brentandrews
July 17th, 2005, 11:49 PM
NORML Responds: I Love Drugs No. 6
Whenever I hear "CIA" I think "government drug dealers." I think about the CIA bringing heroin back to the U.S. from Vietnam inside the corpses of servicemen (http://www.levity.com/aciddreams/). I think about Gary Webb, who told the world about the CIA's connections to the crack cocaine epidemic (http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/webb.html) in 1996, and met a violent end in 2004.
The CIA trained the mujahadeen, is training the terrorists of tomorrow today in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been involved in everything bad for a long time and it's easy to be afraid or feel hateful about it. With all the news about Valerie Plame (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-07-17-libby-cooper_x.htm) and journalists being thrown in jail over sources I wonder if this organization's agents really deserve protecting at all.
And then I laugh softly to myself because the CIA is different than it used to be. It used to be the Central Intelligence Agency - that's when it was up to all that nefarious bullshit - but now it's the Corporation Instigating Anarchy, based at Skatopia (http://www.skatopia.org/about.php). I've been up to Skatopia a couple of times trying to frontside-grind the deep end of The Punisher, and I have a CIA ball-cap, representing the Corporation Instigating Anarchy. Maybe it's more of a tractor-hat, black with CIA written in black over a red, white and blue logo.
My CIA hat is gross - I don't wear it anymore. I used to wear it skateboarding. Chalky sweat stains frame the CIA logo, like something white spilled in the black background. My "flair" is clustered off to one side: a Misfits "Die Die My Darling" pin, a star baby Lenin pin, and a one-inch spike I bought 15 years ago in New Orleans and never had a place to screw on until I bought this particular hat.
Thousands of kids will soon be wearing CIA gear like my tractor hat and skating CIA skateboards like mine because everyone loves the new CIA, Brewce Martin's CIA, the CIA that builds pools and ramps and bowls and throws parties for skateboarders instead of smuggling drugs and protecting drug dealers and training the terrorists of tomorrow. Kids love the new CIA, can't get enough of it.
Which is funny, if you think about it, since they all seem to hate the old one so much.
***
I can see as well as anyone that my page views are down. Maybe it's hard to read I Love Drugs week after week - it's just going to be me going on about the war on drugs and demanding an end to the war on drugs. Maybe that bums people out. I try to be hopeful, and quote Eric Schlosser saying "This war is over, if you want it" in Rolling Stone in 1999 but still there's a lot to be bummed about. This war isn't really over. I want to see it over. I'm reaching out, here. I've been a Stranger reader for a long time and now I'm reaching out to Stranger readers. If this column drives you away, tell me why. Ginny said try using a headline instead of just numbering the columns, so I did. I'm doing what I can here.
***
Regarding last week's post, Letter From Congress, I shared Congresswoman Blackburn's letter with Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. My friends at NORML have seen arguments like this before. Consider St. Pierre's reply:
Hello Brent,
Thanks for your email and contacting your Rep. about the need for medical access to mj.
Below is a basic reply to Rep. Blackburn’s misperceptions.
Regards!
-Allen St. Pierre
NORML
Opponents of medical marijuana law reform often argue that few or no health authorities recognize cannabis as a legitimate therapeutic agent. As an example, this notion was repeated by former DEA Director Asa Hutchinson, who stated, "We all have sympathy for folks that need medication, but we have to listen to the scientific and medical community, and they're saying that marijuana has no legitimate medical purpose." This contention, however, is altogether untrue. In reality, numerous health and medical organizations from both the United States and abroad support the use of marijuana as a medicine.
The following list is a sampling of the various health and scientific organizations that back patient access to medical marijuana. Though it is not meant to be comprehensive, it is intended to provide a cross-section of the medical community's broad support for medical cannabis, and present a referenced, fact-based response to those who claim otherwise.
