical marijuana is to base it on science, and if there is sound science that supports the use of medical marijuana and if it is controlled and prescribed in a way that other medicine is prescribed, then it’s something that I think we should consider.
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CANNABIS PILL HELPED ME TO WALK AGAIN
A Multiple sclerosis sufferer says he was able to step out of his wheelchair for the first time in seven years when he took part in a trial of a tablet containing cannabis.
Tony Withers, 64, believes the tablet could be a breakthrough in helping the 85,000 Britons with the condition.
The former RAF navigator, of Petersham Drive, Alvaston, who has used a wheelchair since 2000, took part in a 12-week trial of the tablets.
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