AUGUSTA, Maine — Hundreds of people gathered at the Augusta Civic Center this weekend for Canna Maineia, an exposition extolling the benefits of medical marijuana.
Live music, numerous vendors and medical marijuana users of many stripes crowded the civic center for the two-day event, which was organized by Jim Fowler of Hermon. Much of the conference focused on providing information for people about how to grow their own marijuana, through education and sales of everything from growing lights to organic soil to smoking implements. Among the keynote speakers was Dustin Sulak, an osteopathic physician with practices in Hallowell and Falmouth.
“I see such a wide variety of patients in my practice and I have found cannabis to be incredibly useful for such a wide variety of them,” said Sulak to the audience. “We’re really dedicated to helping people and creating a standard of care for medical marijuana to really make sure it’s being done right. My offices are legitimizing that this is a real medicine. We’re helping real patients and what we’re seeing is amazing. All of these patients from all different walks of life are responding to one medicine and that seems quite incredible to me from a clinical perspective or a scientific perspective.”
Christena Dodge of Brownville agreed. She suffers from conditions that cause severe nausea and back pain.
“Marijuana really helps me with the nausea and helps me eat when I’m really sick,” she said. “It also helps with the pain.”
There were attendees at the event from far and wide. Andrew Cooper of Rhode Island said he has been in some severe car crashes and has a collapsed lung. He said using marijuana eases his symptoms without having to use opioid-based pain medicine.
“There’s no comparison between weed and pills,” he said. “[With marijuana] you’re not stuck on the couch drooling on yourself because you took too many pain meds. I think it’s great and I think more people should be able to use it, for sure.”
The conference also attracted some well-known names from the pro-marijuana world, such as a Las Vegas-based band called Los Marijuanos. The two members of the band call themselves Redeye and Ponyboy. They also maintain a website called Hemp Vision TV.
“We are marijuana activists as well as artists who perform marijuana music,” said Redeye.
“Yeah, we’ve been doing this for years now and there’s no sign of stopping,” said Ponyboy. “We go to every medical marijuana or smoking event we can. We try to bring all the education as well as the new and upcoming stuff to all the people who need it.”
Fowler said seeing so many attendees at the event on Saturday was an emotional culmination of a lot of work in organizing.
“It’s a grouping of people from all over the world who have come here in support of Maine’s fledgling medical marijuana industry,” he said. “It’s going to get larger from here. Every year I’m going to change the name and the theme of it so it never gets boring.”
Fowler, a medical marijuana patient and caregiver in Maine, made headlines in 2010 when his former home in Pittsfield was raided by drug agents and his marijuana plants confiscated. He was charged with marijuana possession and cultivation but in February 2011 he received a deferred disposition ruling from the courts. That means his record was wiped clean after a year with no more violations.
Ron Norton, another pro-marijuana activist with an organization called Maine Green Cross, said the expo was valuable for sick people trying to find legal sources for the medicine or the means to grow their own.
“People have come from Washington and California and all over, giving out free seeds for patients to try out,” he said. “I think it’s a tremendous event.”
Isn’t it time to legalize and regulate marijuana as we now do alcohol?
alcohol isn’t the same. there are studies that clearly show more damaging and long term mental health deficits from smoking marijuana. Also it just ads to the second hand smoke problem.
yeah government studies will tell you how much more damaging smoking weed OMG reefer madness!!!
Alcohol kills thousands of people each year yet I don’t recall ever hearing of anyone dying as a result of smoking a little weed.
what studies? I know many more people that have long term issues with alcoholism than people who “can’t quit pot” if they happen to be smokers, I’ve never read a single study, done in any country, that claim alcohol is safer than marijuana, quite the opposite. Usually I find this kind of assumption comes from people being fed the propaganda from the government for the past 60-70 years… in favor of Big Pharma and the cotton and paper industries, all of which are very threatened at the idea of legalizing Hemp
I totally agree with you you. Although I do not condone illegal drug use, let’s just legalize marijuana and get it over with. It’s stupid for people to be able to legally market this for “medical use” and make money off of it. Either it’s illegal or not – make it legal, quit filling the jails with pot growers and smokers, and use the space for real criminals, like Mr. Ornsby. I can’t remembe the last time I read about someone murdering or killing someone with their vehicle while smoking pot. Then tax the snot out of it like cigartettes and lessen my taxes in this state.
