The federal government declared last week that marijuana has no medicinal benefits. Have they been living under a rock?
Presidential administrations have a keen ability to ignore pressing issues and facts. Ronald Reagan tragically ignored HIV/AIDS for six years. The Bush Administration, meanwhile, famously looked the other way when Iraq turned out to have no weapons of mass destruction, and vehemently denied the existence of global warming, both in the face of overwhelming evidence.
And now the Obama Administration appears to be doing the same thing with medical marijuana: his government issued a report Friday that marijuana has no medicinal benefits and must therefore remain a Schedule I drug, just like heroin.
In the report, DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart insists that marijuana “has a high potential for abuse” and that there is “no currently accepted medical use in treatment” here in the States.
The decision comes as no surprise: despite the President’s campaign promises, he and his administration have vowed to crack down on medical marijuana in 16 states and the District of Columbia, where it’s legal, and just last week suggested that they would prosecute clerks who validated marijuana caregivers’ licenses.
While no one’s shocked by the DEA’s report, they should be outraged, especially because a variety of medical groups have backed, however timidly, more progressive pot politics for patients with cancer, chronic pain and even anorexia.
In 2009, for example, the American Medical Association released a report declaring, “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.”
And the government-run National Cancer Institute concluded, “Marijuana cigarettes have been used to treat chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, and research has shown that THC is more quickly absorbed from marijuana smoke than from an oral preparation.”
So, why would the Obama Administration continue fighting medical marijuana? I mean, the president admitted that he has smoked pot, so surely he knows the therapeutic side effects first hand.
The only logical conclusion I can draw is also the most cynical: money, honey.
During his 2008 White House run, President Obama raked in about $2.1 million from pharmaceutical companies, many of whom create synthetic marijuana substitutes that face competition from all-natural herb.
Now that he’s embarking on his reelection, the commander-in-chief no doubt has dollars and cents on the brain, rather than American patients and small business owners whose lives are improved by medical marijuana.
The DEA’s report isn’t all bad news, though; it opens the way for medical marijuana advocates to finally take the issue to appeals courts, where perhaps judges will rule in favor of what so many of us already know: medical marijuana helps countless Americans, the Obama Administration’s willful ignorance is out of step with the rest of the nation, at least 65 percent of whom support cannabis-based treatments, and continued enforcement of federal rules violates states’ rights.
It’s such an open-and-shut case, even Jeff Spicoli could comprehend it.
July 11, 2011 at 2:24 pm, Jordan Tarango said:
Dam. Asshole.
July 11, 2011 at 2:43 pm, Anonymous said:
Ron Paul / Gary Johnson 2012
July 11, 2011 at 2:53 pm, Fjk49 said:
its all about money. States that have approved legal pot have done so to raise revenue not support the rights of citizens. Make decisions on facts not rumers.
July 12, 2011 at 6:28 am, Anonymous said:
Hogwash. Take your own advice.
July 11, 2011 at 5:01 pm, Laura Chandler said:
Great article. As someone who works with cancer patients daily–Fuck You, President Obama.
July 11, 2011 at 7:16 pm, john charles webb jr said:
While advocates for the medical use criticized the ruling (see, article above) , they were happy that that the Obama administration has finally acted , so they are allowed to appeal to the decision in federal courts and move forward .
The decision to deny the request was made by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and comes less than two months after advocates asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to force the administration to respond to their petition.
from : http://www.ballerstatus.com/2011/07/11/u-s-goverment-rules-that-marijuana-has-no-accepted-medical-use/A judge on Thursday (june 2011) blocked Montana FROM PROHIBITING commercial medical marijuana operations, saying that ban on profits from pot sales will restrict access to patients and deny people the right to seek health care.from : http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/30/judge-blocks-parts-mont-medical-marijuana-law/
The U.S. Supreme Court handed medical marijuana patients and advocates a resounding victory (from 2009)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/18/supreme-court-hands-medic_n_204681.html
many ways to accomplish the vision :
July 11, 2011 at 7:16 pm, john charles webb jr said:
While advocates for the medical use criticized the ruling (see, article above) , they were happy that that the Obama administration has finally acted , so they are allowed to appeal to the decision in federal courts and move forward .
