OPNews_June

June 2004 Edition

Organizational News:

State News:

National News:

International News:

Regular Features:

OPNews Disclaimer

You Are Invited to OPN Meetings

Help the OPN Support Patients

How to Get Your Information in OPNews

How to be Removed from the OPNews List

How to Contact Your State Representative and Senator

Organizational News Items:

JULY PATIENT FORUM

Mary Lynn Mathre, MSN, RN, CARN, of Patients out of time, will be our guest speaker on July 29th at 8:00pm.in the PalTalk conference room Mary Lynn Mathre is co-founder and President of Patients Out of Time, a non-profit organization devoted to educating health care professionals and the public about the therapeutic uses of cannabis.

http://www.medicalcannabis.com/

Ms. Mathre works with 5 of the 7 remaining legal medical marijuana patients, who are enrolled in the, now closed, federal Investigative New Drug (IND) program. Ms. Mathre has written resolutions for several professional organizations in support of patient access to medical marijuana, including those of the Virginia Nurses Society on Addictions, the Virginia Nurses Association, the National Nurses Society on Addictions, and the American Public Health Association.

Ms. Mathre served on the planning committee for The First National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics: Medical Marijuana � Science Based Clinical Applications, co-sponsored by Patients Out of Time and the University of Iowa Colleges of Nursing and Medicine (April 7 & 8, 2000), and is on the planning committee for The Second National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics: Analgesia and Other Indications, at Legacy Emmanuel Hospital, Portland, OR, May 3 & 4, 2002.

Her work was recently featured in The American Nurse the official publication of the American Nurses Association. (�A Virginia nurse takes on a tough issue: medical marijuana,� Nov/Dec, 2000)

http://www.nursingworld.org/TAN/novdec00/rnfiles.htm

Ms. Mathre served as the Director of NORML�s Council on Marijuana & Health from 1986 - 1992. She also served on NORML�s Board of Directors from 1988 - 94. As a practicing nurse, Ms. Mathre works as the addictions consultant for the University of Virginia Health System. Her role includes assessment of and brief interventions for patients with substance abuse problems in the acute care setting, as well as staff education. She was the co-founder and first president of the Virginia Nurses Society on Addictions. Ms. Mathre also served on the Board of Directors and as Secretary for the National Nurses Society on Addictions (now the International Nurses Society on Addictions). She is on the editorial board of the Journal of Addictions Nursing and is a member of the International Advisory Board for The Drug and Alcohol Professional (a new journal in the UK).

NEWS-FEED UPDATED

Our website now has a news-feed directly on the front page, you can review the last 20 articles posted related to cannabis. Check us out: http://www.ohiopatient.net

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State News:

A HUMAN-MADE PROBLEM IN THE U.S. THAT DISCRIMINATES, CONFUSES, STEREOTYPES AND HURTS THE YOUNG AND OLD EVERYDAY!

Today I listen to more news of homicides in the USA... And I look again at the enormous budget of 'The War on Drugs.' I look at the re-burgeoning federal deficits under military spending now to 'fight the war on terrorism.' And I see again and again that medically ill people ( many of them in wheelchairs ) continue to be arrested - and their lives, or very health, seriously disrupted for smoking cannabis ( 'marijuana' ).

ORGANIZE! INTRODUCING THE OHIO MARIJUANA PARTY

Year after year, for decades, supporters of marijuana law reform have been ignored by our government. It's time to change that. There's an old saying 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em', and that's just what the Ohio Marijuana Party ( http://ohio.usmjparty.com ) intends to do.

LEGISLATOR FIBBED WHEN HE PROMISED TO PUSH MED-POT BILL

It's hard to believe it's been nearly two years since state Rep. Kenneth Carano promised a group of medical cannabis patients that he would introduce a compassionate-use bill in Ohio.

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National News:

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR CASE ON MEDICAL POT

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider whether sick people who smoke pot on a doctor's orders are subject to a federal ban on marijuana.

The court agreed to hear the Bush administration's appeal of a case it lost last year involving two California women who say marijuana is the only drug that helps alleviate their chronic pain and other medical problems.

SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY: AN OXYMORON AT THE WHITE HOUSE

When partisan politics trumps scientific integrity in policymaking, democracy suffers. Concerned about the misuse of science and technology, the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS, www.ucsusa.org ) has issued Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An Investigation into the Bush Administrations Misuse of Science.

BLESSING MARIJUANA FOR MERCY'S SAKE

Support for Permitting Medical Use Is Growing Among Major Religious Denominations

Several major religious denominations have joined a growing movement to legalize the medical use of marijuana, asserting an ethical responsibility to help ease the pain and other debilitating effects of such diseases as cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma.

IN PAIN, RN SEEKS LEGAL RELIEF FROM MARIJUANA

Choking back tears, Rhonda O'Donnell had to pause and regain her composure.

"I'm a nurse," she said, unable to restrain her emotions.

"I'm sorry," O'Donnell continued, as she tried to stop crying. "I really miss my work."

In October it will have been 10 years since O'Donnell was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that slowly attacks the central nervous system and robs the body of muscle control.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILLS GAIN SUPPORT

ALBANY - A bipartisan agreement on legislation that would let doctors prescribe marijuana to ease the pain and other medical symptoms of very sick patients could be reached before the year is out, state lawmakers said Wednesday.

DA JOINS WILLIAMS IN SUPPORT OF MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

Television talk show host Montel Williams lets out a laugh after a journalist asked Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau if he had smoked marijuana, during a news conference on Tuesday about state legislation supporting the medical use of marijuana in New York. Williams, who was diagonosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, said that he uses marijuana to ease the symptoms caused by his illness.

0-2 IN 9TH, ASHCROFT MAY SEEK REVIEW

AT ISSUE ARE MEDICAL POT, ASSISTED SUICIDE.

Washington-Before the end of the year, the U.S. Supreme Court may be asked to wade once again into the legal thicket surrounding assisted suicide and the medical use of marijuana because of recent court defeats suffered by the Bush administration.

Attorney General John Ashcroft already has petitioned the high court to review the medical marijuana decision issued by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last December. Ashcroft v. Raich, No. 03-1454. And Department of Justice officials are now considering whether to go to the high court or to seek en banc review by the 9th Circuit of the May 26 assisted suicide ruling, said a department spokesman. Oregon v. Ashcroft, No. 02-35587.

JUDGE SAYS NO TO DRUGS, EVEN IF DOCTOR PRESCRIBED

FREMONT - A man appearing before a judge Friday morning to show the court his drug rehabilitation progress reports was ordered not to use pot even though his doctor had prescribed it.

The man handed the judge a copy of a prescription stating that he was able to purchase and smoke medicinal marijuana to ease his pain for tennis elbow.

CITY TO WEIGH MEDICAL POT BUSINESS RESTRICTIONS

Police Chief Nick Willick said he doesn't want a medical marijuana distributor near Auburn schools, churches or neighborhoods.

But that could happen.

That's why he prepared a draft ordinance for the City Council to review at the first of two public hearings at 6 p.m. June 14 at City Hall.

Read more: http://www.mapinc.org/newsopn/v04/n834/a10.html?204

SIMMONS UNDER FIRE FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA OPPOSITION

NORWICH -- About a dozen supporters of using marijuana for medical purposes protested Friday U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons' opposition to a proposal prohibiting federal agencies from arresting such users in states that legally allow it.

What they hadn't expected was drawing Simmons' personal attention.

SENATE HOPEFUL LOBBIES FOR LEGAL POT

NEWPORT BEACH - If any other U.S. Senate candidate proposed legalizing marijuana, voters might question what that politician had been smoking.

But the California hopeful making that pitch does not get those questions -- at least not very often.

He is Jim Gray, a Republican-appointed Superior Court judge from conservative Orange County who said he has never used illegal drugs.

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International News:

POST OFFICE REFUSES TO SHIP LEGAL MARIJUANA

Health Canada Gives OK, But Canada Post Says No

Canada Post is refusing to ship medicinal marijuana between federally licensed growers and users despite having no basis for such a denial.

Michel Aube, a Health Canada-approved medicinal marijuana user who lives in Brockville has not received a recent shipment his licensed supplier sent him more than a month ago.

