Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
A bill that would have legalized medical marijuana in Kansas is officially dead for this session. It was stalled three weeks ago in the Senate Committee on Health Care Strategies after members chose not to advance it, and under the rules of the legislature, it had to leave the Senate by last Friday.
Robert Stephan, KSCCC press conference, August 2007
Committee vice chairman Pete Brungardt (R-Salina) told the Kansas State Collegian the consensus among committee members was that more effective and legal drugs exist. "The impression you get with casual talk from members is that it was not supported," Brungardt said.
The bill, the Medical Marijuana Defense Act, would have allowed people with "debilitating medical conditions," including but not limited to cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, to grow, possess, and use small amounts of marijuana upon written certification by a doctor.
The bill was pushed by the Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition, which enlisted former Kansas Attorney General Robert Stephan as a legal consultant and prominent supporter. Stephan joined coalition head Laura Green in testifying before the committee.
"I hope these people who oppose medicinal marijuana never have to suffer like the people I have seen and talked with and the people who use it as a last resort," Stephan told the Collegian this week. "If I was a researcher, I'd probably say, 'May God have mercy on their souls.'"
Green said coalition members plan to reintroduce the bill during the 2009 Kansas legislative session. "That's very disappointing for us that they wouldn't take the vote in the committee to advance the bill," she said. "We'll hope that whatever committee it goes through next year that they'll have the political willpower to at least hold a vote in the committee."
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Comments
Ignorance Lives in Kansas
By sticking your legislative heads into the sand does not eliminate the issue. Medical marajuana will never go away because a few ETOH drinkers think it wrong. The worlds not flat......flatlanders!
Freedom
Forget about the medical aspect of marijuana- besides tradition- why is marijuana not just as legal as a glass of wine?
Because people are not OK with thinking in terms of freedom beyond their own personal choices. Because people see a worst case scenario, not a "use vs. abuse" issue.
Wine is an almost universally accepted drug.
Wine isn't subjected to government medical trials as it awaits approval for individuals to use, why is marijuana any different? Tradition?
We hear of drugs that have been through government testing and approval which come with all kinds of serious side effects, or must be taken off the market later because of their toxic properties.
Peaceable, responsible, adult choices should be left to individuals to make. This is not to defend drug abuse- impaired driving, reporting to work under the influence, domestic violence, child abuse, etc.
What is wrong with adults sitting around the fire at the ski chalet on New Year's weekend using (not abusing) marijuana?
We are working hard to spread freedom across the globe - maybe we should take some of the filters off of freedom here at home. Those filters werenât put in place by terrorists or foreign governments.
Freedom is for everyone. Deciding how to act on that freedom should not require conformity to a âone size fits allâ government mandate.
Is there a major political party that believes in Stateâs Rights?
There must be a law against happiness.
Maybe there is a push from big business- The Medical Industrial Complex- to keep us from making our own choices.
Every other Ad on T.V. is for some type of serious medication-
May cause: mild to severe spasms of the colon, bone loss, blackouts, aneurisms, hyperventilation, persistent vomiting, chronic irritability, unsafe motor vehicle operation, partial but temporary blindness, weight gain, impaired motor skills, memory loss, brief bipolar episodes, nose bleeds, disruption of normal sleep patterns, motion sickness, mild convulsive disorders, hardening of the arteries, brain swelling, severe itching, profuse sweating, loss of balance, sudden and unexpected loss of bowel or bladder control, blurred vision, ringing in the ears, and sleepwalking.
Alex
http://tinyurl.com/36t5vp
Port Hadlock, WA
In reply to Freedom by Anonymous (not verified)
No Kidding!
Have you ever heard of anyone going to rehab for Marijuana?!
In 1998 the state of Iowa,
In 1998 the state of Iowa, our family's home state for generations on both sides of the family, successfully murdered 11 year old Crystal Leann Manke, my daughter. They did this disgusting act by forcing a drug overdose on her that took about a month and a half to kill her. Just before she died I was tricked into the same overdose and blacked out while driving my diesel truck and killed someone in a traffic accident after I drove around blacked out on the same serotonin syndrome that killed Crystal. The homicide blood test revealed zero nanograms of any dope or alcohol, but the geniuses of the "justice system" fixed crime by imprisoning me for almost 5 years.
These state lawyers are without a real clue and mainly want to continue their lying lives of fake righteousness.
The morons of the state senates who continue to pump out pseudoscience like Sen. Tom Harkin here in Iowa do so by deliberately perverting the legitimate science available to them for the ugly purpose of their monied backers and to hell with the rest of us. Tom quoted an outfit called DAWN and was worried we pot smokers would sell our children when we needed more dope to fix our reefer madness. He makes me sick to my stomach with his sell out filth. By the way, when I contacted DAWN and directly asked them about marijuana deaths they shied away. LIARS!!
