The International Medical Marijuana Movement Stop Using Patients as Pawns!!! "My son is dying. I want him comfortable. This medicine helps. Why are governments doing this?" -Mrs. Skidmore, Minneapolis, MN 1992 The `International Medical Marijuana Movement' is dedicated to the following principles: *Eliminating Unnecessary Pain and Suffering *Doctors' and Patients' Rights to prescribe and receive the best medications available. *Stop the "politicalization" of medicine. Join us in our quest for a more just and compassionate world. -end-page 1 5000 BC Cannabis was discovered to have medicinal value. It wasn't until recently that fear and ignorance led the mob to make marijuana illegal. The repercussions of this act have thrown the world into a paranoiac frenzy. Millions have been arrested, corruption is rampant and sick people are denied medicine. Prohibition has not worked. It is time to legalize marijuana to... *end suffering of our sick *end the war against ourselves *start the "healing process" of our planet The American Perspective ------------------------ 1937 Cannabis was withdrawn from the American public `against the advise of the medical community'. Hemp was excluded from the Class II schedule of drugs (having demonstrated medical value) and listed as a Class I (dangerous substance with no medical value) by the Nixon administration in 1970-despite all evidence to the contrary-and was retained as Class I by the Bush administration in 1989. 1972 The Nixon-appointed Shafer Commission urged that use of cannabis be re-legalized, which was not done. Still, medical research continued, often with remarkable results. 1988 DEA administrative law Judge Francis Young found after thorough hearings that marijuana had clearly established medical use and should be reclassified as a prescriptive drug. 1990 The California Drug Advisory Board recommends legal cultivation of marijuana. 1991 80 percent of San Francisco voters vote to legalize medical use of marijuana. 1992 The federal government, in callous disregard for the suffering, ends the Medical Marijuana Program. The conscience of the nation speaks with outrage at this political decision over a medical issue. -end-page 2 Did you know that Marijuana has been shown to: *Relieve the pain of arthritis, rheumatism... *Arrest the advance of glaucoma... *Help migraine headaches... *Be an adjunct to psychotherapy... *Control spasticity from multiple sclerosis and paralysis... *Mitigate withdrawal from alcohol and other drugs... *Relieve menstrual cramps... *Open bronchial tubes to relieve asthma attacks... *Alleviate nausea and pain associated with cancer... *Help overcome insomnia... *Help people with AIDS to: *Relieve stress and depression *Eliminate nausea *Reduce pain *Fight the "wasting away" syndrome by stimulating the appetite LET DOCTORS DECIDE, NOT POLITICIANS!!!! -end-page 3 Doctors See Marijuana As Medicine "This medicine works." -Dean Edell, .D. ABC-TV Medical Advisor "Physicians should also be allowed to prescribe marijuana to supplement cancer therapy, AIDS and eye treatments." -Ivan J. Silverberg, M.D., Oncologist "Let physicians alleviate suffering." -Tod Mikuriya, M.D., Psychiatrist "This medicine does no harm to the patient and is effective in relieving pain and nausea." -Dr. Richard Choen, Chief Oncologist, California Pacific Hospital "Marijuana has been shown to be safe and effective, particularly for nausea, in people being treated for cancer, AIDS, and other serious illnesses." -David Siegel, MD, MPH; Normal Hearst, MD, MPH; Thomas J. Coates, PhD; Stephen B. Hulley, MD; Leon H. McKusick, PhD; Susan M. Kegeles, PhD; Susan M. Rubin, MPH; Mark T. Gould; Joey Taylor; Robert H. Hilliard, MA; Eve Golden, MS; Robert M. Thomas; Lee Middleton; William Wolf; Susan Folkman, PhD; Michelle Berlin, MD; William J. Woods, PhD; Joycelyn Lighthill; David R. Gibson, PhD; Larry Osborn Center for AIDS Prevention Studies University of California at San Francisco The Medical Press Agrees The Journal of Clinical Oncology reports 48% of respondents to a survey of cancer specialist recommended marijuana as medicine -July, `91 The National Academy of Science reports that marijuana relieves asthma attacks