Capn Drift's Blog

…was this article by Fred Frommer with the Associated Press:

AP
Testifying in Congress before the House Appropriations subcommittee Attorney General Holder opined on the Washington and Colorado recreational cannabis initiatives:

“When it comes to these marijuana initiatives, I think among the kinds of things we will have to consider is the impact on children,” along with factors such as violence connected to trafficking and organized crime.”

Your kidding me, right, Mr. Holder?

And then, a representative from Maryland, one Andy Harris, leaned on Holder with:

“Kids need clear messages and I’m afraid we’re not sending them one.”

Are these people living in a cave in some desolate, remote, far-flung piece of this planet? Man, they can’t really be from here. Can they?

The number of kids smoking pot, this very day, is directly related to the prohibition enacted…well, do we want to go clear back to ’37 or start at ’70? I’m pretty sure I’m on solid ground when I write that.

I mean, the federal law (the CSA) has been same-same since 1970, right? Some 43-years-ago. And more teens smoke pot in this country than most others. Most others – with rather lax cannabis laws. If I remember correctly the incidence of adolescent cannabis abuse in the Netherlands is 1/2 that in this country. Portugal’s is far less.

And what of that violence connected to trafficking? Is Holder speaking of the 50,000 dead Mexicans as a result of ex-president Calderon’s crack down on the cartels? That violence?

Whether it be some “illuminati” group, corporations, or the extraterrestrial aliens who decided to attempt to eradicate cannabis, and thereby its use…I’ve a news bulletin for you: It didn’t work. People are glimpsing behind the curtain. It isn’t a lost befuddled old man they are seeing, but an evil mechanization.

The message to our children is quite clear, Representative Harris. What we have told them is our industrial prison complex is more important than they are. We are telling them we’d rather tear families apart; arresting in the neighborhood of 720,000 people annually for simple possession; we would rather support the corporations that have flourished under our draconian laws.

We’ve told them we are liars. Willing to sacrifice our young in order to maintain the status quo. That is our clear message.

Will you people please stop? It’s for the children…

Allow me to preface this by saying I’m not advocating anyone do anything, okay? And, I’ll add a disclosure, I’ve never been pregnant. Not even just a little bit.

This is another one of those posts that could go in this category or that other one. I flipped a coin.

In today’s paper there was brief blurb about a new drug approved by the FDA. It’s aimed at preventing/minimizing morning sickness in pregnant people. It’s called Diclegis. No, I’m not making that up. I just checked the spelling.

To quote the article:
“In announcing its decision to approve the drug for the U.S. market, the FDA’s center for drug evaluation and research said the active ingredients in Diclegis do not impose any increased risk to a fetus.”

Now, point your searchshit to “Thalidomide.”

Now, point it at studies done down in Jamaica by a Doc Dreher.

Okay you laze, I’ll give you a quick brief.

Thalidomide was peddled as a nausea treatment from 1957 to ’62. It was bad news, man. I’m talking an arm growing out of newborn’s chest type of bad news. The birth defects were rampant. We’re talking 10,000 younguns born screwed up over 46 countries – directly attributed to Thalidomide. Bad, bad shit. FDA approved bad shit (like that’s news, right?).

When I read of the Dic stuff I couldn’t help, but recall the “T” thing. ‘Course, I wasn’t reading the papers back then. I mean, I was born in ’57. I probably wasn’t reading the news in ’62 either. Its infamous history, however…

Doc Dreher did a study down Jamaica way. She took a look at pregnant people what used cannabis across their term. Cannabis appears to work well, for many folks, as a treatment for pregnant puking.

What she found (granted, it’s a limited, one-off study) was cannabis was effective in dealing with many issues associated with pregnancy. She also didn’t find any abnormalities in the children. Matter of fact, she found them to be more social, easier to engage (I’m not making this up! Go look!). Nope, no arms growing out of their chests; nothing like that.

So, man… I gotta wonder…
If I were of the child-bearing sex, and having a tough time, would I reach for the cannabis or the pill bottle? And why would I have made that choice?

I’ll never know. I’ve had a vasectomy. I can’t have any more kids ;^)

- people dying from prescribed opiate overdoses. Shit happens all’a the time, right? Why get the panties all bunched up? Why whine about 16,600 dead people way back in 2010?