There are NO marijuana deaths and we do not need more "research" to piss the money away on. It has been researched to death with no evidence that it hurts anyone. This is all for the well being of a bunch of blowdried suited up fakes who don't care one bit about us and our not wanting to puke first thing in the morning like I so often do because some asshole was smokeing his legal narcotic cigarette and smashed my neck from the rear end collision he caused putting out his ciggy. Now I am hurt for the rest of my life some more because they just do not know what the hell they are doing in the least. Legalize marijuana and shut up legislative creeps. You are not gods.
In reply to In 1998 the state of Iowa, by Anonymous (not verified)
Shame on Kansas!
I have fibromyalgia, connective tissue disorder, and rhuematoid arthritis, just to mention a few.
I smoke marijuana when I get my hands on some which isn't often. You would be amazed at how much it helps me. I can do my yard work, house work, and just have a better quality of life all around.
I have spent a fortune besides becoming ill most of the time, due to all the different medications my doctor has me try. All of them have side effects too which I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
I don't understand what the big deal is about making it legal. Booze is legal and has been responsible for countless deaths. I have NEVER heard of anyone dying who had smoked marijuana. As for smoking it leading to stronger illegal drugs, that is just stupid. That would mean that beer drinkers will switch to whiskey. Smokers will switch to non-filtered. etc etc.
I am tired of self-rightous people telling me what is or isn't good for me. How the heck would they know??? Do they have cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, etc?? Are they in constant pain 24/7? No, I doubt it.
BULLSH*T
People are retarded, why its illegal I simply do not know and I cannot believe that these people who most likely drink beer/whine/whiskey and smoke cigs can say that marijuana is in anyway shape or form, BAD!? WTF! wake up this is no new drug been here forever and its not going away anytime soon, now meth and other drugs ive done and im not saying legalize that because it ABSOLUTELY would be BAD, and is BAD for you. weed is the perfect drug and has no side effects, and is not addictive, so the only thing i can think is that these people who have the power to deny this are simply not able to READ what a majority of the AMERICAN population thinks on the subject, even if you do not have an illness. Smoking weed is like meditation, makes you feel good, makes you relax, and I think if it were legal it would be AWESOME to smoke with friends and family, and also would be the #1 cash crop in the world!! way more so than even cigs! We are the most powerful country in the world, but I think these deranged people need to take a look at other countries that allow the use of weed so that they can see for themselves that it would only make the QUALITY of life better! I see it happening in my lifetime and i cannot wait! PLEASE STOP IGNORING THE FACTS AND THE PEOPLE OF THIS SO CALLED "FREE" COUNTRY! I know i am not the most educated person in the world but damn! marijuana is and will always be better than cigs and alcohol! YOU CANNOT REJECT THOSE WHO GIVE YOU YOUR POWER, THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!
Let them walk a mile in my shoes!
I suffer from Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Syndrome. If the people who keep rejecting the legalization had to live with the pain and agony I do 24/7, then they would think twice bedore they rejected it again. Marijuana is the ONLY THING that helps my pain and takes away the other dreadful side effects that accompany these diseases.
There really are people that need the benefits of this miracle herb. Maybe these anti-marijuana people need to walk a mile in my shoes before they judge and jump to conclusions of why we want it legalized!
I think we should beat the hell out of them with a bat and tell them to get up out of bed and clean their house and take care of their family in excrutiating pain everyday. maybe they would then see our point of view in this matter!
old news this bill is being
old news this bill is being processed
DEAD?!?!
Now how do they let the bill just die?
Ignorance is the only explanation; it is also the worst one.
It already has been proven that cannabis use suppresses violent crime. This fact, along with a total refutation of the so-called "gateway drug" theory can be found in chapter on marijuana in Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook, 4-th Edition. I was just thinking, what the situation would be if (havens forbid) it could be shown that cannabis incites, instead of suppressing, violent crime. I just can imagine what "banners" would already be raised by the opponents, what "battle cries" would have gone out of their camp. They would demand a total, airtight ban on all cannabis products. But the true situation is that cannabis use SUPPRESSES violent crime, (so please do forgive us for bringing it up) along with its therapeutic qualities, which seem to get wider and wider as the new uses are discovered, with no lethal overdoses or physical withdrawal syndrome with this substance...Big difference from alcohol, isn't it? I believe that judges and City Administrators should give these facts some very serious thought. The following quote from a true expert summarizes this situation best:
" Cannabis will one day be seen as a wonder drug, as was penicillin in the 1940s. Like penicillin, herbal marijuana is remarkably nontoxic, has a wide range of therapeutic applications and would be quite inexpensive if it were legal." - Dr. Lester Grinspoon, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2006
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