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Given the cannabis-free curriculum provided
by U.S. medical and nursing schools, "continuing education"
is not the apt term, but more than 100 healthcare providers -including
40 MDs- will receive credit for attending a conference on cannabis
therapeutics at Santa Barbara Community College April 7-8.
The event was organized by
Al Byrne and Mary Lynn Mathre of Patients Out of Time, a Virginia-based
advocacy group, with help from David Bearman, MD, and students
from Santa Barbara's NORML chapter led by Loren Vazquez. Donald
Abrams, MD, was instrumental in arranging CME credits through
UC San Francisco. Continuing education units were arranged by
the California Nurses Association for RNs and LVNs; the National
Pharmacists Association for pharmacists; and Santa Barbara City
College for family therapists and licensed clinical social workers.
George McMahon, Elvy Musikka,
and Irv Rosenfeld, who get their cannabis through the federal
government's "compassionate use" program, were videotaped
opening their sealed cans to refute a claim made by Mahmoud ElSohly
-the only grower licensed by the Drug Enforcement Administration-
that the cannabis he supplies to patients and researchers is
free of sticks and seeds.
ElSohly recently testified
in opposition to the granting of a DEA license to Lyle Craker,
a botanist at UMass Amherst (and would-be competitor). Rick Doblin,
PhD, orchestrated Craker's application in hopes of breaking the
government's monopoly and making cannabis available to more researchers.
Doblin told the Santa Barbara audience that he thought the administrative
law judge who heard the arguments is inclined to recommend that
Craker be licensed. If the judge's recommendation is positive,
Doblin foresees a public campaign to pressure the DEA Administrator
to grant the license.
Three speakers, including Al
Byrne, discussed their use of cannabis to cope with post-traumatic
stress. "That's what it is," said Byrne, "-not
a disorder but a perfectly logical response to terrifying events."
Byrne experienced unforgettable trauma when he was in the Navy
-first a training accident in which he was seriously injured
and seven men died, then combat in Vietnam.
Christopher Largen and Erin
Hildebrandt were sexually molested in childhood. Largen, a writer
from Denton, Texas, contrasted the punitive treatment of marijuana
users in our society with the leniency shown sexual predators.
Hildebrandt, who had been abused by a teacher in elementary school,
runs a group called Parents Ending Prohibition based in Lafayette,
Oregon. She pointed out the inherent creepiness of making schoolchildren
pee in a cup, "even with the door closed or half closed."
It breaks down the child's sense of personal sanctity and provides
easy access for the potential predator.
Your correspondent, who usually
has an explanation for everything, has no answer to Largen's
question. Why does U.S. law enforcement -so fiercely punitive,
in general, with 2.1 million citizens behind bars- release sexual
predators so readily? Male supremacy at its most perverse...
In addition to the 100+ healthcare
providers who signed up for continuing education credits, more
than 150 patients and caregivers attended the conference, which
was sponsored by SBCC's Center for Philosophical Education. "Doctors
have at least as much to learn from patients," Bearman observed,
"as patients have to learn from doctors."
It's Happening
All Over
The Rhode Island Department
of Health has begun taking applications from residents who have
been approved by doctors to use cannabis. Patients and caregivers
can possess up to 12 plants and 2.5 ounces under a law recently
passed by the state legislature over the governor's veto.
In Colorado, Shawn Glazer,
MD, had authorized cannabis use by more than 300 patients before
Parkinson's disease caused her to stop practicing last year.
A surgically implanted nerve stimulator has enabled her to work
again, and as of April 7 she resumed seeing patients under the
auspices of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF). By issuing
45 approvals, Glazer increased the number of legal medical cannabis
users in Colorado by five per cent! The medical board of Colorado
is making Glazer prove that she hasn't had any cognitive decline!
Glazer, who is sharp as a tack, according to THCF's Paul Stanford,
will be examined by a neurologist and a psychologist who will
report to a subcommittee of the medical board. Is this standard
operating procedure or a message to other doctors that if you
approve cannabis use by your patients, you might get scrutinized?