International and National Organizations
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Treatment News
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Medical Student Association
American Nurses Association
American Preventive Medical Association
American Public Health Association
American Society of Addiction Medicine
Arthritis Research Campaign (United Kingdom)
Australian Medical Association (New South Wales) Limited
Australian National Task Force on Cannabis
Belgian Ministry of Health
British House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
British House of Lords Select Committee On Science and Technology (Second Report)
British Medical Association
Canadian AIDS Society
Canadian Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs
Dr. Dean Edell (surgeon and nationally syndicated radio host)
French Ministry of Health
Health Canada
Kaiser Permanente
Lymphoma Foundation of America
The Montel Williams MS Foundation
Multiple Sclerosis Society (Canada)
The Multiple Sclerosis Society (United Kingdom)
National Academy of Sciences Institute Of Medicine (IOM)
National Association for Public Health Policy
National Nurses Society on Addictions
Netherlands Ministry of Health
New England Journal of Medicine
New South Wales (Australia) Parliamentary Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes
Dr. Andrew Weil (nationally recognized professor of internal medicine and founder of the National Integrative Medicine Council)
State and Local Organizations
Alaska Nurses Association
Being Alive: People With HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
California Academy of Family Physicians
California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Colorado Nurses Association
Connecticut Nurses Association
Florida Governor's Red Ribbon Panel on AIDS
Florida Medical Association
Hawaii Nurses Association
Illinois Nurses Association
Life Extension Foundation
Medical Society of the State of New York
Mississippi Nurses Association
New Jersey State Nurses Association
New Mexico Medical Society
New Mexico Nurses Association
New York County Medical Society
New York State Nurses Association
North Carolina Nurses Association
Rhode Island Medical Society
Rhode Island State Nurses Association
San Francisco Mayor's Summit on AIDS and HIV
San Francisco Medical Society
Vermont Medical Marijuana Study Committee
Virginia Nurses Association
Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Additional AIDS Organizations
The following organizations are signatories to a February 17, 1999 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to "make marijuana legally available … to people living with AIDS."
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
AIDS National Interfaith Network (Washington, DC)
AIDS Project Arizona
AIDS Project Los Angeles
Being Alive: People with HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
Boulder County AIDS Project (Boulder, CO)
Colorado AIDS Project
Center for AIDS Services (Oakland, CA)
Health Force: Women and Men Against AIDS (New York, NY)
Latino Commission on AIDS
Mobilization Against AIDS (San Francisco, CA)
Mothers Voices to End AIDS (New York, NY)
National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Association
National Native American AIDS Prevention Center
Northwest AIDS Foundation
People of Color Against AIDS Network (Seattle, WA)
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)
Other Health Organizations
The following organizations are signatories to a June 2001 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to "allow people suffering from serious illnesses … to apply to the federal government for special permission to use marijuana to treat their symptoms."
Addiction Treatment Alternatives
AIDS Treatment Initiatives (Atlanta, GA)
American Public Health Association
American Preventive Medical Association
Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights (San Francisco, CA)
California Legislative Council for Older Americans
California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Embrace Life (Santa Cruz, CA)
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Hawaii Nurses Association
Hepatitis C Action and Advisory Coalition
Life Extension Foundation
Maine AIDS Alliance
Minnesota Nurses Association
Mississippi Nurses Association
National Association of People with AIDS
National Association for Public Health Policy
National Women's Health Network
Nebraska AIDS Project
New Mexico Nurses Association
New York City AIDS Housing Network
New York State Nurses Association Ohio Patient Network Okaloosa AIDS Support and Information Services (Fort Walton, FL)
Physicians for Social Responsibility - Oregon
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Virginia Nurses Association
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Health Organizations Supporting Medical Marijuana Research
International and National Organizations
American Cancer Society
American Medical Association
British Medical Journal
California Medical Association
California Society on Addiction Medicine
Congress of Nursing Practice
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Jamaican National Commission on Ganja
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana
Texas Medical Association
Vermont Medical Society
Wisconsin State Medical Society
Whenever I hear "CIA" I think "government drug dealers." I think about the CIA bringing heroin back to the U.S. from Vietnam inside the corpses of servicemen (http://www.levity.com/aciddreams/). I think about Gary Webb, who told the world about the CIA's connections to the crack cocaine epidemic (http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/webb.html) in 1996, and met a violent end in 2004.
