
	November_03_OPNews OPNews: November 2003 Edition A publication of the Ohio Patient Network (OPN). Contact Jean Taddie, Editor editor@ohiopatient.net The following new items are included in this month's OPNews: ORGANIZATION NEWS: 1. Help Shape OPN�s Future 2. OPN in the News 3. OPN Represented at Drug Policy Alliance Conference 4. Big Brother Policed NKU Hemp Hop STATE NEWS: 5. 65-Year-Old Cancer Patient Charged with Growing Pot NATIONAL NEWS: 6. Harsh New Drug Bill About to be Introduced in House 7. Presidential Candidate Who Would Arrest Medical Marijuana Patients Admits He Used Marijuana 8. L.A. Judge Rules No Prison for Three Medical Marijuana Center Workers 9. Alaska Appeals Court Just Says No to Pot Case 10. South Carolina: High School Drug Raid Sparks Incredulity, Outrage 11. Reefer Sanity: The Brain's Cannabinoid Receptor is the Target of a Rush to Develop New Drugs 12. Synthetic Marijuana Eases Alzheimer's Agitation 13. Introducing "The MS Patients Union" INTERNATIONAL NEWS: 14. Cannabis Study Shows Small MS Benefit 15. Pot Compound Inhibits Tumor Cell Growth, Study Says 16. Nearly One Out of Three HIV Patients Use Marijuana Medicinally, Study Says 17. British Decrim Law To Take Effect In January 18. Canada Decriminalization Bill Dies Quiet Death The following items are included in every OPNews: * 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 ************************************************* *********************************************** 1. HELP SHAPE OPN�S FUTURE By John Precup, OPN President Have your voice heard. Join us on Thursday, December 4 at 7:30 p.m. (e.s.t.) for OPN�s online Strategic Planning Forum. OPN needs your input about what�s important to you. During the forum we will be brainstorming, so all ideas are encouraged. This will be your chance to help shape OPN�s future goals and plans. The organization has come a long way since we formed more than three years ago. This growth is due to the ideas of many people just like you. That is why your input is so valuable. Who knows where the next great inspiration will come from. You can learn more about OPN�s current mission and projects at http://ohiopatient.net/about/index.htm . OPN monthly forums are held online via PalTalk. See http://ohiopatient.net/join/paltalk_instructions.htm for instructions. If you are unable to make the meeting, please send me jprecup@ohiopatient.net your suggestions for OPN�s future direction. ************************************************* 2. OPN IN THE NEWS OPN board members Deirdre Zoretic and Jim White were featured prominently in two newspaper stories about medical marijuana in Ohio. The articles focused on the Ohio Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA), which has a sponsor in Representative Ken Carano (D-Youngstown). Both stories described the uphill battle of making the OMMA a reality in Ohio. Rep. Carano explained that there is considerable resistance from the Governor�s office. Carano is still looking for a Republican co-sponsor for the bill, which he sees as essential to help the bill get passed in Ohio. The Media Awareness Project has archived these both articles. POT RX: WILL OHIO EVER LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA? was featured on the cover of the November 19, 2003 Cleveland Free Times http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1796/a01.html POT FOR PATIENTS ran October 30, 2003 in the Toledo City Paper http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1699/a09.html In response, the Toledo City Paper also ran two letters to the editor on November 6: VACATIONER: GOVERNMENT SHOULD TAKE POT HOLIDAY http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1726/a07.html MARIJUANA BANNED DESPITE MEDICAL RECOMMENDATION http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1726/a02.html To follow all the latest news about the OPN, see http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Ohio+Patient+Network NOTE: An MPP Action Alert for the OMMA is at http://www.mpp.org/OH/action.html ************************************************* 3. OPN REPRESENTED AT DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE CONFERENCE By Rob Ryan, OPN Secretary On November 5-8, K.R. �Doc� Miller and I represented OPN at the Drug Policy Alliance Conference http://www.drugpolicy.org/events/dpa2003/ in New Jersey. We attended several training sessions, met with the Alliance of Reform Organizations for a dinner meeting, and broadcasted from the hotel via Paltalk a special "Live From the DPA Conference" OPN patient forum. I also took a great number of photos that I am web-sharing via OFOTO. Please feel free to visit my albums at: http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=199876271103&page=1&sort_order=0 Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU, began the conference. The ACLU�s national focus is on the Patriot Act, but Mr. Romero recognized the corrosive impact the drug war has on civil rights. The conference was broken into 3-4 major sessions per day, along with many more break out sessions. Doc and I planned our schedules so important sessions were attended by at least one of us. The highlight of the event was the awards dinner, where reformers were recognized for their outstanding work ending the drug war and promoting civil rights. For a complete list of winners for the 2003 Awards for Achievement in Drug Policy Reform, see http://www.drugpolicy.org/events/dpa2003/awards/ . OPN�s PalTalk broadcast from the conference could not have happened without the assistance of Don Wirtshafter. Don used the latest in PC technology to make it all happen. I would like to thank Dale Gieringer of CA NORML, Dean Becker of Cultural Baggage, Eric Sterling of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, and our own Doc Miller for participating. I would also like to commend Don for arranging a link up with Todd McCormick. Todd, still a captive of our federal drug war, was able to speak to a roomful of people and be a participant in our joint efforts to end the war on drugs. I was fortunate to be able to attend and thank Drug Policy Alliance and the Ohio Patient Network in the assistance they provided. I have moved from advocate to patient, so the event was especially meaningful to me. The medical marijuana movement is growing up. It has public support. It is time to come out and engage our political leaders and make them speak up. It is simply a matter of our own self defense. *********************************************** 4. BIG BROTHER POLICED NKU HEMP HOP By Rob Ryan, OPN Secretary On November 22, a group of Northern Kentucky University (NKU) students put together Hemp Hop, an educational and musical event. I was asked to speak about medical marijuana, but the primary goal of the event was to make people aware of the efforts to legalize industrial hemp once again in Kentucky, especially since hemp and Kentucky go back a long way. Unfortunately, the music and speakers were intermixed with a large show of law enforcement and all the latest in NKU's detection hardware and administrative policies. The event, which was sponsored by Students for Re-Legalization of Hemp, was located on the second floor of the University Center in a 150-200 capacity ballroom. Upon entry to the building, we had to climb a twisting set of stairs that led to the second floor, where we were greeted by a half-dozen NKU campus police and administrative officials who herded us along a guided pathway. The concrete and roped pathway reminded me of the cattle shoots used in Cincinnati slaughterhouses, where Heidi the free range cow had escaped not too long ago. The security was impressive; it was as tight or tighter than the nearby Cincinnati airport. A portable arch style metal detector was the official port of entry. We were asked to empty our pockets of metal objects into a small basket, so a NKU official could inspect the contents of the basket. Passing that, we stepped through the arch of the detector. The gain on the device was set so high that teeth fillings would probably set off the alarm. Very few people got past the arch without setting it off, so most of us proceeded in the next step of the security gauntlet. At this stop on the security