Colorado law allows physician-approved
patients to possess six plants and two ounces of cannabis. The
state issues a license for $110. The fee may come down as more
patients sign up. State-by-state totals of card-carrying patients
as of January, courtesy of the Marijuana Policy Project:
Alaska 137 California 755 (includes
caregivers)* Colorado 713 Hawaii 3,042 Maine doesn't have a registry
Montana 169 Nevada 900 Oregon 11,853 Vermont 24 Washington doesn't
have a registry Total: 17,593
In California, doctors associated
with the Society of Cannabis Clinicians have written some 90,000
approval letters. The total of authorized users is probably twice
that.
Doctors from THCF's Seattle
office have issued 3,000 approvals, according to Stanford, and
the University of Washington Medical Center may have issued as
many. Stanford estimates the total number of legal cannabis users
in the state at around 10,000. As Phil Denney, MD, has observed,
a slow but steady and irreversible process is underway -patients
telling friends and family members that cannabis really is a
safe and effective medicine.
The pro-cannabis doctors' ranks
are growing, too. To date, in California, some 20-25 doctors
have specialized in monitoring patients' cannabis use. By signing
up for CME credits in Santa Barbara, another 20-25 evinced a
special interest in the field. Perhaps none of them will change
the nature of their practice, but all came away with enhanced
understanding of the science and better able to discuss the subject
with their patients; it's likely that they'll issue approvals
more confidently in the days ahead.
There was one dramatic intellectual
conversion. Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, a pharmacist,
had voted against the licensing of dispensaries last summer because
he doubted that cannabis had valid medical applications. What
he heard at the conference changed his outlook. "There is
medical value to cannabis," he declared to a Desert Sun
reporter. As a politician he promised to "come up with plan
that ensures we have legitimate purveyors of medical marijuana."
Stone's turnaround, the Desert
Sun's K. Kaufmann projects, "could help expedite a county
ordinance allowing medical marijuana dispensaries, which could
in turn serve as a model for Coachella Valley cities also wrestling
with the issue." Stone visited two dispensaries while in
Santa Barbara.
Medical-instrument designer
Markus Storz, who was displaying his Volcano vaporizer at the
conference in Santa Barbara, says some 28,000 have been sold
to date. The U.S. leads in consumption -we're #1 in something!-
followed by Spain, Great Britain, Germany, and Canada. Storz
has quelched one knock-off attempt with a letter reminding the
would-be imitator that he intends to enforce his patent... Santa
Barbara City College is on a hill sloping down to the Pacific
-is there a better-situated campus in the state? Too bad about
those "temporary" buildings plunked down on the lawn.
The Santa Barbara News-Press
ran a front-page story April 8 focusing entirely on a brief,
"profanity-laced" talk by Montel Williams, who urged
his audience to expose politicians who smoke marijuana. Williams
said he was "tired of being out here all alone" -as
if the room wasn't full of people who have taken risks to oppose
prohibition. The TV host's talk was a sidebar to the conference
and should have been a sidebar in the paper. The managing editor
of the News-Press, Harvard man Jerry Roberts, is undoubtedly
dismayed by the dumbing down of the American people; and yet
when he had a chance to run a serious, informative piece about
the field of cannabis therapeutics, he settled for the celebrity
shot.
*
* *
"The Territory Ahead"
is a glossy catalogue that Rosie peruses. The latest issue depicts
a $69 "High-Altitude Tunic" described thus: "First
time in Cuzco? Welcome! At 11,000 feet you'll find the city both
picturesque and breathtaking... literally. Once your altitude
sickness sets in, your head will feel the vice-like pinch of
your new oxygen-starved existence. Not to worry! Just grab yourself
as many cups of cocoa-leaf (sic) tea as possible, and soon you'll
be breathing easy. And that's how you'll feel in our breezy High-Altitude
Tunic, too. Made of lightweight cotton poplin, it's soft and
cool against sun-kissed skin. Playful embroidery at the notch
neck lends a blithely bohemian look. Flattering easy shape with
side slits at the low-hip hem. Machine washable. Imported in
Wave; White; Coral. Sizes XS-XL."
Rosie analyzes the subtext:
"The rich can do as much coke as they want."
Fred Gardner is the editor of O'Shaughnessy's
Journal of the California Cannabis Research Medical Group. He
can be reached at: fred@plebesite.com
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