Subscribe
Archive → February, 2010
Bong Hits for Boomers: Marijuana Smoking on Rise for Seniors
Some Baby Boomers aren’t giving up smoking pot as they age. Others are coming back to it as they retire.
In her 88 years, Florence Siegel has learned how to relax: a glass of red wine; a crisp copy of The New York Times, if she can wrest it from her husband; some classical music, preferably Bach; and every night like clockwork she lifts a pipe to her lips and smokes marijuana.
A survey by the federal government found the percentage of people 50 and older using marijuana went from 1.9 percent in 2002 to 2.9 percent in 2008.
The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds. Their reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent. Observers expect further increases as 78 million boomers born between 1945 and 1964 age.
Among them is Perry Parks, 67, of Rockingham, N.C., a retired Army pilot who suffered crippling pain from degenerative disc disease and arthritis. He had tried all sorts of drugs, from Vioxx to epidural steroids, but found little success.
About two years ago he turned to marijuana, which he first had tried in college, and was amazed how well it worked for the pain.
“I realized I could get by without the narcotics,” Parks said, referring to prescription painkillers. “I am essentially pain free.”
For many seniors, smoking pot was something they at least tried in high school or college and doesn’t have the stigma it had for those born earlier.
But older users could be at risk for falls if they become dizzy and smoking it increases the risk of heart disease and it can cause cognitive impairment, said Dr. William Dale, chief of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Dennis Day, a 61-year-old attorney in Columbus, Ohio, said when he used to get high, he wore dark glasses to disguise his red eyes, feared talking to people on the street and worried about encountering police. With age, he says, any drawbacks to the drug have disappeared.
“My eyes no longer turn red, I no longer get the munchies,” Day said. “The primary drawbacks to me now are legal.”
Siegel bucks the trend as someone who was well into her 50s before she tried pot for the first time. She can muster only one frustration with the drug.
“I never learned how to roll a joint,” she said. “It’s just a big nuisance. It’s much easier to fill a pipe.”
L.A. County charges medical marijuana distributor with 24 felonies
Bail is set at $520,000 for Jeff Joseph, owner of a popular Venice-area dispensary. His attorney says the prosecution is politically motivated and disputes the D.A.’s claim that state law bans sales.
More than four months ago, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley warned that state law does not allow dispensaries to sell medical marijuana and zeroed in on Organica, a popular Venice-area outlet, as one possible target.
On Monday, Cooley delivered on that promise.
Jeff Joseph, Organica’s operator, was charged with 24 felonies, including selling, transporting and possessing marijuana, and a court commissioner set bail at $520,000, more than five times the amount his lawyer requested. Joseph pleaded not guilty.
Calling the bail “outrageous,” attorney Eric Shevin said the prosecution was “politically driven” in response to community pressure to shut down hundreds of dispensaries that have spread throughout Los Angeles. “So they use a very high-profile individual, unfortunately in this case, Mr. Joseph, to basically stand up for everybody,” he said.
Joseph Esposito, who heads the district attorney’s major narcotics division, said Organica’s operator was not singled out. “There have been dozens of cases that the office has filed,” he said. “We’re going to evaluate every case differently.”
Joseph’s case, which was intensely investigated by police and federal agents, has the potential to test whether state law permits dispensaries to sell marijuana.
Cooley and Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich insist that state law allows collectives to grow marijuana and recoup their costs but not sell it over the counter, a practice that is widespread. Both have sought to pursue cases that could force the courts to settle the debate.
Trutanich won an early round in a lawsuit against an Eagle Rock dispensary. A Superior Court judge ordered it to halt sales. Last week, the city attorney filed a similar lawsuit against Joseph and Organica.
In court Monday, prosecutor John Harlan said Organica was “an illegal drug-dealing operation” that sometimes made more than $100,000 profit in a month.
“He is an ongoing threat to the community,” Harlan said.
Shevin acknowledged that the facts in the case are “essentially undisputed,” but challenged the district attorney’s position that medical marijuana sales are illegal. “It’s just in contradiction to the law in this area,” he said.