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What exactly is “Marijuana music”?
We don’t really care man…..anything with a beat to it……
“Dave’s not here man.”
And (sniff,sniff,sniff) Jerry’s gone man,yea, DEAD Jerry’s DEAD man.
They call it Mellow Yellow :) anything just about when someone is high.
Isn’t all music marijuana music?
In related news: Augusta holds annual Fast Food Convention immediately following the Marijuana Convention. Scores attend!!!
It was a medicinal marijuana expo where people with life threatening or debilitating illnesses went to learn more about one of the most valuable medicines on this planet. Many who use MM are trying to fight illness so they try to eat healthy diets of fresh fruits and vegetables. Many cannot even eat without medicinal marijuana, so when they do eat, they try to eat nutritious foods to gain strength to fight their illness or cope with their physical suffering.
just having fun. I think this is great for Maine! Way to go!
Yea they always have bands and hippies at MEDICAL events.
Which ones were the hippies? Did they have name tags? Why not provide a little entertainment for people who are dealing with life changing illnesses and injuries?
For the benefit of gaining public approval for MM it would probably be better if you left the activists who are there to legalize for recreational purposes out of your gathering.
It wasn’t “my” gathering and I didn’t go. To my knowledge, anyone who paid the ticket fee was given entrance. Which ones were the activists who want to legalize for recreational use? I didn’t catch that in the report or interviews.
I understand that and your probably right. Personnaly I could care less about the entire thing, other then making MM available to those who need it for pain and suffering. The recreational group has attached themselves to the medical group whether they like it or not.
Probably because many of the people YOU disregard as “recreational” users are actually medical marijuana users.
At the medical gatherings I have been to, they have TONS of ink pens,tablets, and recycle shopping bags with different drugs all over them!
Every drug there is a medical miricle!
If, the side effects or addiction doesnt kill you, these pills will cure whatever is wrong with you!
Keep pushing your Pharmies, Im trying to push Farming!
Yes, but it does seem that, given the stated mission of the band did little to assure people of the “medically necessary,” component of cannabis. I’m no good at analogy – but someone can probably come up with one for a similar band appearing at a medical gathering.
Yes, many dying cancer patients or physically disabled people obtain government assistance in order to survive. Your point is?
but its okay for you to maintain your status as a “town drunk” by going to the corner store…its okay though your not like “those” people who smoke a joint once in a while…..just a thought
Not every that drinks is a drunk. Also a small amount of alcohol doesn’t affect you as profoundly as smoking pot. I don’t drink but once in a blue moon but I don’t like either substance. It seems all you extreme leftist liberals do is try to find some way of bashing the opponents comments rather than finding an actual leg to stand on. Like with Gay Marriage or Abortion you people don’t actually provide an argument “for” your side but rather spend most your time knocking down your opponents arguments. And in this case comparing Alcohol & Pot is basically apples & oranges. So far there is no real data or significant information to support legalizing pot. Either for pain relief or increasing hunger in patients that need to eat. Basically what it boils down to is there are a lot of deviants out there that simply want to get high. Since our American Society is leaning more towards hedonism substances like Pot are becoming more popular.
A small amount of pot has the same effect as a small amount of alcohol. Not all people who smoke pot are pot heads.
You say, “It seems all you extreme leftist liberals do is try to find some way of bashing the opponents comments rather than finding an actual leg to stand on.”
You start by calling people names, bash them and then accuse the opposition of doing the same.
So far there is significant real data that supports using this natural plant as medicine. There are hundred of thousands of people all over the planet using it to relieve physical suffering. There are multiple studies in other countries that show that this plant can do far more than we even know. It has been used for thousands of years and was only outlawed in the last century in this country because it was taking profits from companies like Dupont and the pharmaceutical companies.
