Message From the Director t

Statement of compassion s

Message From the Director t

A CALL FOR 'LOVE LETTERS'

Fellow Texans,

We won't win (politically) on the facts...

We will win on the issue.

Lets face it, if the facts were going to win medical marijuana in Texas, then my wife and others would have had safe access to medical marijuana a long time ago. We would never have felt the need to start this organization, as there would be nothing to fight for. But, I watch my wife suffer every day and then find relief with marijuana. I hear stories of others who suffer and see the suffering of people that they love. I have met with a soldier who has come back from Iraq, who's mother does drug testing for a living. Love overcame everything, like the flip of a switch, to allow her son some relief from the terrors he brought home from the war zone. I have met and listened to the story of a person who watched their brother die of cancer, who was so intoxicated with opioid for the pain, that their family was denied the simple blessing of saying goodbye.

I often also hear advocates of medical cannabis start riddling off the "facts", new studies that support medical marijuana. My eyes glaze over, as the facts are overwhelmingly in our favor, and the wall goes up. I imagine that the effect is much the same with politicians and other leaders as well. Likewise I believe that we use the facts as a wall to guard us from telling the real story. Because the real story is painful, raw, emotional and much more difficult to tell.

The facts have been overwhelming for a long time. It is time that we break down our walls to tell the story of what love does to relieve suffering. When they hear this story, they will think of the people they love and know they they would also do anything to relieve that suffering. They will see their wife in pain, their son returning with war still inside, and their brother lethargic on his deaths bed. They will then be open to learning how my wife and the soldier relieved their pain. They can then hear about others near death, who had their pain diminished while still having the mental presence to say goodbye.

They will never hear this in an impersonal study or in a recitation of all the historical and medical facts. They can only hear it from you.

This is a gift that only you can give.

So... I am asking that you start writing your story. From whatever angle you know whether you're a patient, a nurse, a mother, a father, a husband or a friend (or any number of other relationships); use a fact or two if it is relevant; however, use it as a tool, not a wall.

Write it down, bear your heart on paper. Write through the tears, write through the pain... write with all the love you have in you. Send it to us if you'd like it to be included in our patient spotlight; but, please have it ready in a letter. We will start writing representatives/senators next month and ask them to be leaders with compassion.

Help Texas patients pass safe access in 2011.

Sincerely,

Stephen Betzen, director

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In the News...

Published March 20, 2010:

Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act: The week ahead and beyond

MADISON: With now only 33 days remaining to pass theJacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act as of this writing, efforts to move this critical piece of health care legislation are escalating.

On Monday evening in Madison, March 22, JRMMA supporters will be gathering at the Wil-Mar Center at 7pm for a meeting of the Madison chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Wil-Mar Center is located at 953 Jenifer St. Madison NORML, founded in 2004, has been a center of state medical cannabis activism since its formation, meeting twice monthly on Madison's East Side.

Tuesday March 23 is the date of the long-awaited Statewide Day of Prayer for Compassion. The event runs all day with a ceremony at the State Capitol’s State St. steps landing from 12-1, and informational tabling in the first floor rotunda from 1-3pm. The ceremony will include a moment of silence at 12:30 pm. Representatives of several denominations and faiths have been invited to attend and speak. Ojibwa drummer and carrier of sacred songs Al Baker will sing some traditional Ojibwa songs.

Dr. Miller giving testimony Dec. 15

From 1:30pm-2:30pm on March 23, a group of JRMMA supporters will be staging an informational picket on the public sidewalk in front of the Wisconsin State Medical Society at 330 East Lakeside St. in Madison. The SMS is holding a board meeting, and JRMMA supporters want SMS board members to be aware that the SMS position opposing the JRMMA is the wrong position for a medical society to take and that legislators are hiding behind it as a way to justify voting no on something so important to the state's veterans, seniors, sick, disabled and dying...

They want board members to know that Dr. Michael Miller’s shoddy and inaccurate testimony from the Dec. 15 hearing embarrasses the SMS and makers a mockery of their (Hippocratic) oaths.

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Medical Marijuana Changes Moving Forward

Proposal Sets Limit For Dispensaries

AUGUSTA, Maine -- March 19, 2010: The Health and Human Services committee voted unanimously Thursday to send a bill making changes to the state's medical marijuana law to the full legislature.

The committee addressed the two major sticking points that surfaced after voters approved the law in November.

Lawmakers recommended that there be eight dispensaries in the state, with a minimum age requirement of 18 years for employees.

The committee also addressed the issue of minors seeking medical marijuana. They decided that any patient under the age of 18 must meet with a physician, who must in turn consult with a psychiatrist or other behavioral professional to determine the potential for any adverse effects.

Lawmakers said they were happy with the progress they made.

"I think the important part," said the chair of the Health and Human Service Committee, democratic Rep. Anne Perry, "is we set up a system that helps us work with this as a medication and treats it like we would any other medication. And that requires rules and regulations that we would have with any medicine."

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Patient Spotlight

Medical Marijuana For Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis

March 28, 2010 – Medical Marijuana For Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis is a proven treatment for Arthritis.

Arthritis is a medical affliction that has an affect on millions of Americans, which usually brings about pain and inflammation within the joints and restriction movements and motion. You will find there are two primary kinds of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

An individuals immune system may be the major cause of rheumatoid arthritis. When the immune system malfunctions, rather than battling off bacteria or viruses, it essentially begins targeting and attacking the entire body and ultimately bones begin to get worn away and eroded.

