Making the Case for Medical Marijuana

[patric]

Since 2013, Police in St. Louis had the option to issue court summonses to first- and second-time offenders who are caught with less than 35 grams of pot, essentially turning a criminal infraction into a municipal one. Those arrested could be released with a court summons instead of being booked in city jail.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/new-bill-would-allow-for-use-sale-and-growth-of/article_dde3de1a-e78f-5ed3-a9fd-ff18e7eb4de3.html


Meanwhile,

Fifty-one percent of Republicans surveyed by Gallup this month said they support legalization, up sharply from 42 percent a year ago. Even larger majorities of independents (67 percent) and Democrats (72 percent) are in favor of legal marijuana.

Overall, 64 percent of Americans now support legalization, the highest percentage ever in Gallup polling.

"The national discussion surrounding marijuana enforcement efforts continues to evolve," the federal Drug Enforcement Administration wrote in its just-released 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment. Despite the drug's widespread availability even in states where it hasn't been legalized, marijuana remains at the bottom of law enforcement agencies' drug priorities.

Meanwhile, many of opponents' fears about marijuana legalization don't appear to be panning out. States that have legalized pot are also beginning to reap some of the benefits of the policy change, including job growth, tax revenue and even some evidence of slowing in the opiate epidemic.

The sharp shift in Republican voters' views on pot is the most significant finding in the Gallup poll, coming during a time of increased federal skepticism of marijuana legalization efforts. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked lawmakers to undo federal protections for medical marijuana, repeatedly calling it a "dangerous drug."

But greater support for legalization could complicate any administration efforts to crack down on pot. "Attorney General Jeff Sessions could find himself out of step with his own party if the current trends continue," Gallup wrote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/25/for-the-first-time-a-majority-of-republicans-support-marijuana-legalization

[Conan71]

Drug companies dropped almost one half million dollars promoting opiod medications to Oklahoma doctors from 2013 to 2016 The Frontier is reporting.  The article is well worth a full read.

A pharmaceutical company accused of bribing doctors to boost sales of its synthetic opioid medication gave tens of thousands of dollars to Oklahoma doctors over the past four years in connection with the medication, an investigation by The Frontier has found.

All told, pharmaceutical companies paid nearly half a million dollars to more than 1,300 Oklahoma physicians between 2013 and 2016 promoting opioid prescription drugs, according to doctor payment data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

And though most physicians received less than $100 from companies promoting opioid medications (usually in the form of meal payments), some received tens of thousands of dollars for speaking engagements, consulting and travel, according to the data.

The company with the largest amount of payments to Oklahoma doctors was Insys Therapeutics, an Arizona-based company and manufacturer of the powerful painkiller brand-named Subsys, meant for use by some cancer patients....

....Nearly 85 percent of the $173,729 Insys spent on doctors in Oklahoma during that time went to only two Tulsa physicians, the data shows. Dr. Terri Lynne White, a partner of Pain Management of Tulsa, received $91,816 from Insys, and Dr. Venkatesh Movva, who has since moved to Texas, received $55,055. Most of the payments came in the form of speaking payments, according to the CMS data.

Payments for speaking engagements, travel or meals to doctors by pharmaceutical companies or medical device manufacturers promoting a drug or product are legal, but must be reported to the federal government.

Though full publicly-available prescription data for Subsys is limited, White and Movva were two of only three doctors in the state to file claims with the Medicare Part D prescription drug program between 2013 and 2015, according to data from CMS.

Together, both doctors prescribed more than $2.3 million worth of Subsys through the Medicare Part D program during that time.

The third doctor shown as prescribing Subsys through Medicare Part D was Oklahoma City doctor Harvey Jenkins Jr., who is facing unrelated charges of overprescribing opioids to patients. Jenkins, whose medical license was suspended in 2015 and was charged in 2016, prescribed $333,469 worth of the drug from 2014 to 2015, the CMS prescription data shows.

https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/opioid-drug-company-at-center-of-national-doctor-bribery-scandal-gave-tens-of-thousands-to-oklahoma/?utm_source=Masterlist&utm_campaign=ecc7483bba-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_11_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_148cc072fd-ecc7483bba-80435241

[patric]

Drug companies dropped almost one half million dollars promoting opiod medications to Oklahoma doctors from 2013 to 2016 The Frontier is reporting.  The article is well worth a full read.

https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/opioid-drug-company-at-center-of-national-doctor-bribery-scandal-gave-tens-of-thousands-to-oklahoma/

The Frontier is good journalism, but can it counter bad TV news?