trail, another officer waited with his hand metal detector, which reminded me of the paddles used in college hazings. We had to raise our arms and spread our legs so the officer could inspect us with his hand detector. Again the gain was set so high on this device that it detected small bits of metal foil from a half stick of gum. We were asked to completely empty our pockets if the officer detected the smallest bulge in any pocket. It was incredible; they even wanted to inspect the contents of our wallet. If anyone said "no", they were not allowed to pass to the next security checkpoint step. Those of us who passed the first two steps proceeded to a table where a NKU clerk and two more security officers were stationed. At this point we were asked to produce a picture ID and sign a form to gain official entry to the event. Originally, the Students for Re-Legalization of Hemp asked me to give a medical marijuana speech at this event. But after finally making it through the security gauntlet, I decided to give an anti-drug war speech. I attacked the drug war as a war against people, as a war against people "we" don't really like, as a war against sick people, as a war against a plant and our planet. At the root is a culture war, and it is time to stop this war. I promoted discussion in the crowd and asked them to enlist their parents in this effort, too. Overall the security and strategic planning by NKU demonstrated an impressive use of law enforcement resources. Attorney General John Ashcroft would surely be proud of NKU as a bright shining example of his ideal for Amerika's future. Of course across the street was another event, a NKU basketball game that had nowhere near the same intensity of security. Perhaps protecting a culture is really more important than true physical safety. *********************************************** 5. 65-YEAR-OLD CANCER PATIENT CHARGED WITH GROWING POT Source: Columbus Dispatch http://www.dispatch.com/ November 1, 2003. View the whole story at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1701/a08.html By: Associated Press (Cincinnati, OH) Carter Singleton says he was weak from cancer and had lost 80 pounds in five months when he followed a friend's advice to smoke marijuana, which helped him get back his appetite and gain weight. Now, Singleton is awaiting trial on a felony charge of growing marijuana -- which he admits he cultivated in his basement for personal use. If convicted, the 65-year-old could be sent to prison for one to five years or be placed on probation. "Carter is not the type of person to intentionally violate the law, but he was desperate," his attorney, Larry Keller, said yesterday. Singleton, of suburban Mount Healthy, has a clean record, except for two speeding tickets, Keller said... It is illegal to grow or use the drug in Ohio. Singleton is free on bond pending a...pretrial hearing in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, when a date could be set for trial. Hamilton County Prosecutor Michael Allen said his office had no choice but to prosecute Singleton. "What he did is a violation of the law," Allen said. "However, if he pleads guilty or goes to trial, his reason for growing marijuana is something the judge can take into consideration." Singleton said he learned he had non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma in 2001. He said he weighed 230 pounds before the cancer ravaged his 6-foot-tall body. "I was starving to death," he said. "I did what I had to do." Singleton said he took his friend's advice but was afraid to ask his doctor about using marijuana. "I kept losing weight," Singleton said. "I went from a 38 pant to a 30 pant. I went from an extra-large shirt to a large. My butt and arms were all skin. I couldn't eat." He said he smoked marijuana by himself for the first time on Easter Sunday of 2002. Then he ate ham, turkey, dressing, cherry pie, pumpkin pie and strawberry shortcake. "I ate till my belly about busted," he said. [snip] NOTE: Similar versions of this AP story ran in Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland and Lexington, KY. For more stories, check out: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Carter+Singleton ************************************************* 6. HARSH NEW DRUG BILL ABOUT TO BE INTRODUCED IN HOUSE Source: Drug War Chronicle #312 - November 21, 2003 http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/312/harsh.shtml (Washington, DC) One of Congress's staunchest drug warriors, Rep. Mark Souder, is at it again. The Indiana Republican best known for authoring the Higher Education Act's anti-drug provision is about to introduce legislation that would jam federal prisons even more full of drug offenders. The bill, called with Orwellian flair the "Drug Sentencing Reform Act," is set to be introduced within the next two weeks, and Souder is looking for cosponsors, reported the Drug Policy Alliance (http://www.drugpolicy.org), which has two staffers working Capitol Hill full-time and which is organizing to kill the bill. According to an explanation of the bill provided in a Souder e-mail to his colleagues his legislation would: * Expand the purview of the Feeney Amendment, which restricts federal judges' ability to reduce sentences, to include drug offenses. * Mandate random drug testing for almost all federal parolees and probationers, not just drug offenders or people suspected of having substance abuse problems. * Direct the US Sentencing Commission to no longer allow lower sentences for nonviolent drug offenders who have certain mitigating circumstances (such as being addicted to drugs) or who lack previous criminal records. * Create harsh new penalties for growing "high-potency" marijuana. [snip] Visit http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/SouderEmail.pdf to view a copy of the Souder e-mail. ************************************************* 7. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WHO WOULD ARREST MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS ADMITS HE USED MARIJUANA Source: Marijuana Policy Project, November 4, 2003 press release http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr110403gsmm.html (Boston, MA) U.S. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), who has previously said it would be "irresponsible" for the federal government not to arrest cancer and AIDS patients using medical marijuana under the provisions of state medical marijuana laws, acknowledged on national television tonight that he has used marijuana in the past. The statement came in response to an e-mailed question read by moderator Anderson Cooper during the "America Rocks the Vote" candidate forum broadcast live on CNN from Boston's Fanueil Hall. Other candidates acknowledging they had smoked marijuana were U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) -- who has previously promised to sign an executive order allowing medical use of marijuana -- said, "No, but I'd decriminalize it." Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun dodged the question, laughing and saying, "I'm not going to answer." [snip] NOTE: For more about presidential candidates, see also: Gephardt Reneges on Promise to Put Medical Marijuana Stand in Writing http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr111203gsmm.html *********************************************** 8. L.A. JUDGE RULES NO PRISON FOR THREE MEDICAL MARIJUANA CENTER WORKERS Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune http://www.heraldtribune.com/ November 25, 2003. Read the whole story at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1826/a06.html (Los Angeles, CA) A federal judge cited a "lesser harm doctrine" when he ruled Monday that three men who pleaded guilty to running a West Hollywood medical marijuana center would receive no prison time. U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz expressed admiration for the men's work in helping sick patients during the sentencing hearing in which he ordered they serve only one year of probation and up to 250 hours of community service. The each were also ordered to pay a $100 fee, but their bail of $25,000 was exonerated... Imler, Yablan and Farrington faced up to 30 months in