Because I don’t feel like editing a book I’m working on - yet feel like writing a little something - that’s why. I do hope the dead folks don’t mind.

I was strolling through the living room just a day or two ago. My Ol’ Woman had the news going on the TV. The whole dead people segment lasted a whole of ten feet. The living room’s only 24 long. The TV a 52 inch. “Epidemic” I heard the anchor quote. “Up from…” Yeah, I’m hip. Every year the death toll rises.

Old shit, man.

Back in 1999 4,030 deaths were opiate related. Today, more people die from prescription drugs then from coke and junk combined.

If we pretended we cared we might wonder about that. Let’s do that okay? If not pretend we care, then maybe just take a look at the thing, huh? Pick it up, give it a sniff, feel the texture… We can always toss it right back where we found it – in the sea of statistics.

Why?

I don’t mean why fuck around with it. I done tol’ ya I’m merely lollygagging here. I mean, why are those people dead? Why did they take enough drug to take their life? Why a phenomenal increase in 11 years.

Of those deaths in 2010 the data tells us 82% were an oops.

Back when I was in highschool I recall when a particularly pure heroin came to town. No, I wasn’t doing junk. Some of my friends were. Some of my friends nearly died (one did). China White was the shit, man!

But a prescribed drug is same-same every time, right? 5, 10, 25 mg, whatever -same-same. How the hell could someone screw that up?

Oh, geez…. where to start?

How about at the source?

In 2010 pharmacies dispensed 69 tons of oxycodone and 42 of hydrocodone. And the shit is fucking addicting.

Well, let’s get semantic; for abusers it’s addiction, for chronic pain patients it’s dependence. I’ve an opioid dependence. The medical profession says so.

And then it gets kind of weird.

Doctors are getting reamed for prescribing too much of the shit. Doctors are getting reamed for being inhumane assholes because they don’t prescribe enough. You hear of folks using prescribed opiates, and getting kicked off of narcotics programs, going to the streets for heroin… or knocking over pharmacies for oxy.

Oh, and trying to stay within the whole statistics meme (we do love our numbers); male deaths doubled and women’s’ tripled between ’99 and ’07.  The age group (in ’07)  with the most deaths was between 45 and 54.

Somewhere, I read a lot of the dead where simply folk attempting to calm their pain, and possibly thinking more is better… I suppose it got better when they quit breathing? Liver damage from the acetaminophen in many of the opioids? Sorry, my web search abilities have proven inadequate here. Feel free to provide your own statistics.

Numbers! We need numbers!

Screw the numbers. Let’s look at this like any rational 8th grader would. I mean, it’s like problem solving 101, right?

Problem: People dying from ‘scribed painkillers.
Solution: Don’t manufacture painkillers.

Okay, that doesn’t work, for obvious reasons.

Same problem, but now we’ll take another tact.
Solution: Manufacture a nonlethal painkiller.

Okay, that doesn’t work either. Not today, anyway.

Problem: Dead people,  opioids…
Solution: Add a nonlethal component into the pharmacology. A component that would add a synergistic boost right at the synapse. A component that used in conjunction with the opioid could reduce the dose by 50%, or more.

So then 69 tons of oxycodone becomes 34?
It’s not “raining” opiate painkillers anymore?
Fewer people die?

“Solution,” it appears, isn’t all that simple.

I’m reminded of back when I worked in chemical process safety. It was taught that anytime a corrosive chemical came into contact with the skin, “Dilution is the solution.” And that doesn’t have a damned thing to do with the subject at hand. I was just reminded… that’s all.

Dope kills… old shit, man… just look at the statistics.

I don’t know. I was going to try to tie in cannabis as an adjutant to opioids and use a bunch of statistics to show how lives could be saved. That was my intent. The Vicodin’s kicking in though. I’m thinking I’ll go lie down a while… soon as I finish this beer.

Now that I’ve done a bit of research on the outfit I suppose I’m embarrassed to write I’d never heard of them. They appear to be a big deal. They’re a hundred-year-old think tank.

Tell me the truth, after reading that last sentence did you have a vision of algae growing in the corners of an aquarium?