The decision to deny the request was made by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and comes less than two months after advocates asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to force the administration to respond to their petition.
from : http://www.ballerstatus.com/2011/07/11/u-s-goverment-rules-that-marijuana-has-no-accepted-medical-use/A judge on Thursday (june 2011) blocked Montana FROM PROHIBITING commercial medical marijuana operations, saying that ban on profits from pot sales will restrict access to patients and deny people the right to seek health care.from : http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/30/judge-blocks-parts-mont-medical-marijuana-law/
The U.S. Supreme Court handed medical marijuana patients and advocates a resounding victory (from 2009)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/18/supreme-court-hands-medic_n_204681.html
many ways to accomplish the vision :
July 11, 2011 at 7:21 pm, john charles webb jr said:
i have no clear idea how the friggin snoop doog link got into my comment ?????
Jezus ~
July 11, 2011 at 7:21 pm, john charles webb jr said:
i have no clear idea how the friggin snoop doog link got into my comment ?????
Jezus ~
July 11, 2011 at 7:44 pm, Badmormon142 said:
I’m pretty sure I voted for Obama BECAUSE he advocated the legalization of marijuana. Way to go back on your word there buddy. I know someone that’s not getting my vote in 2012….
July 11, 2011 at 7:44 pm, Badmormon142 said:
I’m pretty sure I voted for Obama BECAUSE he advocated the legalization of marijuana. Way to go back on your word there buddy. I know someone that’s not getting my vote in 2012….
July 11, 2011 at 8:48 pm, robert berry said:
i have to say did anyone really believe that the obahma admin was any different from any other party? i never fell for it and did not vote for obahma. his whole term has been a joke and hopefully people see what a lier and thief he has become and dont vote him back in office. many of the rebulican canidates have voutched for the end of drug war marijauana especially so i believe as long as obahma doesnt get in his second term then the new rebublican might actuallty step up and end this fribulous use of needed tax dollars.
July 11, 2011 at 9:24 pm, Truth said:
asking the dea about marijuana is the same as asking the kkk about black people, arrest these scumbags and tear their building down, they are the criminalsaddiction = diseaseuse = freedomaddicts = treatment if they WANT ITuse = legal nothing else is american. put it in shops, put everything in ships, heroin use will decline, alcohol use will decline, pot will replace deadly dangerous drugs . legalize freedom and $18 billion a year can go to ending drug addiction as we know it, fund schooling, education, free rehab, and the adult that is not addicted is not an addict ! no shit ! put people in jail for eating mcdonalds to prevent heart disease ? huh ? is that american to you punks ? treat people with respect you massacring child killerswe all know kids can get access to drugs because of the WAR making them available for sale in all american high schools, if you want kids off drugs put them in ships and let adults have freedom of choiceyou people arre worse than the taliban, because you at least claim we have freedom, but you don’tDEA = nazis, down with tyranny, your obligation is to write and form mass petitions and demand they resign from offie, make america the next egypt.
