Stoney Girl
New Member
January 2009 Meeting Report
1-24-09 Monthly Oregon Green Free Meeting
For 2 hours I did a multi-media presentation at the OGF Meeting about how to become active. This meeting had great effect in that many of the people there immediately got active writing letters and going to meetings. At every meeting I went to the next week, there were people from the OGF meeting.
1-26-09 Advisory Committee on Medical Marijuana
The Governor's Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse programs asked the ACMM to raise OMMP fees, and give the excess surplus funds to them for their programs.
I was appointed to the legislative advisory committee. I saw at least 10 people from the OGF meeting, and several friends of mine came along as well.
Lee Berger presented his legislative changes to the Committee.
Chris from SO NORML asked that the ACMM find a way to make it so that patients who have permanent conditions can get an OMMP card that they don't have to renew every year.
I asked the ACMM to ask Senator Morrisette and Rep. Greenlick and Rep. Cowan to Co-sponsor I-28 as a bill this session along with the Governor's Council on Senior Services and the Oregon Pain Management Commission.
Mike Mullins advised them that the State faces grave ADA legal liabilities if the phrase in OMMA that says employers do not have to accommodate OMMP patients is not removed.
1-27-09 Governor's Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse Programs
Two OGF members made the Governor's Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse Programs meeting in the morning, but couldn't stay for the afternoon. I got there with Mike Mullins and Noreen Arnold soon after they left.
We arrived in time to hear their financial situation which is, to say the least, bleak. They were told to go into doomsday mode, staff their programs with a skeleton crew and try to keep their programs alive until the economic crisis passes.
They asked if any of us wanted to make a public comment, I raised my hand. They asked what I would like to comment about, I said "Funding your programs."
I informed the Council of the support I-28 has, and asked them to read over and vote to co-sponsor along with the Oregon Pain Management Commission and the Governor's Commission on Senior Services and recommend I-28 as a bill this session. I let them know where I have been shopping it around, and made it clear that I am gaining support with the policy makers as well as letting them know that voters approve of this measure. I presented the income projection and answered some of their questions.
I presented the primary problems OMMP patients face: lack of research into healthcare outcomes, lack of transparency for our program, accusations of abuse of the program, lack of safe legal access. I offered our solution: fully drafted legislation that has been thoroughly vetted in our community along with full funding that can fund other programs as well, including theirs.
They wanted to know if this was going to be like California. I explained that it will be completely different in that it will be a State-wide program based on the current Oregon law instead of a Wild West Show like they have in California. This Oregon system creates a situation where licensed consumers buy from licensed distributors who buy their products from licensed producers who are subject to inspection instead of the California system where unlicensed dealers sell product they bought from the Black Market.
They wanted to know if this would eliminate or allow inspection of personal gardens. I made it clear that patients would never tolerate either of those things. I — 28 would allow quality control inspections of commercial production gardens, but would not reduce patient's personal 4th Amendment Rights. I made it clear that patients would never under any circumstances whatsoever give up their right to have personal gardens.
I feel that at this point, they are just desperate enough to possibly do it. If we can get the Governor's Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse Programs to co-sponsor the dispensary initiative, it will neutralize most of the opposition. If nothing else, they will have to read it over and have a vote.
1-28-09 Task Force on Palliative Care
May, a registered nurse, and OGF member, who works mostly with palliative patients in the OMMP community, was there when Mike & I arrived.
Most of the doctors on the task force are oncologists, so they tend to think of cancer primarily.
When time for public comment came, I told them about my personal healthcare cost savings and about the need for research to find out what healthcare outcomes other OMMP patients were having.
I mentioned that the OMMP is obscenely underutilized in the cancer community — 18,000 patients qualify for the program, yet only about 600 are enrolled. If only half of the patients who qualify for the program were enrolled and saw the kind of savings I have seen, they would save enough to afford the more expensive treatments that they had just spent the meeting talking about cutting.
And, if increasing survivability is the goal, medical marijuana is an important tool: patients who can eat survive better than patients who can't. Patients who can sleep heal better than patients who can't get any rest. Patients who don't throw up have a better chance of survival than those who can't keep food down. And allowing doctors to sign applications for patients who qualify for the program is just a policy change — it doesn't require any legislation.
And really, the research opportunity they are missing is enormous: in Germany doctors have just announced that marijuana kills many kinds of cancer and should be considered a cancer fighting agent, not just a palliative agent. We know that marijuana kills some of the more invasive cancers like lung, brain, and lymphoma, and that it prevents the spread of breast cancer. But what other cancers might it kill or help chemo to be more effective? They asked about research out of California, and I told them about the Tashkin study and about 5 other studies that indicate that marijuana kills cancer.
I told them I have been working with the Oregon Pain Management Commission on getting some of the research that we need into healthcare outcomes of OMMP patients, because they have a mandate to collect information from that population, but they don't have any money. OMMP has money, but their surplus funds aren't allocated to research, so DHS has always refused to collect any data with it. I-28 solves the problem, but I need a sponsor for it. They said they couldn't sponsor it. I said no problem, tell your friends and please support it if you hear people talking about it.
May told them about her work as a registered nurse who specializes with end-of life and palliative care and how medical marijuana is used in many non-smoked forms. She reminded them that palliative care was about a lot more than just cancer patients. She also told them about several studies on marijuana and pain. She answered questions about non-smoked methods of ingestion.
Although they couldn't sponsor I-28 as a bill themselves, they were very encouraging, letting me know that we are doing the right work, shopping it around to the right places and doing the right homework. We gave them a very important education about medical marijuana and I really think they will be thinking of marijuana in a very different light after speaking with us. As oncologists, they have the most potential to affect one of the communities that needs medical marijuana the most: the cancer community and the doctors who serve them.