Do you now?

“…most influential, most quoted and most trusted think tank in the world.”

They ‘prolly have housekeeping deal with the weeds, eh? Weeds? Heh! Quite the segue, eh? Okay, not. Not, because I’m going to keep blithering on before I get to the meat of this post.

I posted before about a few of the possible implications with the new Washington and Colorado recreational cannabis laws. It was just a bit ago… oh, here it is: http://capndrift.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/living-in-a-petri-dish/

Brookings recently had a panel discussion on the matter. These would be the smart people, mind you. Them what’s supposed to know what they’re talking about. The brainiacs touched on a few of those issues I mentioned in that previous post. C-SPAN video’d the discussion. It’s a bit long at a tad over an hour and a half, but I found the opinions most interesting.

I figured one’a y’all might find something in it, to give some thought to. So I’m posting a link to the video.

Brookings

They discuss everything from the DOJ’s role to Congress to… well, state experiments. I’d recommend you check it out when you’ve the time to spare.
Most interesting.

So, I keep hearing about deadly crashes declining in states with medicinal cannabis laws. Reading about it, too. As I did just the other day. So, I was thinking, Blog dude! Blog fodder!

And here we are.

There’s this outfit called the Institute for the Study of Labor. It’s an international organization home ported in Bonn Germany. They go by “IZA.” They published a 2011 paper (No. 6112) titled, Medical Marijuana Laws, Traffic Fatalities, and Alcohol Consumption. Granted, the study only encompasses three states, Montana, Vermont and Rhode Island, but…

They say the numbers indicate with the passage of the medicinal laws adult use of cannabis rose in two of the three states. They didn’t however, see a rise in use by minors. So far so good, eh?

But we’re talking about people dying in car crashes. Not who - or isn’t - using cannabis. Then again, maybe we are. Stay with me here.

In those states beers sales dropped a little over 5%.
Traffic fatalities dropped about 9%.

The study itself reads there could be a number of factors involved. Many folks go (drive) to the bar to socialize and knock back a few. Public cannabis smoking is generally a no-no, so do many of those folks stay home (no driving here) to indulge in a bit of the dank?

Now, I’m no proponent of getting behind the wheel of anything while loaded up, but the study does touch on the different aspects of impairment when it comes to being under the influence of cannabis or alcohol.

For whatever reason, in this study we find three states with medicinal cannabis laws and a dramatic drop in car crash fatalities. Yeah, I’d call it a rather limited look. I’d like to see all 18 states put under the microscope. They call that science. Or statistics. Or statistical science. Or something.

You wanna read the thing yourself? Be my guest.

IZA

Called Washington State.

Yeah, yeah, I know Colorado passed their cannabis “legalization” measure. I don’t live in Colorado though, ‘kay? ‘Kay.

So what’s going to come climbing out of this thing. Are the proper controls in place to keep it from escaping?  I sure as hell hope not.

The prez has said his “administration” doesn’t intend to interfere, though we haven’t heard from the Justice Department and the DEA, yet. What we keep hearing is the federal government won’t use resources to prosecute “users.” “Users” has been a key word since California passed the medicinal law.

The Justice Department says they get after distributors, not users. Of course they don’t go after users. NIDA (National Institute On Drug Abuse) tells us there are 15.2 million abusers  within any month in this country. Chasing that, is down right impossible.

Medicinal dispensaries are an easy target if an agency wants to knock down a few distributors though, eh?

So what are the feds telling us about retail sales in Washington?
Not a fucking thing.

But Congress is going to start talking about it. That’s what I’ve read, anyway. No, I’m not sure what the hell that means either. Other than finally the prohibition of cannabis is a hot topic these days. More importantly, a hot political topic. This is good, yes?

What of pre-employment drug screening? We all know it’s been biased against cannabis users – the U.A. being the “gold standard.” Obviously, a blood test is a bit more invasive. Will employers start asking for blood (the sweat and tears comes later) for screening? How else to tell if a person has abused, er, used cannabis ‘recently.?’ You know damn well the testing industry is scrambling to come up with some sort of alternative. This is good, yes?