July 11, 2011 at 9:32 pm, Truth said:
i still think obama doesn’t hate freedom like most us politicians and agents, maybe by immediately acting thisu ruling out it will go to court, and court will put the real criminals in jail, you know, the ones who always have 3 letters affixed to their abuse of power
the ones who created drug addiction, by enforcing prohbition
oh don’t you know if you can go to a shop no one will want heroin, and those that do can get treatment for it, social services intervene if and ONLY if family abuse happens, sure, but a user does not = addict
black man does not equal criminal
jew does not equal threat to germany
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, the right to choose what you do with your spare time, the right to treatment that is free ( possible with ease ) IF YOU WANT IT, and guess what, when you can take pot you won’t get drunk so much, you won’t choose heroin, NO DEALERS EXIST ANYMORE for the dangerous ones ( but pot can be like beer, grow your own blends, sell it , sure )
i’ll you freedom hating unamerican fascist taliban nursing dipshits what has a high potential for abuse and has no medical value… mcdonalds. i’ll tell you waht kills thousands of people a year, junk food…. i’ll tell you what kills 0 , pot
all drugs have medical value, heroin, cocaine, psychedelics, pot , you name it, no sane doctor will tell you otherwise, psychedelics = emotional cleansing, defragmenting of psychosis and anti-social behaviors, massive therapy for ptsd, fun and recreation, spiritual medication ( shamanism is the OLDEST religion in the world, you DO NOT HAVE FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN AMERICA ! ) ….. pot CURES cancer, GO SEE run FROM the cure , on youtube, IT ABSOLUTELY CURES CANCER if you take it the way rick simpson prepared it, it cures diabetes, obesity, and repairs broken organ systems, it cures depression , anxiety, and add , the key is using the right amount in an oral manner, superior to most pharmaceutical medications
pharmceuticals = death, instead of using something organic to heal her scalp my grandmother took a dangerous pharmaceutical that raised her heart rate and gave her a heart attack and s he is about to die, why , because she believes the REPUGNANT SCUMBAG CRIMINAL PROFITEERING LIARS, there were so many healthy ways for her to heal herself even hear heat damage, t hc oil for one, instead she killed herself because she trusted you scumbags.
take the criminals to court.
we NEVER CONSENTED TO BEING GOVERNED BY YOU , WE ABIDE BY THE CONSTITUTION, that is the golden rule.
DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU massive petitions, millions of signatures , we have to break the tyranny . Obama better have a catch 22 up his sleeve to disband the criminals known as the dea. HORROR MOVIES ARE MORE DANGEROUS THAN PSYCHEDELICS AN POT mcdonalds is more dangerous than a handful of “schedule I ” drugs.
July 11, 2011 at 9:42 pm, Truth said:
Love is the virtue
If someone has no addiction then leave them be
if they have it, such as to coffee, then ask them do you want treatment ? Treatment is not a hospital or a rehab clinic, a yoga ashram would heal an addict in a much more profound way , $18 billion a year drug war , take that put it to civil services such as zen retreats, meeting the shaman to take holy medication, because the shaman cures heroin junkies of their addiction just fine. think about all the solutions and peace our nation has when we DO UNTO OTHERS AS WE WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO US
by putting all drugs legal in shops kids won’t get them, by the time they are 18 or 21 they wont’ want heroin, they will take pot, so what, its better than having mcdonalds, which will kill u , pot will never kill you. oral pot = medication that cures cancer, oral pot = medication that cures many things. watch RUN FROM THE CURE, the only way to say it has no medical value is like saying that jews deserve to be gassed to death, well, fuck you nazis you are scum of the earth, and you are enemies to american freedom. you swore to uphold the constitution and you think making freedom illegal is okay ? obesity and heart disease and prescription medications,THESE are the threat to american people’s health ….. not drugs, more people die from the drugs doctors give them than from shooting up heroin on purpose! saying pot is a threat to the world is like saying hugs are a threat to the world, pot does not do anything bad, and shame on you if you “abuse it” its very hard to abuse that’s like abusing a giant wall, you can’t do it, the wall abuses you back, pot doesn’t let you abuse it, you can[t overdose on it, and if you inhale too much you’re a moron, that’s from peer pressure, peer pressure doesn’t happen when the taboo warning labels are taken off and respectful adults are allowed to use as they see fitand i guarantee you the only way to beat addiction is to legalize lal drugs, and encourage only the useful ones, such as low doses of mushrooms or quality herb. the most wholesome thing the family can do together is a psychedelic experience if they are prepared for it, it heals all insanity and repression, fear, and guilt and shame put into us by society, and gives us incredible love, and by the time the weekend is over we are productive workers in society , much happier than everthat does NOT happen from counseling, it does not happen from therapy , it does not happen from anti-depressants, those things are scamsnot all drugs are bad, not all races are bad. saying all drugs is bad is like saying all black people are badso fuck off your stupid arguments, can you really be so dumb ? only if you don’t know how to listen in which case you aren’t an american and should immediately resign from office and go work in a garden or something. what kind of a loser wouldn’t admit he is wrong? if i was wrong and led people astray i’d be the first to say “my god i’m sorry, it turns out that wasn’t the truth “ america = nazis vs truth lovers period, even if they are capitalist nzais.
