The Push to Legalize Medical Marijuana in NY
In 2001, a car accident turned Joel Peacock’s life upside down. But even after surgery and years of recovery, Joel is still haunted by constant and severe pain.
“It’s just excruciating pain,” said Peacock. “You can’t function. You just feel like crawling into a box and dying.”
The South Buffalo man takes powerful drugs, but they don’t always work.
So when the 58-year-old was out of town a few years ago, and ran out of his medication, he tried something else to relieve his symptoms.
He smokes marijuana.
“I went back to the hotel, smoked some and the pain just went away,” Peacock told Eyewitness News.
Since then, Peacock has advocated for legalizing medical marijuana in New York State.
13 states have legalized marijuana for medicinal use. All of them allow users to both possess and grow weed.
New York could be next.
Two bills are being considered by the state legislature. One allows users to have two and a half ounces of marijuana. The other bill would give people permission to grow up to twelve marijuana plants.
A doctor’s permission would be required for both proposals.
Legal medical marijuana would be welcome news for a Town of Evans woman who was arrested last week after police found seven marijuana plants growing on her property. One plant was out in plain sight growing on Barbara Ober’s porch.
The 63-year-old’s husband says his wife needs the weed to treat arthritis and glaucoma.
“It seems to work for her,” John Ober said. “She doesn’t smoke a lot. But it does help.”
But some members of law enforcement think legalizing any drug is a bad idea.
“It’s illegal for a reason. People, when they smoke it, they do stupid things and they get hooked on it and they start stealing,” said Capt. Charles Danzi of the Evans Police Department. “No, any legalized drugs I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Joel Peacock disagrees. He believes the drug is harmless, with huge benefits.
“We got people with HIV, AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, it’s proven it can help these people,” Peacock said.
source credit: john borsa/wkbw.com
I’m afraid I have a bit to contend with on both counts, gentlemen.
Mr. Danzi, you need to educate yourself. You say it is ‘illegal for a reason’, but in reality, the truth is much less cut and dry. It is illegal because of corruption, racism and greed.
And yes Capt. Danzi, of course, people who get overly intoxicated on most substances, not just cannabis, can and have done stupid things and in all likeliness, will continue to. But much more crimes and accidents occur under the influence of alcohol, a legal intoxicant. Do you support it’s prohibition? Or do you kick back with the rest of the guys on the force for a cold beer at the local watering hole after a long shift?
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And to Mr. Peacock… Saying that any substance, cannabis or other is harmless isn’t exactly true. I mean, even if enough water is ingested, death can occur from water intoxication.
Aside from that, touting cannabis as harmless, at least in my opinion will cause less people to take the cause seriously. If you say something is harmless, as soon as someone produces even one minute piece of fact (or even fiction) saying otherwise, your entire statement is disarmed. Obviously cannabis is extremely beneficial, and in the grand scheme of things, when compared to most other substances, is much less harmful.
Oddly enough, the amount of cannabis you would have to ingest in volume to experience ‘overdose’ is much higher than the volume of water you would have to drink before experiencing potentially fatal symptoms.
And with that said, glad to see the fight marches on another inch.
We apologize for the absence, folks.
After sorting out a few more things in the real world, we promise to return shortly with more quality (which, of course, is subjective =D ) articles.
This Week in Twitter for 2009-05-04
- @EarthWorm420 wow that is just terrible. I wonder if they will consider how hypocritical it would be if they don’t. #
- How did we ever not hear of such a wonderful movie.. http://tinyurl.com/2nntao #
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Brain Death-Not A Coma-A Marijuana Beer
I found an incredibly interesting article recently. I thought I should share with all of you. Apparently, it is possible to use cannabis instead of hops when brewing beer. I encourage everyone to read this, especially because it mentions Michael Jackson (not the ghastly pop star, but the guru of beer and brewing).
Here it is ladies and gents:
This Week in Twitter for 2009-04-27
- Apparently New York State is passing a med-bill. More info on this soon.. #
- Watched Bill Maher’s Religulous. Interview in Amsterdam was hilarious. I love the plant, but I’m no Cantheist.. http://www.tinyurl.com/cg7yfo #
- Blog updated today: 1936 “Reefer Madness” movie: http://tinyurl.com/cvvnoq #
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Government-Sponsored “Reefer Madness”
Lately, while doing research on a big post that’s in the works, I have been thoroughly enjoying these ridiculous propaganda films. I thought it would be nice to share one quickly; I just couldn’t hold it in. This film was propagated by Harry J. Anslinger during the beginning of his reign as America’s first “drug czar.” So without further adieu, I present Reefer Madness.
Driving Unimpaired?
The American Journal On Addictions recently published findings from a Yale University School of Medicine study involving driving and marijuana use.
The results speak for themselves. Marijuana “impairs” people differently, and this level of impairment has many variables such as amount smoke, method of inhalation, and tolerance.
Detrimental effects of cannabis use vary in a dose-related fashion, and are more pronounced with highly automatic driving functions than with more complex tasks that require conscious control, whereas alcohol produces an opposite pattern of impairment. Because of both this and an increased awareness that they are impaired, marijuana smokers tend to compensate effectively while driving by utilizing a variety of behavioral strategies.
Combining marijuana and alcohol causes impairment in these functions. The report states that research regarding marijuana and driving impairment is slim. It advises that marijuana smokers should wait at least two hours before getting behind the wheel.
This is significant, considering some anti-marijuana advocates consistently drill the point “it’s reckless driving” to smoke marijuana and subsequently drive. It also seems that more research is coming out now in the United States than in previous years; it would be interesting to know if this has anything to do with the new administration and what specific actions have they taken.