What of “pain patients” engaged in a narcotics contract with a health agency? We’ve all heard stories about folks taking prescribed opiates having them withdrawn due to a positive U.A. for cannabis. That’s normally part of a “contract” – pissing in the cup. Will that continue in the state of Washington?

What if the patient lives in a neighboring state?

How will this affect endocannabinoid research? Will scientists flock here so they can work with phytocannabinoids rather than synthetics? Are pharmaceutical outfits looking at the taxing structure of the state as I type? Big employers get big breaks, right?

Where and how will cannabis be scheduled under the CSA?

Are Washington and Colorado in violation of a U.N. treaty?

In the near future will I be able to walk into a store and buy a three-finger bag of pot? That 20 pack of joints many of us have anticipated?

Is the world watching?

Sound the alarm! It’s alive! It’s moving… escaping from the dish! It just ate my snickers bar!

Yeah, okay, that was rather adolescent of me. The snickers bar part. These days I prefer unsweetened dark chocolate.

Seriously though folks, we are witnessing, and a part of, history. It’s been 75 years in the coming. I’m excited.

The citizens of Washington State and Colorado have thumbed their noses at the DEA.

Yeah, I know the passing of the peoples’ initiatives is old news. It happened a week ago tomorrow. I’ve had a ‘thing’ happen in my personal life that’s had me rather bummed. I won’t go into it. I’ll just say my head’s starting to come back around. “Back around” as much as it ever has been, I guess.

So what happens when the citizens of two states tell the federal government to pound sand?  Remember now,  what’s happened in those two states is not a result of their respective legislatures. A bill wasn’t passed through a house and senate. A governor didn’t sign a bill into law.

The people pulled together signatures for a vote to appear on a ballot. The people voted in favor of “legalizing” cannabis. But there’s a fly in the ointment. Maybe several.

Being a Washington resident I’m familiar with our recently passed initiative. Colorado’s, not so much. I’ll address the efforts of my fellow state citizens.

Our initiative has the state regulating the cultivation, distribution and final sales of cannabis under the auspices of the state liquor board. “Waiter… what’s this fly doing in my soup?!” “Backstroke,” indeed.

This is where the USDOJ will toss a wrench. They will point out cannabis is a schedule I drug. They will point to the Commerce Clause. Will the state of Washington attempt to defend its citizens? Or will the state simply fold thereby killing the whole retail sales scheme? If the state does throw in the towel what will that mean in the long run? I’m writing of a state that won’t go to bat for its people. Think about it.

Along with the efforts of WA. and CO. five Michigan municipalities voted to either decriminalize cannabis possession or make it the lowest of law enforcement priorities. Massachusetts overwhelmingly voted in medicinal cannabis (63% yes, 37% no).

You would think the DEA and the USDOJ would reevaluate their stance, wouldn’t you? How long, do you suppose, they can perpetuate their ludicrous stance?

And what if ASA wins their court case, and cannabis is ordered to be rescheduled by a U.S. Court of Appeal? That would be a neat little twist, eh?

Grab the popcorn, stay tuned!

WARNING: This is a bit of a rant.

There are posts about Washington State’s E2SSB 5073 in other portions of this blog. I might (or not) have mentioned it left the legislature  and went to the governor’s desk – where she slashed 36 sections and then passed it into law.

The portions she vetoed related to a retail medicinal sales scheme to be operated by the state. She didn’t want to risk state employees going to the federal pokey. The “dispensing” of cannabis in this state is illegal. Period. End of statement.

A section of the bill allowing “collective gardens” remained in place. Here it is:

(1) Qualifying patients may create and participate in collective gardens for the purpose of producing, processing, transporting, and delivering cannabis for medical use subject to the following conditions:

(a) No more than ten qualifying patients may participate in a single collective garden at any time;

(b) A collective garden may contain no more than fifteen plants per patient up to a total of forty-five plants;

(c) A collective garden may contain no more than twenty-four ounces of useable cannabis per patient up to a total of seventy-two ounces of useable cannabis;

(d) A copy of each qualifying patient’s valid documentation or proof of registration with the registry established in *section 901 of this act, including a copy of the patient’s proof of identity, must be available at all times on the premises of the collective garden; and

(e) No useable cannabis from the collective garden is delivered to anyone other than one of the qualifying patients participating in the collective garden.

