Compassion Associates - Medical Marijuana: TEN FACTS THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU ACT!

Medical Marijuana: TEN FACTS THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU ACT!

(by Michael Press Berman, Esq.)

Until the mid-1900’s, hemp was the leading and primary textile fiber of vegetable origin, which was termed “the king of fiber-bearing plants —the standard by which all other fibers are measured.” Although the United States enacted the Marihuana Tax Act of 1938 (which basically ended hemp production in the United States), ironically, that same year in 1938, Popular Mechanics Magazine touted hemp as “the new billion dollar crop . . . that can be used to produce more than 25,000 products, ranging from dynamite to Cellophane.”
The word “Marijuana,” also spelled “Marihuana,” is a noun of Mexican origin that initially referred to low-grade tobacco.
In 2002, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a decision by the appellate court that held that licensed doctors who discuss medical-marijuana treatment and use are protected from criminal penalty, even where those physicians recommend it for a patient’s medical use.
According to the National Organization for the Reform for Marijuana Laws, there have been more than 20,000 published studies performed on marijuana and its components. Over 100 of these published studies have analyzed human subjects.
5. By specifically combining the various Sativa and Indica strains together, medical marijuana bio-engineers are able create specific strains of medical-marijuana varieties, designed to target and treat specific ailments, conditions, and diseases.
6. The following is a partial list of diseases where studies have shown a benefit for the patient to using medical marijuana: AIDS/HIV, Alzheimer’s Disease, Appetite or Nausea, Arthritis, Asthma and other breathing disorders, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Chronic and severe pain, Crohn’s disease and other Gastrointestinal disorders, Epilepsy or seizures, Glaucoma, Hepatitis C, Migraine Headaches, Multiple Sclerosis, Psychological conditions, Tourette’s syndrome, Terminally ill patients. In addition,Lester Grinspoon, M.D., the renowned Harvard expert on medical marijuana for decades, has reported that there are over 200 medical benefits associated with medical cannabis.
The federal government grows medical marijuana and distributes it to some patients, each month, for medical use. The University of Mississippi, by means of a contract with the federal government, grows medical marijuana for “research purposes.” In addition, there are some patients who receive marijuana as medicine for their illnesses directly from the federal government.
Nearly 25% of the States have legalized the use of medical marijuana by qualified patients within the respective States’ borders. Those pioneer States include: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey (program not implemented yet), New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. In fact, Oregon voters will decide this fall whether to allow a state network of medical-marijuana dispensaries, in order to fix the state’s 12-year-old medical marijuana program and ensure that patients have a safe and legal supply of medical cannabis.
States’ laws regarding patients’ use, possession, and acquisition of medical marijuana vary sharply. For instance, the New Jersey medical-marijuana statute does not allow patients to grow even the smallest amount of medical marijuana on their own, as patients must buy all of their medicine through state-dispensaries. By contrast, in Michigan, there are no medical marijuana dispensaries, and patients can choose to either grow medical marijuana for themselves or designate a “primary caregiver” to grow medical marijuana on their behalf.
Millions of people currently use medical marijuana in California every weekbecause that State legalized in 1996 the medicinal use of marijuana. In big part because the State of California currently collects almost $300 MILLION, annually, from its state taxation of medical-marijuana sales, on November 2, 2010, Californians will vote on the “California Marijuana Legalization Initiative,” which would tax and legalize marijuana for recreational use in the State of California.