federal prison after striking a plea bargain with prosecutors. They ran the medical marijuana center for five years until 2001 when federal agents raided the center and shut it down. [snip] NOTE: For more background articles on the story, see: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Scott+Imler *********************************************** 9. ALASKA APPEALS COURT JUST SAYS NO TO POT CASE Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner http://www.news-miner.com/ November 15, 2003. View the whole story at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1768/a10.html By Dan Rice The Alaska Court of Appeals will not reconsider its August decision allowing adults to possess as much as a quarter-pound of marijuana in their home. In an opinion released Friday, the court denied the Alaska attorney general's petition to rehear the case, which invalidated a 1990 voter initiative criminalizing all amounts of marijuana by calling the resulting ban on personal pot use in the home unconstitutional. The court rejected all the assertions the attorney general's office made in arguing that the decision was flawed in the case of Noy v. State, which resulted in Attorney General Gregg Renkes instructing all state law enforcement agencies not to arrest or cite adults for personal marijuana use in their home. [snip] *********************************************** 10. SOUTH CAROLINA: HIGH SCHOOL DRUG RAID SPARKS INCREDULITY, OUTRAGE Source: Drug War Chronicle #311 - November 14, 2003 http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/311/stratford.shtml A November 5th drug raid at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina, has sparked national media attention, local outrage, a state police investigation, and a rapidly coalescing protest movement in the usually tranquil Charleston suburb. As television viewers nationwide saw, the 6:40 a.m. raid featured an aggressive squad of police bursting into a school hallway with guns drawn, forcing cowering students to the ground, and handcuffing those they claimed complied too slowly with officers' shouted demands while police drug dogs sniffed for contraband. None was found... "I couldn't believe this was actually happening here in the US," said Sharon Smalls, whose 14-year-old son Nathaniel was one of the students victimized in the raid. "I thought it was a bad joke until I actually saw it on the news. Most parents are really outraged about this," she told DRCNet, "and the only ones who are not outraged are the ones whose kids were not involved. It is not ever okay to point a gun at a child's head," she said. "Those police put Nathaniel on the floor with guns to his head and searched his pockets, his socks and his shoes," Smalls said. "I know the school says they were surveilling the kids for some time, but why they went after these particular kids, I don't know. They didn't find any of them doing anything wrong. Nathaniel is frightened and confused." [snip] For more details, see INCIDENT AT GOOSE CREEK: FALLOUT CONTINUES IN AFTERMATH OF HIGH SCHOOL DRUG RAID at http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/312/incident.shtml *********************************************** 11. REEFER SANITY The brain's cannabinoid receptor is the target of a rush (ha!) to develop new drugs Source: Fortune Magazine, November 24, 2003 http://www.fortune.com/fortune/thisjustin/0,15704,540400,00.html By Meredith Wadman ...Drug companies are racing to develop pills that plug into the same brain-signaling system that once had boomers flying high�this time to help them lose weight. Experimental drugs that block the brain receptor activated by marijuana�called the cannabinoid receptor�are showing clear promise in fighting obesity. And that's not the only vice that may soon be treatable with this new breed of mind medicine. Predilections for Marlboros and martinis are also targets of a new drug now in human trials and nearing the clinic, with imitators hot on its tail. Farther from the pharmacist's counter but still firing up a lot of interest are experimental compounds that work not by blocking cannabinoid receptors but by activating them. These are squelching strokes, allaying anxiety, and easing pain in lab animals. There's even a suggestion that drugs that stimulate cannabinoid receptors in sperm may one day yield a contraceptive for men... The cannabinoid system is important in the function of memory as well. "The cannabinoid area is getting ready for prime time," says Daniele Piomelli, a leading researcher at the University of California at Irvine. "What makes it particularly promising is that there are a lot of companies working on these classes of compounds." It's hard to overstate just how important--and rare--it is to identify an entirely new class of brain receptors, the neurotransmitters that act on them, and the molecules that ferry those neurotransmitters or break them down. Consider the pharmaceutical and cultural revolution launched with the discovery of the transporter for serotonin, which led to the development of Prozac, Zoloft, and other antidepressants. The body's home-grown cannabinoid neurotransmitters and their receptors--discovered only in the past 13 years--could give rise to a whole new generation of blockbusters. "It's one of the hottest areas in neuroscience," says George Kunos, scientific director at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. [snip] *********************************************** 12. SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA EASES ALZHEIMER'S AGITATION Source: Yahoo HealthDayNews http://story.news.yahoo.com/ November 20, 2003 (Long Branch, N.J.) Dronabinol, a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana, helps reduce agitation in people with Alzheimer's disease. So say researchers at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J. Their Phase II, open label, randomized, parallel-group study of 54 patients also concluded that the reduced agitation experienced by Alzheimer's patients may offer some relief to family caregivers... Agitation affects about 75 percent of people with Alzheimer's and is the most common behavioral management problem in patients with the disease. [snip] *********************************************** 13. INTRODUCING "THE MS PATIENTS UNION" Source: Cheryl Miller Memorial Project, November 12, 2003 announcement By Jim Miller, Beckie Nikkel, Hilary McQuie and Gary Storck After joining together in Washington DC for the Cheryl Miller Memorial Project, a number of MS patients and supporters decided they would like to create an ongoing group of patients, caregivers, and advocates as a "MS Patients Union" for medical marijuana. As organizers and participants of the Cheryl Miller Memorial Project, we have taken it upon ourselves to help facilitate the formation of this group. This group would serve as a support network for MS patients who use or might want to use marijuana as medicine and their caregivers, be a vehicle for political lobbying and public education, and advocate for active support of the MS Society. If you would like to join an email list for this new group, which we have given the temporary name of the MS Patients Union, please send a request to gstorck@immly.org . *********************************************** 14. CANNABIS STUDY SHOWS SMALL MS BENEFIT Multiple sclerosis patients report some relief in pot trial. Source: Nature, November 7, 2003 http://www.nature.com/nsu/031103/031103-14.html By: Helen Pearson (UK) Cannabis may soothe symptoms of multiple sclerosis, concludes the first large-scale clinical trial of the drug's perceived benefit to sufferers. Legally, the drug remains largely out of bounds. The British study is the one of the strongest scientific endorsements of patients' anecdotal evidence that cannabis helps to relieve the pain of multiple sclerosis (MS). John Zajicek of the University of Plymouth and his team gave 630 patients either a placebo, cannabis extract, or a synthetic form of marijuana's most active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). After 15 weeks, 60% of patients taking the drugs reported that it helped their pain and muscle stiffness, compared with 46% of those on the placebo. It also helped them to walk more easily. [snip] NOTES: This article is based on the study: Zajicek, J. et al. Cannabinoids for treatment of spasticity and other symptoms related to multiple sclerosis (CAMS study): multicentre randomised placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet, 362, 1517 - 1526, (2003). To view the latest news about cannabis and MS, see: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/multiple+sclerosis *********************************************** 15. POT COMPOUND INHIBITS TUMOR CELL GROWTH, STUDY SAYS Source: NORML News, Volume 6, Issue 45, November 20, 2003 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3442 (Milan, Italy) Administration of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) inhibits the growth of human glioma (brain tumor) cells both in vitro (e.g., a petri dish) and in animals, according to clinical trial data published in the November 14, 2003 issue of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. "The addition of CBD to the culture medium led to a dramatic drop ...