The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Alyssa Hansen | Mitt Romney takes on medical marijuana

Weed. This one single word has the ability to incite heated debates among people of all ages.

Yet whether individuals are in favor of or against legalizing marijuana for recreational use, medicinal marijuana has been proven to help individuals with terminal illnesses, some genetic disorders and other medical issues. Whether certain politicians like it or not, medicinal marijuana keeps people alive.

Presidential GOP candidate Mitt Romney has explicitly expressed his dissension around medicinal marijuana in his campaign. After hearing from an individual with muscular dystrophy about his need for medicinal marijuana to survive, Romney repeated fervently that he was not in favor of legalizing medicinal marijuana.

The young man with the degenerative illness expressed his worries to the candidate and showed genuine concern for his survival. Five different doctors had recommended the use of medicinal marijuana for this patient, yet the federal government continues to impose fear by prosecuting those who use and prescribe such treatment.

Romney continued to ignore his pleas and ended the conversation by walking away from the wheelchair-bound man. Such a cold and apathetic reaction from a presidential candidate is appalling.

As Romney proposed in his brief conversation with the man dying from muscular dystrophy, there are synthetic forms of marijuana like dronabinol that may hold some promise for treatment. Yet these forms of treatment have been found to be much less effective and do not provide the palliative care necessary for dying individuals or for individuals in need of medicinal marijuana to survive.

Many patients are unresponsive to the synthetic forms of marijuana and therefore do not get the effects they need. It is important to allow sick people to get the care that will aid their survival and comfort in life. It is unfair for these individuals to suffer because of the federal government’s ignorance.

The Drug Enforcement Administration continues to defend the synthetic option for cancer patients and individuals with AIDS, yet fails to address the issue of those who do not respond to such synthetic treatments. What about them? Do they deserve to suffer with their illness until the day they die, even with a promising treatment at the government’s fingertips? No.

With the looming presidential election becoming increasingly evident in the media, the issue of medicinal marijuana and the availability of this extraordinary treatment are becoming apparent.

Another GOP candidate, Ron Paul, is willing to give states the right to make the decision for themselves, part of his goal of upholding the constitutional rights of individuals and states. This would take power away from the federal government and give states the right to decide whether medicinal marijuana is legal for constituents.

It is important to note that many medical organizations endorse the reclassification of cannabis so that research can be done more effectively. Such well-respected organizations include the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

In November of 2011 the American Medical Association proposed that marijuana be moved from a schedule 1 classification (the most restricted substance class) to a lower classification in order to allow for more research to be done using this substance.

In the past two months, four state governors have endorsed marijuana research and are striving to reclassify marijuana for the use in the medical field. Sixteen states have legalized medicinal marijuana as of January this year. Such progress is promising, but the influence of such strong presidential candidates’ opinions may hinder the use of this treatment.

As Mitt Romney walked away from a dying man, we are forced to ask ourselves, is this the kind of man we want running our country? And which candidate has the health of the American people at the forefront of his campaign? Because of the federal government’s statute preventing the use of medicinal marijuana, doctors and patients in states who approve the use of this treatment may be prosecuted for using a treatment that works. The issue of medicinal marijuana may prove to be a decisive issue in the 2012 election.

Comments (12)

The federal government owns Patent #6630507 for many years now. This patent states unequivocally of the medicinal benefits of cannabis. The federal government is not ignorant of the benefits of marijuana, but instead are simply lying about them and hiding the truths in plain sight.

Most Americans have no real problem with pot-smoking; they just don’t want public approval of it. The way to achieve this, of course, is to legalize it and try to stigmatize it. But that wouldn’t be hypocritical enough. To get to true American levels of hypocrisy – you know: how Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich are fighters for family values, that Iran is a threat etc.-you have to keep it illegal, and use the laws to arrest, harrass and penalize black and brown young people – while mainly allowing the American middle-upper classes to cannabinate in peace. last year, more people were arrested for pot possession in NYC than in the roughly two decades before 1996 at a cost of 75 million. By far the biggest arrest category in the city and 87 percent arrested where people of color even though young white males use marijuana at a disproportionately higher rate.

This goes nothing to say of the cancer, aids, ptsd, depression etc patients for whom marijuana is a miracle drug.