I personally have spoken with hundreds of cancer patients who find great relief from their suffering. Are they all liars?
you obviously don’t read much, there and been many studies, which you can google for yourself if your interested, showing multiple benefits of medical marijuana use, as well as many many benefits in terms of paper, rope, clothing, oils … etc.
you really should educate yourself and not assume what the corporate controlled media is feeding you is anything that resembles the truth
Good points – and besides, how does a medical marijuana forum become a Demo-Repub issue – amazing…legalize it already!
Cdemp, I’m a conservative and don’t agree with your leftist philosophy that big government should control every aspect of our private lives. Marijuana prohibition is a blatant example of government overreach and socialism. The argument “for” my side is that marijuana prohibition has been an utter failure at reducing use and availability of a plant that has killed not a single human due to overdose in all of human history. I’m glad you mentioned abortion. I find it absurd that the killing of babies is protected by the same Federal government that makes growing non-drug hemp a felony punishable by the death penalty. Can you provide me any examples of lives ruined by industrial hemp? Since you are against “hedonism”, please give me a good reason why alcohol, which killed 20,000 Americans last year, should be legal. Are you one of those “deviant” drinkers that “just wants to get high once in a blue moon”. “apples and oranges”=hogwash! If you are motivated enough to take me on in a debate, I will provide *lots* of data that supports legalizing pot. Here’s a sample from the American Medical Association (2009): “Results of short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass,and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.” Source: REPORT 3 OF THE COUNCIL ON SCIENCE AND PUBLIC HEALTH (I-09) Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes (Resolutions 910, I-08;921, I-08;and 229, A-09) (Reference Committee K)
Lookin for free samples?
Do they give free samples at pharmacological conventions?
I love it when I see young people talking about how it helps them with their pain… sorry… it’s just such a hard thing to believe that all these kids got “Back problems”.
I only saw one “young” person talking about his pain. How do you know that he isn’t a cancer patient or have MS, arthritis or some other illness that would cause his pain? He also mentions pain in his chest so how are we to know what his physical affliction may be.
Everyone else on the video appeared to be middle age.
Either way…it’s none of your business if they decide they want to put marijuana in their system. Dont you have more pressing items in your own life to tend to?
That’s true, but so many people in Maine are stoners—tell me it isn’t true. For anybody that gets out of the state from time to time, it’s pretty obvious that it’s now a globalized economy and schools and workplaces are also global, and highly competitive…those kids sitting at home (in Maine or anywhere else) smoking their heads off are going to be owned by their expat peers in another 20 years if they aren’t careful. Think I’m kidding? Here’s our Houston-area schools’ 2011 valedictorian lists, which are totally typical:
http://www.katyisd.org/communications/News/166-11.aspx
I don’t see your point. First, you make a statement that you can’t (and don’t) back-up with anything about “people in Maine”. Then you claim that all or most of the
Valedictorians and Salutatorians are “expats” – which you also do not back-up with anything, based on what, just by what race they appear to be ? Sorry, but that’s racist, false, and lazy thinking. Please keep your Houston-style racism IN Houston.
Everyone one of those students could have been born and raised in the United States. Just by looking at the photos and names, I can’t tell which ones were born and raised here and which ones came from another country to study here.
So you think that only white Americans with “real” American names should be successful? And people with unfamiliar names are foreigners?
The convention and these efforts have nothing to do with teens smoking pot. Medicinal marijuana laws do not allow kids to buy medicinal marijuana. If they are getting it, it’s from the black market. What does any of this have to do with a convention to help medical marijuana patients?
I agree and too many people in Maine abuse other drugs as well. Maine’s got the highest rate in the nation of babies born addicted to pain killers. The more we legalize sketchy substances the worse it’s going to get.
We have not legalized any sketchy substances other than those that the FDA approves and allows on the market. What sketchy substances have we legalized lately? I’m curious.
actually it is because everywhere I move to I try to find a place where people don’t smoke cigarettes. I can’t having second had pot smoke added to the problem as well. I chose not to smoke and I don’t want second hand any of it in my system. Besides I don’t trust anyone that might be smoking it long term to drive my cap, my bus, teach me in school, or be my doctor even if they aren’t high at the time there are long term effects. Anyway I think this just ads to the second hand smoke problem.
