!['Medical Marijuana Pouring Out Of A Prescription Bottle' [Shutterstock] http://tinyurl.com/knvn5q2](https://i0.wp.com/www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Medical-Marijuana-Pouring-Out-Of-A-Prescription-Bottle-Shutterstock-800x430.jpg?resize=468%2C252)
Feds admit medical pot works on brain tumors — but they’re going after users anyway
In a report issued by a U.S. government-funded research group tasked with studying drug abuse and addiction, researchers are admitting that marijuana is useful in killing off specific types of brain tumors.
The report — coming from a government-backed group with annual budget of over $1 billion — arrives at an awkward time for the administration following an announcement by the Department of Justice this week that it will continue to prosecute medical marijuana cases against individuals in defiance of Congress.
According to the Daily Caller, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) issued a revised report for the month of April, stating, “recent animal studies have shown that marijuana can kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others. Evidence from one animal study suggests that extracts from whole-plant marijuana can shrink one of the most serious types of brain tumors. Research in mice showed that these extracts, when used with radiation, increased the cancer-killing effects of the radiation.”
The NIDA report reflects research reported in November last year in the Molecular Cancer Therapies journal.
While one government agency is admitting the benefits of marijuana in medical treatments, the Justice Department is pushing forward with prosecuting medical marijuana users.
In December, Congress added an amendment to a spending bill ordering the Justice Department to not inhibit states where medical marijuana is legal from implementing their laws.
In a statement on Wednesday, spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said the Justice Department does not believe the amendment applies to cases against individuals or organizations.
Justice Department officials believe the amendment only stops the department from “impeding the ability of states to carry out their medical marijuana laws,” and can still go after users.
Writing at the Huffington Post , Drug Policy Alliance Director of National Affairs, Bill Piper, chastised the Justice Department, saying they are defying the will of the voters.
“Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia have laws that legalize and regulate marijuana for medicinal purposes. And 12 states have laws on the books regulating cannabidiol (CBD) oils, a non-psychotropic component of medical marijuana which some parents are utilizing to treat their children’s seizures, ” he wrote, adding “Four states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for non-medical use.”
“The Justice Department is ignoring the will of the voters, defying Congress, and breaking the law. President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder need to rein in this out-of-control agency,” he said, calling on Congress to change federal drugs law allowing states to be free to set their own marijuana policies without federal interference.
Filed under: General Problems
Sooooo agree Coonhound. I am in a group that is just starting out and working on advocacy and looking first at – where are the problems so we can start working on them. I’d love to copy this into the group, but would only do so with your permission. Or if you want to check out the group or it’s ‘about’, if I could figure out how to contact you without either of us giving away contact info here, I’d be glad to. Would also like to ask you this – don’t you think all these agencies are interested in population control? Chronic pain means those people are no longer worth keeping around, maybe, whether its injury related, illness related up to and including cancer.. ??
I think that they are first and foremost interested in money and power. Denial of care and other forms of population control (sterilization, euthanasia, and eugenics) are just a means to an end. I imagine there are some hard core ideologues sprinkled in for good measure as well.
For profit prisons and a booming business for law enforcement (drug cases are profitable [asset seizure] while solving homicides and other violent crime are a drain on departmental resources. No coincidence in the stark contrast in cleared cases when comparing violent crime pre-war on drugs and post war on drugs (under Nixon, not Harrison Act).
Most would be shocked that the Nazis were impressed w/ OUR policies and practices in the field of eugenics once they came to power (generally it is believed to be the other way around). http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Eugenics-and-the-Nazis-the-California-2549771.php
At the end of WWII when we expressed being revolted upon finding Nazi extermination camps and medical experimentation centers, we were doing the same just on a much smaller scale. It has not ended. Vacaville, Tuskegee, Lexington (Federal Narcotics ‘Farm’), California Dept of Corrections are only the most well known of the many centers of experimentation and sterilization. Still, they remain obscure if not totally unknown to the majority of the US population. We were the first country to sterilize prisoners (Indiana).
It never ceases to amaze me that the avg citizen, when confronted w/ indisputable FACTS of govt corruption, complete disregard for civil rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, drug smuggling, asset forfeiture (robbery), imminent domain,ignoring due process, the list goes on ad nauseum, contend because these happened in the past, be it 10 or 50 yrs ago hold a belief that it couldn’t possibly being going on NOW. Fast and Furious? Snowden’s whistleblowing on ‘information gathering’?
Oregon/ACLU v DEA? Virtual slave labor at for profit prisons used in competition against small businesses? Immigration checkpoints 30-50 miles INSIDE our borders? Candidates outside of the two parties are marginalized and ignored. CNN and MSNBC almost laughing, dismissed Ron Paul as an extremist for questioning extensive US foreign involvement and the drug war.
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/06/12/eugenicists-never-retreat-just-regroup-sterilization-reproductive-oppression-prisons/
Much of it is apathy the rest is a brain-washing effect caused by unrelenting propaganda spewed not only by the govt (BOTH parties) but by mainstream media. Anyone questioning this just watch CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS, and tell me why are we spending 8 hrs a day on the Aaron Hernandez murder case, or any other ‘high profile case’. Gay Marriage, Abortion ring a bell? Controversial issues meant to distract from us from the REAL ISSUES facing this country. When someone like a Gary Webb (Iran Contra) comes forward they are buried by the mainstream media and ignored by govt, until they end up dead of a suicide by TWO (2) gunshot wounds to the head, still haven’t figured out how that can happen. Let me refocus before I get too far afield.
Many who blog to sites such as Steve’s here want to complain and just wish the DEA would understand the consequences of their war on this prescription ‘epidemic’ and who it is destroying. THEY KNOW FULL WELL the WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY and HOW of it all. IT IS THEIR JOB to know these things.
