Alabama

[palmspringsbum]

Loretta Nall and Ballot Access

Hammer of Truth


Loretta Nall may not have collected enough signatures to meet Alabama’s egregious ballot access restrictions and U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson may have just decided against equal access to political office, but Thompson unwittingly just opened another door for Nall. Thompson wrote (emphasis added):
<blockquote>
“Alabama does not restrict how many signatures can be submitted in an effort to meet the 3% requirement, and the state allows unlimited time to conduct the petitioning effort.”
</blockquote>
I don’t know of any place in Alabama’s Title 17 which states that signatures can’t be used more than once, either. Nall tried a new legal twist and turned in photocopies of approximately 60,000 signatures which have already been verified by the Secretary of State from the 2002 petition drive. This is in addition to the ones she gathered this year. It will be interesting to see how they squirm on this one, as there appears to be no law which states these old signatures can’t be used and a federal judge just made half of Nall’s case for her.

Also, both Loretta Nall and state LP chair Dick Clark (more on him later) were on Alabama’s leading political news television program on election night. The <a href=http://www.aptv.org/VideoRoom/viewprogram.asp?FileID=477 target=_blank>video is here</a>, and you can skip to 4:10 minute mark to catch Nall or the 6:32 minute mark to catch Clark.

[palmspringsbum]

This is supposed to be good for the movement? The more I think about it the madder I get.

It is unethical, even if it is legal.

It gives our enemies ammunition to claim we're liars and medical marijuana is a lie, and in any case...would you vote for somone that pulled such crap?

She couldn't get on the ballot fair and square, so she cheats? What kind of political savy is this? Who the FUCK do these people think they are and how dare they do this in my name.

[palmspringsbum]

Presbyterian Church Votes To Support Medical Marijuana Prescriptions

NBC13.com

POSTED: 6:12 pm CDT June 27, 2006
UPDATED: 6:51 pm CDT June 27, 2006


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Members of the Presbyterian Church USA voted Monday to support medical marijuana prescriptions for seriously ill patients.

The measure was passed at the church’s 217th general assembly, which was held in Birmingham.

The group endorsed what they call “legal access to medical marijuana for seriously ill patients.” Part of the resolution read “when we see the suffering of others, we are called to stand up and take a look.”

Medical marijuana laws are already on the books in 11 states and state Rep. Laura Hall of Huntsville is backing similar legislation.

<span class=postbold>See Also</span>: Presbyterians Support Medical Marijuana

[budman]

Building Momentum in Alabama

The Drug Policy Alliance
Tuesday, October 3, 2006


In September, DPA executive director Ethan Nadelmann traveled to Alabama, where he appeared on several television and radio shows to discuss both the failure of our current drug policies and efforts in Alabama and across the nation to enact sensible, cost-effective, and humane reforms.

Check out Nadelmann's television appearance on For the Record with Tim Lennox. He also appeared on radio programs the Matt Murphy Show and the Russ and Dee Morning Show, both on The Source 101.1 FM.

DPA continues to work with local Alabama partners to build a sustained movement in the state. Gabriel Sayegh, director of DPA's State Organizing and Policy Project, said, "We’ve got talented, energized partners in Alabama, like The Ordinary People’s Society and Alabamians for Compassionate Care, and everyone agrees: the time for change is now."

Policy objectives in Alabama over the course of the next few years are to win medical marijuana and to promote alternatives to incarceration for people arrested for nonviolent drug offenses. The next legislative session does not start until March 2007, but the work of DPA and its partners is ongoing. "While the legislative session is months away, we’re focused on building a grassroots movement," said Sayegh.

If you live in Alabama, you can join the DPA Action Network to receive state-specific DPA alerts about reform work in Alabama. Make sure to fill in your state when you sign up.

