Elizabeth Warren Expresses Support For Medical Marijuana Legalization

[midnight]

Most of us who have watched a person we love suffer from illness and disease would like this option to be available..... This is on the ballet in Massachusetts for this November....


By Nicole Flatow on Sep 24, 2012 at 4:30 pm

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren said she supports legalizing medical marijuana during a radio interview with Boston’s WTKK-FM Monday. In answering a question about the Massachusetts ballot initiative, she recalled sitting with her father on his death bed, when “there was some discussion” about whether marijuana would have helped:
You know, I held my father’s hand while he died of cancer, and it’s really painful when you do something like that up close and personal. My mother was already gone and I was very very close to my father. And it puts me in a position of saying, if there’s something a physician can prescribe that can help someone who’s suffering, I’m in favor of that. Now, I want to make sure they’ve got the right restrictions. It should be like any other prescription drug. That there’s careful control over it. But I think it’s really hard to watch somebody suffer that you love.
Listen:

Warren’s statement comes as public support for decriminalizing marijuana is growing. A poll in May found that 56 percent of Americans now support legalizing marijuana and regulating it like states regulate alcohol and tobacco. In Massachusetts, a more recent poll found 59 percent of voters support legalizing marijuana specifically for medical use.
Should Massachusetts voters approve the measure on the November ballot to legalize medical marijuana in the state, Massachusetts will join 17 other states and the District of Columbia, which already have some statute in place decriminalizing medical marijuana. In spite of this growing movement among the states, federal officials are continuing to crack down on dispensaries, enforcing federal law even where state laws allow those dispensaries.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/09/24/901171/elizabeth-warren-expresses-support-for-medical-marijuana-legalization/

[99th_Monkey]

1. Woot! The more I learn about Ms. Warren the more I like her. ~nt

[Xipe Totec]

2. That's good, because i'm planning to vote for it, and for her. nt

[geckosfeet]

3. I can tell you from firsthand experience - marijuana relieves the nausea caused by chemo

and radiation. It is fast acting and you do not have to take pills etc. For people who are so nauseous that they have trouble eating this is a great benefit.

Of course, if you are being treated for lung cancer this might not be your wisest choice.

[midnight]

4. I'm glad you were able to have access to this herb, but sad to hear you needed it...

Do you get to vote for Elizabeth?

[geckosfeet]

5. Yes. I live in MA and will definitely be voting for her. You can sense a tide turing for her.

br0wn is showing himself to be ignorant and that is alienating some folks.

As for the marijuana thing, a kind friend gave me some while I was having treatment as he knew I was feeling quite ill. It's been so long since I touched it I would not know where to get it if I wanted to. There are no dispensaries in MA.

[midnight]

6. How exciting....

[bemildred]

7. Our next President! nt

[limpyhobbler]

16. knock on wood. nt

[musiclawyer]

8. Look all MJ will be legal throughout the mountain west and west coast in 10 years

IF, even one of the legalization measures pass this November

If someone is ill and needs it, they won't even need a doctor's note, although I'm sure there will be MJ doctors will specialize in it and know what works and does not work for various ailments.

Elizabeth Warren is simply out in front of things. Always. That's why left is militantly protective of her. She is a leader.

Obama is not a progressive and he is not a well rounded leader ....thus far. If he was, he would have listened to Volcker and not Geithner on that fateful day when the wall street bankers were sitting in the lobby waiting to see if POTUS would send them to the poor house.

If he was a leader, Obama would have come out against gay marriage years ago. If he was a leader he would have fired all Republican US attorneys, rescheduled weed from Schedule 1 and left the MM States alone.

If he was a leader there would be no defense authorization act/police state

Obama follows
Warren leads

Our next POTUS should be Elizabeth Warren--progressive to the bone.

[midnight]

9. It would be welcomed to see legalization spread... However those in our courts have all the laws

to pick up users one by one.... so as this measure passes, it needs to spread with progressive Department of transportation laws... especially, since this drug is in the body up to a week after usage....