Patent #6630507 has been owned by the Federal government for so many years now because it’s worthless, as witnessed by the fact that it’s been offered for sale under some sweetheart terms for the entire time it’s existed as a product of the Orphan Drug Act. After almost a decade with no interest it’s almost certain that it’s going to end its patent term without ever being commercially exploited. Exactly how does a worthless thing prove that something has value? I wonder if Adam is aware of how many patents have been issued by the USPTO for perpetual motion machines. Is Adam under the mistaken impression that the issuance of a patent is some kind of imprimatur of value, rather than being the simple registration time stamp that it is?

Intellectually, Romney is a light weight. Many in the movement support Paul. I do not want to legalize all drugs nor do I want a president who does not care. Just someone who can deal with the facts, the real facts not the disinformation spewed out by NIDA and the DEA.

I don’t know how Mr Romney can sleep at night knowing that he is causing untold suffering to defenceless sick people.

Born on third but thinks he hit a triple this Romney. Im sure him and his family will always be taken care of for their sicknesses and the drugs they need and hell to everyone else. I can’t stand when hacks like him trivialize the Marijuana issue. And double shame on Obama for failure on his watch.

Just what this Country needs, a President who believes in Magic Underwear,but opposes free citizens having the choice of a safe alternative to prescription drugs.

I was going to start off this response by noting how many cannabis lovers always reject the option of a THC pill rather than smoking pot, because, you know, smoking it has so many more benefits. Then, I said, “nah, don’t bother to bring it up.”

So I have to totally agree with Alyssa Hansen: “As Mitt Romney walked away from a dying man, we are forced to ask ourselves, is this the kind of man we want running our country? And which candidate has the health of the American people at the forefront of his campaign?”

Because just 3 years ago or (maybe it was just 2?), Mitt Romney said, “sometimes you just have to give grandma as aspirin.” You remember that? I do. How insensitive. Yet, millions of Romney’s supporters gave three cheers. I can’t believe Mitt Romney did that, and if he were president and ever said that I’d be appalled. So I agree with Ashka who wrote about Romney but didn’t know about his asprin statement: “I don’t know how Mr Romney can sleep at night knowing that he is causing untold suffering to defenceless sick people.”

I love UPenn. noone could ever accuse the undergrads here of having double standards. They are way too smart and know history way too well.

Duncan… the patent is relevant because to acquire a patent, you have to go through a process which includes describing your invention (or whatever your patenting) in great detail. For this patent mentioned, the government goes into great detail about the medical benefits of cannabinoids as both neuroprotectants and cardioprotectants. This is a documented stance of the federal government— their research has proven these specific medical benefits of cannabinoids— and should carry more weight than the voice of the Drug Czar who says marijuana contains no medical value (btw, the Drug War requires the Drug Czar to support the illegal status of drugs, it is against the law for him not to).

The other issue here is that a great majority of states are making synthetic marijuana illegal because it is harmful and more dangerous that marijuana itself (Spice, K9, etc). But then they want to force cancer and AIDS patients to use the synthetic form of THC? It’s stuff like this that people are starting to notice, which is why marijuana legalization will soon come to be. Americans aren’t stupid, we might get duped for a while… but we always catch on!

Romney likely knows very little about marijuana. From the few times I’ve heard him talk about it his mis-education clearly bleeds through. The trillion dollars we’ve spent has bought alot of fear and misunderstanding.

The DEA is the least trustworthy source about marijuana. In 2003 a congressman wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking for an investigation of the ONDCP’s (Office of National Drug Control Policy) dissemination of “misleading information” (a polite euphemism for “lying”).

The response was as follows:
ONDCP is specifically charged with the responsibility for “taking such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use” of certain controlled substances such as marijuana —- a responsibility which logically could include the making of advocacy statements in opposition to legalization efforts. The Deputy Director’s statements about marijuana are thus within the statutory role assigned to ONDCP. Given this role, we do not see a need to examine the accuracy of the Deputy Director’s individual statements in detail.

Basically saying they are allowed to lie to the American people if that is what it takes to keep marijuana illegal.

I also find it funny that they continue to deny the medical benefits of marijuana. In the mid 90s the government tried to do a study proving that you could get cancer from smoking it. Their tests with tumors accidentally proved the opposite. That cannabis can cure cancer. They tried to suppress the study while at the same time patenting the their discovery. They recently applied to sell a grant for this patent to a large pharmaceutical company.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13752189&sk=notes#!/note.php?note_id=10150360353327218

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Shoot…. somebody just told me it wasn’t romney who said “sometimes you just have to give grandma an aspirin,” it was my president barack. And then they told me That Romney put into place Romneycare for Mass., so how could he be insensitive on health issues.

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