INCORRECT REPORT

The Citizen is wrong that Canada Post has refused to deliver medical marijuana to Canadians who have been licensed by Health Canada to use it.

It was our interpretation of the regulations drafted by Health Canada that it was impossible for Canada Post to meet the requirements to deliver medical marijuana.

OUT OF JOINT

NDP FREAKED BY UNAUTHORIZED REP AT POT PROTEST

Ottawa - To potheads this past weekend, the Fill The Hill protest was game seven of the Stanley Cup playoffs and election-night drama rolled into one giant spliff. Here were 2,000 kind souls from across our beautiful, great green nation toking on Parliament Hill. Lately, though, those attending pro-grass rallies might have begun to wonder if they are unofficial NDP conventions. Chances are the person passing that doobie sits on a riding executive - or is even a party candidate, like rally speaker Alison Myrden from Oakville.

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Regular Features:

OPNews DISCLAIMER

OPNews, a publication of Ohio Patient Network (OPN), provides medical cannabis news that affects Ohio patients, caregivers, and health professionals.

All articles are intended for educational purposes and do not reflect an official position, either positive or negative, by the OPN or its Board of Directors.

Ohio Patient Network does not endorse any candidates running for office. The reports of campaign-related activities are for educational purposes only.

For more information, contact editor@ohiopatient.net .

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YOU ARE INVITED TO OPN MEETINGS

The OPN Board of Directors invites you to participate in OPN patient forums, which are held at 8:00 p.m. (eastern time) the last Thursday of each month. You are also welcome to attend the weekly OPN business meetings.

These electronic voice/text meetings are held at the OPN chatroom in PalTalk http://www.paltalk.com/ for further information, including instructions for the PalTalk meeting room, visit: http://ohiopatient.net/join/index.htm#meetingscontact or contact info@ohiopatient.net .

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HELP THE OPN SUPPORT PATIENTS

The Ohio Patient Network's goal is to provide a voice for Ohio's medicinal cannabis patients and create an environment where this vital medicine becomes an accepted and legitimate therapy. To do this, we need your help.

We'd like you to personally become involved in OPN by donating your time. Please check out our various committees and activities at http://ohiopatient.net/donate/index.htm#volunteers . Respond with your interest to our Membership Coordinator, Doc Miller, at KRMiller@OhioPatient.net.

If you'd prefer, you can also support medicinal cannabis and what we are doing by contributing monetarily to OPN. Please note that the Ohio Patient Network is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation in the State of Ohio. Donations to OPN are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.

Please visit our donations page at http://ohiopatient.net/donate/index.htm to make a contribution using your credit card. Please note that these donations will be processed through Paypal.

If you would prefer to donate by check or money order, please make them payable to the "Ohio Patient Network" and mail to P.O. Box 26353, Columbus, OH 43216.

Thank you for supporting the Ohio Patient Network.

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HOW TO GET YOUR INFORMATION IN OPNews

OPNews is published monthly. To have your information considered for publication, submit your story to editor@ohiopatient.net .

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS. Please do not boldface or italicize text. Include a contact name with a phone number and/or e-mail address with submissions.

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HOW TO BE REMOVED FROM THE OPNews LIST

You may sign off this list at any time by using the web form at http://ohiopatient.net/join/index.htm#disclist .

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HOW TO CONTACT YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND SENATOR

Find your Representative in the Ohio House at http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp .

Find your Ohio Senator at http://www.senate.state.oh.us/senators/ .

Write to your officials care of their district office, or send your letter to their Columbus office at:

The Honorable (name)

Ohio House of Representatives

77 South High Street

Columbus, Ohio 43266-0603

-or-

The Honorable (name)

Ohio Senate Building

Columbus, Ohio 43215

Telephone calls and emails are also persuasive, especially when the constituent contacts the district office.

� A publication of the Ohio Patient Network (OPN) Contact editor@ohiopatient.net

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Ohio Patient Network - P.O. Box 26353 - Columbus, Ohio 43226-0353

1-888-OH-Patient (1-888-647-2843) info@ohiopatient.net