It's An Official Emergency; Oakland CA is out of Pot

[TechMan]

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2010/04/30/lack-of-weed-an-emergency-in-oakland

Legalization Nation

Friday, April 30, 2010
Lack of Weed an 'Emergency' in Oakland
Regulation & Legislation David Downs —  Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 7:01 AM

It's a routine declaration of the Oakland City Council, but yeah, it's kind of funny too. The City of Oakland is set to renew its declaration of a “local public health emergency” stemming from a local lack of medicinal cannabis.

Oakland official Barbara Parker says the proclamation was originally issued in 1998. It effectively means nothing, but it does buttress Oakland city policies like permitting medical cannabis dispensaries, and ordering Oakland Police to effectively ignore pot offenses.

Parker said the city originally issued the declaration because federal and state law enforcers were busting local growers and cancer patients. That threat of imprisonment persists to this day. The declaration says people could die due to lack of cannabis, so it's cause for Oakland to continue the declaration.

The fine print of the declaration basically states that the people of California and the City of Oakland have voted for legal medicinal cannabis, because it helps the sick, hurting and dying. The sick and dying have such a need that the city of Oakland itself has tried help them get the plant. But the United States has blocked Oakland's efforts, sent the sick into the streets to get their medicine and perpetuated their suffering.

As long the DEA can ruin a person's life for providing or taking a medicine, Oakland has a public health emergency on its hands. The declaration finds that people could die due to federal policy, and federal authorities should stop obstructing and harassing the city.

The Oakland City Council is expected to quickly pass the declaration at their scheduled meeting next week.

Download a copy of the 'Resolution Renewing the City Council's Declaration of a Local Public Health Emergency With Respect To Safe, Affordable Access to Medical Cannabis In the City of Oakland'.


Okay I know the article states it is routine, but I couldn't resist posting because of the subject line.   

[Tallpine]

Californians should man up and secede 

[makattak]

Californians should man up and secede 

The good this would do the rest of the country is immeasurable.

[gunsmith]

hey! they're just keeping their priorities straight

[Tallpine]

The good this would do the rest of the country is immeasurable.

In more ways than one 

Last time, there was mostly a single disreputable issue :(

But if some states are wanting to secede for "liberal" issues, and other states are wanting to secede for "conservative" issues, it puts a different spin on things 

[BlueStarLizzard]

Or all could join together for states rights.

[dm1333]

The good this would do the rest of the country is immeasurable.

What about those of us stuck behind enemy lines? 

It isn't just an emergency in Oakland, you should hear what the rumor mill has been grinding out here north of the Bay Area.  Black helicopters have been replaced by "Dude, big tobacco is buying up huge amounts of land and they're getting rready to force us out of business!"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36025681/ns/us_news-life/

REDWAY, Calif. - The smell of pot hung heavy in the air as men with dreadlocks and gray beards contemplated a nightmarish possibility in this legendary region of outlaw marijuana growers: legal weed.

If California legalizes marijuana, they say, it will drive down the price of their crop and damage not just their livelihoods but the entire economy along the state's rugged northern coast.

"The legalization of marijuana will be the single most devastating economic event in the long boom-and-bust history of Northern California," said Anna Hamilton, 62, a Humboldt County radio host and musician who said her involvement with marijuana has mostly been limited to smoking it for the past 40 years.

For decades, the outlaws, rebels and aging hippies of Humboldt County have been hoping for legalization. But now that it appears at hand, many clandestine growers fear it will flood the market with cheap, corporate-grown weed and destroy their way of life.

Some growers Tuesday fantasized about mobs of tourists in limos streaming to the county. Others were not thrilled with the idea of paying taxes on their crop.
Many agreed with the sentiment on a sticker plastered on a pizza joint's cash register: "Save Humboldt County — keep pot illegal."

[Tallpine]

Or all could join together for states rights.

Well, that would be a novel idea 

If any state(s) could just stop trying to enforce their own weird ideas on everyone else, we could all get along fabulously.   

[Seenterman]

Relevant to the topic but in a slightly different vein. This article is going to be controversial, but I want to hear the boards thoughts on this.

Why I Give My 9-Year-Old Pot, Part 3
We hit a snag and made a big discovery about how medical marijuana works for him.
By Marie Myung-Ok Lee
Posted Monday, April 19, 2010, at 10:26 AM ET

Last summer, we reached the six-month mark in our cannabis experiment. We'd been using medical marijuana to help quell our autistic son's gut pain and anxiety, and we were seeing some huge changes in his behavior and, presumably, his happiness. J was smiling, interacting (one of home-based therapists said she'd never encountered such an affectionate autistic child), even putting his dirty dishes in the dishwasher—rinsing and everything!—not only without being told, but without ever having been asked to do such a thing. The more I'd been reading, along with J's doctor, about the effects of cannabis—analgesic, anti-anxiety, safe—the more it seemed a logical choice. I've also heard from other parents who've decided to try cannabis for their children. One of the kids has Smith-Magenis, a genetic disorder that includes autismlike behavioral symptoms including self-injury. Another is an autistic child who'd refused to eat and was near death. Post-marijuana, he is thriving. The Smith-Magenis boy, who'd been about to start court-ordered medication, is also doing well.