[palmspringsbum]

Ease suffering, support HB434

the Ledger-Enquirer
March 12, 2009


I respectfully request that your newspaper support HB 434 in the Alabama House of Representatives and any companion bill that is introduced in the Alabama Senate. This bill would change Alabama law to allow certain citizens described in the bill to use marijuana under the conditions prescribed in the bill to deal with their medical situations.

In 1970, after 16-plus years in the military, I was medically discharged because of a physical condition that rendered me physically unfit for further service to our country. Before then, I underwent two invasive surgeries to try to correct a condition in my lower spine, neither of which brought relief for the pain I suffered. So for half or more of my life I’ve lived with chronic pain, which has gotten worse over time.

As a law-abiding citizen I have never used marijuana, even though I’ve read and heard that using it might give me some relief. If HB 434 changes the law to make medical marijuana legal, at least I will have the opportunity to legally use it to see if it will ease my pain as it reportedly has for so many other people around our nation.

Don Seibold, Wetumpka, Ala.

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Medical marijuana

<span class=postbold>Letters</span>
The Anniston Star | 13 Mar 09


A bill that would remove criminal penalties for the possession and use of marijuana for people with certain medical conditions is being considered in the Alabama Legislature. Thirteen states already have similar laws, and a poll by the Mobile Press-Register and The University of South Alabama found that 75 percent of Alabamians support such a law.

What are the risks of enacting such a law? Have the states with medical marijuana laws seen increases in teen use of marijuana or increased use in adults? Have these states seen a jump in crime? Have they seen an increase in traffic accidents caused by intoxicated medical marijuana patients? Does the use of marijuana by seriously ill patients pose a threat to society? No.

If your mother, wife or daughter is dying from cancer and in consultation with her doctor decides to try marijuana to help relieve the effects of chemotherapy, should she be arrested? Is it the government's business what treatment she pursues?

It's time we in Alabama stop arresting seriously ill and dying people who pose a threat to no one for trying to get a little relief from their condition.

Gil Joiner
Gulf Shores

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Letters

No more excuses

The Anniston Star | 27 Mar 2009

Re "Medical marijuana" and "Bill needs Star's support" (Speak Out, March 13 and 17):

Bravo to letter writers Don Seibold and Gil Joiner for speaking out as supporters of HB434 in Alabama. We can only hope our elected officials will demonstrate the same courage and vote "yes" when this bill comes before them.

In years past, one of the arguments against this bill has been that if we protect Alabama patients and physicians by passing this law, the feds will swoop down on Alabama. However, in a Feb. 25 press conference, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Justice Department will no longer conduct medical marijuana raids in states that have passed medical marijuana laws. So, that is one less excuse the judiciary committee will have this year.

Here's a few more tired, senseless excuses that we need to retire:

Excuse — they can use Marinol, which is synthetic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana; truth — most people can't use Marinol because it's expensive and not covered by insurance.

Excuse — marijuana is a gateway drug; truth — there have been no reports from states that have passed medical marijuana laws of terminally ill patients moving on to heroin and home invasions because they used medical marijuana. Please, let's be reasonable. These are very ill patients we are talking about here.

HB434 protects patients who need marijuana for medical reasons. We cannot justify imprisoning people with chronic pain and terminal illness for trying to get relief from a natural plant. Please contact the members of the House judiciary committee and your elected officials in Montgomery and ask them to vote "yes" on HB434.

Loretta Nall
Alexander City

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<span class=postbold>Speak Out</span>

The Anniston Star | 03-30-2009

Support marijuana bill

I am writing in support of HB434 in the Alabama Legislature, the Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act. In February 2007, my husband of 19 years, Craig, was diagnosed with advanced liver and lymph node cancer. With chemotherapy, doctors gave him six months to live. Our only child was a few months from graduating high school and he wanted so much to live to see that day that he opted for the chemotherapy knowing it would decrease the quality of his life.

Seeing him waste away was awful. The medicines didn't help with the nausea or pain because he was unable to keep them down.

Since patients in 13 other states have the right to use marijuana, we decided to try it. It worked. With medical marijuana, Craig was able to eat, take his medications and ease his pain.