[in the] viability [of] glioma cells in a concentration-dependent manner,"researchers at the University of Milan found. The study also demonstrated "for the first time, that the antiproliferative effect of CBD was correlated to induction of apoptosis (programmed cell death of malignant cells)." Scientists further demonstrated that the administration of CBD in mice "significantly inhibited the growth of subcutaneously implanted U87 human glioma cells." They concluded, "Non-psychoactive CBD ... produce[s] a significant antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo, thus suggesting a possible application of CBD as an antineoplastic agent (something which prevents the growth of malignant cells)." The study's findings come just one month after a clinical review in the journal Nature Reviews Cancer suggested that cannabinoids' palliative effects in cancer patients and ability to inhibit the growth of certain types of malignant tumors make them a potentially desirable agents in the treatment of cancer. [snip] NOTES: Abstracts of the study, entitled "Antitumor effects of cannabidiol, a non-psychotropic cannabinoid, on human glioma cell lines," are available online at: http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/jpet.103.061002v1 For more studies, see also: Pot Constituents Offer Novel Approach To Anti-Cancer Therapy, Medical Journal Says at http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5806 *********************************************** 16. NEARLY ONE OUT OF THREE HIV PATIENTS USE MARIJUANA MEDICINALLY, STUDY SAYS Source: NORML News, November 26, 2003 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5845 (Toronto, ON) Approximately one in three HIV patients in Ontario uses marijuana for medicinal purposes, according to the results of a study presented this week at the 2003 Ontario HIV Treatment Network http://www.ohtn.on.ca/ research conference. Among HIV-positive Ontarians, 29 percent use cannabis therapeutically, study presenter Michelle Furler of the University of Toronto said. Respondents explained that they used marijuana to stimulate appetite, aid sleep, and alleviate nausea and vomiting. A higher percentage of female respondents noted that they used marijuana for pain management. Almost half of those who used cannabis medicinally said they used it daily. According to a recently published study in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, use of inhaled marijuana demonstrates "no major, short-term harmful effects and possibly some beneficial effects ... in HIV-infected patients taking protease inhibitors." Presently, clinical trials examining the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in HIV patient populations are ongoing at the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research. *********************************************** 17. BRITISH DECRIM LAW TO TAKE EFFECT IN JANUARY Source: NORML News, Volume 6, Issue 45, November 20, 2003 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3442 (London, UK) The British House of Lords voted this week 63 to 37 to downgrade marijuana from a Class B to a Class C scheduled drug so that its possession is no longer an arrestable offense under British law. The vote was the final hurdle facing the reclassification proposal, which was initially announced by Home Secretary David Blunkett two years ago. Marijuana will be officially downgraded to a Class C "non-arrestable" soft drug on January 29, 2004. Under reclassification, individuals found in possession of "personal use" amounts of marijuana will be cautioned by police, but no longer arrested. (Police will retain the discretion to make an arrest under special "aggravated" circumstances, such as if marijuana is smoked on school grounds.) Presently, about 80,000 Britons are arrested annually for possessing cannabis. Class C is the least harmful category of illegal drugs under British law. Although possession of Class C drugs technically carries a two-year maximum prison term, only offenses punishable by at least five years imprisonment are arrestable in England. However, those caught supplying Class C drugs, including cannabis, may be subject to as many as 14 years in jail. [snip] *********************************************** 18. CANADA DECRIMINALIZATION BILL DIES QUIET DEATH Source: Drug War Chronicle #311 - November 14, 2003 http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/311/c38.shtml The marijuana decriminalization bill promoted by the government of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien is dead. The bill and all other pending legislation was killed Wednesday afternoon when Chretien prorogued (or adjourned) Parliament before his pending retirement. Parliament will resume in a new session beginning January 12, but Chretien's successor, Paul Martin, has shown little enthusiasm for reintroducing a decrim bill. Chretien's Cannabis Reform Bill (C-38) will not be mourned by many. Old-school drug fighters, such as Canadian Alliance Member of Parliament Randy White and Canadian police associations, opposed any liberalization of the marijuana laws, as did US drug czar John Walters. And marijuana reform advocates were chary of the bill because while it would have made the possession of a small amount of marijuana a non-criminal offense punishable only by a fine, it also included provisions that would have increased penalties for all but the smallest marijuana cultivation operations. While parliamentary action to change Canada's cannabis laws may be on indefinite hold, the Canadian Supreme Court has already heard arguments in a series of cases challenging the government's ability to outlaw marijuana possession and distribution. A decision in those cases, which cite the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, is expected any week now... To read the decrim bill online, visit: http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/government/C-38/C-38_2/C-38TOCE.html *********************************************** *********************************************** *********************************************** The following items are included in every OPNews: *********************************************** 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 Jean Taddie, Editor editor@ohiopatient.net . *********************************************** YOU ARE INVITED TO OPN MEETINGS The OPN Board of Directors invites you to participate in OPN patient forums, which are held at 7:30 p.m. (eastern time) the first 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/ . To receive further information, including instructions for the PalTalk meeting room, contact info@ohiopatient.net . *********************************************** 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. *********************************************** 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. *********************************************** HOW TO BE REMOVED FROM THE OPNews LIST You may sign off this list at any time by using the webform at http://ohiopatient.net/join/index.htm#disclist . ************************************************* 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.

