10 major health benefits of medical marijuana [Infographic]

Posted by Guyism Staff
From: http://guyism.com/

We know that, illegal or not, we have a significant portion of our audience indulges in weed now and then. We’re not here to cast stones. But legal medical marijuana usage is on the rise, and with good reason. After reading this graphic, you’ll at least be convinced that medical marijuana can help you curb your medical insurance costs.

Click the image for a full-sized version

Source: Medical Insurance Blog.

All US Patients Now Eligible For Oregon Medical Marijuana Cards

By Steve Elliot
From: http://www.tokeofthetown.com/

Graphic: MERCY Centers

​Any eligible patient in the United States may now obtain a medical marijuana card in Oregon.

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) may no longer require Oregon residency as a part of the medical marijuana permit application process, reports Rachel Cheeseman at The Oregon Politico.

Applicants formerly needed to supply proof of residency as well as Oregon identification as part of their application. However, OMMP was informed by the Department of Justice that such a requirement was inconsistent with the language of the bill.

Tawana Nichols, OMMP manager, said while the program was created with the intent of specifically benefiting Oregonians, there was no requirement of Oregon residency written into the bill, so they could not lawfully require it.

While Oregon residency will not, for now, be a requirement, patients still must be authorized to use medical marijuana by a licensed Oregon physician holding either an MD or a DO (doctor of osteopathy) and obtain their cannabis within the state.

The protection afforded by the program does not extend beyond Oregon's borders.

OMMP had initially, on the advice of its counsel, refused to process out-of-state applications, reports "Radical" Russ Belville at The NORML Stash Blog. But on June 14, the Oregon Attorney General issued an opinion (PDF) concluding that:

(1) The OMMA contains no Oregon residency requirement for obtaining an Oregon registry identification card; and,

(2) The Oregon Legislature could limit eligibility for Oregon registry identification cards to Oregon residents without violating the federal constitutional right to travel.

In response, the OMMP has issued temporary administrative rules (PDF) amending Oregon Administrative Rule 333-00800020 to facilitate the processing of out-of-state applications.

High Support for Medical Marijuana

ABC News/Washington Post Poll: 81 Percent Support Legalizing Marijuana for Medical Use

ANALYSIS By GARY LANGER

From: http://abcnews.go.com

Jan. 18, 2010—

Eight in 10 Americans support legalizing marijuana for medical use and nearly half favor decriminalizing the drug more generally, both far higher than a decade ago.
With New Jersey this week poised to become the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana, 81 percent in this national ABC News/Washington Post poll support the idea, up from an already substantial 69 percent in 1997. Indeed the main complaint is with restrictions on access, as in the New Jersey law.
Click here for PDF with charts and questionnaire.
Fifty-six percent say that if it's allowed, doctors should be able to prescribe medical marijuana to anyone they think it can help. New Jersey's measure, which is more restrictive than most, limits prescriptions to people with severe illnesses. State health officials can add to the list.
DECRIMINALIZE? Apart from medical marijuana, there have been recent efforts to decriminalize marijuana more broadly in some states. A preliminary vote on one such measure is to be held in the Washington state Legislature this week. In California organizers say they've collected enough signatures to hold a statewide referendum on the issue next fall. And a separate proposal in California to legalize and tax the drug cleared a legislative committee last week. A Field poll there in April found 56 percent support for the idea, which its backers say would raise $1.3 billion a year.
Nationally, this survey finds 46 percent support for legalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use the same as it was last spring, and well above its level in past years, for example 39 percent in 2002 and 22 percent in 1997.
GROUPS Age is a factor. Just 23 percent of senior citizens favor legalizing marijuana for personal use; that jumps to 51 percent of adults under age 65. There are political and ideological differences as well: Thirty percent of conservatives and 32 percent of Republicans favor legalization, compared with 49 percent of independents, 53 percent of Democrats and more than half of moderates and liberals alike (53 and 63 percent, respectively).
Medical marijuana, for its part, receives majority support across the political and ideological spectrum, from 68 percent of conservatives and 72 percent of Republicans as well as 85 percent of Democrats and independents and about nine in 10 liberals and moderates. Support slips to 69 percent among seniors, vs. 83 percent among all adults under age 65.
There are similar divisions on whether medical marijuana should be restricted or made available to anyone a doctor thinks it would help. Overall, 56 percent, as noted, prefer no restrictions, while 21 percent say it should be limited to terminally ill patients and an additional 21 percent say it should be limited to those with serious but not necessarily terminal illnesses.
Liberals are 23 points more apt than conservatives, and Democrats 20 points more likely than Republicans, to oppose restrictions. There's also a difference between the sexes, with men 10 points more likely than women to say the doctor should decide.
But the main difference is whether people think marijuana should be permitted for medical uses in the first place. Among supporters, 63 percent would rely on the doctor's discretion. Among those who oppose medical marijuana, 75 percent say that if it is allowed, it should be limited to seriously or terminally ill patients.
New Jersey passed its medical marijuana law this month and outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine is expected to sign it tomorrow morning, his last day in office. Medical marijuana first became legal in California in 1996, followed by Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington state.

