Post Punk Kitchen Forum

So, the latest victim in the US Attorney's war on California's Compassionate Use Act is Oaksterdam University, an organization that educates citizens on legally and responsibly cultivating, buying, and using medical marijuana.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... .DTL&tsp=1

Full disclosure: I am obviously biased, since medical marijuana pretty much puts food on my table. Except not really, because the prosecution of medical marijuana and the subsequent necessary defense is what puts food on my table. But nevertheless, I have friends and colleagues who teach at Oaksterdam and I fully support what they do for the community.

That said, I am so infuriated and for so many reasons. Needless to say, these raids are a waste of Federal tax money and are in direct contradiction to the campaign promises upon which Obama was elected. They are in contradiction to the laws that the citizens of California have voted into effect fifteen years ago.

The fact that this is taking place in Oakland is also problematic. I understand that Federal and local funding, laws, and enforcement are totally different, but there's still something to be said about a Federal raid of an educational institution happening in a city whose police department has paid out more in settlements than any other in the country. A city whose budget is stretched so thin it just shut down three elementary schools last week.

Speaking as a former resident of Oakland, I can say with absolute confidence that Oaksterdam undoubtedly brought benefits to the community. Their downtown location occupied a vacant building in a business district that is struggling to thrive, even after millions of dollars in 'development.' They brought money into the community. They educated people on their rights and responsibilities under California law. And they ultimately just wanted to provide medicine to those who needed it.

I know not everyone is down with marijuana here, and I don't expect them to be. But valid patients, some of whom are profoundly ill, find serious benefit from marijuana in a way that pharmaceuticals/chemicals cannot, for physical, economic, or access reasons, and I don't feel it's right or fair to criminalize them on a federal level for something which is perfectly within the law statewide. I know that's not how the government works, but.... ugh.

I posted this in the Parlor because it's part of a statewide (and national) anti-medical-marijuana trend, but if mods feels it belongs in the Square, move away.

No one I know smokes pot, but no one I know actually gives a damn about those who do. Even my NRA card carrying father-in-law just chuckles if he catches a whiff of smoke while walking the dogs. If anything, I think that 99% of america can agree we have better things to spend our money on.

Total waste of time and money.
They should raid pharmaceutical companies for all the evil they produce then too.
Marijuana > Hydrocodone/Valium/Xanax/Insert "happy" pill here

This is shameful.

I am not a big pot smoker. That said, I work with medical marijuana patients, and I know the relief it provides to a lot of folks. Oaksterdam is a school that is aimed at empowering patients and caregivers; it teaches them how to grow their own medical marijuana so that they don't have to rely on dispensaries or black market dealers if they don't want to. It also teaches them what their rights and responsibilities are as patients and how to deal with police. In short, it teaches them to comply with the state laws of California. The fact that precious government resources are being spent on raiding and prosecuting this establishment is just awful.

UGH.

Also,
REALLY?

I can only agree with your sentiments, Erika.

Not to mention that the activities Oaksterdam was engaged in were LAWFUL pursuant to a California voter initiative that passed in 1996. Yes, marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but Obama campaigned in California on the promise that he wasn't going to go after medical marijuana patients/establishments that were in compliance with California law. Oaksterdam teaches people compliance with California medical marijuana law. Regardless of what anyone thinks about recreational marijuana use, the voters of California voted not just to allow medical marijuana in their state, but also voted in Obama in part based upon his promise to leave those medical marijuana patients alone.

...all of this over a plant. What a waste of money and time.

meanwhile, in another part of the city:



Guess where Oakland PD was when this was happening?

I'm not a proponent of marijuana use, but this is just stupid. Yeah, busting up institutions that are legally educating people about medical marijuana is a superb use of time and resources.

I think it is the height of immorality to sit on a moral high horse about how people can manage unbearable amounts of pain.

I have to jump through enough stupid hoops to get my liquid Tylenol 3, and I use relatively little. Worst case, I can do without my pain meds, but that certainly isn't true for many people.

This whole issue makes me so angry. What right do we have to keep helpful things from MS or cancer patients, for example?

The sad thing is that it's not just about that- marijuana can be used not only to treat pain to but also to treat nausea, insomnia, seizures, anxiety, lack of appetite- heck, I even know anecdotally about one guy whose Parkinson's calmed down enough for him to hold a fork again after only one month on a medical cannabis tincture.

It's so infuriating because it's not like they're attacking just "a pain med" or "a sleeping pill." This is quite literally about a drug with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of uses, and it's being shut down because a. it's not making GlaxxoSmithKline a billion dollars this quarter and b. people without chronic illnesses like to use the drug that has no long-term side effects and no addictive properties and sit around and watch TV and eat Funyuns. Someone call Homeland Security, Dukes of Hazzard is on!

Normally Chip Johnson is a total pud, but he nailed it this morning:



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z1qzJJ0qEO

I agree times a million.