The CIA trained the mujahadeen, is training the terrorists of tomorrow today in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been involved in everything bad for a long time and it's easy to be afraid or feel hateful about it. With all the news about Valerie Plame (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-07-17-libby-cooper_x.htm) and journalists being thrown in jail over sources I wonder if this organization's agents really deserve protecting at all.
And then I laugh softly to myself because the CIA is different than it used to be. It used to be the Central Intelligence Agency - that's when it was up to all that nefarious bullshit - but now it's the Corporation Instigating Anarchy, based at Skatopia (http://www.skatopia.org/about.php). I've been up to Skatopia a couple of times trying to frontside-grind the deep end of The Punisher, and I have a CIA ball-cap, representing the Corporation Instigating Anarchy. Maybe it's more of a tractor-hat, black with CIA written in black over a red, white and blue logo.
My CIA hat is gross - I don't wear it anymore. I used to wear it skateboarding. Chalky sweat stains frame the CIA logo, like something white spilled in the black background. My "flair" is clustered off to one side: a Misfits "Die Die My Darling" pin, a star baby Lenin pin, and a one-inch spike I bought 15 years ago in New Orleans and never had a place to screw on until I bought this particular hat.
Thousands of kids will soon be wearing CIA gear like my tractor hat and skating CIA skateboards like mine because everyone loves the new CIA, Brewce Martin's CIA, the CIA that builds pools and ramps and bowls and throws parties for skateboarders instead of smuggling drugs and protecting drug dealers and training the terrorists of tomorrow. Kids love the new CIA, can't get enough of it.
Which is funny, if you think about it, since they all seem to hate the old one so much.
***
I can see as well as anyone that my page views are down. Maybe it's hard to read I Love Drugs week after week - it's just going to be me going on about the war on drugs and demanding an end to the war on drugs. Maybe that bums people out. I try to be hopeful, and quote Eric Schlosser saying "This war is over, if you want it" in Rolling Stone in 1999 but still there's a lot to be bummed about. This war isn't really over. I want to see it over. I'm reaching out, here. I've been a Stranger reader for a long time and now I'm reaching out to Stranger readers. If this column drives you away, tell me why. Ginny said try using a headline instead of just numbering the columns, so I did. I'm doing what I can here.
***
Regarding last week's post, Letter From Congress, I shared Congresswoman Blackburn's letter with Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. My friends at NORML have seen arguments like this before. Consider St. Pierre's reply:
Hello Brent,
Thanks for your email and contacting your Rep. about the need for medical access to mj.
Below is a basic reply to Rep. Blackburn’s misperceptions.
Regards!
-Allen St. Pierre
NORML
Opponents of medical marijuana law reform often argue that few or no health authorities recognize cannabis as a legitimate therapeutic agent. As an example, this notion was repeated by former DEA Director Asa Hutchinson, who stated, "We all have sympathy for folks that need medication, but we have to listen to the scientific and medical community, and they're saying that marijuana has no legitimate medical purpose." This contention, however, is altogether untrue. In reality, numerous health and medical organizations from both the United States and abroad support the use of marijuana as a medicine.
The following list is a sampling of the various health and scientific organizations that back patient access to medical marijuana. Though it is not meant to be comprehensive, it is intended to provide a cross-section of the medical community's broad support for medical cannabis, and present a referenced, fact-based response to those who claim otherwise.
