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-Caveat Lector-
The Marijuana Report (Part 2 of 2)
Thursday, May 30, 2002
Published by Voter Power (www.voterpower.org), which
advocates reasonable, fair, and effective marijuana
laws and policies while striving to educate, register
and empower voters to implement them.
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* Mind Over Madness: The Second National Clinical
Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics
* 'Schools Not Prisons' Billboard Campaign Launched in
Portland
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Mind Over Madness: The Second National Clinical
Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics
Edward Glick, RN
The Second National Clinical Conference on Cannabis
Therapeutics, "Analgesia and Other Indications," was
held in Portland Oregon on May 2 through 4, 2002, amid
an escalated federal campaign of misinformation and
assault against cannabis patients. In opening remarks,
Al Byrne, cosponsor of the conference, challenged Drug
Czar John Walters to meet face-to-face to debate the
issue anywhere, anytime. As Mr. Byrne said: "He
doesn't have the balls."
As a compassionate and intelligent counterpoint to
government terrorist activities, the Second Clinical
Conference dignified medical cannabis patients while
describing numerous clinical research projects.
Indeed, feverish scientific investigation into the
physiology, chemistry and pharmacology of cannabis is
occurring worldwide. This research will utilize
cannabinoids as the basis for an entirely new class of
pharmaceutical medicines.
In the United States, basic cannabinoid research is
ongoing at the universities of Kentucky and
California. Nevertheless, the United States lags far
behind. Cannabinoid research in the U.S. has been held
hostage to federal opposition and obstruction, as in
government insistence on using only low-quality,
contaminated, government-grown cannabis in research
projects.
The federal strategy on cannabis was made more
transparent by the traveling circus of John Walters,
the director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, who visited Oregon five days before the
conference. During his stay, he defended the war on
cannabis patients by vilifying users as "terrorists."
He was correct on another point: the federal
government is actively arresting patients and growers
in California under the guise of the war on terrorism.
This fascist eradication program against ill and dying
people serves to illustrate the human rights
violations implicit in U.S. policy toward medical
cannabis patients. The Second Clinical Conference
stood in stark contrast to the reign of terror being
visited on patients by paramilitary government
officers in the DEA, FBI and BATF.
Amazingly, the conference provided a momentary safe
haven for all cannabis patients present. A de facto
"medication station" coalesced around one exhibit
table featuring the "Volcano" vaporizer. During two
full conference days, most patients quietly passed the
table offering their medicine as a test. The clean
aerosolization process eliminated smoke and fumes,
allowing virtually every patient at the conference to
medicate. This quiet act of civil disobedience made
the conference more than a sterile exchange of ideas
among doctors. It represented a protected and
compassionate signal that, in medicine, patients come
first.
Cannabinoids: The Untapped Miracle
Meanwhile, as patients tested the vaporizer in the
lobby, two days of wide-ranging presentations
described feverish cannabinoid research. Highlights of
this work included:
* Dr. Donald Abrams from the University of California
at San Francisco describing his frustrating attempts
to obtain poor-quality cannabis for a research
investigation of the effects of cannabinoids on
protease inhibitor therapy. His research demonstrated
no increase in "viral load" in HIV positive humans.
Smoked cannabis was the preferred and most effective
treatment. The Center For Medical Cannabis Research at
UC San Diego is undertaking four separate research
projects involving cannabis and peripheral neuropathy,
severe pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea and protease
inhibitor induced nausea.
* Ongoing biochemical research by Sumner Burstein,
PhD, describing a synthetic, non-psychoactive
cannabinoid molecule named CT-3, which promises to be
important in the development of non-psychoactive
dosage forms of cannabinoid-based medicines.
* David Pate, PhD, lectured about the physiology of
glaucoma as a series of subtle chemical, enzymatic
processes which affect the production and movement of
aqueous humor across the eye. This is a revolutionary
new description of the physiology of glaucoma, which
has, in the past, simply been described as fluid
buildup resulting in increasing intraocular pressure.
Endogenous (within the body) cannabinoids may play a
role in regulating the complex internal chemistry of
the eye. Cannabis may, in fact, offer the only and
best treatment. Ophthalmic drops will soon be
developed.
* Geoffrey Guy, MD, of GW Pharmaceuticals in Britain
described advanced Phase 3 clinical trials in Europe,
testing whole-plant inhalers in randomized populations
of patients. Drug approval for marketing
cannabinoid-based medicines is far advanced in Europe.
Whole-plant medicines will be marketed in the next few
years.
* Audra Stinchcomb, PhD, from the University of
Kentucky, described the process of developing a
transdermal (skin) cannabinoid patch. This research is
in an intermediate phase, lagging behind European
researchers.
* Ester Fride, PhD, traveled from war-torn Israel to
describe a series of investigations into "2 AG," an
endogenous cannabinoid. Her amazing research with Dr.
Raphael Mechoulam concludes that cannabinoids may be
required in the first 24 hours of life to trigger the
hunger mechanism that stimulates mammals to feed.
* Ethan Russo, MD, conducted a panel describing an
in-depth examination of four of the seven surviving
"legal" federal cannabis patients in the United
States. His exhaustive multi-system evaluation
included extensive pulmonary, laboratory and cardiac
exams. This study concluded that these patients'
long-term use of cannabis was clinically effective and
not detrimental.