Read the entire article and lets hear some thoughts.

I know nothing of Autism, besides the very basics but what do you guys think of this woman's approach to treating her autistic son? Child abuse, controversial treatment,  something that needs further study?

EDIT: Would this woman's lack of White Russian for her child constitute an emergency in your opinions?

[BlueStarLizzard]

Kids with health issues are given pretty heavy duty drugs all the time. It was my gen that was given ritilin like candy. When the benifits outweigh the risks, it can be a good thing. My main issue with giving kids (prescribed) drugs, particularly for psych issues, is danger to physical devolopment. If a drug may cause problems like that, it should be researved for adults unless the case is so severe there is no other option.

[Azrael256]

I've got a cousin who might just be able to fix this.  Last I heard he lived in Oakland.

[vaskidmark]

Autism is wierd - the "treatments" for it are even more weird.  Depending on how the kid was behaving 6 months ago, and how he's behaving now, and what respiratory and developmental side effects he's experiencing, it's difficult to say how I'd react to the mom's treatment plan.  The bright light in the scenario is, apparently, that the State seems content to follow the "medical MJ is medicine" line rather than "feeding your kid pot is child abuse" line -- so far.

As for medical MJ overall - I'm conflicted, but ,ostly because those who use it are too inclined to discount the psychotropic effects and continue to engage in behaviors that put others at great risk - such as driving and attempting to make change behind the counter of convenience stores (the two places I've encountered users).

From what I have read (not much) Manitol does not work as well as real pot for many of those seeking relief from various illnesses or the side effects of treating various other illnesses.  If they (the users) can control the tendency to do things that should not be done while physically/psychologically impaired, I'd say go for it and support Big Government legalizing it and letting the tobacco companies standardize production and distribution - it creates a tax revenue stream that I won't be involved in contributing to, and it (supposedly) will eliminate the illegal trade and the concommitant ills that go with illegal operations.

stay safe.

skidmark

[sanglant]

VA, would you prefer people driving on high doses of other pain meds? can't say i see a problem if they've been taking it long enough to know how it affects them, i would prefer someone driving high then digging in the floorboard. (yes i've seen it on the interstate, pulling out into traffic, and with kids in there car. people can be stupid things )

[vaskidmark]

Saglant -

I'd really prefer that anybody whose physical abilities -- especially reaction time -- are limited/reduced because of medication not take to the roads, not operate heavy machinery, light machinery, or do anything else that raises the odds that their limitations will have direct impingement on the health and life of others.  I'd also like to see folks whose perception of reality is not at baseline staying off the roads and not operating machinery (especially the internet).

I know that it's not going to happen.  Among other things, we all "know" that we can do stuff while under the influence that those mere mortals can't even do stone cold sober (and no, I'm not referring just to the drunks who drive).

As for those who drive under the influence of <name your poison> but don't do crazy stuff like indoor acrobatics at 75 mph?  If I had to choose ...?

But the point is, I don't have to choose.  I only have to live with the fact that they do it.  And believe me, I try really hard to live with that fact.

stay safe.

skidmark

[sanglant]

i agree with you on living with bad drivers, it's just that i see more incompetence then intoxication. then again i remember pulling out of a target parking lot, and being cut off by a loser fighting with a crack pipe. i guess it just bugs me to see one group getting a beating and the other being left out. can't be leaving murderous nitwits alone.

[MicroBalrog]

As a libertarian, it irks me that the issue of medical drug use is linked together with overall legalization of recreational drugs. It leads people who are opposed to recreational drugs to hate on legit medical MJ as they see it as an a trojan horse for legalization.

If a person has a true medical need for a substance, then a legal way for him to get this substance should be provided, if he (or insurance, or a charity, or even a local government) can pay for it of course

[MechAg94]

i agree with you on living with bad drivers, it's just that i see more incompetence then intoxication. then again i remember pulling out of a target parking lot, and being cut off by a loser fighting with a crack pipe. i guess it just bugs me to see one group getting a beating and the other being left out. can't be leaving murderous nitwits alone.

Also remember that intoxication just makes you a worse driver than you were sober.  If your starting point is incompetence, does it really make a difference? 

[sanglant]

  probably not but i happen to know that, after you take pain meds(at least time released) long enough(2weeks or so [at the same dose]) it really doesn't make much difference the trouble is after 3 or 4 months it stops helping the pain to.