July 11, 2011 at 9:54 pm, Truth said:
Why isn’t poison ivy illegal ? You are allowed to smoke it ?
That millions of people use cannabis not evidence of abuse.
that’s like saying sex with a woman is abuse , that’s something a puritan would say to mind control you with guilt and shame to steal from you and get you to make donations to their cause.
Saying use = abuse is retarded.
Why are guns legal ? ( keep them that way ) , misuse of a gun leads to death and injury, misuse of pot leads to paranoia, so what ? Miuses of booze leads to death and injury. misuses of rubbing alcohol leads to death an injury. There are so many poisons that are legal to purchase as well as weapons as well as fireworks as well as fast food as well as prescription medications that have NO MEDICINAL VALUE and KILL PEOPLE, and yet pot replaces a good # of those medications, doing a far better job.
Coffee causes cancer, pot does not. Pot cures cancer. did you know coffee causes cancer ? Keep your body at constant acidic PH level and you will have cancer, unless you’re superman. Green tea helps to cure cancer.
cooked meat causes cancer. Ban meat ? no because people use it, and criminalizing what people use , harmful or not, leads to black market crime and expansion of civil war , Mexico = civil war, created by PROHIBITION
Ask Al Capone
Fucking eh , don’t let terrorists sell opium for money, legalize opium and discourage people from using it, take the profits of drugs and create free rehab programs , not just hospital like enters, new age retreats, all kinds of things.
Hire me as a drug czar and I will end the problems associated with drug use to a profound degree and make sure people have good treatment if they want it.
A person has a right to harm himself ( drugs are legal everywhere ) but he does not have the right to harm others ( that IS a crime ) so , be not stupid, be intelligent, and understand the difference. PS I will make the typing perfect if You will hire me and let me end the tyranny of WRONG drug policy. Gun use is retarded anyway, you can’t take down helicotpers and armies with guns, the military is thousands of times more powerful than us, t he way to fix a nation is how Egypt did it ,peace and respect and anger , and love, fused into an intellectual, not violent, revolution.Now, why the hell do we have a right to own something so horrible as a gun, but not pot ? how many people died from pot ? Its 0 . It’s completely at 0 . Keep guns legal yes, but I’m just saying that is fucking moronic.The 1st amendment really does provide the right to use drugs, it is freedom of religion, ask any shaman.
July 12, 2011 at 1:32 pm, Roccosworld said:
Hey Mr. Obama, Guess who won’t be voting for you this time???? You are as 2 faced as all the other assholes living on the tax payes money!! Here’s hoping for a 1 term Presidentcy!
A former Sailor living in pain.
July 15, 2011 at 3:42 am, Hal Mason said:
what a dummass
July 15, 2011 at 3:45 am, Hal Mason said:
loser 2012!
July 25, 2011 at 5:23 pm, Klaus Vorman said:
If enough people actually vote in our elections, we can create change in this country. Ron Paul 2012
September 21, 2011 at 1:51 pm, Anonymous said:
The idiots who let doctors prescribe marijuana are crazy and are hurting our children. These medical users make cookies, brownies etc and sell their marijuna instead of taking if for their own use. if a doctors patients life depends on it it should be given to them in hospitals only. Marijuana users are mostly parasites.
September 21, 2011 at 1:52 pm, Anonymous said:
America wants a country of pot heads so they can control them more. Our children can look foward to be raised by pot heads.