Song in my head: All we are saying.............................John Lennon

ALTER-ABLED NEWS

Jonathan Magbie, a 27-year-old Mitchellville man, was sent to jail in the District last week for 10 days for marijuana possession. He never made it home. Paralyzed as a child and unable to even breathe on his own, Magbie died last Friday after being shuttled between the D.C. jail complex and Greater Southeast Community Hospital. At the center of the many questions surrounding his death is whether D.C. Superior Court and the D.C. Department of Corrections did enough to ensure adequate care for the quadriplegic inmate. LINK

The gross negligence of the "adults in charge" is horrific. I can only wonder how I would survive in a jail. Would i have a right to my medical marijuana while incarcerated? Probably not. This poor guy couldn't even bring along his breathing apparatus. That judge should be ashamed of herself.

Vioxx, a medication I took for a year and a half, under the advise of my family care physician was pulled from the shelves. Vioxx is used for osteoarthritis. It helps with the pain and inflammation but I guess leaves you prone to heart attack. You choose. I stopped taking it after I chose to use an alternative pain medication, cannabis. Because I have a 30% risk for kidney failure, it's just not wise to pump my system with a lot of synthesized ingredients. And when people question my choices I remember the Thalidomyde babies born without limbs and the fear that I could have been born like that. Just because your doctor recomends a drug doesn't mean it is safe. How do I know this? From a background and degree in public health (Oregon State). One thing I remember learning in toxicology is that drug companies can't afford to perform drug safety trials on different population groups such as the elderly or children, pregnant woman or the immune suppressed who have different metabolisms than the 71 kg man used as a standard in safety trials. That is cost prohibitive. Why do you think that anti depressants for children is under studied and the fear is of teens increased suicide rate? Understudied drugs, yet pushed by our trusted family physicians.

~ Merck yanks arthritis drug Vioxx LINK

~ 2 Nassau men sue over Vioxx LINK

And if you have any money left over after a hear attack, perhaps you can get gouged at the pharmacy?

In New York, under state law, pharmacies are required to supply price lists for their prescription drugs to customers who request it. But many consumers don’t realize that those prices can vary—by more than $100 per drug in some cases—depending on where they buy it. In July, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office asked 170 randomly selected pharmacies in 25 counties across the state for the prices of their 25 most commonly prescribed drugs. This month, they surveyed pharmacies in the remaining counties. The data they collected is being posted at www.nyagrx.org, a database that allows consumers to compare prices for prescription drugs in their area. LINK

And to finish up tonight's posting, lets hear from the other side......Just Say No Folks....

No on looser marijuana law

Measure 33, to authorize a system of legal marijuana growers, would harvest a bushel of problems in Oregon


Before Oregon voters decided to legalize medical use of marijuana six years ago, we questioned the wisdom of approving the use of a substance that was illegal to grow and possess in the first place. In this year's Measure 33, supporters of medical marijuana have come up with a novel solution to this poisoned-branch argument: They would create a poisoned forest.

Supporters of the measure are, with at least one important exception, the same folks who successfully argued that marijuana ought to be a legal alternative treatment for ailments such as glaucoma, nausea and chronic pain. Since the law passed, more than 10,000 people have been given status as legal users of medical marijuana. More than 8,000 more are seeking that status, or certification to become "caregivers" with the right to possess the drug.

Whether all of those people actually need that legal access probably is the first question raised by the current law, since two-thirds of the prescriptions for medical marijuana were written by just three doctors. Regardless, the proponents of Measure 33 believe marijuana patients are harmed by restrictions intended to keep legal marijuana from sprouting over into the world of illegal growing, sales and possession.

Now, they say, the state should condone, and in some cases create, a system of dispensaries where growers can cultivate crops and sell marijuana to registered patients or caregivers. Patients, they also argue, should be allowed to possess up to 6 pounds of marijuana. For comparison, one baggie holds about an ounce.

If this sounds odd to you, you're beginning to see the problem that Stormy Ray, one of medical marijuana's original advocates in Oregon, sees.

In a recent e-mail on Measure 33, Ray pointed out that it does not limit how much dispensaries can grow, allows criminals to operate a dispensary, does not limit the number of growing sites for each dispensary and does not limit the number of employees or agents for each dispensary.
"With little or no oversight and no limits on production, our program would become a magnet for abuse," Ray wrote.

There are many other problems with the measure, but Ray's argument shows exactly why Measure 33 is opposed by law-enforcement agencies, district attorneys and organizations that fight drug abuse in Oregon. Federal drug-enforcement authorities believe Measure 33 would make Oregon a magnet for interstate drug traffickers as well.

The Oregon Medical Association opposes the measure because it sees little scientific evidence that medical marijuana has therapeutic value. And the Oregon Libertarian Party opposes it because it thinks the real argument is, and should be, about legalizing marijuana.
Measure 33 would grow a forest of problems for law enforcement and for anyone else -- parents, for example -- who think it's a bad idea for the state to plant a literal forest of marijuana impossible to track or regulate.

Just say no to Measure 33.