http://www.tokeofthetown.com/assets_c/2012/07/000441-titleimage-thumb-400x468.jpeg by Ron Marczyk OK, somebody please talk me off the ledge on this one... Reasons Obama Will Shut Down Medical Marijuana World's Biggest Marijuana Dispensary Targeted by the Feds... Obama's drug czar: White House is 'interested' in medical marijuana It has already started... This is what a dying war on marijuana looks like. The U.S. government is in an untenable position; the war on marijuana has failed completely, but the U.S. government also holds the sole medical marijuana patent ever granted, which proves that cannabinoids from cannabis are powerful medicines that can save thousands of lives annually and save the government billions of dollars in health costs, treating everything from cancer to neurological diseases. But after 75 years of misinformation and brainwashing the U.S. population, and the world, that marijuana is an evil drug that must be eliminated, how can it now do a 180 degree turn and sell marijuana as a medicine to the same population? The coming verbal somersaults will be amazing! Will the next president institute big changes for American drug policy? If so, the new marijuana majority who vote want to hear both candidates' views on medical and recreational legalization of marijuana before we vote, but... Isn't it odd that President Obama, who is very thoughtful and very articulate, will not discuss the topic of medical marijuana and becomes tongue-tied when he tries to explain his administration's position on marijuana? He even had the nerve to blow off the White House petitions on marijuana that were on the whitehouse.gov website this past year. Isn't it odd that Romney, who is a Mormon and who doesn't even drink tea, coffee, or alcohol, and with his business history of corporate takeovers at Bain Capital as a vulture capitalist who would love to slice and dice, and transfer medical marijuana into the hands of a for-profit corporation, also stands with Obama on this same issue, refusing to take reporters' questions? Isn't it odd that the individuals in this photo have not been interviewed on TV? Isn't it odd that the Republicans will go after Obama on every political issue except one, his early, heavy use of marijuana as a teen as part of the "total absorption" of the "Choom Gang" growing up in Hawaii? Isn't it odd that the individuals in this photo have not been interviewed on TV? There wasn't even a ripple on the Republican side after the leaked story of Obama's marijuana use as a teenager and college student. So why aren't Republicans beating Obama over the head with this club? Isn't it odd that Republicans are not using this issue to their advantage? Romney would love to transfer medical marijuana into the hands of a for-profit corporation Very odd, indeed, that neither candidate will give the medical marijuana question any oxygen, stalling and dodging until after the election, when GW Pharma goes big with TV ads touting Sativex as the new breakout miracle medicine that will in time be expanded to treat many other medical conditions across the board, generating billions of dollars in future profits in a monopoly scheme. Sativex is already legal in Spain, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, the UK, and Canada. The fix is in, or should I say the double cross. No matter who wins the 2012 presidential election, Obama or Romney, the DEA and IRS already have operational plans in place to launch a country-wide strike operation to shut down all 17 legal medical marijuana states and DC in a surge coup d'état in support of Sativex's dominance of the marketplace. The green shoots of the state-run medical marijuana programs are slowly gaining traction, but are in a state of confusion due to the ad hoc nature of popular support. This is good for the Feds future plans because they can come in and claim to straighten the whole mess out by bringing order and one FDA nationwide standard regulating this new "cannabinoid era ." So here's how it will go down: the next president addresses the nation about the 75 year old marijuana problem by saying, "OK, we will give you medical marijuana, but in the form of "medicalized cannabinoids" which be regulated and treated like any other medicine." In early 2013 the DEA will shut down every state-run medical marijuana program nationwide. This will eliminate all competition from traditional marijuana treatment centers while simultaneously introducing the US population to a breakthrough medical paradigm shift which embraces pharmaceutically produced "medicalized cannabinoids" as a new treatment option for the prevention of and cure for a wide range of illnesses. First will be multiple sclerosis, quickly followed by pain control, and even diabetes, weight loss and psychiatric meds are in the pipeline. Ever a prototype Sativex inhaler is in the works! The only thing missing is the pipe and Bic lighter. Once a drug is approved for safety and use for one medical condition, it can be prescribed "off label" by a doctor to treat any other medical