METHODOLOGY This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Jan. 12-15, 2010, among a random national sample of 1,083 adults, including landline and cell-phone-only respondents, with an oversample of African Americans (weighted to their correct share of the population) for a total of 153 black respondents. Results for the full sample have a 3.5-point error margin. Click here for a detailed description of sampling error. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS of Horsham, PA.

Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures

Doug Benson Kicks Off The Medical Marijuana Tour

Published by houroc

Doug Benson is a funny guy. If you are unfamiliar with him, he is the guy that did a weed spoof of Super Size Me where instead of eating junk food, he smokes all day everyday for 30 days. The name of that flick was Super High Me. Of course.

Anyway, Benson is getting set to kick off the medical marijuana tour. He is going to visit the 13 states that have allowed medical marijuana in 13 days. That means Maine to Hawaii. That’s nuts. Here is the list of the 13 states that have allowed medical marijuana:

1. Alaska
2. California
3. Colorado
4. Hawaii
5. Maine
6. Michigan
7. Montana
8. Nevada
9. New Mexico
10. Oregon
11. Rhode Island
12. Vermont
13. Washington

If you live in one of these states and you want to try and give Doug a shout, make sure you hit him up on his twitter or myspace page. This should be a fun tour and I’m mad that I didn’t come up with this idea first. Have fun Doug and good luck to Graham Elwood too. Hope you guys make it through. Shout outs to my friends at G4TV for getting this interview and shouts out Mike Cann for puttin me up on this.

American Medical Association rethinking pot prohibition?

By Daniel Tencer
from: http://rawstory.com/

The American Medical Association on Tuesday issued a cautious but historically significant call to change America's marijuana prohibition laws, urging a "review" of the drug's status as a Schedule I drug.

At a meeting in Houston, the AMA's House of Delegates adopted a new policy that calls for "marijuana's status as a federal Schedule I controlled substance be reviewed with the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines, and alternate delivery methods."

That does not mean the AMA supports the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana.

Schedule I drugs are those considered to have no medical benefit and to be harmful when used under any circumstances. As such, marijuana is currently grouped by the federal government with drugs like heroin and LSD. By comparison, cocaine and methamphetamines are classified as Schedule II drugs, which may have some clinical benefits when used in the proper circumstances. The AMA's stance could simply result in the rescheduling of marijuana as a controlled substance that has some medical benefit.

However, Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, calls the move "historic" all the same, noting that it comes from "what has historically been America's most cautious and conservative major medical organization."

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"Marijuana's Schedule I status is not just scientifically untenable, given the wealth of recent data showing it to be both safe and effective for chronic pain and other conditions, but it's been a major obstacle to needed research," he said in a statement.