(2) For purposes of this section, the creation of a “collective garden” means qualifying patients sharing responsibility for acquiring and supplying the resources required to produce and process cannabis for medical use such as, for example, a location for a collective garden; equipment, supplies, and labor necessary to plant, grow, and harvest cannabis; cannabis plants, seeds, and cuttings; and equipment, supplies, and labor necessary for proper construction, plumbing, wiring, and ventilation of a garden of cannabis plants.

(3) A person who knowingly violates a provision of subsection (1) of this section is not entitled to the protections of this chapter.

Yeah, yeah, I know there are entrepreneurs out there who’d like to line their pockets with money from the sales of  medicinal cannabis. The section of law above doesn’t appear to make it very viable for that contrivance, in my opinion. So why the moratorium and an outright ban on collectives in this state?

Including my own city.

There has been a moratorium on gardens for over a year now. It was enacted as an emergency. No, I’m not bullshitting you. An emergency.

While in the midst of this emergency the city attorney, planner and planning commission have been busy plotting. Plotting their own backdoor ban on collectives. And you might be asking yourself how they would accomplish that. The answer is simple: Turn nothing more than a collective effort on the part of a few individuals into a business. A business that would be impossible to operate.

Now, go back and read the part above in italics. Keep it in mind as you read what follows.

An activist I’m quite personal with spoke at a recent city zoning commission public meeting. He was kind enough to give me a copy of his presentation. It follows:

Though undoubtedly the following is quite truculent, I’ll ask in the interest of maintaining some semblance of decorum you refrain from interrupting.
Thank You.

The State Legislature’s drafting and passing of Senate Bill 5073 was an attempt at a humanitarian act designed to improve the availability of cannabis, for those authorized individuals using the plant as a last resort treatment for their malady.

What I have here is an atrocity. It appears through deceit and manipulation this city would put the boots to a vulnerable subset of this community. The city claims section .140 gives them the authority to proceed in a backhanded attempt to ban collective gardens.

Pulling back the curtain on .140  Governor  Gregoire speaks: “Section 1102 sets forth local governments’ authority pertaining to the production, processing or dispensing of cannabis or cannabis products within their jurisdictions. The provisions in Section 1102 that local governments’ zoning requirements cannot ‘preclude the possibility of sighting licensed dispensers within the jurisdiction’ are without meaning in light of the vetoes of sections providing for such licensed dispensers. It is with this understanding that I approve Section 1102.”

Two things become quite clear with this statement.

1. .140 was intended to give municipalities authority over dispensaries. Not collective gardens.

2. With the veto of 36 sections of 5073 .140 became orphaned. Dispensaries – the business of selling medicinal cannabis – are not legal in this state.

.140 has no standing.

In an attempt to circumvent the legislative process in this state The City would manipulate zoning law declaring a collective garden a business. This is evidenced in the document. I quote:

“Collective gardens shall be closed to any distribution of cannabis between the hours of 8:00 PM and 7:00 AM.”

Are those ‘business’ hours?

“A person who receives wages…”

Companies pay wages, correct?

“No onsite sales of paraphernalia”

In my five years of holding a recommendation I’ve never witnessed one patient selling another paraphernalia. Regardless, ‘sales’ sounds like a business transaction.

And finally, paragraph ‘C’ speaks to visibility and signage. Patients don’t advertise. Companies do.

I have no idea why this city would attempt to intercede in legislative law. Why they would hinder patients supporting one another through association. Could it possibly be fear born of ignorance? I simply can’t fathom the governance of the city purposely harming disabled, injured and sick members of the community. The why of it, I don’t understand.

I do know I will fight this as long as I’m able.

I ask my fellow citizens – nay, I plead – please, oh please stand with me in opposing this most heinous attempt.

In closing I paraphrase the pastor Martin Niemoller:

First they came for the communists
And I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the socialists
And I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Now you come for me?

(NOTE: section 1102 of the bill was codified as .140 in the law.)

*******

“Yes, that happened right here,  to your neighbors.

It is not too much to say that in your hands lies the possibility of adverting other tragedies like it.

We must work untiringly so that our children are obliged to learn the truth. Because it is only through knowledge that we can safely protect them.

