White House official dismissed the report yesterday as a "political act"~ they do know all about "political acts" look in Casablanka's back yard......

Doctors: Ease penalties for medical use, research.
Phila. group prescribes new look at pot for U.S.

By John Sullivan

Inquirer Staff Writer

In a move it hopes will spur research into medical uses of marijuana, the nation's second-largest physicians' group is calling on the government to ease criminal penalties for doctors who study and recommend the plant, and patients who smoke it.

The American College of Physicians says several nonmedical factors - a fierce battle over legalization of the drug, a complicated approval process, and limited availability of research-grade marijuana - has hobbled scientists from looking into its full benefits.

"A clear discord exists between the scientific community and federal legal and regulatory agencies over the medicinal value of marijuana, which impedes the expansion of research," the Philadelphia-based organization states in a 13-page policy paper.

A White House official dismissed the report yesterday as a "political act" that contained no new science, and noted that other doctors' organizations think differently.

Researchers generally agree that there is some medicinal benefit to the drug. The policy paper reviews evidence that its psychoactive ingredient - tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC - is useful for the treatment of glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, nausea and pain.

But the report also argues that marijuana in its raw form may be helpful in ways that THC alone is not. It explains, for example, how patients who experience nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy may prefer smoked marijuana's milder effects over those obtained from its active ingredient in approved pills.

The paper was three years in coming, and the organization knew it would be controversial, said its president, David C. Dale, a Seattle internist and professor at the University of Washington.

"In terms of advocating for the public good and the good of medicine, this was the right thing to do," he said.

"We recognize that this is a drug that may be able to help and harm," he said, noting that medicines often work at that interface. "But the prejudices of the past shouldn't limit research into the good it can do."

Of concern to many physicians is the patchwork of state laws on the issue, and federal agencies' power to prosecute them regardless, making physicians reluctant to pursue research.

"If it's permissible by state law, patients and physicians should not be guilty of a crime for marijuana and its uses," Dale said.

To encourage study, the college wants the federal government to downgrade the drug from its status as a schedule 1 controlled substance - the same as heroin, crystal meth, LSD, and other drugs with no clear medicinal value.

A dozen states - Pennsylvania and New Jersey are not among them - have approved the use of medical marijuana or offered some protection to patients. The Food and Drug Administration has also approved two medicines containing THC.

Medical-marijuana advocates hailed the paper as a breakthrough.

"This is 124,000 doctors that have just told the federal government they are wrong," said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington group that lobbies for medical use of marijuana.

"The question about whether this is useful has been studied, and it's time to move on and figure out how to use it."

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said it changed nothing.

"This is not medical science," said chief scientist David Murray. "This is a policy paper. A political act calling for political response."

"It says, 'We want more research,' and we generally support more research as well."

Murray noted that other medical organizations - the 240,000-member American Medical Association, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society - do not support the smoked form of marijuana as medicine.

He acknowledged that compounds in marijuana, mainly cannabinoids, have some value with certain illnesses, such as when treating neurological disorders or used as an analgesic.

Research into those applications should be pursued, but drugs given to patients must be only isolated, purified compounds proven in clinical trials and approved by the FDA, Murray said. "Whatever it looks like, it will not be the raw, crude weed delivering a stew of chemicals that are demonstrably harmful and toxic."

The American College of Physicians is hoping the paper will encourage the government to help science thoroughly investigate a plant that, after 40 years of study, researchers still know less about than they would like.

Contact staff writer John Sullivan at 215-854-2473 or johnsullivan@phillynews.com

What is the price of a tax stamp these days?

From NORML.ORG:

NORML New RE:LEGALIZE! Campaign and Fundraising Week

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM NORML's NATIONAL DIRECTOR ALLEN ST. PIERRE

December 10, 2007

Dear friend of cannabis freedom,

Congratulations and welcome to the NORML family! By joining the 350,000+ concerned citizens who have voiced their support for NORML on Facebook or MySpace, you have engaged in an important first step toward ending our government's oppressive war on weed. This holiday season, NORML is urging you to take the next step by participating in our ‘Re:Legalize!’ online fundraiser this week.

Please take a moment, right now, to make your end-of-year charitable donation to NORML. Your contribution will help to assure that NORML can continue its vital work in 2008 and beyond.

NORML's efforts include:

- Introducing the first federal bill in Congress in more than 30 years seeking to end all penalties for the possession and use of marijuana;

- Coordinating the first Congressional hearings in more than a decade in favor of the legal use of medical cannabis;

- Lobbying in favor of HIGHER EDUCATION ACT (HEA) legal reforms to overturn the government's cruel and senseless ban on student aid for convicted cannabis smokers;

- Testifying in favor of marijuana law reform before dozens of state legislatures across the nation;

- Educating patients and physicians on the latest scientific and medical breakthroughs regarding the therapeutic use of cannabis;

- Providing the public with the only available US state-by-state breakdown of criminal and civil marijuana laws;

- Producing the most popular marijuana information and reform podcast, NORML's Daily Audio Stash, which now receives over 3 million downloads per year;

- Coordinating the only national network of criminal defense attorneys and experts who are available to assist NORML members day or night;

- Working with the media to become the most quoted and trusted source for marijuana-related information;

- Organizing the only annual marijuana-law reform conferences and legal seminars held in the United States.

NORML has always been a grassroots advocacy effort and cannot continue to grow this vital work without your help. By donating today, for as little as $5.00 you can help us protect and serve the tens of millions of Americans who use cannabis to enhance their lives. Your online activism and generosity during the Re-Legalize fundraiser this week can help us represent the millions more who recognize the failure of marijuana prohibition.

More than 35 years ago, NORML set out on a path to legalize marijuana. But we can't achieve this goal by ourselves. Please help us liberate all Americans from the shackles of pot prohibition. Our efforts, along with your contribution today, can help us end marijuana prohibition once and for all. Will you join us?

Thank you in advance for your generous support of NORML. As I look forward to 2008, I’m heartened by how much we've already achieved, and I’m motivated by how far we have yet to come. Let this be the year that each of us pledge to do all that we can to finally bring an end to pot prohibition -- for the safety of America's children, for the health of our sick and dying, and ultimately, for the betterment of us all.

Help us re-legalize marijuana. Make your charitable donation to NORML right now!

Sincerely,

Allen St. Pierre
Executive Director
Member, Board of Directors
NORML/NORML Foundation
Washington, DC
director@norml.org


NORML and the NORML Foundation: 1600 K Street NW, Suite 501, Washington DC, 20006-2832
Tel: (202) 483-5500 • Fax: (202) 483-0057 • Email: norml@norml.org

What are you LOOKING for?

Fisher: What are you LOOKING for?
Fisher: Why do you want to get stoned?
Jimmy: We want to get stoned, because it feels good, man.
Fisher: Bingo, because it feels good! You want to get stoned, because it feels good! Right?
Cooper: Right!
Fisher: Wrong!
Cooper: Why is that wrong?
Fisher: Because it's a cop out...
Jimmy: Ok, then can you explain to us why for what other reason than the fact it feels good, do we want to get stoned, man?
Fisher: Because it's our way, of getting closer, to god.
Fisher: That is what you're looking for; except for you didn't know it, until this minute.