OPNews: November 2003 Edition

A publication of the Ohio Patient Network (OPN).

Contact Jean Taddie, Editor editor@ohiopatient.net

The following new items are included in this month's OPNews:

ORGANIZATION NEWS:

1. Help Shape OPN�s Future

2. OPN in the News

3. OPN Represented at Drug Policy Alliance Conference

4. Big Brother Policed NKU Hemp Hop

STATE NEWS:

5. 65-Year-Old Cancer Patient Charged with Growing Pot

NATIONAL NEWS:

6. Harsh New Drug Bill About to be Introduced in House

7. Presidential Candidate Who Would Arrest Medical Marijuana Patients Admits He Used Marijuana

8. L.A. Judge Rules No Prison for Three Medical Marijuana Center Workers

9. Alaska Appeals Court Just Says No to Pot Case

10. South Carolina: High School Drug Raid Sparks Incredulity, Outrage

11. Reefer Sanity: The Brain's Cannabinoid Receptor is the Target of a Rush to Develop New Drugs

12. Synthetic Marijuana Eases Alzheimer's Agitation

13. Introducing "The MS Patients Union"

INTERNATIONAL NEWS:

14. Cannabis Study Shows Small MS Benefit

15. Pot Compound Inhibits Tumor Cell Growth, Study Says

16. Nearly One Out of Three HIV Patients Use Marijuana Medicinally, Study Says

17. British Decrim Law To Take Effect In January

18. Canada Decriminalization Bill Dies Quiet Death

The following items are included in every OPNews:

* 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

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1. HELP SHAPE OPN�S FUTURE

By John Precup, OPN President

Have your voice heard. Join us on Thursday, December 4 at 7:30 p.m. (e.s.t.) for OPN�s online Strategic Planning Forum.

OPN needs your input about what�s important to you. During the forum we will be brainstorming, so all ideas are encouraged. This will be your chance to help shape OPN�s future goals and plans.

The organization has come a long way since we formed more than three years ago. This growth is due to the ideas of many people just like you. That is why your input is so valuable. Who knows where the next great inspiration will come from.

You can learn more about OPN�s current mission and projects at http://ohiopatient.net/about/index.htm .

OPN monthly forums are held online via PalTalk. See http://ohiopatient.net/join/paltalk_instructions.htm for instructions. If you are unable to make the meeting, please send me jprecup@ohiopatient.net your suggestions for OPN�s future direction.

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2. OPN IN THE NEWS

OPN board members Deirdre Zoretic and Jim White were featured prominently in two newspaper stories about medical marijuana in Ohio. The articles focused on the Ohio Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA), which has a sponsor in Representative Ken Carano (D-Youngstown).

Both stories described the uphill battle of making the OMMA a reality in Ohio. Rep. Carano explained that there is considerable resistance from the Governor�s office. Carano is still looking for a Republican co-sponsor for the bill, which he sees as essential to help the bill get passed in Ohio.

The Media Awareness Project has archived these both articles.

*POT RX: WILL OHIO EVER LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA? was featured on the cover of the November 19, 2003 Cleveland Free Times http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1796/a01.html

*POT FOR PATIENTS ran October 30, 2003 in the Toledo City Paper http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1699/a09.html

In response, the Toledo City Paper also ran two letters to the editor on November 6:

*VACATIONER: GOVERNMENT SHOULD TAKE POT HOLIDAY http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1726/a07.html

*MARIJUANA BANNED DESPITE MEDICAL RECOMMENDATION http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1726/a02.html

To follow all the latest news about the OPN, see http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Ohio+Patient+Network

NOTE: An MPP Action Alert for the OMMA is at http://www.mpp.org/OH/action.html

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3. OPN REPRESENTED AT DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE CONFERENCE

By Rob Ryan, OPN Secretary

On November 5-8, K.R. �Doc� Miller and I represented OPN at the Drug Policy Alliance Conference http://www.drugpolicy.org/events/dpa2003/ in New Jersey. We attended several training sessions, met with the Alliance of Reform Organizations for a dinner meeting, and broadcasted from the hotel via Paltalk a special "Live From the DPA Conference" OPN patient forum.

I also took a great number of photos that I am web-sharing via OFOTO. Please feel free to visit my albums at: http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=199876271103&page=1&sort_order=0

Anthony Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU, began the conference. The ACLU�s national focus is on the Patriot Act, but Mr. Romero recognized the corrosive impact the drug war has on civil rights.

The conference was broken into 3-4 major sessions per day, along with many more break out sessions. Doc and I planned our schedules so important sessions were attended by at least one of us.

The highlight of the event was the awards dinner, where reformers were recognized for their outstanding work ending the drug war and promoting civil rights. For a complete list of winners for the 2003 Awards for Achievement in Drug Policy Reform, see http://www.drugpolicy.org/events/dpa2003/awards/ .

OPN�s PalTalk broadcast from the conference could not have happened without the assistance of Don Wirtshafter. Don used the latest in PC technology to make it all happen. I would like to thank Dale Gieringer of CA NORML, Dean Becker of Cultural Baggage, Eric Sterling of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, and our own Doc Miller for participating.

I would also like to commend Don for arranging a link up with Todd McCormick. Todd, still a captive of our federal drug war, was able to speak to a roomful of people and be a participant in our joint efforts to end the war on drugs.

I was fortunate to be able to attend and thank Drug Policy Alliance and the Ohio Patient Network in the assistance they provided. I have moved from advocate to patient, so the event was especially meaningful to me.

The medical marijuana movement is growing up. It has public support. It is time to come out and engage our political leaders and make them speak up. It is simply a matter of our own self defense.

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4. BIG BROTHER POLICED NKU HEMP HOP

By Rob Ryan, OPN Secretary

On November 22, a group of Northern Kentucky University (NKU) students put together Hemp Hop, an educational and musical event. I was asked to speak about medical marijuana, but the primary goal of the event was to make people aware of the efforts to legalize industrial hemp once again in Kentucky, especially since hemp and Kentucky go back a long way. Unfortunately, the music and speakers were intermixed with a large show of law enforcement and all the latest in NKU's detection hardware and administrative policies.