condition. The rationale will now be that a good medicalized safe alternative version exists to marijuana (as in: it doesn't get you high). And a stronger reason not to tolerate traditional smoked marijuana as medical treatment will be created to aggressively hit this growing industry hard and driving it back underground, making every state governor wet their pants and stand down. But the true hidden agenda is that... Two identical products that do the same thing -- one that comes from a laboratory for $1,500 per month and one that comes from your garden that you can practically grow for free - -cannot exist side by side. GW Pharma is looking for a huge return on their investment. However, if they have to compete with individuals who can grow the same medicinal plant in their backyard and who don't have to go through the FDA drug approval process, this unfair competition will hurt future profits and scare away investors. Their Sativex business model is built on GW Pharma having a monopoly on medical marijuana in the US. The DEA will use the introduction of this new drug as a last ditch effort to save its failed 75-year war on cannabis and to protect their jobs and it's $27 billion Drug War budget from being cut. It's now or never for the DEA: they must go for broke due to the drive to legalize marijuana in Colorado this November which is polling at 60 percent approval rating. Any further delay on their part only allows the movement to grow stronger until it can't be stopped. That is the tipping point we have now reached and the DEA's back is against the wall. They need to maintain the image of the marijuana boogie man to have a mission statement. DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart recently refused, in testimony before Congress, to admit marijuana is any different from heroin, meth or cocaine If they don't stop legalization now, the DEA will lose half of its reason for being; if marijuana is legal, the agency potentially stands to lose half of its future funding. The 75 year war on marijuana is a failure, billions of dollars have been wasted, countless lives and families have been ruined. This is the worst kept secret in law enforcement. Under this new plan, the wonderful healing therapeutic euphoric effects of smoked, vaporized or consumed cannabis will still get you arrested, producing overtime for police and profits for the largest industry prison in the world, and now big pharma is going be the new player at the table eager to cash in on the immorality of marijuana prohibition. Sativex, the 100 percent marijuana, excuse me, the 100 percent marijuana-based cannabinoid mouth spray, will be introduced and marketed to physicians and pharmacies across the US right after the 2012 Presidential election. The new rebranding campaign's aim will be to downplay the link between medical marijuana and this new medical breakthrough field of "medicalized cannabinoids" which will be given FDA approval. To add to this mendacity, Sativex, even though it is a 100 percent extract of marijuana, will be granted Schedule II or III controlled drug status. The pressure has already started; why do you think that credit cards are no longer being accepted in marijuana dispensaries?? A very neat marketing ploy will be launched to separate "medicinal cannabinoids" from the evils of smokable marijuana. Their marketing strategy will be falsely based on that of opioids, as in people shouldn't smoke raw opium as a pain medicine due to its addiction potential. However, opioid-based medicines derived from the poppy plant have important analgesic properties when refined and used under strict physician care. From the get-go, this assumption is wrong. These two drugs are not the same but are treated as if they were, as in Drug Enforcement Administration Director Michele Leonhart's recent testimony. During an oversight hearing before Congress, Leonhart flat-out refused to admit that marijuana is any different from heroin, meth, or cocaine, Look, all illegal drugs are harmful, ok? Marijuana = heroin = meth = cocaine; they are all the same. The compartmentalization of this woman's mind is tighter than a duck's rear end. The DEA and FDA will try to separate and rationalize Sativex vs. marijuana by claiming one is a safe medicine and the other is a dangerous drug of abuse which is bad for your health. If you use Sativex you are a patient, if you smoke marijuana you are an addict in need of jail time. Using this "medical breakthrough" as a cover story, the DEA and IRS, using threats and raiding marijuana clinics, will take down this fledging industry. The pressure has already started; why do you think that credit cards are no longer being accepted in marijuana clinics? The California raids was just the practice drill for what is about to come. The California clinic raids and shutdowns were just an experiment to gauge how much political pushback there would be from the cannabis culture. The DEA will, with future presidential support, will double down and launch a simultaneous all-state shutdown of every