A Hempy 4/20 from HEMP US!!!
It’s that time of the year again guys. This has the potential to be the biggest 4/20 celebration yet.
With events like the ‘Miss High Times’ beauty pageant, tons of concerts including Cypress Hill at the Fillmore, college campus smoke-outs all over the nation, etc., this is definitely the least clandestine of 4/20s. Colleges all over have sent notice to their students to ‘act responsible’ and not to ‘demean their university or degree’. But I ask, what has the potential for more degradation? A bunch of college kids sitting on the quad smoking joints, singing and chanting mantras for legalization? Or a bunch of college kids drinking until they pass out, possibly succumbing to alcohol poisoning, and making overall fools of themselves in a malt-liquor induced stupor? I suppose that all depends if you’re a student or an administrator.
This is an uphill battle. It has been since the 70’s and from what I can tell, it will be for quite sometime. A battle won in inches, not yards. Of course there will be setbacks, and that will leave a few advocates feeling like Sisyphus, the Greek king of myth cursed to perpetually push a boulder up a hill.
However, just the fact that there are so many of us fighting now, destroys the old stereotype of the apathetic, lethargic, couch potato stoner. On top of that, we’re seeing more and more support from new sources every single day.
And I applaud that. We need to come out and make a stink (literally). After all, this is our high holiday.
With Obama coming out and ‘taking legalization off the table’, we need all the support and exposure that we can muster.
Expect some more articles from us soon.
Florida Next in Line For Medical MJ???
People United for Medical Marijuana (PUFMM) has received approval from the Florida Division of Elections to circulate a petition that may place a constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot that would allow marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes.
PUFMM chairman Kim Russell says patients need “safe, affordable and effective medication.” With already 5,000 supporters statewide, this amendment would give patients the right to grow, purchase, possess and obtain marijuana for medical treatment.
PUFMM says that the medicine can be used to treat Alzheimer’s, arthritis, cancer, glaucoma, and Parkinson’s disease in addition to being an appetite stimulant and natural pain reliever.
Opponents of medical-use laws believe that the passing of this amendment will lead to the legalization of marijuana and substance abuse.
“The door has already been open to substance abuse. Since this drug war has started, we have larger users than ever before so it is not going to affect that in any way. People are already getting their drugs that want to get them. It is the law abiding citizens that are sick that are the ones getting hurt in all of this,” says Russell.
Thirteen states have already passes similar legislation and nine other are in the process of moving in this direction.
PUFMM needs signatures from over 700,000 registered voters and donations totaling $5 million for their campaign. The group is relying on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace and volunteers to reach their goal.
For more information, visit http://www.pufmm.org/
credit: wdbo.com
Useful Talking Points for Marijuana Legalization
Having trouble getting your point across when discussing the issue of legalization with your peers? Here are a few key talking points that might help you next time the conversation sparks up.
Health-care - Americans can’t afford it. Drug prices are through the roof. Pharmaceuticals are killing people. We want to legalize the safest, cheapest, most effective, most versatile medicine on the planet, marijuana.
National Security - Our southern neighbor is in danger of becoming a failed state, run by criminal gangs, because we wont legalize the safest, illegal intoxicant known to man, marijuana.
Global Climate Change- We are enslaved to oil addiction and pumping too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We want to legalize a crop that will pull carbon dioxide from the air, and provide a domestic source of fuel, marijuana.
The Economy - We continue to spend billions of dollars on prohibition. We let billions more in tax revenue go uncollected. We forbid millions of americans from performing a variety of cannabis-related jobs in a time of mass unemployment. We spend millions on imports of hemp that could be grown domestically. We want to put Americans back to work, cut wasteful and ineffective government programs, raise new revenues, and create a whole new industry, by legalizing marijuana.
Veterans- Thousands of our troops will be coming home with traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder, which can be treated effectively with medical marijuana. Also, perhaps we wouldn’t have to fight more Middle Eastern wars to protect oil supplies if we had our own hemp biodiesel, provided by legalizing marijuana.
Green Jobs and Energy - We can create millions of green, eco-friendly jobs and an entire new form of environmentally friendly fuel, by legalizing marijuana.
The Auto Industry - Many automakers now use hemp in door panels and other pieces for vehicle assembly, which they have to import at much higher prices than if we had domestic hemp production, through legalized marijuana.
Also, thousands of dollars of the cost of American automobiles are linked to the cost of health care for the millions of workers. Costs that would be lower if they could treat themselves at home, with legalized marijuana.
Education - States all across America are cutting education budgets. Even to the point of not supplying paper or school lunches. While marijuana interdiction task forces, at the expense of millions of taxpayers’ dollars, spend hours in helicopters searching for marijuana plants outdoors. 98 percent of which, turn out to be unsmokable ‘ditch weed’. All because we haven’t legalized marijuana.
Gay and Lesbian Issues - HIV/AIDS has devastated the gay and lesbian community. However, people in 37 states can be tried and imprisoned, if they decide to treat these illnesses with one of the most effective medicines for controlling neuropathic pain, nausea and AIDS-wasting syndrome, because we haven’t legalized marijuana.
Crime and Law Enforcement - Police are frequently put in dangerous situations when forced to engage in violent, no-knock raids on marijuana growers and users. The public distrusts and fears police, when their casual marijuana use brands them a suspect in the eyes of the law. Countless crimes go unreported, when marijuana users fear calling police, which would bring attention to their own marijuana ‘crimes’. And it goes without saying, that we would free up scarce law enforcement resources to go after real crime, when we legalize marijuana.
That’s just to name a few. You name the problem, and there’s probably a logical argument for how marijuana legalization can help.
- Joshua G.