I know a few older folks who are living with chronic pain due to either injury or health issues. In the end they use marijuana to cope; otherwise, they would have a choice of either narcotics or constant pain. What is worse, being constantly doped up on vicoden, or having a bit of weed? One is addictive and makes you unable to really function, the other might make you calm, sleepy, and maybe a tad hungry. I know which I'd choose if I were living with chronic pain...

One thing that is really fascinating to me is the contrast between the incredibly racist history of marijuana prohibition and the people who seem to be targeted by going after medical marijuana (middle-class white people are, in my experience, the people most able to find a doctor who will prescribe to them).

The moral hysteria around marijuana use--medicinal or not--is completely asinine and honestly defies all reason. On Tylenol-3 I am as spacey as I would be if I smoked a bit of pot but have the added benefit of excruciating stomach pain and constipation.

I am, as ever, glad that national priorities are where they should be.

This is a startlingly uninformed statement and you should think about it a little before posting things like this. Marijuana is useful but doesn't help with everything.

I agree that there are much better places for our federal drug enforcement dollars to go, and that this is a ridiculous waste of time and money. Plus it'll just fill the prisons with people who aren't serious criminals. Yay.

It's also not helpful to shame the people who have gone to a doctor to receive treatment for their psychological problems.

To be fair, the profit element is something of a hot button issue in the medical marijuana debate. As it stands in California law, cultivators and distributors of medical marijuana are forbidden to make any profit, meaning that if they are to cultivate or distribute marijuana (both of which are full time jobs), they are breaking the law if they do anything beyond breaking even. It's maddening to many patients and advocates that drug companies are allowed to make billions of dollars in profit off of people's illness, yet medical marijuana is held to a higher standard.

I'm not sure if that's the kind of thing mrose was getting at, but it is a very frustrating state of affairs for anyone familiar with the debate or the law.

I would guess because white people are more likely to be deemed as "legitimate" medical marijuana patients.



I'm not going to defend Big Pharma, but for many folks medications are what works for them. I don't think invalidating those peoples experience helps legitimize medical marijuana. This is coming from someone very active in the drug policy reform movement.

It is sad and crazy and redunkuless! I've watched nearly all of the recent marijuana documentaries and shows that have been on Discorvery, NatGeo, and various other stations. These dispensaries have real patients with real medical issues and needs and they take their marijuana seriously. It's not like they are just looking for a high, if that were the case they could easily do it illegally and pay a lot less money for their "drugs"! There is a science to making marijuana that actually works for medical patients and its not easy work. I have nothing but respect for the people in this field who are fighting the fight to legalize marijuana.

Here is my situation:

I use MM. I am not in chronic pain, nor do i have massive amounts of nausea. but I do have a lot of anxeity and problems sleeping. I was prescribed xanax, and took it daily for about 6 years. I really wanted to stop the dependancy on it, so i turned to MM.

I use it maybe 2-3 times a week. I hate the smoke (being a former smoker) and usually take edibles or a vaporizer. To me, this is much more preferable than being dependant on a pill....a pill that can be easily taken away from me, and withdrawal ensues. Instead I choose to take something natural to help me with my anxeity and sleeping problems.

I am exactly the type of case that anti-MM proponents like to use as an example. They would claim that I am just using it for recreational use, since I dont have a chronic medical condition that cannot be treated with a 'legal' drug.

The entire arguement that since it is pleasurable to use marijuana, that it must only be considered recreational drug is invalid. There are many other medications that can also be used in a recreational manner (especially the opioids).

The area where I live used to have the most collectives in the country! But they all got shut down in the last year. The local police always stated that they were doing something illegal, shut them down, then, after an investigation, determined that they were acting 100% within the (state) law and charges were dropped. Of course by then the collectives had lost so much money and product that they could not re-open.

Oh...I cant wait for the day when it will be legal across the board. It is like the gay marriage debate. Not one person has been able to tell my why this is wrong and illegal.

Everyone's already tackled all the various issues why this is wrong, but I would also like to point out that by systematically shutting down dispensaries, collective, co-ops, and grow sites, the government is not removing the demand for marijuana, it's simply driving it back underground. Criminalizing it guarantees criminal activity- I mean, duh.

Without medical marijuana, dealers are back on street corners, robberies and hold-ups become commonplace, quality and strains are no longer reliable (essential if one strain is more effective in treating your particular issue[s] than another), growing goes back from outdoor (organic, natural, solar-powered) to indoor (excess utilities, fire hazard, chemicals), and cartels & gangs become further entrenched in our societal fabric.

In essence, the government is deliberately creating more crime.

I apologize, it wasn't my intention to shame anyone, I have been on the antidepressant rollercoaster for years now. It has never worked for me. I found something better that works for me. I should have been more specific.

Yup, thank you prohibition!