State Panels: All Roads Lead Back to Oregon
During the conference, a panel met to discuss
individual state cannabis programs. Representatives
from California, Colorado, Hawaii, Washington and
Oregon discussed common themes and accomplishments.
Notable was the similarity of problems facing patients
and programs from state to state. All programs suffer
from a lack of physician acceptance, political
opposition, and insufficient cannabis supply.
Panel members read statistics that showed uniformly
high percentages of registrants listed HIV or pain as
their qualifying conditions.
State medical marijuana programs have saved thousands
of patients from contact with police, courts and
prisons. Nevertheless, many physicians refuse to
participate. That and the common lack of supply are
attributable to the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act,
which became the de facto template for most of the
states with medical cannabis laws.
Dr. Grant Higginson, the Oregon State Health Officer
who oversees the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program,
gave a lunch address discussing the history of the
program. His misrepresentations and omissions about
the historical shortcomings of the program were not
lost on many attending patients. (In 2001, many Oregon
patients dealt with retroactive revocations of
applications, program reorganization with unqualified
staff, institution of the "Leveque Rules", and
backpedaling on documentary commitments.) Nonetheless,
Dr. Higginson stated, "The program is functioning as
intended." This statement accurately conveyed the
politicization of the program.
The Oregon Nurses Association, a conference cosponsor,
sent two representatives. The ONA has, over the years,
repeatedly refused to acknowledge and support cannabis
patients, beyond calling for "further documentation."
The representatives briefly described the possibility
of ONA cabinet sponsorship of a medical cannabis
resolution at next year's House of Delegates. This
welcome statement may, if implemented, place organized
nursing in a leadership position, where physicians
have dared not tread.
Patients to John Walters: Pull Up Your Pants!
The Second Clinical Conference was remarkable for its
integration of patients and clinicians. The conference
allowed physicians to see, hear, and talk with
patients -- something unheard of at other medical
conferences. Indeed, the presence of dozens of
suffering patients using their medicine illustrated
the compelling nature of the issue. It also
underscored the hypocrisy, injustice, and insanity of
federal authorities such as John Walters, Asa
Hutchinson and John Ashcroft who brazenly use the "war
on terror" to justify a war on patients.
Today the law enforcement machinery of American
society is being used to destroy a class of people who
use cannabis for relief or to relax. Cannabis patients
have little to lose. The brave souls who undermine the
Berlin Wall keeping cannabis in Schedule I of the
Controlled Substances Act are now on the front lines
of America's war on terror. Their civil disobedience
serves to remind America that patriotism is ultimately
founded on justice and decency. Absent that, fascism
rules.
The Second National Clinical Conference on Cannabis
Therapeutics replaced the tired dribble of the war on
drugs with information, education and support. It
brought dignity to patients who struggle to preserve
their lives against the ravages of disease and
government.
Edward Glick is a Corvallis nurse who works with
medical marijuana patients. He is a chief petitioner
for the Life with Dignity committee's "OMMA2"
initiative that would expand and clarify the Oregon
Medical Marijuana Act.
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'Schools Not Prisons' Billboard Campaign Launched in
Portland
May 5, 2002
For more information contact:
Brigette Sarabi, Western Prison Project
News Advisory
503-335-8449
Portland, OR -- The Western Prison Project and Art FX
murals have teamed up for a public education campaign
to highlight issues of state budget priorities during
the current fiscal crisis. In a series of three wall
murals, simple text messages are displayed that
question the continued funding of prison construction
at a time when funding for education is being
drastically cut. The murals are being placed in three
high-traffic areas of the central city: Southwest
Washington Street at 13th Avenue, West Burnside Street
at Fourth Avenue, and Southeast Grand Avenue at Taylor
Street.
"As the legislature gears up for a third special
session to address the state's economic crisis, we
wanted to give citizens and elected leaders something
to think about," said Brigette Sarabi, Executive
Director of the Western Prison Project. "Last year
legislators passed a budget that approved, for the
first time, a larger budget for Corrections than
Higher Education. Now, after several budget cutting
rounds, the disparity between the cuts to Higher
Education and the relatively modest cuts to
corrections is starker than ever."
The Western Prison Project states that this is not a
partisan issue. "It's really just common sense," says
Sarabi. "Look at the wall mural on West Burnside which
quotes Colin Powell at the 2000 Republican Convention.
He said that 'we can either build up our children, or
build more jails.' In this state, we have clearly made
a choice to build jails over educating our children.
We'd like to suggest that this is 'dumb on crime'. All
the research shows that quality education is the best
crime prevention there is. There are reasonable steps
the state could take to control the cost of
Corrections, protect public safety, and save millions
of tax dollars that could be better spent on
education."
Since 1995, the state of Oregon has spent over $800
million on building new prisons. The state will more
than double this amount if it proceeds with plans to
build six more prisons. Currently, taxpayers are
footing a $100 million bill each biennium for debt
payments on prisons already built. These debt payments
are all paid out of the state's general fund the same
funding source for schools, human services and other
basic programs. "The question we face here in Oregon
isn't 'Do we need prisons?'" said Sarabi. "The
question is, 'Do we need more prisons, or can we can
make moderate changes in corrections policy that could
slow down the need for prison beds and still protect
public safety?'"
Brigette Sarabi, Director
Western Prison Project
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
PO Box 40085 Portland, OR 97240-0085
(Office) 503.335.8449
www.westernprisonproject.org
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