The event, which was sponsored by Students for Re-Legalization of Hemp, was located on the second floor of the University Center in a 150-200 capacity ballroom. Upon entry to the building, we had to climb a twisting set of stairs that led to the second floor, where we were greeted by a half-dozen NKU campus police and administrative officials who herded us along a guided pathway.

The concrete and roped pathway reminded me of the cattle shoots used in Cincinnati slaughterhouses, where Heidi the free range cow had escaped not too long ago. The security was impressive; it was as tight or tighter than the nearby Cincinnati airport.

A portable arch style metal detector was the official port of entry. We were asked to empty our pockets of metal objects into a small basket, so a NKU official could inspect the contents of the basket. Passing that, we stepped through the arch of the detector.

The gain on the device was set so high that teeth fillings would probably set off the alarm. Very few people got past the arch without setting it off, so most of us proceeded in the next step of the security gauntlet. At this stop on the security trail, another officer waited with his hand metal detector, which reminded me of the paddles used in college hazings.

We had to raise our arms and spread our legs so the officer could inspect us with his hand detector. Again the gain was set so high on this device that it detected small bits of metal foil from a half stick of gum. We were asked to completely empty our pockets if the officer detected the smallest bulge in any pocket. It was incredible; they even wanted to inspect the contents of our wallet. If anyone said "no", they were not allowed to pass to the next security checkpoint step.

Those of us who passed the first two steps proceeded to a table where a NKU clerk and two more security officers were stationed. At this point we were asked to produce a picture ID and sign a form to gain official entry to the event.

Originally, the Students for Re-Legalization of Hemp asked me to give a medical marijuana speech at this event. But after finally making it through the security gauntlet, I decided to give an anti-drug war speech. I attacked the drug war as a war against people, as a war against people "we" don't really like, as a war against sick people, as a war against a plant and our planet. At the root is a culture war, and it is time to stop this war. I promoted discussion in the crowd and asked them to enlist their parents in this effort, too.

Overall the security and strategic planning by NKU demonstrated an impressive use of law enforcement resources. Attorney General John Ashcroft would surely be proud of NKU as a bright shining example of his ideal for Amerika's future. Of course across the street was another event, a NKU basketball game that had nowhere near the same intensity of security. Perhaps protecting a culture is really more important than true physical safety.

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5. 65-YEAR-OLD CANCER PATIENT CHARGED WITH GROWING POT

Source: Columbus Dispatch http://www.dispatch.com/ November 1, 2003. View the whole story at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1701/a08.html

By: Associated Press

(Cincinnati, OH) Carter Singleton says he was weak from cancer and had lost 80 pounds in five months when he followed a friend's advice to smoke marijuana, which helped him get back his appetite and gain weight.

Now, Singleton is awaiting trial on a felony charge of growing marijuana -- which he admits he cultivated in his basement for personal use.

If convicted, the 65-year-old could be sent to prison for one to five years or be placed on probation.

"Carter is not the type of person to intentionally violate the law, but he was desperate," his attorney, Larry Keller, said yesterday.

Singleton, of suburban Mount Healthy, has a clean record, except for two speeding tickets, Keller said...

It is illegal to grow or use the drug in Ohio.

Singleton is free on bond pending a...pretrial hearing in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, when a date could be set for trial.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Michael Allen said his office had no choice but to prosecute Singleton.

"What he did is a violation of the law," Allen said. "However, if he pleads guilty or goes to trial, his reason for growing marijuana is something the judge can take into consideration."

Singleton said he learned he had non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma in 2001. He said he weighed 230 pounds before the cancer ravaged his 6-foot-tall body.

"I was starving to death," he said. "I did what I had to do."

Singleton said he took his friend's advice but was afraid to ask his doctor about using marijuana.

"I kept losing weight," Singleton said. "I went from a 38 pant to a 30 pant. I went from an extra-large shirt to a large. My butt and arms were all skin. I couldn't eat."

He said he smoked marijuana by himself for the first time on Easter Sunday of 2002. Then he ate ham, turkey, dressing, cherry pie, pumpkin pie and strawberry shortcake.

"I ate till my belly about busted," he said.

[snip]

NOTE: Similar versions of this AP story ran in Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland and Lexington, KY. For more stories, check out: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Carter+Singleton

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6. HARSH NEW DRUG BILL ABOUT TO BE INTRODUCED IN HOUSE

Source: Drug War Chronicle #312 - November 21, 2003 http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/312/harsh.shtml

(Washington, DC) One of Congress's staunchest drug warriors, Rep. Mark Souder, is at it again. The Indiana Republican best known for authoring the Higher Education Act's anti-drug provision is about to introduce legislation that would jam federal prisons even more full of drug offenders. The bill, called with Orwellian flair the "Drug Sentencing Reform Act," is set to be introduced within the next two weeks, and Souder is looking for cosponsors, reported the Drug Policy Alliance (http://www.drugpolicy.org), which has two staffers working Capitol Hill full-time and which is organizing to kill the bill.

According to an explanation of the bill provided in a Souder e-mail to his colleagues his legislation would:

* Expand the purview of the Feeney Amendment, which restricts federal judges' ability to reduce sentences, to include drug offenses.

* Mandate random drug testing for almost all federal parolees and probationers, not just drug offenders or people suspected of having substance abuse problems.

* Direct the US Sentencing Commission to no longer allow lower sentences for nonviolent drug offenders who have certain mitigating circumstances (such as being addicted to drugs) or who lack previous criminal records.

* Create harsh new penalties for growing "high-potency" marijuana.

[snip]

Visit http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/SouderEmail.pdf to view a copy of the Souder e-mail.

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7. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WHO WOULD ARREST MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS ADMITS HE USED MARIJUANA

Source: Marijuana Policy Project, November 4, 2003 press release

http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr110403gsmm.html

(Boston, MA) U.S. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), who has previously said it would be "irresponsible" for the federal government not to arrest cancer and AIDS patients using medical marijuana under the provisions of state medical marijuana laws, acknowledged on national television tonight that he has used marijuana in the past.

The statement came in response to an e-mailed question read by moderator Anderson Cooper during the "America Rocks the Vote" candidate forum broadcast live on CNN from Boston's Fanueil Hall. Other candidates acknowledging they had smoked marijuana were U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) -- who has previously promised to sign an executive order allowing medical use of marijuana -- said, "No, but I'd decriminalize it." Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun dodged the question, laughing and saying, "I'm not going to answer."