medical marijuana clinic, using the military tactics model not just in California, but country-wide. Imagine that: SWAT teams arresting medical providers and sick people in wheelchairs whose only crime is smoking a tree. Cities and states will fold one by one as the federal law on marijuana is enforced by a DEA crusade that will run wild with unchecked power against the will of the majority of Americans who want marijuana legalized. To help get physicians on board, the FDA, which is the sole body regulating a physician's ability to write prescriptions for controlled substances, could pull the license of any physicians who write prescriptions for marijuana; they would be forced to write for Sativex as a substitute in addition to the generous free samples that will be given to physicians to hand out. The goals of this plan will be to marginalize medical marijuana, to co-op the entire medical marijuana industry and transfer it and all profits to big pharma. It will be a one-punch; stock in GW pharma will go north on Wall Street as swat teams arrest the ill and close up clinics, driving marijuana back underground, which is the goal of the DEA. The cannabis culture has done such a good job over the years of proving that marijuana is an effective medicine that Big Pharma will use this factual information to their advantage -- as in, "now get all the benefits of pure, tested, standardized dosing, non smokable medicine with no chance of marijuana addiction." The cornerstone rationale to legalize marijuana is that it is a 100 percent safe, highly effective medicine for a wide variety of illnesses. The DEA will use this point to their advantage by agreeing with it and using it as their rationale as to why Sativex is better than unregulated smokable marijuana that gets you high, which is not seen as a therapeutic effect in its own right. So the official government position will be: fine, you want marijuana legalized as a medicine? That is what we will give you in the form of Sativex, but what we will not allow are people getting high on marijuana, and smokable plant based marijuana will still be against the law. This rationale will split medical effects and recreational marijuana use in two separate classifications. Taking THC out of cannabis is like taking beer out of baseball. This false dichotomy will set up an entirely new, legal, marijuana-based pharmaceutical industry worldwide, and all the profits from it will be privatized. So now, in addition to profitable privatized prisons, police department overtime, and military hardware manufacturers who sell police department gear, a new major source of profits will be created for the drug industries. How long do you think it will take for Sativex to be approved as a maintenance drug treatment for "marijuana addiction," similar to methadone treatment for heroin use? One look at the GW Pharma website bears this out. The site is really focused on attracting new investors, not on relieving the misery of sick patients. I leave you with the goals of GW Pharma. The GW Pharmaceuticals "marijuana product pipeline" -- soon to be available at your neighborhood pharmacy: The GW Pharmaceuticals "marijuana product pipeline" -- soon to be available at your neighborhood pharmacy Chairman's Statement This year has seen GW continue to deliver. With the International commercial roll-out of Sativex® gathering pace, we can look forward to continued sales growth as well as further approvals and launches. We also continue to invest in the pipeline in order to create new income streams to drive future growth and value creation." "The Cannabinoid Research Institute has been formed to build a bridge between commercial enterprise and academia. We believe that this is the best way for GW to undertake fundamental science and to investigate the future commercial opportunities which may arise with phytocannabinoids." "In addition to enhancing GW's pipeline of cannabis-based medicines by conducting early stage clinical trials" "New product opportunities will arise from more precise targeting of cannabinoids to specific illnesses and from the discovery and application of new cannabinoid products". "Collaborating with independent clinical investigators to explore novel uses of cannabinoids and cannabis extracts." Photo: Ron Marczyk Mr. Worth Repeating: former NYPD cop, former high school health teacher, the unstoppable Ron Marczyk, R.N., Toke of the Town columnist Editor's note: Ron Marczyk is a retired high school health education teacher who taught Wellness and Disease Prevention, Drug and Sex Ed, and AIDS education to teens aged 13-17. He also taught a high school International Baccalaureate psychology course. He taught in a New York City public school as a Drug Prevention Specialist. He is a Registered Nurse with six years of ER/Critical Care experience in NYC hospitals, earned an M.S. in cardiac rehabilitation and exercise physiology, and worked as a New York City police officer for two years. Currently he is focused on how evolutionary psychology explains human behavior.