A case report about the seizure and death of an 11-month old after exposure to cannabis has prompted headlines about "the first marijuana overdose death" this week.

Except that's not what the doctors meant.

"We are absolutely not saying that marijuana killed that child," said Thomas Nappe, an author of the report who is now the director of medical toxicology at St. Luke's University Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/11/17/the-truth-behind-the-first-marijuana-overdose-death/

[Conan71]

The Frontier is good journalism, but can it counter bad TV news?

A case report about the seizure and death of an 11-month old after exposure to cannabis has prompted headlines about "the first marijuana overdose death" this week.

Except that's not what the doctors meant.

"We are absolutely not saying that marijuana killed that child," said Thomas Nappe, an author of the report who is now the director of medical toxicology at St. Luke's University Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/11/17/the-truth-behind-the-first-marijuana-overdose-death/

Reefer Madness Syndrome.

[patric]

Tulsa forum to focus on medical marijuana
http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/tulsa-forum-to-focus-on-medical-marijuana/article_d025378a-c13a-581b-856a-9b6a58153be6.html

Maybe we will get to vote on this in a year ...out of respect for our opioid pharma campaign donors.

[patric]

Texas may be a model of the most corrupt medical marijuana laws in the nation.
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/texas-news/ap-texas-among-last-states-ok-medical-marijuana/499761386

Among the concerns are the license fees to grow marijuana in Texas — which are the highest in the U.S., at nearly $500,000
The dispensary licensing fee is 80 times more than originally recommended. The Texas Department of Public Safety once proposed a fee as high as $1.3 million to help offset the costs of state troopers patrolling the dispensaries.


Meanwhile on the lighted side of the planet:

A compound in marijuana appears to be relatively safe and nonaddictive, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
In an initial review of existing research, the WHO found that the compound, called cannabidiol or CBD, is "generally well-tolerated with a good safety profile," according to the November report. In addition, the compound appears to have "no effects indicative of any abuse or dependence potential," the report found.
https://www.livescience.com/61213-marijuana-cannabidiol-world-health-organization.html

[Conan71]

Texas may be a model of the most corrupt medical marijuana laws in the nation.
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/texas-news/ap-texas-among-last-states-ok-medical-marijuana/499761386

Among the concerns are the license fees to grow marijuana in Texas — which are the highest in the U.S., at nearly $500,000
The dispensary licensing fee is 80 times more than originally recommended. The Texas Department of Public Safety once proposed a fee as high as $1.3 million to help offset the costs of state troopers patrolling the dispensaries.


Meanwhile on the lighted side of the planet:

A compound in marijuana appears to be relatively safe and nonaddictive, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
In an initial review of existing research, the WHO found that the compound, called cannabidiol or CBD, is "generally well-tolerated with a good safety profile," according to the November report. In addition, the compound appears to have "no effects indicative of any abuse or dependence potential," the report found.
https://www.livescience.com/61213-marijuana-cannabidiol-world-health-organization.html

They make it sound as if the WHO just now discovered CBD exists.

All sorts of balms, lotions, and edibles like honey with CBD and chile in it around this area.  My understanding is CBD is now legal to possess in all 50 states.  Our personal experience is mixed on it as an analgesic but many friends swear by it and the honey is a bit funky tasting.  It's great they've been able to split out the compounds for various benefits.

[heironymouspasparagus]

They make it sound as if the WHO just now discovered CBD exists.

.  It's great they've been able to split out the compounds for various benefits.

But mostly great that a large corporate entity can now derive massive, virtually un-taxed monopolistic profits from it while preventing regular people from cultivating their own at essentially no, or at least very low cost if they so desired.   I am sure it must be good for jobs, too!!

[Conan71]

But mostly great that a large corporate entity can now derive massive, virtually un-taxed monopolistic profits from it while preventing regular people from cultivating their own at essentially no, or at least very low cost if they so desired.   I am sure it must be good for jobs, too!!

