Medical Marijuana

Why? Because she thinks it will help save the children:

A discussion of legalizing medical marijuana in Illinois is likely fueling an increase in the number of Park Ridge teenagers using the substance, the Maine Community Youth Assistance Foundation contends.

Margaret Polovchak, executive director of MCYAF, said increased dialogue about marijuana legislation in the state leads to a greater public perception that the substance is not harmful, resulting in a growing number of users.

It's wrong on so many levels, one scarcely knows where to begin. But I guess we'll start with the fact that teen marijuana use declined for 10 years straight after the national debate over medical marijuana emerged in the mid-90's.

You see, Illinois isn’t the first state where this conversation has taken place. There's actually an abundance of empirical data to consult before spouting off mindless speculation. Here, check out this helpful chart showing how almost every state that legalized medical marijuana experienced a subsequent decline in teen marijuana use.

Now you'll never find me arguing that passing medical marijuana laws makes kids less likely to try it. But the fact that rates of use have fluctuated similarly in states with and without such laws really just massacres the idea that having a public debate about marijuana policy somehow endangers children. If you want to see an endangered child, check out this video of a SWAT team shooting two dogs in front of a 7-year-old during a bust for a small bag of pot.

Anyone who's concerned about children getting mixed messages in the medical marijuana debate should stop lying about medical marijuana. You know it's medicine because the Institute of Medicine said so. You know it's medicine because its main ingredient is approved by the FDA and the manufacturer even marketed it as "legal marijuana." You know it's medicine because seriously ill patients continue to turn to it for relief, even when doing so places them at risk of being raided and imprisoned simply for trying to make their cancer suck a little less.

The effort to protect children from the dangers of drugs is a noble one, but taking medicine away from people who need it is one strategy that shouldn’t even be on the table.

Judge Napolitano's Freedom Watch program continues to impress me. Paul does a great job, and the whole segment provides a good overview of the madness and hypocrisy of Obama's marijuana policy:


The fact that FOX has created a platform for these sorts of discussions is significant. I wouldn't have thought it possible even a couple years ago.

This is impressively stupid:

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) ? A medical marijuana patient says wearing a pro-pot T-shirt got him banned from Town Center at Aurora.

Jake Gailey told CBS4 mall personnel approached him last weekend and told him his shirt was offensive to some customers. The shirt features a play on Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" campaign slogan and graphics but instead features the message "YES WE CANNABIS" and displays a marijuana leaf.

Sounds like Gailey handled it pretty well at first:

"I reminded him that (medical marijuana) was legal in our state, that I voted for it and I had a medical marijuana card as well," Gailey said.

Gailey, 28, was told to take the shirt off, turn it inside out or leave.

"I asked him if 'I buy a hat with a marijuana leaf in Spencer's, I can't wear it in the mall?' And he said 'No.'

"I said 'Well, how can the stores sell products you can't allow in the mall?' He said 'Well, we're trying to get everybody on the same page, and it hasn't worked.'"

Eventually, he got worked up and was arrested for being a nuisance, but the charges were dropped when he agreed not to go to the mall for a year. I'm sure Jake Gailey won't be the only marijuana activist avoiding the Town Center mall for a while.

According to this article, badass attorney Robert Corry is on the case, and there might be some interesting 1st Amendment questions here, despite the fact that it's a private mall.  Protests are being planned in the meantime, so you can bet there will soon be far more pot leaves on display in and around Town Center than there would have been if they'd just kept their prejudice to themselves.

Note to Corporate America: if you think you have anything to gain by discriminating against marijuana culture, you're dead wrong. If you screw with us, we will go completely ballistic and drive you crazy. If you don't believe me, ask these people.