Failing this, the next tragedy may be that of your daughter. Or your son.

Or yours. Or yours. or YOURS!

Tell your children.”

(the last scene from Reefer Madness)

…taken by proponents of Washington State’s I-502 - and very well-played in my opinion.

In today’s newspaper there’s an article on a recent “study” released by New Approach Washington. The data gives us the number of people who’ve been arrested in the last 25 years and the amount of money spent on cannabis enforcement the last 10; 240,000 and 211 million (respectively).

Now, I know a quarter of a century is a pretty good span of time, but damn… that’s a lot of people! Curiosity had me checking the population of Vancouver, Washington; 164,759 (the 4th largest city in the state). So then, figuratively speaking, every single person I see today (plus) would have been arrested for cannabis at one time.

Forget trying to put the money into some sort of perspective. Not having even two nickels to rub together how the Hell can I get my head around 211 mil?

Oh, before I forget, here’s the link to the story if you’d care to have a gander:
240,000, 211 mil

Having that printed was a pretty slick move on the part of those endorsing I-502. Any sensible person can see things hafta change! Oh! And NAW has T.V. commercials, too! Here, check it out:
NAW

I know many within the medicinal cannabis community are fighting this thing tooth and nail. The DUII provision (per se 5ng/ml) is one Hell of a sticking point. Many claim should 502 pass and the feds gut it the only provision left will be the DUII. At this time impairment must be shown. The 5ng/ml is defenseless. The limit is “per se.”

I sure as shit hope they’re wrong. I’ve a gut feeling Initiative 502 will pass. If it does, I suppose we’ll learn soon enough if it was a good thing… or bad.

I’m on an email list for aspiring writers. Yeah, I got that one book out, but I’m still aspiring to be a good story-teller. I think there’s a bit of a difference between a “writer” and a “teller.”  Don’t tell those guys over on the email list. They’ll be on to my mad plan to take over the world of literature.

I got a mail from an acquaintance on the list. Hell, she’s more than an acquaintance. She helped with a shit load of editing on that afore-mentioned book.  She’s also the “list owner” of the afore-mentioned aspiring writers email list. And a librarian to boot.

She’s also is aware of my cannabis “activism.”  She sent me the following link: Body Horrors

Body Horrors is kind of cool, man.  Truthfully, I didn’t do any more than read the post linked above and the “about” page. I’ll go back later and browse. Right now I wanna write my own blog post. I’ll get lost in infectious diseases and their social impact when, you know, like, when I can focus.

Did you go to the link? If you did you’ll know it’s about a salmonella outbreak related to cannabis. Shit cannabis, actually.

Back in ’81 there was this outbreak of salmonella in Ohio, Michigan, Georgia and Alabama. It vexed the folks who deal with that kind of stuff because it wasn’t in the spinach. I mean, like, it’s always the spinach, right? It was in the pot.

So… I was thinking, This is a blog, man. People say what they want on blogs. I do it all the damn time… Not to question Ms. Kreston’s credibility mind you, but it’s a blog. So, I went checking her references.  Here’s the New England Journal of Medicine abstract:

Sheet weed

Well, the rotten black-market bastards. To bring up the package weight the sons-a-bitches tossed manure in with it!

Here’s the screwed up thing about salmonella, it travels. If I have it on my hand and touch yours and you in turn put it to your mouth… If I transfer it to a fork and you… It travels. Oh yeah, you read the links, huh? You know that. I was just passing that along for that laze over there. The one that didn’t link.

And this is where I draw a parallel to days of  alcohol prohibition. Sorta.

Oh you know the way of it – it’s old news - folks going blind from contaminated equipment or even dying from methanol poisoning. A little brown shoe polish makes bourbon, right?

And today, over in England…  What’s that crap with the dog turds and ground glass that’s shown up over there? What’a they call it, “soap?” It’s supposed to be some sort of cannabis thing , but it’s poison.

All a result of prohibition, man. Brown shoe polish bourbon, fecal in the plant matter… Molecules that were never intended to leave the lab sprayed on herbs and sold as incense - the ruthless entrepeneur knowing some kid will smoke it and freak the fuck out.

Prohibition.

Madness.

Please, please, let’s stop this.