MAPTalk-Digest Friday, October 28 2011 Volume 11 : Number 034
001 Action Alert: Only 862 more signatures needed for Veterans medical mari
From:
002 Westerville News LTE
From: "Mary Jane Borden" <>
003 White House response to legalization petition
From:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: 001 Action Alert: Only 862 more signatures needed for Veterans medical marijuana petition
From:
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:28:28 -0700
Action Alert:
Only 862 more signatures needed for Veterans medical marijuana petition.
http://wh.gov/4xd
Please assist Veterans For Medical Cannabis Access in reaching our
goal of 5000 signatures by 25 October. Time is quickly running out!
We already have 4,138 signatures and are only 862 short of our goal.
Once we have reached our goal this petition will automatically be sent
to the White House for an obligatory answer and we will be using this
to kick off a series of actions designed to bring negative attention to
the recent federal escalation against medical marijuana. Your help is
a significant piece of that puzzle. We need you to sign and get as
many others to sign as possible.
As the leader of Veterans For Medical Cannabis
Access [VMCA] I helped the VA create a medical marijuana policy that
respects the rights of disabled Veterans using this important
medicine per state
laws. That policy has been made to look like a cruel joke given the latest
actions of this presidential administration.
In response to the actions of the president our
organization has crafted a petition that we have placed on the new White
House
"We The People" website: http://wh.gov/4xd
"Allow United States Disabled Military Veterans access to medical
marijuana..."
The fact that a Veteran in New Mexico can use cannabis legally for PTSd but
a similar Veteran in Florida will not only face arrest by state
police for using
the same medicine but face punishment at the VA
hospital as well is wrong. It is illogical. It is not the practice
of medicine it
is the practice of politics on the wounded and it is shameful and it must
end.
Michael Krawitz is a Disabled United States Air Force Sergeant
and Executive Director of Veterans For Medical Cannabis Access.
><><
Veterans For Medical Cannabis Access
3551 Flatwoods Road - Elliston, Virginia 24087 -- 540-365-2141 --
"Michael" <<>
Veterans For Medical Cannabis Access
http://www.veteransformedicalmarijuana.org/:
------------------------------
Subj: 002 Westerville News LTE
From: "Mary Jane Borden" <>
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:44:06 -0700
All,
I would like to draw your attention to the home page of the Westerville
News. http://www.snponline.com/westerville_news_and_public_opinion/front/
There under the Opinion link you will find my LTE, "It's time we work to end
current-day Prohibition," http://mapinc.org/url/UyDZXxyr that I wrote in
response to a column published last week. Link to the article below.
As you may know, Westerville, Ohio, home of the Anti-Saloon League, played a
central role in Prohibition 1. During the early 1900s, Westerville's post
office, from which most prohibition propaganda was shipped, was larger than
the state capitol's (Columbus) post office. Ken Burns spent a significant
amount of time at the Westerville Library, which houses a museum and the
ASL's expansive archive. Westerville is my hometown as well as the home of
Ohio Governor John Kasich.
As we battle Prohibition 2, it may be comforting to know that the
Anti-Saloon League became irrelevant shortly after the end of Prohibition 1
and was disbanded in the 1970s to become little more than an archive, museum
and commemorative documentary.
Mary Jane
===========
To the Editor,
While reading Joe Meyer's column ("'Prohibition' by Burns bang's history's
drum," Tuesday, October 4, 2011), I was struck by his use of the words
"disastrous," "total bust" and "terrible results" to characterize
Westerville's involvement in the early 20th Century's "great experiment,"
although the only lesson he seemed to learn was how a "right-wing,
single-issue campaign ... metastasized."
Mr. Meyer, there's a giant gorilla called the "War on Drugs" sucking $41.3
billion out of government coffers each year, a war that more terrible,
costly and disastrous than Prohibition 1 ever was.
According to the U.S. Department of State, over 34,000 people have been
killed in Mexico because of the drug war in just the last four years.