Not sure if this is for real or not. It was posted in another news thread of mine and I thought it deserved it's own thread. Thanks, Zeroms Personally, I think it really makes our government look shitty. Instead of admitting they're wrong, correcting their mistakes and moving forward; they are stuck with the typical mindset of: I'm right, you're wrong, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind. Note: If there are any copy and paste errors, let me know and I'll fix it
They can continue their attack on mmj until we legalize cannabis in enuff states to make enforcement at the Federal level unmanageable,,the same way alcohol prohibition ended,,the feds didn't give up on alcohol prohibition,,the people did.
I recall predicting this just a few months ago during a debate over whether or not war veterans should be allowed to treat their ptsd with medical marijuana. This is one of those told ya so instances where I truly wished I was wrong.
Unfortunately, I believe it. Don't think it'll happen right away, probably take years for it to progress into the system. But what do they plan on doing with the hundreds of thousands of people that use MJ the old fashioned way? Arrest us? Hell its already illegal in IL so they can't really make it more illegal. Not to mention its already too late to do this. If they wanted to do this, should've done it 15-20 years ago when probably could have pulled it off.
this is a shame, but a great read. Nothing surprising coming from the U.S government is it? but I don't see how this will "fix" the war on drugs, mostly the war on marijuana. This will open Sativex to millions of people that will use this for only the medical reason. I'm not sure if this product will actually get any user high or not. The plant will still be grown, buds will still be sold. Everything will stay the same I think. The MMJ industry wont disappear
They didn't have drugs like Sativex to use as their scapegoat 20 years ago. Pricks like Mitch McConnell use Marinol as their excuse for feeling they don't need to legalize cannabis. McConnell's exact words to me in his cookie-cutter response letter was just that, "We don't need marijuana when we have drugs like Marinol on the market." Now, they have Sativex, which is a much better drug, from what I understand, than Marinol. So that's going to make it that much harder for us to plead our case for legalizing the real thing.
Sativex (pharmaceutical marijuana) approved in ten more European countries | The NORML Stash Blog Some info from the link, copy and pasted: Nope, this is the real thing, the whole plant, with all the THC, CBD, terpenoids, flavinoids, reduced to an spray. It goes under the tongue, where your mucous membranes absorb the cannabis medicine quickly, almost like smoking or vaporizing plant cannabis, so there are no issues with swallowing difficulty or delayed effect like Marinol. It comes in guaranteed dosage, potency, and purity. It may be more expensive than growing pot, but insurance companies will likely cover the cost of the drug for cancer and MS patients. The Lesson of Sativex | Alternet
I don't shive a git what Sativex and big pharm does,,after over 40 years of being a labeled a criminal and living in a hard core prison loving state,I will make my own hash oil tincture if I need it.
Sativex will be a schedule II, so MMJ will still be very viable. They may be willing to admit that they finally have a cannabis medicine that they are willing to let people use, but they won't make it available to people with insomnia or arthritis or other issues like that. They still don't want people to get high and get woken up. Plus Sativex is expensive as fuck. Something like $500 a bottle I think. Anyone can make a bottle of it themselves at home for $70. That's with the inflated black market cannabis price too.
^That's actually a good point. Like I said, anyone can make this shit in their own kitchen for 70 bucks. Maybe less. So you really would only need to fill your script once, and then as long as you have your bottle you can fill it with your own home brew. You still would get in trouble if caught with the plant matter though. But that would be a good way to get around the fucking ridiculous cost.
Thanks to purplerhino for the excellent post. A lot of disqusting stuff, and I believe it all. Sadly, I don't see the feds legalizing marijuana in my lifetime (I'm 58). Too many sanctimonious fucks in law enforcement, and the DEA would be out of work. I really believe The Federal government doesn't give a fat rat about us, or our health. It's nothin' but money. There's a huge marijuana market, and they want their share of it. Like Chris Rock said years ago...the money's not in the cure, the money's in the medicine." And seriously, am I the only one that thinks Michele Leonhart looks stoned?
Heck I'm 25 and I'm doubting the feds will legalize it in my lifetime. If they do, it'll probably be sometime when I'm your age or close to retirement.
It looks like she may have been sampling some confiscated evidence,,,field testing it,don't you know.