1-24-09 Monthly Oregon Green Free Meeting
For 2 hours I did a multi-media presentation at the OGF Meeting about how to become active. This meeting had great effect in that many of the people there immediately got active writing letters and going to meetings. At every meeting I went to the next week, there were people from the OGF meeting.
1-26-09 Advisory Committee on Medical Marijuana
The Governor's Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse programs asked the ACMM to raise OMMP fees, and give the excess surplus funds to them for their programs.
I was appointed to the legislative advisory committee. I saw at least 10 people from the OGF meeting, and several friends of mine came along as well.
Lee Berger presented his legislative changes to the Committee.
Chris from SO NORML asked that the ACMM find a way to make it so that patients who have permanent conditions can get an OMMP card that they don't have to renew every year.
I asked the ACMM to ask Senator Morrisette and Rep. Greenlick and Rep. Cowan to Co-sponsor I-28 as a bill this session along with the Governor's Council on Senior Services and the Oregon Pain Management Commission.
Mike Mullins advised them that the State faces grave ADA legal liabilities if the phrase in OMMA that says employers do not have to accommodate OMMP patients is not removed.
1-27-09 Governor's Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse Programs
Two OGF members made the Governor's Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse Programs meeting in the morning, but couldn't stay for the afternoon. I got there with Mike Mullins and Noreen Arnold soon after they left.
We arrived in time to hear their financial situation which is, to say the least, bleak. They were told to go into doomsday mode, staff their programs with a skeleton crew and try to keep their programs alive until the economic crisis passes.
They asked if any of us wanted to make a public comment, I raised my hand. They asked what I would like to comment about, I said "Funding your programs."
I informed the Council of the support I-28 has, and asked them to read over and vote to co-sponsor along with the Oregon Pain Management Commission and the Governor's Commission on Senior Services and recommend I-28 as a bill this session. I let them know where I have been shopping it around, and made it clear that I am gaining support with the policy makers as well as letting them know that voters approve of this measure. I presented the income projection and answered some of their questions.
I presented the primary problems OMMP patients face: lack of research into healthcare outcomes, lack of transparency for our program, accusations of abuse of the program, lack of safe legal access. I offered our solution: fully drafted legislation that has been thoroughly vetted in our community along with full funding that can fund other programs as well, including theirs.
They wanted to know if this was going to be like California. I explained that it will be completely different in that it will be a State-wide program based on the current Oregon law instead of a Wild West Show like they have in California. This Oregon system creates a situation where licensed consumers buy from licensed distributors who buy their products from licensed producers who are subject to inspection instead of the California system where unlicensed dealers sell product they bought from the Black Market.
They wanted to know if this would eliminate or allow inspection of personal gardens. I made it clear that patients would never tolerate either of those things. I — 28 would allow quality control inspections of commercial production gardens, but would not reduce patient's personal 4th Amendment Rights. I made it clear that patients would never under any circumstances whatsoever give up their right to have personal gardens.
I feel that at this point, they are just desperate enough to possibly do it. If we can get the Governor's Council on Alcohol & Drug Abuse Programs to co-sponsor the dispensary initiative, it will neutralize most of the opposition. If nothing else, they will have to read it over and have a vote.
1-28-09 Task Force on Palliative Care
May, a registered nurse, and OGF member, who works mostly with palliative patients in the OMMP community, was there when Mike & I arrived.
Most of the doctors on the task force are oncologists, so they tend to think of cancer primarily.
When time for public comment came, I told them about my personal healthcare cost savings and about the need for research to find out what healthcare outcomes other OMMP patients were having.
I mentioned that the OMMP is obscenely underutilized in the cancer community — 18,000 patients qualify for the program, yet only about 600 are enrolled. If only half of the patients who qualify for the program were enrolled and saw the kind of savings I have seen, they would save enough to afford the more expensive treatments that they had just spent the meeting talking about cutting.
And, if increasing survivability is the goal, medical marijuana is an important tool: patients who can eat survive better than patients who can't. Patients who can sleep heal better than patients who can't get any rest. Patients who don't throw up have a better chance of survival than those who can't keep food down. And allowing doctors to sign applications for patients who qualify for the program is just a policy change — it doesn't require any legislation.
And really, the research opportunity they are missing is enormous: in Germany doctors have just announced that marijuana kills many kinds of cancer and should be considered a cancer fighting agent, not just a palliative agent. We know that marijuana kills some of the more invasive cancers like lung, brain, and lymphoma, and that it prevents the spread of breast cancer. But what other cancers might it kill or help chemo to be more effective? They asked about research out of California, and I told them about the Tashkin study and about 5 other studies that indicate that marijuana kills cancer.
I told them I have been working with the Oregon Pain Management Commission on getting some of the research that we need into healthcare outcomes of OMMP patients, because they have a mandate to collect information from that population, but they don't have any money. OMMP has money, but their surplus funds aren't allocated to research, so DHS has always refused to collect any data with it. I-28 solves the problem, but I need a sponsor for it. They said they couldn't sponsor it. I said no problem, tell your friends and please support it if you hear people talking about it.
May told them about her work as a registered nurse who specializes with end-of life and palliative care and how medical marijuana is used in many non-smoked forms. She reminded them that palliative care was about a lot more than just cancer patients. She also told them about several studies on marijuana and pain. She answered questions about non-smoked methods of ingestion.
Although they couldn't sponsor I-28 as a bill themselves, they were very encouraging, letting me know that we are doing the right work, shopping it around to the right places and doing the right homework. We gave them a very important education about medical marijuana and I really think they will be thinking of marijuana in a very different light after speaking with us. As oncologists, they have the most potential to affect one of the communities that needs medical marijuana the most: the cancer community and the doctors who serve them.