Most medical marijuana patients opt for other forms on MM. There are multiple edibles, tinctures, olive oil, etc., that allow patients relief without involving smoke. Most find that ingestables offer more physical relief in the body without so much mental fog. Most MM patients are still very cautious about where and when they smoke if they have to smoke because of the stigma and stereotypes.
You really need to do some more research on this subject because it is obvious that you are not well informed.
You’d be very surprised how many people that are among you smoke pot, some you would never in your wildest dreams imagine, get over your sterotyped image.
But you, and the android immortals machinists have already won on the issue of second-hand smoke. It used to be that it was difficult to find a place to live if one had even one child. You could have a Pomeranian, but not a human. How many advertisements do you see for rental units where the ads include the statement, “Responsible tenants who also smoke cigarettes are welcome.” None.
The amount of pharmaceuticals utilized that have side-effects, and dangerous interactions with other medications and foods, should be of greater concern. Sometimes, people just have to be trusted to do what is right, including not operating that school bus, or on you if they are impaired.
Nothing personal, but I wouldn’t want you to be my english teacher, spelling bee judge, or driving my cap.
Congratulations Chris you are able to do something just by looking at a video which Doctors who have had many years of schooling as well as practical work experience can not do, diagnose a patient. Please Chris rush to the nearest medical school so that you might be made a professor and will be able to bless the rest of the medical profession with your brilliance.
Maine has a huge problem with prescription drug abuse. If that’s not the fault of the doctors, then whose fault is it?
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/02/06/news/down-east/attorney-general-sees-prescription-drug-abuse-addiction-as-epidemic-in-maine/
Some of us get addicted to pain killers simply because you have to wait 6 months to a year or in my case gonna be longer to see a specialist that’s gonna perform the needed surgery.. In the mean time you have to live your life you cant just lie still cause it hurts when you move.. That’s when the doctors prescribe the pain killers.. At the end of the years wait when you get your issues fixed you are addicted..
31 million Americans experience low-back pain at any given time. Source: Jensen M, Brant-Zawadzki M, Obuchowski N, et al. Magnetic Resonance
Imaging of the Lumbar Spine in People Without Back Pain. N Engl J Med
1994; 331: 69-116.
I have a real bad issue with discs in my back. I currently have 5 ruptured ones all in a row in the thoracic area.. I tried concentrates and they did not help but i found smoking does. This relieves the pain in my sides from the bad discs it always feels like i have a sun burn. It also helps with my arthritis, and my diabetic neuropathy. By smoking cannabis i no longer take, Oxycontin, Vicodin, Gabapentin, and Amitriptoline. It has made a huge difference in my life, and I am forever thankful for it.. On the pills there were days i could not walk the pain was unbearable and since i have been smoking bout 3 grams a week, i have been walking and talking peoples ears off instead of lying there crying and drooling all over myself.. Yesterday i raked my lawn, When i was done i was sobbing like an infant, When asked why? I responded with it has been a year long wait for my back surgery and right now I just realized this was the first time i did something constructive.. I felt good to accomplish something.. I have been smoking it now for 16 days, and i can feel and others can see the difference. Heck my grapefruit sized hernia don’t even hurt anymore either.
Holy cheeses!
No wonder you’re happee2beme.
When i was a kid i broke my back sledding during a big winter storm.. I was paralyzed for bout six months..2 years later i was walking without much assistance.. That’s where i adopted the name.. Happee to be mee was my response to, “Hey how you doin today?” when i went for therapy..
Not surprising, looks like they have plenty of dealers.
Fowler said seeing so many attendees at the event on Saturday was an emotional culmination of a lot of work in organizing. “It’s a grouping of people from all over the world who have come here in support of Maine’s fledgling medical marijuana industry,” he said.
Too bad the reporter didn’t take time to interview some of them. All I saw was pretty much people from Maine and a few from the West coast. I guess when you are high Nevada can seem like another world.
A good friend told me a long time ago that marijuana would never be illegal in Maine again as long as it was being smoked on the floors of the legislature. Guess they were right.
Medical marijuana for the majority is nothing but an excuse to legally get high. We can only hope that one of these days the Feds will get tired of these doctors and states pushing the envelope and will come in and shut this nonsense down.