Joseph has been a target of law enforcement for two years. Undercover investigators have made repeated buys and his dispensary has been raided three times, most recently on Thursday, when he was arrested.
He closed his dispensary after the second raid, but said he reopened to try to comply with the city’s medical marijuana ordinance. That law, which has not taken effect, will allow dispensaries that registered with the city in 2007, as Organica did, to remain open if they are still in operation.
“They felt that Jeff snubbed the nose of the district attorney,” Shevin said.
After Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Donald Kennedy set bail, Shevin held an impromptu news conference surrounded by Joseph’s supporters and his tearful mother and sister.
“Medical marijuana, when you are an authorized dispensary, should be a mitigating factor that reduces the seriousness of the crime,” he said, “not used to aggravate bail and improperly stack bail for the only purpose of leaving Mr. Joseph in custody and trying to muscle a plea from him.”
Joseph’s sister, Vikki, said he did not have the money for bail. Supporters said they would raise it.
“How about George Soros?” Shevin suggested.
Soros, a billionaire investor, was one of the main financial backers of the medical marijuana initiative.
Man Busted For Having Bed Made of Marijuana
A Massachusetts man is facing cannabis trafficking charges after police discovered that he had a bed made of 102 pounds of marijuana.
Police pulled over 40-year-old Hung The Truong for failing to follow a traffic violation.
When he opened his window they detected the strong smell of marijuana and searched the U-Haul truck attached to his vehicle.
They discovered 17 packages of the drug inside a pull-out bed and 79 packages of the substance in a hollowed-out box spring.
His bond has been set at $2 million.
$2 million for a weed bed? Come on son….
Medical Marijuana Legal in 14 States – See list below
Article corrected – its 14 states now – we added New Jersey. For a convenient chart check out:
http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=000881
Progress seems to be being made in the USA. Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont are states where you can legally use marijuana as prescribed by a doctor. This is great news for many people suffering from illnesses where marijuana can help. There is still a long way to go but the future is looking brighter for the USA.
The safest delivery method is to use a vaporizor. This is a 100% smokeless system whereby you heat the marijuana to a specific temperature that releases the THC. This eliminates the hacking and coughing normally associated with marijuana, and also eliminates the risk of chronic bronchitis among other smoke related illnesses that can occur.
The safest way to get the marijuana is to grow it yourself. Great progress has been made with home-growing operations. We suggest you take a look at the Aero Garden. The Aero Garden is a home hydroponic system used by 250,000 people worldwide to grow herbs, vegtables and flowers. The Aero Garden Pro 200 has an adjustable light mast that can extend up to 2 feet. This is the way things are going so users can save money and grow at home. Every 10 weeks you should be able to harvest enough to last you through to another 10 weeks, depending on how much you’re using.
Los Angeles Can Not Go It Alone on Medicinal Pot
L.A.’s new ordinance on pot dispensaries attempts to answer the needs of the ailing while ensuring public safety and abiding by state and federal law.
The Los Angeles City Council last week finally adopted a medical marijuana ordinance. Though not perfect, it balances the needs of local communities with those of patients who truly need access to medical marijuana. And it will rein in an out-of-control situation in which a federally banned substance has been sold for the last four years as hundreds of dispensaries proliferated in the city of Los Angeles, with no local regulations and ambiguous state laws to guide us.
To make the new ordinance work as effectively as possible, legislators need to clarify the state’s medical marijuana laws — Proposition 215 and its accompanying SB 420. Both are silent or vague on critical issues for the practical implementation at the local level.
As cities throughout California draft ordinances, they are grappling with issues that they have no power over and that should be handled at the state level. Moreover, they are trying to pinpoint evolving and changing court rulings interpreting state law.
In Los Angeles, one of the most difficult issues was what constitutes a “sale.” My colleagues on the City Council and I addressed this by stipulating that although no collective shall operate for profit, “cash and in-kind contributions, reimbursements and reasonable compensation” are allowed as long as they comply with current state law. However, we don’t know how this provision will be enforced because we are relying on state law that is unclear and in litigation.
