Tag Archives: Americans for Safe Access

Medical Marijuana Hoax: Do Patients Go to Jail?

“I know of no patient-only person sent to federal prison for use of marijuana,”  said Law Professor Douglas Berman, a specialist in marijuana law at Ohio State University.

Even before states started legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational use, the federal government didn’t throw defendants in prison simply for using marijuana Vanderbilt University Law Professor Robert Mikos explained.  He added, that’s because prosecutors are focused on suppliers and distributors. This information is from an in-depth analysis of Politifact Florida, reports of the Tampa Bay Times and the  Miami Herald.

The Compassion Card and the Hoax

Why do marijuana advocates constantly play the compassion card?  Or pretend we don’t care about children with epilepsy or cancer?

How is it medicine if they give it names like Purple Poison, White Widow, Body Buzz, Lemon Skunk?  Why is it that only 2-5% of the medical marijuana patients are terminally ill with cancer or AIDs, the conditions that may benefit from the nausea and appetite stimulation of medical marijuana with its THC?

Why is it that so many patients have chronic conditions and “need their medicine” continuously.  Is the industry trying to make them  hypochondriacs, or are the marijuana providers (“caregivers”) nurturing dependence?  Most medicine is supposed to cure a person and get them to the place where the medicine is not needed.  Our view is that more precautions are needed for medical marijuana.

Fraudulent Practices

Once medical marijuana passes in a state, fraud is encouraged.  For example in Michigan a doctor wrote medical marijuana prescriptions for more than 60 so-called people he never saw as patients.  He made $16000 in cash, but the medical marijuana providers reaped more than $1.3 million in profits over 2 years.

Also, in Michigan (not one of the hotbeds of marijuana), 20-year old so-called patient recently started an explosion at his parents’ house, from trying to extract hash oil from marijuana.    We need to ask ourselves why so many people who are so young are so disabled?

Recently, the Deputy Attorney General James Cole said that California needs to start regulating it’s medical marijuana or the federal government will do it.  Legalizing marijuana doesn’t solve unregulated medical marijuana, as Washington proves.

More than two years ago signs like this one in Pompano Beach were put up in Florida, in anticipation of Amendment 2, to be voted on today, November 4
More than two years ago signs like this one in Pompano Beach were put up in Florida, in anticipation of Amendment 2, to be voted on today, November 4

Americans for Safe Access

A few months ago Americans for Safe Access sponsored some television ads suggesting that cancer patients go to prison.  They specifically targeted members of Congress who did not vote in their favor.  Representative Andrew Harris, one of the Representatives attacked in an add, explained in front of Congress that medicine was  more precise than prescribing “two joints a day,” or “a brownie here, a biscuit there.”   “This is not medicine,” Harris said.

“This would be like me as a physician saying, ‘you know, I think you need some penicillin. Go chew on some mold.’   Of course I wouldn’t do that. I write for 250 mg of penicillin, [every] 6 hours, times 10 days. I don’t write, ‘chew on a mold a couple of times a day.'”

Rep. John Fleming, another doctor who formerly worked in a chemical dependency program and has published a book about addiction, spoke, warning of what marijuana does to the brain development of young people.  Recent medical studies and reports only clarify this message, making the warning stronger.

In Colorado all that its necessary to be a caregiver is that they are over age 21.  Compare that to the training of a pharmacist, nurse practitioner and physicians.

We condemn the way Americans for Safe Access, United for Care and other lobbyists have been essentially dishonest about medical marijuana.  They imply that having a different opinion shows a lack of compassion.  We also blame them and other groups for not explaining that cannabidial oil which helps for seizure is a component of marijuana and not marijuana.   We ask them to stop posturing for one thing when they really want something else.   (Read Part 2 of the Medical Marijuana Hoax: Mental Health)

 

Pot Industry Uses Deceptive Ads Without Protecting Kids

The medical marijuana industry doesn’t assure that expansion into more states will not include marketing marijuana products to children.

The Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment,  which passed in the House of Representatives last week, may be considered in the Senate.  The provision takes away the Department of Justice’s ability to prosecute medical marijuana distributors who endanger others.  If a similar amendment passes in the Senate, it could cripple the government’s ability to investigate in states with thriving medical marijuana industries.

Abuses by the medical pot industry have been rampant, particularly in western states.  Potent edibles come without warnings; businesses have located close to schools and day care centers, and pot has been diverted to other states.

The use of seductive names has promoted the allure of pot – making it a symbol of wellness, rather than coming with the typical warnings needed for tobacco, alcohol, other drugs and pharmaceuticals.

Furthermore, the marijuana industry and their public relations campaign have misled voters by suggesting that CBD, one treatment for children with epilepsy, is the same as the medical marijuana used for stimulating appetite in cancer or AIDs patients, or for generalized pain.
Let’s cast a healthy doubt on any products whose promoters believe it to be a “wonder drug” or “elixir of the gods.”   Medical marijuana has expanded exponentially since 2009.  It’s available in 22 states, up from 13 states at the end of 2009.   A current medical publication summarized the problems coming with rapid medical marijuana expansion.

Pharmaceutical products require rigorous testing and similar standards have not been in place for the marijuana drug industry.  Most people only want medical marijuana available in pharmacies rather than through upstart ganja-preneurs, or the tobacco industry, according to surveys.

Pressure from an industry group, Americans for Safe Access, has resulted in a deceptive campaign which suggests that innocent citizens go to jail and that opposition to medi-pot industry’s expansion represents a lack of compassion.

The Television Ads

The well-funded lobby effort, “Vote Medical Marijuana,” is running 30-second TV spots on MSNBC in Maryland and South Florida, the homes of two of the members who voted “no” to the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment— Republican Andy Harris and Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz.  Over the past two years, the marijuana lobby has consistently threatened politicians who don’t vote with them.

Rep. Wasserman Schultz, who represents Miami, Florida, is keenly aware of the determination of the illegal drug traders in that region.  A 30-second ad against her alleges that Wasserman Schultz wants medical marijuana users to go to federal prison, while 88 percent of Floridians support legalizing access. The same man’s voice asks whether Wasserman Schultz is “out of touch” with Florida, and an image flashes across the screen of an elderly man and his wife, who has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a fatal neurological disease.

(A  personal injury lawyer in Orlando, John Morgan, is funding a medical marijuana ballot vote in Florida, using $4 million of his own money to finance the initiative in November, 2014.)
We need to be aware that Americans for Safe Access is manipulating us and our children with deceptive suggestions.  The ad in Maryland claims that Rep. Harris’ vote on May 30th will result in sending Maryland’s patients to prison.  A voice says,  “Congressman Andy Harris thinks it’s OK for medical marijuana patients to go to federal prison, even though Maryland passed a medical marijuana bill in April. ” and then shows the image of a 4-year-old boy who suffers from epilepsy and his mother.

Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America explains the problem and suggests a solution to assure that the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment is not considered in the Senate.    There’s  a simple form to notify your Senator of opposition.