Rheumatoid arthritis is most typical among Baby Boomers, aging adults and the elderly. However, arthritis will attack anyone.

Another type of arthritis, osteoarthritis, happens when cartilage wears away and has an effect on an individuals hands, hips, knees, neck and lower back. As of this moment there is not a remedy or cure, but there are presently treatments, such as medical marijuana, that has the potential to help an individual reduce and relieve pain.

Medical Marijuana For Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis has currently proven to be effective and successful for assisting men and women manage arthritis. These types of disorders are usually painful and distressful and medical marijuana seems to help alleviate and relieve the chronic pain stimulated and brought on by arthritis. The utilization of marijuana for medicinal reasons, most notably to alleviate pain, appears to have been used since the 1700’s.

Medical marijuana has additionally demonstrated an ability to directly treat inflammatory diseases. There is proof that medical marijuana has powerful immune-modulation and anti-inflammatory qualities. Among the non-psychoactive elements of marijuana is actually cannabidiol. This has been found to restrain an immune reaction in rats and mice that is similar to arthritis. It has been discovered to minimize destruction to the joints of rats and mice.

Scientific testing on people have additionally proven medical marijuana to be successful to fight arthritis. Range of motion, mobility and stiffness are actually proven to increase and reduce respectively. When utilizing medical marijuana, sufferers are actually able to use much less non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs, which may be potentially harmful, dangerous and unsafe.

An additional primary element of marijuana is THC. When the human body metabolizes THC, it generates an amount of chemicals, which includes at least one which has an anti-inflammatory as well as pain relieving results.

Marijuana Facts

* With the growing popularity of research in the medical marijuana area, numerous states are implementing medical marijuana laws and policies.

* Presently, 18 states possess some kind of medical marijuana law in addition to three more states have pending legislation, at the time when this article was published.

* Marijuana nonetheless, continues to be illegal in America.

* Currently 14 states approve and regulate medical marijuana. • Alaska • California • Colorado • Hawaii • New Jersey • Maine • Michigan • Montana • Nevada • New Mexico • Oregon • Rhode Island • Vermont • Washington

* Arizona, Massachusetts, and Maryland now possess drug laws that appear favorably or positive to medical marijuana participants or users.

Medical Marijuana For Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis is proven to help with these debilitating diseases.

I know, I have Lupus.

Marijuana is also an all natural pain relief as are other products on the market. No chemicals or pharmaceutical poisons.

More Information on Medical Marijuana:

1. R.I. Doctors Explain Why they OK Medical Marijuana Requests
2. The Benefits of Medical Marijuana for Chronic Pain Sufferers
3. The Benefits of Medical Marijuana for Chronic Pain Sufferers

Author's Name Withheld

Source

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'MYTH: MARIJUANA CAUSES BRAIN DAMAGE'

Critics state that marijuana has been shown to damage brain cells and that this damage, in turn, causes memory loss, cognitive impairment, and difficulties in learning. Therefore, that patients should not use it as medicine for these reason.

THE FACTS

The original basis of this claim was a report that, upon postmortem examinations, structural changes in several brain regions were found in two rhesus monkeys exposed to THC.51 Because these changes primarily involved the hippocampus, a cortical brain region known to play an important role in learning and memory, this finding suggested possible negative consequences for human marijuana users.

Additional studies, employing rodents, reported similar brain changes.

However, to achieve these results, massive doses of THC - up to 200 times the psychoactive dose in humans - had to be given . In fact, studies employing 100 times the human dose have failed to reveal any damage.52

In the most recently published study, rhesus monkeys were exposed through face-mask inhalation to the smoke equivalent of four to five joints per day for one year. When sacrificed seven months later, there was no observed alteration of hippocampal architecture, cell size, cell number, or synaptic configuration. The authors conclude:

"while behavioral and neuroendocrinal effects are observed during marijuana smoke exposure in the monkey, residual neuropathological and neurochemical effects of marijuana exposure were not observed seven months after the year-long marijuana smoke regimen." 53

Thus, 20 years after the first report of brain damage in two marijuana-exposed monkeys, the claim of damage to brain cells has been effectively disprove.

No postmortem examinations of the brains of human marijuana users have ever been conducted. However, numerous studies have explored marijuana effect on brain-related cognitive functions. Many employ an experimental design - in which subjects are given marijuana in a laboratory setting, and then compared to controls on a variety of measures involving attention, learning and memory.

In a number of studies, no significant differences were detected. 54 In fact, there is substantial research demonstrating that that marijuana intoxication does not impair the retrieval of information learned previously. 55However, there is evidence that marijuana, particularly in high doses, may interfere with users' ability to transfer new information into long term memory.

56 While there is general agreement that, while under the influence of marijuana, learning is less efficient, 57 there is no evidence that marijuana users - even long term users - suffer permanent impairment. Indeed, numerous studies comparing chronic marijuana users with non-user controls have found no significant differences in learning, memory recall or other cognitive functions. 58

Editors comments: One of the many "facts" used by those who wish to keep cannabinoid medicines away from the sick and dying, is the "damage" to the brain and other organs from the medical use of cannabis.  As you can see, not only is that completely false, the benefits of non-toxic cannabinoid medicines far surpass prescription morphine, heroin (in the UK), and other opiates that so deaden the mind and body, not to mention severe addiction.

The irony is these same people commonly go home and pour opiate-laced cough syrup into their children. That's why we won't get relief with the facts, we will need love to conquer all, as much as you can give.

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Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care