Weekly News in Audio

July 31, 2008


"Radical" Russ Belville
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  Members Of Congress Demand An End To Federal Pot Possession Arrests. The Use Of Cannabis “Ought To Be None Of The Government's Business,” Lawmakers Say At Capitol Hill Press Conference
  National MS Society Makes Recommendations Regarding Therapeutic Use Of Cannabis


Washington, DC:
Members Of Congress Demand An End To Federal Pot Possession Arrests. The Use Of Cannabis “Ought To Be None Of The Government's Business,” Lawmakers Say At Capitol Hill Press Conference

Members of Congress called on lawmakers to enact legislation that would limit the government's authority to arrest and prosecute adults who possess marijuana for their own personal use.

The federal government should “not lock people up or use scarce federal resources to arrest people for using or possessing … marijuana,” Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) announced at a Capitol Hill press conference Wednesday. “The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government's business. I don't think it is the government's business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”

Rep. Frank, along with Reps. William Lacy Clay (D-MO) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), called on lawmakers to support legislation, HR 5843, which would eliminate federal penalties for the possession and non-profit transfer of marijuana by adults. Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), William Lacy Clay, Barbara Lee, Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX), and Jim McDermott (D-WA) are co-sponsoring the bill, entitled “the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008.”

The legislation is the first proposal to be introduced in Congress in 30 years that seeks to eliminate federal pot penalties.

According to a 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, 12.7 percent of state inmates and 12.4 percent of federal inmates serving time for drug violations are incarcerated for marijuana offenses.

Speaking at the press conference, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said: “With alcohol, we acknowledge the distinction between use and abuse and we focus our law enforcement involvement on efforts to stop irresponsible use. We do not arrest and jail responsible alcohol drinkers. This should be our policy with marijuana as well.”

According to a nationwide Time Magazine/CNN poll, three out of four Americans believe that adults who possess marijuana should no longer face criminal penalties.

Since 1990, more than 11 million Americans have been arrested for violating marijuana laws, according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Of those arrested, nearly 90 percent are charged with minor possession - not trafficking, cultivation, or sale. Nearly 75 percent of those arrested are under 30 years of age.

“The federal government's misguided prohibition of marijuana is a war on young people,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “Because of this failed public policy we have alienated an entire generation to believe that the police and the federal government are instruments of their oppression rather than their protection.”

House Bill 5843 is currently before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, which is a part of the House Judiciary Committee. In addition, the Bill has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's.

For more information, please contact NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre at (202) 483-5500.

Video footage from the press conference. Additional video is available from CNN. More information regarding HR 5843 is available online via NORML's Take Action Center.


Washington, DC:
National MS Society Makes Recommendations Regarding Therapeutic Use Of Cannabis

Cannabis has the potential to treat symptoms of multiple sclerosis as well as limit the progression of the disease, according to an expert opinion paper published by the US National Multiple Sclerosis Society. However, the Society stopped short of recommending that MS patients use the drug medicinally.

“Although it is clear that cannabinoids have potential both for the management of MS symptoms such as pain and spasticity, as well as for neuroprotection, the Society cannot at this time recommend that medical marijuana be made widely available to people with MS for symptom management,” the Society concludes. “This situation might change, should better data become available that clearly demonstrate benefit.”

The Society recommends that future clinical trials focus on methods of cannabinoid administration that deliver the drug to the bloodstream rapidly, such as vaporization.

The Society also recommends clinical trials be performed to investigate and quantify cannabis' potential to slow disease progression, citing “anecdotal reports from patients … that cannabis reduces the frequency of their MS attacks.”

Investigators at Plymouth's Peninsula Medical School in Britain recently announced that they had recruited nearly 500 MS patients for a three-year clinical trial assessing whether the use of oral THC can significantly slow the onset of multiple sclerosis.

Clinical data reported in 2006 from an extended open-label study of 167 multiple sclerosis patients found that the use of whole plant cannabinoid extracts relieved symptoms of pain, spasticity, and bladder incontinence for an extended period of treatment (mean duration of study participants was 434 days) without requiring subjects to increase their dose.

Results from a separate two-year open label extension trial in 2007 also reported that the administration of cannabis extracts was associated with long-term reductions in neuropathic pain in select MS patients. On average, patients in the study required fewer daily doses of the drug and reported lower median pain scores the longer they took it.

Commenting on the MS Society report, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “The MS Society's recommendations are a positive step, but they don't go far enough. Surveys indicate that as many as one out of two MS patients use cannabis therapeutically, yet this report does nothing to challenge these patients legal status as criminals.”

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director.

Full text of the MS Society paper, “Recommendations Regarding the Use of Cannabis in Multiple Sclerosis". Additional information on cannabinoids and multiple sclerosis is available from NORML.