The majority of medical marijuana patients are facing life changing illnesses and injuries that keep them from enjoying the fullness of life. While there will be recreational users who try to become legal patients, the majority have a medical reason and go through a stringent process to get a certificate.
Even if there are recreational users becoming patients, wouldn’t it be safer and better for society if these people are getting it from a reliable source and are being tracked instead of having them involved with the black market?
So dying people are involved in nonsense because a natural plant gives them relief from suffering? You sir, are the only one full of nonsense and have no empathy or compassion for your fellow human being. Very sad, and cold.
“The majority of medical marijuana patients are facing life changing illnesses and injuries that keep them from enjoying the fullness of life. While there will be recreational users who try to become legal patients, the majority have a medical reason and go through a stringent process to get a certificate. ” This has been a constant claim of the MM Movememnt and it is false. The majority of MM users are simply users who want to smoke legally and us the excuse of MM to do so. The only stringent process to getting a certificate is finding the doctor and paying the office fee. “Even if there are recreational users becoming patients, wouldn’t it be safer and better for society if these people are getting it from a reliable source and are being tracked instead of having them involved with the black market? ” This might be true if MM users were actually required to registered however the MM Movement had the requirement changed so that only caregivers can be tracked. “So dying people are involved in nonsense because a natural plant gives them relief from suffering? You sir, are the only one full of nonsense and have no empathy or compassion for your fellow human being. Very sad, and cold.” I have a great deal of empathy and compassion for my felllow human being, especially those who are ill and suffereing. I just have a very low tolerance for stoners who use the pain and suffering of others to get high.
YOU Wrote: “This has been a constant claim of the MM Movememnt and it is false. The majority of MM users are simply users who want to smoke legally and us the excuse of MM to do so. The only stringent process to getting a certificate is finding the doctor and paying the office fee.”
Please show me evidence that the majority of MM patients are users wanting to smoke legally? Where are you drawing this information from or is this just your opinion?
Doctors who make the recommendation generally sit down with the patient for 45 minutes and review their medical history. They also must forward their medical records to the MM doctor. There has to be proof in their medical record that they have a qualifying illness or that you have been seeking ongoing treatment for an illness or injury for more than six months that isn’t responding to traditional medicine. One must have a recommendation from their family doctor as well.
Since people taking opiates and morphine do not have to register with the state, why would someone using a less powerful, less dangerous medicine that grows naturally have to register with anyone?
Dispensaries must document their sales and they keep track of the patient’s purchase history. I am sure that if the feds wanted, they could demand to see their records at any minute, unlike the black market where there is no consistency and no paper trail.
You are so judgmental. How can you tell by the report that the people there were just stoners wanting to get high? I could not determine that from the short video and story. You must have special powers that I don’t.
Yes, there are what we deem as “stoners” who will become MM patients, but they would smoke marijuana with or without this law to help the sickest and weakest among us. Everyone of those so-called stoners are going to smoke regardless of whether we allow MM in this state or not.
You stereotype and judge people that you don’t even know. You clump everyone who uses this valuable medicine as a stoner. If you had compassion and empathy, you would support these efforts, not degrade those who are trying to help others.
I have low tolerance for those who spout nonsense about people that they don’t know.
Thank you for your voice in this. Wish I knew you as a person. Keep on doing it. Spread this video. It is by far the best documentary on MM that I have found to date.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsC4IZhlx4I
Dan Troop. Your opinion of course is your opinion. But, have you ever been stuck between the natural way or shoving chemicals down your throat and become addict of pill (opiates). Until you have been there, you will continue to have blinders on. I suggest you take time to educate yourself. It is ok if you are older like me. I too once believe it was the devils medicine. I no longer believe that once I had to make a choice. I hope you will take the time and watch the WHOLE video. You will see that the gov that you work/ed for has lied to you for all these years. Here is the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsC4IZhlx4I
“Your opinion of course is your opinion. But, have you ever been stuck between the natural way or shoving chemicals down your throat and become addict of pill (opiates). Until you have been there, you will continue to have blinders on.”I am there now. I have suffered from chronic back pain for over 3o years. There are days when I can barely walk or bend over without being in contant pain. I often have great difficulty sleeping becuase of the pressure in my back and the fact that I can only lay on one side. Rather than use opiates or marijuana I use exercise and other pain management techniques. One can train their mind that the body can tolerate even intense levels of pain and funtion. You can do the same.