"It's been 72 years since the AMA has officially recognized that marijuana has both already-demonstrated and future-promising medical utility," said medical student Sunil Aggarwal in a press statement from Americans for Safe Access. Aggarwal has been spearheading the effort by the AMA's youth wing to change the organization's attitude towards marijuana.

ASA government affairs director Caren Woodson pointed out that the American College of Physicians, the country's second-largest medical group, called for a review of marijuana's status last year.

"The two largest physician groups in the US have established medical marijuana as a health care issue that must be addressed," Woodson said. "Both organizations have underscored the need for change by placing patients above politics."

In its report (PDF), the AMA stated:

Results of short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis. However, the patchwork of state-based systems that have been established for .medical marijuana. is woefully inadequate in establishing even rudimentary safeguards that normally would be applied to the appropriate clinical use of psychoactive substances. The future of cannabinoid-based medicine lies in the rapidly evolving field of botanical drug substance development, as well as the design of molecules that target various aspects of the endocannabinoid system. To the extent that rescheduling marijuana out of Schedule I will benefit this effort, such a move can be supported.

The AMA's move is the latest in a series of small but significant shifts in attitudes towards the liberalization of marijuana policies.

Last month, conservative columnist George F. Will said that the US is "probably in the process" of legalizing marijuana, pointing to the Obama administration's new policy to no longer raid medical marijuana clinics that are legal under state law, so long as those state laws are being observed. (Though one California-based US attorney disputes that there has been any change in policy.)

Additionally, California is currently debating a proposal to decriminalize marijuana. Massachusetts decriminalized marijuana in a state ballot last year.

And recent polls show that support for decriminalization of marijuana has reached a record high in the United States, with some 44 percent of Americans now in favor of reducing or eliminating criminal penalties for possession of the herb.

My Friend Bill, a Medical Marijuana Patient

By Phil Daigle

My friend, Bill is dying of cancer. He probably has two or three days left. He's not conscious and while the caretakers say that he can recognize my voice, I doubt it. He's being given a lot of drugs including morphine, but they don't seem to give him peace. His body struggles as if he is trying to free himself from unseen restraints. Perhaps he's pain-free, but he definitely does not seem comfortable. However, I was able to say goodbye to Bill with a smile on my face because of something his wife told me a few minutes earlier. She said, "Bill spent the last five days of his conscious life smoking pot." Now, if you knew Bill you'd know how utterly preposterous that statement sounds. Bill was a retired Pediatric Cardiologist. He voted Republican all his life until he voted for Obama. He did not waste money or words. And he definitely had never smoked marijuana.

Some weeks back, Bill's internist suggested that he consider medical marijuana as a way to restore his appetite which had been destroyed by chemotherapy. Later Bill decided to give it a try. Bill and his wife found a dispensary nearby after a brief internet search. They called the dispensary and were told they would need a referral letter and that a "doctor" would be on the premises that afternoon. At the time, Bill could only walk short distances and he was very weak, but they went over to the dispensary. They stood in a queue of seemingly able-bodied young men also seeking relief from something. The doctor relieved them of $140 and provided each with the referral letter. Bill's wife said that she was less than impressed with the certification process and ventured an opinion that "Bill was the only truly ill individual that doctor would see all week." The young dispensary clerks were very helpful. They suggested that Bill purchase two thumb sized buds "one of indica for pain and one of sativa for depression". Bill also picked out a nice psychedelic pipe. Once home, bill tried it. His wife said that once he felt the effects of the first puff a little smile brightened his face. He smoked some more and the smile broadened. His wife chuckled as she remembered his fondness for the stuff. She said, "I'd ask him if he'd like anything and he usually answered, "I believe I'll have some of that marijuana." It made Bill happy at the end of his journey. What a gift!

I agree with those that say that medical marijuana is mostly used by recreational pot smokers, but I know that there are other people like Bill who are truly ill and can't get anything from the medical community that works as well as marijuana to put a smile on their faces.