It is also unclear whether the over-the-counter dispensary model was what voters intended when they approved Proposition 215. The law might have intended a much more limited distribution of marijuana, such as having either patients or their caregivers grow their own product or having collectives grow a small amount and reimburse members for their labor.
Without clarity from the state, the council also had to punt on the issues of cultivation and transportation of marijuana by saying that the ordinance would abide by state law.
Cultivation is important because the ordinance as written does not address where the collectives will obtain their marijuana. Will it be grown locally, imported from Northern California or bought on the black market? And are people who transport the marijuana to and from collectives immune from prosecution?
Another issue that is not being addressed locally but perhaps is the biggest impediment to properly regulating dispensaries relates to the wide discretion and relative immunity that physicians have in recommending medical marijuana to patients. When most of us have a medical issue, we don’t look through the pages of alternative weeklies to find a physician. We go to the doctor who knows the most about our medical history — our primary-care physician.
Yet under state law there is no requirement to curb abuse by having people see their primary-care physician first, or, as Oregon does, to require that a patient get a note from an “attending physician” with whom he or she has an established patient/physician relationship.
It’s interesting to note that Oregon, like several other states, only allows medical marijuana for a narrow list of conditions. In contrast, in California, marijuana can be recommended for anything from cancer to writer’s cramp. So, although California voters have not (yet) directed the state to legalize marijuana for nonmedical use, the state medical marijuana law has created de facto legalization because practically anyone can become a qualified patient.
Given these ambiguities, the city has provided an ordinance within existing state law that does its best to create access for medical marijuana patients while protecting local communities from potential negative consequences.
The council voted to support a requirement that dispensaries be at least 1,000 feet from sensitive-use areas where children and families gather, such as schools, playgrounds and places of worship — and from other dispensaries.
We also capped the number of collectives at 70 (instead of the estimated 700-plus that exist) and required notification to neighborhood councils before new dispensaries open in their areas. To control profiteering, we also required annual audits and outlawed common ownership of multiple collectives.
I, like a majority of California voters, voted in favor of Proposition 215 because I believe that patients dealing with cancer, AIDS, chronic pain and other serious ailments should have access to medical marijuana.
However, I remain concerned about profiteers looking to make a quick buck, recreational users looking to use an ambiguous state law to their advantage and less-than-scrupulous doctors willing to play along by writing quick and unverified recommendations. Though seemingly innocuous to some, these unchecked activities can lead to real problems in local communities should the state refuse to further regulate medical marijuana. I encourage state legislators to immediately amend SB 420 to deal with its ambiguities.
In the future, if the voters legalize marijuana for recreational use, I would hope that the state provides clear and practical rules for local implementation, unlike what has occurred with medical marijuana.
Medical Marijuana and the Second Amendment (USA)
Redding resident and Army veteran Sean Merritt says he’s been denied the right to purchase a firearm at a local gun shop owned by Redding Mayor Patrick Jones. The sticking point hinges on a line on a form required by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which asks: “Are you an unlawful user of or addicted to marijuana, a depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
Because he uses medical marijuana (and even though he has a legal recommendation), Merritt says he was told by Jones that he must answer “yes” on the form, which prevents him from purchasing a firearm at Jones Fort, a popular gun and pawn shop.
At last night’s City Council meeting, Merritt argued his case before the mayor. Here’s the compelling video of his appearance before the council:
When he inquired about purchasing a firearm at Jones Fort, Merritt said he wanted to make sure the drugs he was on wouldn’t prohibit him.
“They had no problem with the morphine or the klonopin, but when I said ‘medical marijuana’ (the employee) said, ‘You will not be able to purchase a firearm because you will fail the background check with the FBI,’ ” Merritt said. “I said, ‘That’s impossible because my records are confidential and if the FBI wanted them, the person who gave them up would be the one to answer for breaking my confidentiality. Not only that but President Obama has given the power to the states on the medical marijuana issue.”
New York – Legislation proposed to legalize medical marijuana
Medical marijuana may be coming to New York soon.
A bill to legalize the possession and use of the drug was recently proposed by New York State Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and is being pushed by supporters of legalization.