The District of Columbia City Council Tuesday voted unanimously to give final approval to a bill that would legalize the use of medical marijuana in the nation's capital. But while medical marijuana advocates welcomed the move, they complained that the bill is unduly restrictive. It is not quite a done deal. The bill now goes to Mayor Adrian Fenty for his signature. After that happens, it must then undergo a mandatory 30-day review by Congress, but since Congress last year lifted the rider that had barred DC from implementing medical marijuana ever since voters approved it in 1998, it is not expected to turn around and kill it in the District now. The measure allows for five distribution centers to provide marijuana to seriously ill patients suffering from chronic or debilitating medical conditions. That number could rise to eight under rule-making authority held by the mayor. Distribution centers can be for-profit or non-profit and must be at least 300 feet from schools. Marijuana for patients will be grown in registered cultivation centers. Each center will be allowed to grow no more than 95 plants. Patients may legally obtain marijuana only from distribution centers. They may not legally grow their own supply or procure it outside the DC medical marijuana system. Patients may possess no more than two ounces of marijuana per month, although the mayor is authorized to raise that cap to four ounces under his rule-making authority. Patients can only use their medicine at home. The final bill is largely unchanged from the bill approved two weeks ago, much to the chagrin of medical marijuana advocates. They had sought a number of changes, including: • Removing the language prohibiting patients from using marijuana or paraphernalia not obtained from a licensed dispensary. • Removing the limitation to home consumption in favor of a simple public smoking ban. • Including severe, chronic pain as a qualifying condition for patients. • Removing the cap of 95 plants on cultivation centers. • Increased possession/purchasing limits. • Including home cultivation. Advocates did not get the changes they wanted, leaving DC with a medical marijuana law that is one of the most restrictive in the land. All they got was the future possibility of raising the possession and purchasing cap for patients. Still, a medical marijuana law is a medical marijuana law. "Today marks a long overdue victory for D.C. voters and potentially thousands of chronically ill residents who will benefit from legal access to medical marijuana," said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project. "It has taken nearly 12 years, but the District will at last have a law that recognizes the mounting scientific consensus that, for many conditions, marijuana can be safe and effective medicine." The DC medical marijuana program would allow members of Congress to get a first-hand look at how such programs work and ease the passage of medical marijuana legislation at the federal level, O'Keefe suggested. "A well-working medical marijuana program in the nation’s capital will also provide members of Congress who have never seen such programs up close with a unique opportunity to do so, she said. Once they see for themselves that these laws do nothing but provide compassionate care for seriously ill patients, hopefully they will understand the need to create a federal policy that no longer criminalizes patients in any state who could benefit from this legitimate treatment option." The Drug Policy Alliance also welcomed passage of the bill, but was more critical of its faults. "The DC Council should be congratulated for exempting AIDS, cancer and other patients from the punitive war on marijuana," said national affairs director Bill Piper. "No one should face jail for using marijuana, especially patients following their doctor’s recommendation. This has been a long fight, but the voice of DC voters is finally starting to be heard." Piper noted that DC voters passed medical marijuana with 69% of the vote in 1998 and accused the council of ignoring what voters wanted. "While the Council is heeding the will of voters in important areas, such as allowing the regulated sale of marijuana for medical use, it is ignoring the will of voters in other important areas – most notably by prohibiting patients from growing their own medicine; a key component of the 1998 initiative, and a key component of medical marijuana laws in 13 states," he said. "The legislation also only protects patients from arrest if they use marijuana obtained from a dispensary. Yet experience in other states show that dispensaries routinely face shortages of marijuana. And the federal government could shut down DC’s dispensaries. If either happens, patients will be forced to buy their marijuana from non-dispensary sources. They shouldn’t face arrest for doing so. No patient should face arrest for following their doctor’s recommendation. This is a glaring problem with the legislation; the Council needs to fix it or the health of patients could be undermined." The reaction from Americans for Safe Access (ASA) was similar. "We are certainly excited to implement a bill that has taken 11 years to see the light of day," said Steph Sherer, ASA executive director. "However, the District Council's failure to listen to patients' needs will have serious unintended effects that may force us to work for years to correct." Once the legislation takes effect, DC will join 14 states that recognize medical marijuana.

Via MPP, here's another completely horrible reminder of the plight faced by medical marijuana patients in most parts of the country:

John Haring, 45, is a quadriplegic who suffers daily from chronic pain, arthritis, spasm attacks, and depression. He uses marijuana to treat his condition, and after two marijuana arrests in two years, he’s now heading to jail for 90 days, after which he’ll be forced to undergo three years of probation and drug testing. If he tests positive for marijuana in just one of those tests, he could face up to five years in jail.

Haring and his relatives say legal prescription painkillers left him "drugged, depressed and in an angry stupor." Using marijuana, on the other hand, "allowed him to live his life," according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Opponents of medical marijuana will be the first to tell you that no one actually gets in trouble for it, but you can bet those people will never come to the aid of someone like John Haring. They don't care about his health and they don’t want to know his story. Meanwhile, the President has called for an end to federal medical marijuana raids because he says they're a bad use of resources. In other words, the reason you shouldn’t treat people like this is because it wastes money, not because it's evil.

Clearly, our work isn't done yet. We have no choice but to fight for medical marijuana in every state until there remains no place in America where patients are criminalized and abused. To those who say voters shouldn't be making medical decisions, I say neither should police.