and loss of appetite. Furthermore, marijuana can be clinically used to combat nausea and vomiting, epilepsy, muscle spasticity, anxiety, depression, pain, glaucoma, and symptoms of withdrawal from alcohol and narcotics. NAS; Marijuana and Health Report -June, `82 -end-page 4 Patients Speak Out On Medical Marijuana... "This is a death sentence for me. Marijuana is keeping me alive." -Tim Braun, AIDS Survivor, 1992 "I have AIDS. Marijuana is helping me. Why do I have to go to the street and risk my safety for a medicine that is improving my quality of life? P.S. Marinol doesn't work." -John Wilson, 1991 "I am a disabled woman. Marijuana is easing my pain. Other medications have severe side-effects. I feel that marijuana is saving my life." -Mary Gennoy, 1991 "My mother had cancer. The chemotherapy was killing the cancer, but the side-effects were devastating; marijuana helped her regain her weight and lift her spirits. Why is it illegal?" -F. Morales 1991 "I use marijuana for pain and depression. I'm wheelchair bound and get lonely." -Myra Adrain-81 years old, 1992 "I'm using marijuana to keep up my weight and stop nausea. I want to live. I love my children." -Debbie (last name withheld) Mother with AIDS, 1992 Smoking marijuana is the only thing that stops my nausea and allows me to maintain my weight. It's very sad. Why won't they believe us?" -John Skidmore, Patient with AIDS, 1992 "I was a heroin addict for 15 years. Marijuana helped me get off hard drugs, and I've been clean for six years now." -John Lowell, Ex-Heroin Addict, 1992 ============================================================================ International Medical Marijuana Movement San Francisco Headquarters Dennis Peron-President 3745 Seventeenth Street San Francisco, CA 94114 (415) 864-1961 CANNABIS INFO MUSEUM O.Z. Achterburgwal 148 Amsterdam Tel: 020-6235961 -end-page 5 THE PRESS DEMOCRAT, Wednesday March 11, 1992 Medicinal marijuana ban "Harmful," says Health Service... ..."Not True," say community leaders. "Most of us in the medical professions believe this decision is politically motivated. Marijuana as medicine works." -Dr Dean Edell, ABC-TV Medical Advisor "It's time we realized that prohibition has not worked. I'm calling for the legalization of marijuana with regulation. The cost are too great to ignore." -James P. Gray, Superior Court, Orange County "Another decision that puts politics over medicine." -Tod Mikuriya, MD "If you had all the facts you would agree like me that marijuana should be legal." -William F. Buckley "The health professionals want medical marijuana...., the Right Wing politicians don't." -Representative Nancy Pelosi, United States Congress "Marijuana legalization would be the first step in healing the relations between the community and the police." -Joseph McNamara, Former Chief of Police, San Jose "An objective study of marijuana shows it responsible for less damage to individual and society than alcohol and cigarettes. The laws against cultivation for personal use should be repealed." -California Research Advisory Panel appointed by cross-section of California Officials "Don't let narrow-minded politics interfere with good medicine. As a woman who has undergone chemotherapy and is surviving cancer...this medicine works." -Jo Daly, San Francisco Police Commissioner (Retired) "I have watched the legislative intent of whole states dismissed by a small group of federal officials who have never held public office and have a political agenda. -Robert S. Helpler, M.D. Professor, UCLA "These laws are dividing us...,let's try and see our way out of this. Let's start by legalizing marijuana." -Mayor Kurt Schmoke, Baltimore -end-page 6 This document was obtained on one of my trips to Holland and the Cannabis Museum in Amsterdam, funny I should find info on an American based organizations over there and not here. I thought some of you might like reading it. Especially with all the names and quotes. So I typed it all in before placing it in the `finished' box. Enjoy and as usual please ignore any errors (typo's) or correct them and repost it...<g> -me ... Honk if you're NORML. --- D'Bridge 1.58 * Origin: Elan Data Systems (FidoNet 1:147/1011.12)