The bill stipulates that distribution will only be allowed by licensed entities under the supervision of the New York State Department of Health and will be limited to two and a half ounces.
Despite these measures, opponents claim the bill would send the wrong message to the public.
“There is nothing medicinal in marijuana,” Shaun Marie of the New York Conservative Party said.
But according to the Marijuana Policy Project, medical marijuana can relieve symptoms such as nausea, muscle spasms, appetite loss and pain associated with many illnesses. The group stressed that this bill is not about the recreational smoker.
“It’s about chronically ill patients being allowed to use the medicine that they feel works best for them without having to fear being arrested or being thrown into jail,” Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Kurt Gardinier said.
Citing that “the benefits of medicinal marijuana have been supported by clinical research,” the New York State Nurses Association said “prescribers should have all drugs demonstrating any potential clinically effective results available for their use.”
But Marie does not believe that any medical need merits legalization.
“What illness is that critical?” Marie said. He also said the bill will “send the wrong message and make it more available in the streets.”
Marie cited California, where patients were given the right to cultivate marijuana collectively for medicinal use, as an example of how legalizing medical marijuana can go awry.
Gardinier cited official state government surveys of teen drug use that found that no state with a medical marijuana law experienced an increase in youth marijuana use since the law’s enactment.
“In fact, all medical marijuana states have reported overall decreases, many exceeding 50 percent in some age groups,” Gardinier said.
Some health care officials say the perception of marijuana has indeed changed since the legalization of medical marijuana has been discussed.
“Since medical marijuana has become a part of public discussion, deflecting many of the myths surrounding the dangers of marijuana [has occurred],” said Cindy Boester, director of health information management at the NYU Clinical Cancer Center.
Supporters of the bill hope it will pass through the New York legislature this year and be signed into law.
“In the past, New York has had a great record of being on the leading edge of public health issues, so I am cautiously hopeful,” Boester said.
Medical marijuana is legal in 14 states; why not New York?
It makes no sense whatsoever to treat cancer patients and other chronically ill folks as criminals for trying to ease their debilitating pain or nausea.
But that’s just what New York has been doing by refusing to allow its sickest residents to use marijuana under a doctor’s supervision. For many, prescription painkillers or other medicines fail to help. Only marijuana is effective. Denying them that level of comfort is nothing less than cruel.
Fourteen states have legalized medical marijuana use for qualified patients since 1996. The most recent, on Jan. 18, was New Jersey; that state’s law takes effect in six months.
In New York, a bill in the Legislature would bring the state in line with the other 14. But lawmakers have considered seven versions of the current legislation since the 1997-98 session. In 2007-08, the proposal died in the Senate, then controlled by Republicans. The fate of this year’s bill remains to be seen.
The bill is modeled after Rhode Island’s medical marijuana law, though there are some differences. For example, patients in Rhode Island can legally possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 12 marijuana plants that must be stored indoors. New York’s bill also allows 2.5 ounces but leaves out plants — an approach that appears to be better suited to prevent the wrong people from getting their hands on the controlled substance.
Both states would allow children to use medical marijuana, but Rhode Island’s law seems to afford more protection for sick kids. In Rhode Island, a medical practitioner must explain the potential risks and benefits of marijuana to the child and to a parent or guardian. The parent or guardian also must consent in writing to allow the child’s medical use of marijuana, serve as one of the child’s primary caregivers and control the acquisition, dosage and frequency of the youngster’s marijuana use.
New York’s bill requires only that a parent, guardian or someone designated by the parent or guardian be the caregiver. There is no informed consent clause in the bill, although the medical practitioner must give a copy of his or her certification for marijuana use to the patient. The bill needs some retooling to better inform kids and their parents of what they’re getting into.
In the meantime, marijuana use and possession remain illegal for everyone in New York. Possessing 2.5 ounces, as the bill would allow patients to do, is a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Seriously ill people, for whom marijuana is the only thing that will relieve their symptoms, have an unenviable choice: break the law or continue to suffer.
It’s time for lawmakers to show some compassion by making medical marijuana legal.