[snip]

NOTE: For more about presidential candidates, see also: Gephardt Reneges on Promise to Put Medical Marijuana Stand in Writing http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr111203gsmm.html

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8. L.A. JUDGE RULES NO PRISON FOR THREE MEDICAL MARIJUANA CENTER WORKERS

Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune http://www.heraldtribune.com/ November 25, 2003. Read the whole story at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1826/a06.html

(Los Angeles, CA) A federal judge cited a "lesser harm doctrine" when he ruled Monday that three men who pleaded guilty to running a West Hollywood medical marijuana center would receive no prison time.

U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz expressed admiration for the men's work in helping sick patients during the sentencing hearing in which he ordered they serve only one year of probation and up to 250 hours of community service. The each were also ordered to pay a $100 fee, but their bail of $25,000 was exonerated...

Imler, Yablan and Farrington faced up to 30 months in federal prison after striking a plea bargain with prosecutors. They ran the medical marijuana center for five years until 2001 when federal agents raided the center and shut it down.

[snip]

NOTE: For more background articles on the story, see: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Scott+Imler

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9. ALASKA APPEALS COURT JUST SAYS NO TO POT CASE

Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner http://www.news-miner.com/ November 15, 2003. View the whole story at: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1768/a10.html

By Dan Rice

The Alaska Court of Appeals will not reconsider its August decision allowing adults to possess as much as a quarter-pound of marijuana in their home.

In an opinion released Friday, the court denied the Alaska attorney general's petition to rehear the case, which invalidated a 1990 voter initiative criminalizing all amounts of marijuana by calling the resulting ban on personal pot use in the home unconstitutional.

The court rejected all the assertions the attorney general's office made in arguing that the decision was flawed in the case of Noy v. State, which resulted in Attorney General Gregg Renkes instructing all state law enforcement agencies not to arrest or cite adults for personal marijuana use in their home.

[snip]

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10. SOUTH CAROLINA: HIGH SCHOOL DRUG RAID SPARKS INCREDULITY, OUTRAGE

Source: Drug War Chronicle #311 - November 14, 2003 http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/311/stratford.shtml

A November 5th drug raid at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina, has sparked national media attention, local outrage, a state police investigation, and a rapidly coalescing protest movement in the usually tranquil Charleston suburb. As television viewers nationwide saw, the 6:40 a.m. raid featured an aggressive squad of police bursting into a school hallway with guns drawn, forcing cowering students to the ground, and handcuffing those they claimed complied too slowly with officers' shouted demands while police drug dogs sniffed for contraband. None was found...

"I couldn't believe this was actually happening here in the US," said Sharon Smalls, whose 14-year-old son Nathaniel was one of the students victimized in the raid. "I thought it was a bad joke until I actually saw it on the news. Most parents are really outraged about this," she told DRCNet, "and the only ones who are not outraged are the ones whose kids were not involved. It is not ever okay to point a gun at a child's head," she said.

"Those police put Nathaniel on the floor with guns to his head and searched his pockets, his socks and his shoes," Smalls said. "I know the school says they were surveilling the kids for some time, but why they went after these particular kids, I don't know. They didn't find any of them doing anything wrong. Nathaniel is frightened and confused."

[snip]

For more details, see INCIDENT AT GOOSE CREEK: FALLOUT CONTINUES IN AFTERMATH OF HIGH SCHOOL DRUG RAID at http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/312/incident.shtml

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11. REEFER SANITY

The brain's cannabinoid receptor is the target of a rush (ha!) to develop new drugs

Source: Fortune Magazine, November 24, 2003

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/thisjustin/0,15704,540400,00.html

By Meredith Wadman

...Drug companies are racing to develop pills that plug into the same brain-signaling system that once had boomers flying high�this time to help them lose weight.

Experimental drugs that block the brain receptor activated by marijuana�called the cannabinoid receptor�are showing clear promise in fighting obesity. And that's not the only vice that may soon be treatable with this new breed of mind medicine. Predilections for Marlboros and martinis are also targets of a new drug now in human trials and nearing the clinic, with imitators hot on its tail.

Farther from the pharmacist's counter but still firing up a lot of interest are experimental compounds that work not by blocking cannabinoid receptors but by activating them. These are squelching strokes, allaying anxiety, and easing pain in lab animals. There's even a suggestion that drugs that stimulate cannabinoid receptors in sperm may one day yield a contraceptive for men... The cannabinoid system is important in the function of memory as well.

"The cannabinoid area is getting ready for prime time," says Daniele Piomelli, a leading researcher at the University of California at Irvine. "What makes it particularly promising is that there are a lot of companies working on these classes of compounds."

It's hard to overstate just how important--and rare--it is to identify an entirely new class of brain receptors, the neurotransmitters that act on them, and the molecules that ferry those neurotransmitters or break them down. Consider the pharmaceutical and cultural revolution launched with the discovery of the transporter for serotonin, which led to the development of Prozac, Zoloft, and other antidepressants. The body's home-grown cannabinoid neurotransmitters and their receptors--discovered only in the past 13 years--could give rise to a whole new generation of blockbusters. "It's one of the hottest areas in neuroscience," says George Kunos, scientific director at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

[snip]

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12. SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA EASES ALZHEIMER'S AGITATION

Source: Yahoo HealthDayNews http://story.news.yahoo.com/ November 20, 2003

(Long Branch, N.J.) Dronabinol, a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marijuana, helps reduce agitation in people with Alzheimer's disease.

So say researchers at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J.

Their Phase II, open label, randomized, parallel-group study of 54 patients also concluded that the reduced agitation experienced by Alzheimer's patients may offer some relief to family caregivers...

Agitation affects about 75 percent of people with Alzheimer's and is the most common behavioral management problem in patients with the disease.

[snip]

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13. INTRODUCING "THE MS PATIENTS UNION"

Source: Cheryl Miller Memorial Project, November 12, 2003 announcement

By Jim Miller, Beckie Nikkel, Hilary McQuie and Gary Storck

After joining together in Washington DC for the Cheryl Miller Memorial Project, a number of MS patients and supporters decided they would like to create an ongoing group of patients, caregivers, and advocates as a "MS Patients Union" for medical marijuana. As organizers and participants of the Cheryl Miller Memorial Project, we have taken it upon ourselves to help facilitate the formation of this group. This group would serve as a support network for MS patients who use or might want to use marijuana as medicine and their caregivers, be a vehicle for political lobbying and public education, and advocate for active support of the MS Society.

If you would like to join an email list for this new group, which we have given the temporary name of the MS Patients Union, please send a request to gstorck@immly.org .