International and National Organizations
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Treatment News
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Medical Student Association
American Nurses Association
American Preventive Medical Association
American Public Health Association
American Society of Addiction Medicine
Arthritis Research Campaign (United Kingdom)
Australian Medical Association (New South Wales) Limited
Australian National Task Force on Cannabis
Belgian Ministry of Health
British House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
British House of Lords Select Committee On Science and Technology (Second Report)
British Medical Association
Canadian AIDS Society
Canadian Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs
Dr. Dean Edell (surgeon and nationally syndicated radio host)
French Ministry of Health
Health Canada
Kaiser Permanente
Lymphoma Foundation of America
The Montel Williams MS Foundation
Multiple Sclerosis Society (Canada)
The Multiple Sclerosis Society (United Kingdom)
National Academy of Sciences Institute Of Medicine (IOM)
National Association for Public Health Policy
National Nurses Society on Addictions
Netherlands Ministry of Health
New England Journal of Medicine
New South Wales (Australia) Parliamentary Working Party on the Use of Cannabis for Medical Purposes
Dr. Andrew Weil (nationally recognized professor of internal medicine and founder of the National Integrative Medicine Council)
State and Local Organizations
Alaska Nurses Association
Being Alive: People With HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
California Academy of Family Physicians
California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Colorado Nurses Association
Connecticut Nurses Association
Florida Governor's Red Ribbon Panel on AIDS
Florida Medical Association
Hawaii Nurses Association
Illinois Nurses Association
Life Extension Foundation
Medical Society of the State of New York
Mississippi Nurses Association
New Jersey State Nurses Association
New Mexico Medical Society
New Mexico Nurses Association
New York County Medical Society
New York State Nurses Association
North Carolina Nurses Association
Rhode Island Medical Society
Rhode Island State Nurses Association
San Francisco Mayor's Summit on AIDS and HIV
San Francisco Medical Society
Vermont Medical Marijuana Study Committee
Virginia Nurses Association
Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Additional AIDS Organizations
The following organizations are signatories to a February 17, 1999 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to "make marijuana legally available … to people living with AIDS."
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
AIDS National Interfaith Network (Washington, DC)
AIDS Project Arizona
AIDS Project Los Angeles
Being Alive: People with HIV/AIDS Action Committee (San Diego, CA)
Boulder County AIDS Project (Boulder, CO)
Colorado AIDS Project
Center for AIDS Services (Oakland, CA)
Health Force: Women and Men Against AIDS (New York, NY)
Latino Commission on AIDS
Mobilization Against AIDS (San Francisco, CA)
Mothers Voices to End AIDS (New York, NY)
National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Association
National Native American AIDS Prevention Center
Northwest AIDS Foundation
People of Color Against AIDS Network (Seattle, WA)
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington, DC)
Other Health Organizations
The following organizations are signatories to a June 2001 letter to the US Department of Health petitioning the federal government to "allow people suffering from serious illnesses … to apply to the federal government for special permission to use marijuana to treat their symptoms."
Addiction Treatment Alternatives
AIDS Treatment Initiatives (Atlanta, GA)
American Public Health Association
American Preventive Medical Association
Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights (San Francisco, CA)
California Legislative Council for Older Americans
California Nurses Association
California Pharmacists Association
Embrace Life (Santa Cruz, CA)
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Hawaii Nurses Association
Hepatitis C Action and Advisory Coalition
Life Extension Foundation
Maine AIDS Alliance
Minnesota Nurses Association
Mississippi Nurses Association
National Association of People with AIDS
National Association for Public Health Policy
National Women's Health Network
Nebraska AIDS Project
New Mexico Nurses Association
New York City AIDS Housing Network
New York State Nurses Association Ohio Patient Network Okaloosa AIDS Support and Information Services (Fort Walton, FL)
Physicians for Social Responsibility - Oregon
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Virginia Nurses Association
Wisconsin Nurses Association
Health Organizations Supporting Medical Marijuana Research
International and National Organizations
American Cancer Society
American Medical Association
British Medical Journal
California Medical Association
California Society on Addiction Medicine
Congress of Nursing Practice
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Jamaican National Commission on Ganja
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana
Texas Medical Association
Vermont Medical Society
Wisconsin State Medical Society