LocalDallas/National Radio Talk Show Host For Med Marijuana

Turning over the Federal Pot laws must be the first domino to bring THEM down!
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On-Air Comments of Rich Sheridan to Mark Davis, WBAP, 820, June 6, 2005, Dallas-Ft. Worth
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THE HYPOCRACY Of MARIJUANA LAWS

“Mark,

My pot is boiling over on this one.

Federal Government Marijuana laws, and many state laws represent a sickening hypocracy…

Look at Cigarettes, Booze, and Pharmecutical Drugs,

Combined, They kill and maim in the millions each year.

And marijuana…

I’ll give it 5,000 stupid Cheech & Chong wrap around a tree deaths each year

About 10 states have legalized the medical use of Pot.

About 10 states have Pot smoking in public as a ticketable offense.

Are these states stupid? I think not.

THIS IS A GIGANTIC LOBBYING EFFORT ON THE PART OF THE ALCOHOL, CIGARETTE, AND PHARMCEUTICAL INDUSTRIES!!!

An as far as the children are concerned, give me a break. We don’t want our children drinking and driving, nor smoking marijuna and driving.”

I believe Mr. Davis agreed with me on the alcohol part. His column in today’s Dallas Morning News (June8) ROSE TO HEROIC PROPORTIONS. I quote:

“If doctors are willing to prescribe medical marijuana for patients who benefit from it in states whose voters have chosen to allow it, the federal government should butt out.

“This should not be about pro-pot activists’ desires to legalize their stash or anti-pot activists’ desires to ban as much of it as possible. This should be about individual and states’ rights."

“The DEA has a full plate, properly and honorably trying to stem the flow of illegal drugs into our country. Local authorities can fill their days with the countless users looking for nothing more than a high.”

"Neither segment of law enforcement needs to be consumed with whether a few people are blazing up therapeutically.”

Please Everyone, Call or E-mail Mark Davis To Thank Him mdavis@WBAP.com 214-787-1820 on-air or office 817-695-1820)

Mark Davis, A REPUBLICAN, For The Medical Use Of Pot!

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Evidence Supporting Marijuana's Medical Value

Written references to the use marijuana as a medicine date back nearly 5,000 years.[1] Western medicine embraced marijuana's medical properties in the mid-1800s, and by the beginning of the 20th century, physicians had published more than 100 papers in the Western medical literature recommending its use for a variety of disorders.[2] Cannabis remained in the United States pharmacopoeia until 1941, removed only after Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act which severely hampered physicians from prescribing it. The American Medical Association (AMA) was one of the most vocal organizations to testify against the ban, arguing that it would deprive patients of a past, present and future medicine.[3]

Modern research suggests that cannabis is a valuable aid in the treatment of a wide range of clinical applications.[4] These include pain relief -- particularly of neuropathic pain (pain from nerve damage) -- nausea, spasticity, glaucoma, and movement disorders.[5] Marijuana is also a powerful appetite stimulant, specifically for patients suffering from HIV, the AIDS wasting syndrome, or dementia.[6] Emerging research suggests that marijuana's medicinal properties may protect the body against some types of malignant tumors[7] and are neuroprotective.[8]
Currently, more than 60 U.S. and international health organizations -- including the American Public Health Association [9] , Health Canada[10] and the Federation of American Scientists[11] -- support granting patients immediate legal access to medicinal marijuana under a physician's supervision. (Click here for a complete listing of organizations.) Several others, including the American Cancer Society[12] and the American Medical Association[13] support the facilitation of wide-scale, clinical research trials so that physicians may better assess cannabis' medical potential. In addition, a 1991 Harvard study found that 44 percent of oncologists had previously advised marijuana therapy to their patients.[14] Fifty percent responded they would do so if marijuana was legal. A more recent national survey performed by researchers at Providence Rhode Island Hospital found that nearly half of physicians with opinions supported legalizing medical marijuana.[15]

Government Commissions Back Legalization

Virtually every government-appointed commission to investigate marijuana's medical potential has issued favorable findings. These include the U.S. Institute of Medicine in 1982[16] the Australian National Task Force on Cannabis in 1994[17] and the U.S. National Institutes of Health Workshop on Medical Marijuana in 1997.[18] More recently, Britain's House of Lord's Science and Technology Committee found in 1998 that the available evidence supported the legal use of medical cannabis.[19] MPs determined: "The government should allow doctors to prescribe cannabis for medical use. ... Cannabis can be effective in some patients to relieve symptoms of multiple sclerosis, and against certain forms of pain. ... This evidence is enough to justify a change in the law."[20] The Committee reaffirmed their support in a March 2001 follow-up report criticizing Parliament for failing to legalize the drug.[21]
U.S. investigators reached a similar conclusion in 1999. After conducting a nearly two-year review of the medical literature, investigators at the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine affirmed: "Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs ... for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation. ... Except for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range tolerated for other medications."[22] Nevertheless, the authors noted cannabis inhalation "would be advantageous" in the treatment of some diseases, and that marijuana's short- term medical benefits outweigh any smoking-related harms for some patients. Predictably, federal authorities failed to act upon the IOM's recommendations, and instead have elected to continue their long-standing policy of denying marijuana's medical value.

Source: www.norml.com

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