Despite 25 million arrests for illegal drugs during the last 15 years, 120
million Americans - roughly half of everyone over age 12 - reportedly used
an illegal drug in 2010. For 2012 alone, President Obama requested $26
billion to "reduce drug use," $323 million more than 2011 - a cost that
should concern every Tea Partier.
That Mr. Meyer relegated the drug war gorilla to a "rung of the ladder for
now" is understandable. The banging drums of today's special interest groups
cultivating power through "tough on crime" politics have thwarted any
rational discussion of present day Prohibition.
This past summer, an array of world leaders formed the Global Commission on
Drug Policy and, like Ken Burns in 'Prohibition,' condemned this greatly
expanded 21st Century version. As the Commission pointedly summarized, we
need to, "Begin the transformation of the global drug prohibition regime.
Replace drug policies and strategies driven by ideology and political
convenience with fiscally responsible policies and strategies grounded in
science, health, security and human rights. ... Break the taboo on debate
and reform. The time for action is now."
Mary Jane Borden
http://www.snponline.com/articles/2011/10/10/multiple_papers/opinion/c
sts/alljmcol%201_20111004_0901am_10.txt
------------------------------
Subj: 003 White House response to legalization petition
From:
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:07:20 -0700
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/response/what-we-have-say-abou
Official White House Response to Legalize and Regulate Marijuana in a
Manner Similar to Alcohol. and 7 other petitions
What We Have to Say About Legalizing Marijuana
By: Gil Kerlikowske
When the President took office, he directed all of his policymakers to
develop policies based on science and research, not ideology or politics.
So our concern about marijuana is based on what the science tells us about
the drug's effects.
According to scientists at the National Institutes of Health- the world's
largest source of drug abuse research - marijuana use is associated with
addiction, respiratory disease, and cognitive impairment. We know from an
array of treatment admission information and Federal data that marijuana
use is a significant source for voluntary drug treatment admissions and
visits to emergency rooms. Studies also reveal that marijuana potency has
almost tripled over the past 20 years, raising serious concerns about what
this means for public health – especially among young people who use the
drug because research shows their brains continue to develop well into
their 20's. Simply put, it is not a benign drug.
Like many, we are interested in the potential marijuana may have in
providing relief to individuals diagnosed with certain serious illnesses.
That is why we ardently support ongoing research into determining what
components of the marijuana plant can be used as medicine. To date,
however, neither the FDA nor the Institute of Medicine have found smoked
marijuana to meet the modern standard for safe or effective medicine for
any condition.
As a former police chief, I recognize we are not going to arrest our way
out of the problem. We also recognize that legalizing marijuana would not
provide the answer to any of the health, social, youth education, criminal
justice, and community quality of life challenges associated with drug
use.
That is why the President's National Drug Control Strategy is balanced and
comprehensive, emphasizing prevention and treatment while at the same time
supporting innovative law enforcement efforts that protect public safety
and disrupt the supply of drugs entering our communities. Preventing drug
use is the most cost-effective way to reduce drug use and its consequences
in America. And, as we've seen in our work through community coalitions
across the country, this approach works in making communities healthier
and safer. We're also focused on expanding access to drug treatment for
addicts. Treatment works. In fact, millions of Americans are in successful
recovery for drug and alcoholism today. And through our work with
innovative drug courts across the Nation, we are improving our criminal
justice system to divert non-violent offenders into treatment.
Our commitment to a balanced approach to drug control is real. This last
fiscal year alone, the Federal Government spent over $10 billion on drug
education and treatment programs compared to just over $9 billion on drug
related law enforcement in the U.S.
Thank you for making your voice heard. I encourage you to take a moment to
read about the President's approach to drug control to learn more.
Resources:
* National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
* Marijuana Facts (ONDCP)
* Drug Abuse Warning Network (HHS)
* Treatment Episode Data Set (HHS)
* National Survey on Drug Use and Health (HHS)
* Monitoring the Future Survey, University of Michigan
Gil Kerlikowske is Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
------------------------------
End of MAPTalk-Digest V11 #34
*****************************
|