Oh, so now people suffering in pain should just suck it up? Cancer patients just need to train their minds and bodies to tolerate their intense levels of pain? It sounds like your exercise and pain management techniques are not working, and you want others to do the same?
One can use medical marijuana every day for chronic pain and never be “high.” Most people with chronic pain want their pain to go away so that they can enjoy the fullness of life. They don’t want to get high. They just want relief from their suffering so that they can work and enjoy life.
If you knew anything about this subject, you would know that MM doctors recommend small doses several times a day. They discourage patients sitting down and getting stoned because then it does not work effectively as a pain reliever. People can be pain free for hours after one or two inhalations. They are never stoned, they are fully functioning.
Your exercise and pain management techniques doesn’t seem to be working for you. If you have trained your mind to deal with intense levels of pain then why can’t you sleep and why is it difficult for you to walk sometimes? Why would anyone want to suffer like that without seeking out medical help?
Thank you for the above post. Thinnking the same for Dan’s response. If he only could see the benefits it would change his mind.
TrueNative, I was just going to type that and read your comment. Dan, I am sorry for your pain because we are both there right now. difference is, I just use this to help my pain. Hope you take the time to listen to that documentary I posted above. Best of luck.
Dan, repeal of the 18th amendment was just an excuse for millions of Americans to “legally get high” on alcohol. The Feds may realize at some time in the (hopefully near) future that marijuana prohibition is an unpopular and expensive failure and shut the nonsense war on cannabis down. 70% of Americans polled support medical marijuana. Remember, medical marijuana has been around since 1996 and the Fed is $15 trillion in debt. We keep adding $4 billion in debt every day. How are your DEA buddies going to “shut it down” with a pitiful $2 billion annual budget? They don’t even bother to arrest the operators of the California dispensaries anymore. They just kill the plants and take the money. Why don’t they just tax it if they are just after the money?
This event was probably sponsored by DEA, so they can get pictures and plate numbers.
Great idea.
Yeah, because we need them to round up those evil cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and MS patients. They are doing so much harm to society.
Yeah, because we need them to round up those evil cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and MS patients. They are doing so much harm to society.
Yeah, cause those were the only people in attendance. While there may be some, even many who can benefit from medical weed, the overall masses are still using this as an excuse for pro-pot legalization. You think we’re so stupid to think that this is just about sick people? Good luck.
It’s an odd thing. There are many herbs, plants, and foods that should be extolled for similar medical uses, but they are not promoted, or particularly sanctioned. I include natural tobacco as well, not used only for ceremonial purposes. The latter, of course, has caused the most heinous criminalization of people who utilize it.
From a purely political standpoint, it is impossible not to wonder why there is such support for the one plant. Certainly, many of the marketed pharmaceuticals originate from plants, but then a host of things are done to them, including making them synethetic, and marketing them, yielding an even bigger profit. Additives, another profit arena, those often unnoticed “inactive ingredients,” are often real or potential harmful agents. Yet all sanctioned.
Why must there be disease-based approval? The earliest cultures utilized available foods and plants, and not only ceremonially, and medicinally, but sometimes merely because there was an element of pleasure. But now, it is only when there is sanctioned disease that an approving nod is given, in this culture of the growing fantasy of the perfect, (by someone’s standards), immortal.
Only the people who have sanctioned disease have the right to be human? Is it the pity factor? Nasty, rotten people have disease, but they are often treated as saints due to their illness. Is this pity/martyrdom mechanism the only way that people will have compassion for our human-ness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsC4IZhlx4I take the time to educate yourself. i did
what an absolute joke! all those potheads in one place………unreal….
What an absolute joke; illiterate people making defamatory remarks about people with chronic and terminal illnesses.
Shame on you and everyone that “liked” your inane remarks.
Is medical marijuana cover by Maine care
Joking right?