Another huge point I wish to make is that anyone who reads these blogs please take to time to step back and take a look at the big picture. These egregious actions are NOT HAPPENING IN A VACUUM. No matter how good of a job Steve does at keeping us up to date and showing how we can stand up for ourselves (the best by far) it is still just one small piece of the puzzle. People who can put the pieces together are very dangerous and are the reason why the Nazis and Communists targeted not only the Jews and the disabled (mentally and physically) but also the intelligentsia of the countries they conquered and occupied.
Shocking. I have believed for some time now that we were quickly moving towards a fascist state but this ugly report is concrete proof that we are already there. When a supposed ‘democratic’ government ignores the will of the people, expressed in the most pure democratic process known, the referendum, we have stopped being a democracy.
In Fascist countries, a form of government in which many good citizens of this country died to extinguish, bureaucratic institutions and corporations (their influence exerted by lobbyists and campaign ‘contributions’ often to both parties) have more ‘pull’ than the electorate.
These alphabet institutions, DEA, DOJ, DHS, ATF, NSA were developed/created to help, serve, and protect US citizens; not harass, and deprive them of civil liberties and guaranteed rights clearly stated in our Constitution,esp the Bill of Rights. If it were truly a “living, breathing document” our Constitution is on life support at this very moment. The 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution state that IF certain powers are not enumerated in the constitution (given to the Federal Govt) then they are reserved for the states, or to the people.
BUT the Federal Govt (parties no longer matter at this point as they are two heads of the same coin) is involved in a power grab no longer concealed from US citizens. Why? They are too apathetic to notice, or if noticed to protest or argue against freely giving them up to fight the ‘epidemic’ or threat of the day whether it be, drugs, terrorism, Bolivian Bird Watchers disease, etc..
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, etc are most likely rolling over in their graves at this very moment. Like the great American patriot Patrick Henry once famously stated “I SMELL A RAT”!!!!
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/democracy
-referendum:
submission of an issue of public importance to the direct vote of the electorate
-democracy:
government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/ninth_amendment
The Tenth Amendment helps to define the concept of federalism, the relationship between Federal and state governments. As Federal activity has increased, so too has the problem of reconciling state and national interests as they apply to the Federal powers to tax, to police, and to regulations such as wage and hour laws, disclosure of personal information in record keeping systems, and laws related to strip-mining.
I cannot think of one amendment in the Bill of Rights that is not under direct assault by the Federal Govt at this time.
If defunding is not working then we must move for jury nullification at every step of the way. This strategy has worked very well in the city of Baltimore.
Hopefully this is proof enough for those poor naive souls who post to pain advocacy blogs, websites, forums for the DEA to leave the disabled alone and go after the drug dealers and addicts. To them we are nothing but addicts because to take NARCOTICS on a daily basis = addiction. Their propaganda machine has instilled this into Joe Blow and Jane Doe’s heads by repeated dogma and sensationalism in the media. The incredible proof of this can be seen on any disease online support forum. Little old ladies, w/ lupus, failed back surgery, etc saying they had to take on an addiction because the pain got to be too much to bear. There are NO signs of addiction in these people. The most they should worry about is a physical dependence which is seen in many of the meds they use like prednisone, antidepressants, caffeine, etc. Collateral damage? OK, believe it if you want. But to do so you must believe they had no idea of what was going on in FL w/ the pill mill situation. Nobody who’s job description involves stopping diversion could have missed that mess. They let that carry on for years w/ no concern for ODs or epidemics. Now all of a sudden they want to protect the public? It was allowed to fester, giving them an excuse to assault the medical establishment where like anywhere else once given an inch they take a mile. Clearly the pill mill situation is under control, rouge doctors are almost impossible to find, PDMPs are in place (though rarely used as its just easier not to dispense or write Rx period). They have accomplished their goal, giving them a purpose now that the American people are tired of giving up tax dollars and liberties to fight users of cannabis who’s only detrimental property is that it lowers the user’s IQ by a few points. They needed a mission to justify their bloated appropriations budget and so here we are.
The DEA and most of the DOJ defy and deceive the FDA, GAO, and now CONGRESS? They are the enemy of the people and cannot be trusted. They assault our Constitutional Liberties continually pushing the envelope while issuing false statements to the media. They are threatening, cajoling, and at the least confusing pharmacists, doctors, and patients behind the scenes w/ ambiguous rules and regulations so that they argue and place blame among themselves rather than the real cause of the problem (DEA).
Patients, doctors, and pharmacists need to unite against law enforcement’s presence in the medical system. It may be wise to completely defund the DEA if they cannot follow direction as pointed out clearly by the GAOs recent lambasting of DEA on their actions in regulating the ‘quota system’ which IMO should be done by some agency w/ knowledge of medicine.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/841588 [GAO on DEA bumbling and deceit]
At this point they nothing are a ROUGE AGENCY w/ no regard for US or foreign citizens and their rights or sovereignty. They do not believe they need to answer to anyone but themselves. They must be stopped.
Coonhound
Coon hound you nailed the issues! Thank you!
NO, thank YOU. Some say I go a bit overboard on conspiracies.
I was one of those types b4 becoming disabled. I have since had plenty of time for reading what goes on in the land of the free.
Drones flying overhead? Communications companies selling our txts, emails, phone conversations, and personal information to the Federal govt? DHS monitoring pain management clinics, DEA creating ‘parallel cases’ and helping themselves to our medical info w/ complete disregard of HIPPA, 4th amendment, and state regulations? One could go on and on……….
Sad but true, Tin Foil Hats should be standard issue by this point.
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