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14. CANNABIS STUDY SHOWS SMALL MS BENEFIT

Multiple sclerosis patients report some relief in pot trial.

Source: Nature, November 7, 2003

http://www.nature.com/nsu/031103/031103-14.html

By: Helen Pearson

(UK) Cannabis may soothe symptoms of multiple sclerosis, concludes the first large-scale clinical trial of the drug's perceived benefit to sufferers. Legally, the drug remains largely out of bounds.

The British study is the one of the strongest scientific endorsements of patients' anecdotal evidence that cannabis helps to relieve the pain of multiple sclerosis (MS). John Zajicek of the University of Plymouth and his team gave 630 patients either a placebo, cannabis extract, or a synthetic form of marijuana's most active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

After 15 weeks, 60% of patients taking the drugs reported that it helped their pain and muscle stiffness, compared with 46% of those on the placebo. It also helped them to walk more easily.

[snip]

NOTES:

**This article is based on the study: Zajicek, J. et al. Cannabinoids for treatment of spasticity and other symptoms related to multiple sclerosis (CAMS study): multicentre randomised placebo-controlled trial. The Lancet, 362, 1517 - 1526, (2003).

**To view the latest news about cannabis and MS, see: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/multiple+sclerosis

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15. POT COMPOUND INHIBITS TUMOR CELL GROWTH, STUDY SAYS

Source: NORML News, Volume 6, Issue 45, November 20, 2003 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3442

(Milan, Italy) Administration of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) inhibits the growth of human glioma (brain tumor) cells both in vitro (e.g., a petri dish) and in animals, according to clinical trial data published in the November 14, 2003 issue of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

"The addition of CBD to the culture medium led to a dramatic drop ...[in the] viability [of] glioma cells in a concentration-dependent manner,"researchers at the University of Milan found. The study also demonstrated "for the first time, that the antiproliferative effect of CBD was correlated to induction of apoptosis (programmed cell death of malignant cells)."

Scientists further demonstrated that the administration of CBD in mice "significantly inhibited the growth of subcutaneously implanted U87 human glioma cells." They concluded, "Non-psychoactive CBD ... produce[s] a significant antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo, thus suggesting a possible application of CBD as an antineoplastic agent (something which prevents the growth of malignant cells)."

The study's findings come just one month after a clinical review in the journal Nature Reviews Cancer suggested that cannabinoids' palliative effects in cancer patients and ability to inhibit the growth of certain types of malignant tumors make them a potentially desirable agents in the treatment of cancer.

[snip]

NOTES:

**Abstracts of the study, entitled "Antitumor effects of cannabidiol, a non-psychotropic cannabinoid, on human glioma cell lines," are available online at: http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/jpet.103.061002v1

**For more studies, see also: Pot Constituents Offer Novel Approach To Anti-Cancer Therapy, Medical Journal Says at http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5806

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16. NEARLY ONE OUT OF THREE HIV PATIENTS USE MARIJUANA MEDICINALLY, STUDY SAYS

Source: NORML News, November 26, 2003 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5845

(Toronto, ON) Approximately one in three HIV patients in Ontario uses marijuana for medicinal purposes, according to the results of a study presented this week at the 2003 Ontario HIV Treatment Network http://www.ohtn.on.ca/ research conference.

Among HIV-positive Ontarians, 29 percent use cannabis therapeutically, study presenter Michelle Furler of the University of Toronto said. Respondents explained that they used marijuana to stimulate appetite, aid sleep, and alleviate nausea and vomiting. A higher percentage of female respondents noted that they used marijuana for pain management.

Almost half of those who used cannabis medicinally said they used it daily.

According to a recently published study in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, use of inhaled marijuana demonstrates "no major, short-term harmful effects and possibly some beneficial effects ... in HIV-infected patients taking protease inhibitors."

Presently, clinical trials examining the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in HIV patient populations are ongoing at the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.

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17. BRITISH DECRIM LAW TO TAKE EFFECT IN JANUARY

Source: NORML News, Volume 6, Issue 45, November 20, 2003 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3442

(London, UK) The British House of Lords voted this week 63 to 37 to downgrade marijuana from a Class B to a Class C scheduled drug so that its possession is no longer an arrestable offense under British law. The vote was the final hurdle facing the reclassification proposal, which was initially announced by Home Secretary David Blunkett two years ago. Marijuana will be officially downgraded to a Class C "non-arrestable" soft drug on January 29, 2004.

Under reclassification, individuals found in possession of "personal use" amounts of marijuana will be cautioned by police, but no longer arrested. (Police will retain the discretion to make an arrest under special "aggravated" circumstances, such as if marijuana is smoked on school grounds.) Presently, about 80,000 Britons are arrested annually for possessing cannabis.

Class C is the least harmful category of illegal drugs under British law. Although possession of Class C drugs technically carries a two-year maximum prison term, only offenses punishable by at least five years imprisonment are arrestable in England. However, those caught supplying Class C drugs, including cannabis, may be subject to as many as 14 years in jail.

[snip]

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18. CANADA DECRIMINALIZATION BILL DIES QUIET DEATH

Source: Drug War Chronicle #311 - November 14, 2003

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/311/c38.shtml

The marijuana decriminalization bill promoted by the government of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien is dead. The bill and all other pending legislation was killed Wednesday afternoon when Chretien prorogued (or adjourned) Parliament before his pending retirement. Parliament will resume in a new session beginning January 12, but Chretien's successor, Paul Martin, has shown little enthusiasm for reintroducing a decrim bill.

Chretien's Cannabis Reform Bill (C-38) will not be mourned by many. Old-school drug fighters, such as Canadian Alliance Member of Parliament Randy White and Canadian police associations, opposed any liberalization of the marijuana laws, as did US drug czar John Walters. And marijuana reform advocates were chary of the bill because while it would have made the possession of a small amount of marijuana a non-criminal offense punishable only by a fine, it also included provisions that would have increased penalties for all but the smallest marijuana cultivation operations.

While parliamentary action to change Canada's cannabis laws may be on indefinite hold, the Canadian Supreme Court has already heard arguments in a series of cases challenging the government's ability to outlaw marijuana possession and distribution. A decision in those cases, which cite the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, is expected any week now...

To read the decrim bill online, visit: http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/government/C-38/C-38_2/C-38TOCE.html

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The following items are included in every OPNews:

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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 Jean Taddie, Editor 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 7:30 p.m. (eastern time) the first 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/ . To receive further information, including instructions for the PalTalk meeting room, 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 webform 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.