Excuse me, but i thought we the people of Maine did vote to allow this, but those in power are still making money off of it, so do not expect any changes real soon. I would have to travel almost two hundred miles to see a Doctor about this, who will approve my need to use this, that is as long as i paid them $200.00 or more, and it takes two trips for this approval. So just what was our ‘The Peoples’ vote about? Seems to me its about getting screwed by those dumb folks we send to Augusta. Or is it we the people who are dumb?
Or dr’s need to get educated in this and provided a written response that it could be beneficial to your conditions. Talk to your dr they might be open to it
The barrier to legalization remains Obama who insists on harassing States rights allowing medical marijuana. Just another lie Obama gave us as a reason to vote for him in 2008. Maybe time to look at Rocky Anderson, former mayor of Salt Lake City (don’t let that stop you).
I have NEVER been a fan of marijuana and I admit I have prejudice against people who choose to smoke it for recreation. Recently after decades of suffering debilitating pain from osteoporosis a family member turned to medicinal marijuana. After two weeks of placing the concentrated drops under her tongue a few times a day, she is off all but one of her pain meds. The change in her quality of life, being in bed all day alone, to getting outside and enjoying her family and friends is amazing. Like other prescription medications, I believe it should be maintained as is and not be legalized. Those who NEED it should go through the proper means to attain it.
You say marijuana should not be legalized, and that those who need it should go through the proper means…
Would you therefore support Medical Marijuana being downgraded from its current Schedule 1 listing to a Schedule 2?
It would be good if industrial uses of hemp could be legalized. There could be one or more rope plants again. There is a market for it, and for clothing, paper, etc. As it is, aren’t those parts of the plant that would be utilized for other jobs/industry, going in the incinerator.
Some use marijauna but don’t smoke, there are much better delivery systems then smoking, eating it works the best.
Prohibition doesn’t work because no amount of deadly force, self-righteous piety, or wishful thinking could ever overcome the innate desire to alter one’s consciousness, self-medicate for physiological, psychological or spiritual reasons, or simply express one’s freedom of choice.
If you support prohibition then you’re either a black market profiteer, a terrorist, a corrupt politician, a sadomoralist, a socialist or a fake-conservative.
If you support prohibition then you’ve helped trigger the worst crime wave in history, raising gang warfare to a level not seen since the days of alcohol bootlegging.
If you support prohibition you’ve a helped create a black market with massive incentives to hook both adults and children alike.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped to make these dangerous substances available in schools and prisons.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped put previously unknown and contaminated drugs on the streets.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped to divert scarce law-enforcement resources away from protecting your fellow citizens from the ever escalating violence against their person or property.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped remove many important civil liberties from those citizens you falsely claim to represent.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped create the prison-for-profit synergy with drug lords.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped escalate the number of people on welfare who can’t find employment due to their felony status.
If you support prohibition you’re responsible for the horrific racial disparities which have breed generations of incarcerated and disenfranchised Afro Americans.
If you support prohibition you’ve helped evolve local gangs into transnational enterprises with intricate power structures that reach into every corner of society, controlling vast swaths of territory with significant social and military resources at their disposal.
If you support prohibition you’re promoting a policy which kills our children, endangers our troops, counteracts our foreign policy and reduces much of the developing world to anarchy.
Neurotics build castles in the sky, psychotics live in them; the concept of a “Drug-Free Society” is a neurotic fantasy and Prohibition’s ills are a product of this psychotic delusion.
Prohibition is nothing less than a grotesque dystopian nightmare; if you support it you must be either ignorant, stupid, brainwashed, corrupt or criminally insane.
If you support prohibition then prepare yourself for even more death, corruption, sickness, imprisonment, unemployment, foreclosed homes, and the complete loss of the rule of law and the Bill of Rights.
Cannabis is but a vegetable plant to be eaten like spinach or lettuce this is the real value of the plant, as food. This fresh food is a cancer killer and it’s use will keep the body healthy, just eat the young tender leaves and enjoy the benefits. This is only a vegetable plant, the Emperor wears no clothes.
Seed, soil, plant. It’s criminal that a plant can put you in prison. Wake up America.