Untaxed profits from MJ?  Where are you getting that?  I doubt people who want to grow their own aren't still doing so in places like Colorado, Oregon, or Washington.

As far as increased employment, you'd be surprised how many people work in a dispensary and in the manufacture of MJ and by-products, uh or so I'm told.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Untaxed profits from MJ?  Where are you getting that?  I doubt people who want to grow their own aren't still doing so in places like Colorado, Oregon, or Washington.

As far as increased employment, you'd be surprised how many people work in a dispensary and in the manufacture of MJ and by-products, uh or so I'm told.

They can, though...grow their own.  There is an alternative if one wants to pursue it - grow your own.


I have been told about dispensaries - haven't been to a state yet for some reason...not sure why...good job making opportunities.

Still fuzzy - can get CBD legally, but still holding cannabis hostage in most states, prohibiting people from getting the health care of their choice.  Just like Republicans are trying to do in the overall health care market - keep us at number 38 in the world, so they and their "good buddies" can continue to rape and pillage the bottom 99%.

[patric]

Still fuzzy - can get CBD legally, but still holding cannabis hostage in most states, prohibiting people from getting the health care of their choice. 

Jeff Sessions reneged on the "hands off states rights" medical marijuana policy and showed the disconnect from reality he (and a handful of ideologists) share:

Scott Williams of the U.S. attorney's office in Oklahoma's western district: 
"Our primary focus is going to be on multi-state drug trafficking organizations" (stopping cars driving back from Colorado).

Brian Kuester, U.S. attorney for the Muskogee-based eastern district:
Sessions decision allows him to "protect the citizens of the eastern district" through partnerships with state, local and tribal law enforcement.

Trent Shores, U.S. attorney for the Tulsa-based northern district:
"Congress passed a law prohibiting the cultivation, distribution and possession of marijuana," Shores said. "It is the job of the executive branch to enforce the laws enacted by Congress" to "turn back the tide of the drug crisis," reducing crime and dismantling gangs... which seems a bit out of touch when we're discussing medical uses of cannabis.

Hours after Sessions' announcement, Gov. Mary Fallin set an election date — June 26 — for Oklahoma's medical marijuana proposal.

http://newsok.com/federal-prosecutors-in-oklahoma-now-have-more-power-over-pot-crimes.-will-they-use-it/article/5578508

[TeeDub]

I kinda like the fact that they have put it back on the table for Federal prosecution..

Think about it this way.   Rather than having a mismatch of state and local decriminalization/legal/not-legal/etc. this could force the national laws to really get their act together.

It should be enough that many states have enacted legal medical marijuana and a few (8?) have enacted recreational marijuana and yet still anarchy and mayhem haven't taken over.

Hopefully this will set the stage for a few impassioned senators and representatives to move forward to fix the problem instead of just putting on band-aids.

[Conan71]

I kinda like the fact that they have put it back on the table for Federal prosecution..

Think about it this way.   Rather than having a mismatch of state and local decriminalization/legal/not-legal/etc. this could force the national laws to really get their act together.

It should be enough that many states have enacted legal medical marijuana and a few (8?) have enacted recreational marijuana and yet still anarchy and mayhem haven't taken over.

Hopefully this will set the stage for a few impassioned senators and representatives to move forward to fix the problem instead of just putting on band-aids.

One would like to think so but fighting all the lobbying money from opiate manufacturers, professional prison management companies, and the general ignorance of people who have had "pot is bad" drilled into their heads for years is a difficult battle.

I have to laugh when I think of the western district of Oklahoma stopping cars coming from Colorado under suspicion of carrying since there are only two OHP patrolmen I can think of that I regularly see from the NM state line to Woodward.

[TeeDub]

One would like to think so but fighting all the lobbying money from opiate manufacturers, professional prison management companies, and the general ignorance of people who have had "pot is bad" drilled into their heads for years is a difficult battle.

I remember one time reading (years ago) that the farmers of Humboldt county were some of the largest contributors to keeping weed illegal in California.    There is a lot of money in keeping something so simple illegal.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-marijuana-growers/california-marijuana-legalization-faces-unlikely-foe-growers-idUSKCN1240AF

[RecycleMichael]

Recreational Marijuana is now legal in Vegas.

Now the whole town smells like weed.

On the positive note, the crowds laughed way louder at the comedy shows I went to.