[musiclawyer]

10. Cops cannot pick up users one by one for very long

It's too expensive and unconstitional.

There re no good/reliable detection measures for CURRENT cannabis intoxication

Urine testing does not test for THC, ratherr its metabolite which is not psychoactive and remains present in urine for weeks A positive urine test shows the person has used marijuana but does not give any information as to current intoxication. Hence, any overworked public defender will get charges dropped.

Blood testing is invasive and not realistic in the field.
The only way to easily prove intoxication is for the cops to videotape and testify. That does not mean you won't get pulled over and taken into custody if you are driving stoned. Let's say Colorado legalizes. At first there will be problems. The cops will go trigger happy pulling over drivers. But then managment will realize that the rank and file are in court half the time and losing most of the time.

Hence a good field-grade cannabis intoxication detection system is something that will be in HUGE demand. If I had money to invest, that's where I would be looking.

[bemildred]

11. Yep, it's already out of control.

And it's going to take a big commitment of time money and credibility to reverse that, and a deeper plunge into police state tactics.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-medical-marijuana-20120926,0,2760642.story

"We couldn't do all of L.A. at once," said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the office. "There's just too many stores."

And the dispensary operators know that no jury is going to send them to jail, so they demand a jury trial. The feds are trying to use their unconstitutional seizure powers as well, you can see that, but that's not going to work either (I'm not saying why here.)

[musiclawyer]

12. The Government, using the term ubiquitously, has a choice

Work with the people on marijuana or become a narco police state.

I have no worries long term because there is so much evidence in support of the medical and commercial benefits weed and hemp, that POTUS has to fold once even one state legalizes. That's the start of the dominoes. POTUS won't fight this because he does not want attention drawn to the rest of his police state ( drones/ defense authorization/etc) that is already in place.

POTUS will have a mandate next year. And part of that mandate is back off weed and hemp. Once the Feds fold, then the states will simply look to make money forom weed and hemp.

[bemildred]

13. Yes. They will give us social-issue crumbs as long as they get to keep the guns and money. nt

[midnight]

14. I live in Wisconsin.... Over a year ago Sennsenbrenner cut aid to the courts for those needing

public defenders.... Waukesha sheriffs dept... gave funding to prosecutors office to enlarge court rooms for traffic court... I believe this is easy money for the communities....


Wisconsin is becoming a place with fewer and fewer rights or common sense...

[bemildred]

15. PS: that is an interesting suggestion, about a test.

There is going to be huge incentive for that, once it's legal to use. I would expect that is already the case in MM states.

I know my kid was in court for a false ID his "friends" gave him, and the courtroom was the biggest zoo I've ever seen with the most harassed, pissed-off looking judge, I really felt sorry for him. He had these huge piles of case files and he was going through them like it was McDonalds. (Got diverted.)

[musiclawyer]

17. Actually no California is a MM state and the cops have no tools except their 5 senses

They will bring you in if they think you are high on the road. But proving up remains a resource intensive activity. The reason targeting driving high is not a big priority is because people who use are either:
a) sick
b) don't drive anyway because dope impairs your judgment far less than booze , or hence,
c) drive "real" carefully, or
d) are such heavy user that their tolerance becomes sky high and getting behind the wheel is fairly manageable to them.

Colorado, Oregon and Washington are going to need more sophisticated tools for securing the prosecution of stoned drivers, because you KNOW, there will be newbies/rookies who make mistakes. "Oh I'm only driving two blocks to the store....." Then they get pulled over for driving 10 miles an hour on a 35 street. Or the other extreme, eat too much edibles, go down the ladder, freak out, and pull over in front of a fire station crying like a baby .....etc

[bemildred]

18. No, I mean the incentive is already there in MM states.

I should have been clearer, we already have a reason to want a "current" test, because possession is already legal if you have a prescription.