Obtaining marijuana was terrifying. I am nearly 50 and was scared of being arrested, jailed, losing our home, not being there when he died and missing our daughter's graduation. But I was willing to risk all that to ease his suffering.

No one should have to risk everything to ease the terrible suffering of a terminally ill loved one. Alabama needs to pass HB434 to help the people suffering and their families at such a difficult time in their lives. My husband passed away in October 2007, but with the help of medical marijuana he lived to see our daughter graduate.

Please contact your representatives in Montgomery and ask them to vote "yes" on HB434.

Laura Tidmore
Birmingham

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Puff, puff, pass the legislation

Matt Ferguson
The Crimson White | Published: Thursday, April 2, 2009

Getting the facts about marijuana without positive or negative spin is a lot like trying to find an unbiased opinion about the health effects of abortion or a brief history of George W. Bush’s presidency without the words “fool” or “catastrophe” in it. I suppose the fervor stems from the countless after-school specials we watched as kids, the anti-marijuana propaganda films your grandparents saw (search “Reefer Madness” on google.com sometime) and the simple fact that people just like to rally against the law every now and then. As popular a topic of debate as it is, I hardly expected to see a legitimate yet poorly named piece of legislation — The Compassionate Care Act — vying to legalize the use of medical marijuana here in our fine, Southern, morally upstanding little state.

Opponents of any form of marijuana legalization usually present a few stock arguments — particularly, marijuana promotes sloth and turns otherwise productive Americans in to couch potatoes who would rather listen to Pink Floyd all day than go to work. However, to assume that a man who sits in his recliner and smokes a joint/doobie/blunt/so on to relax (or in this case, treat a chronic medical illness) must soon become a stoner mooching off society and eating Fritos while contributing nothing is, in a word, ignorant. By that logic, we should assume any man who likes to have a beer after work will very soon decide he should pound down 15 more and go home to beat his family.

Of course, marijuana, like most things in life, does have some drawbacks, though the people at NORML would never admit it (keep in mind, NORML is to marijuana what Fox News is to news). It has many of the same lung-based drawbacks as tobacco, though the relative severity is a hotly debated topic. As the famous girl-on-a-bike-at-a-drive-through commercial taught us, it also slows your reactions, though not as severely as alcohol does, supposedly. As for long-term effects, a Canadian medical journal reported “marijuana does not have a long-term negative impact on global intelligence,” though heavy-users showed lower IQ scores in the short-run. However, there is a vast array of medical articles both confirming and denying that result, so a definitive answer is still unattainable. Really, as far as side-effects go, marijuana should follow the same rule as alcohol, food and over-the-counter medications: use in moderation. Too much of just about any good thing is bad for you, be it smoked, drank or deep-fried.

On the topic of medication, you should also keep in mind the purpose of this bill — not a sweeping legalization of the drug, but provisions for its distribution to patients with debilitating illnesses. The act lists some of the conditions for which marijuana should be recommended by a doctor, including cancer, chronic pain and AIDS, according to legislature.state.al.us. So this isn’t a fancy way for people to sell dope to your kids and avoid Johnny Law, but is rather a means to ease the suffering of patients with incurable or debilitating illnesses via a small, doctor-approved dosage of a prescription drug. For that matter, even with its side effects, marijuana may yet be safer than many prescription drugs.

Watch some late-night lawyer ads on TV if you don’t know what I’m talking about. And if you’re worried about your kids getting any ideas from some pot-smoking, hippie cancer patient at the park, don’t be — the act forbids the use of medical marijuana on most public grounds.

All in all, this bill contains very little to get worked up about, though I foresee a wave of controversy and outrage swelling up anyway. There are far more dangerous prescription drugs out there that people have a much easier time finding, especially on a college campus. How often do you hear of people overdosing on marijuana as opposed to overdosing on prescription pain killers or on our favorite legal drug, alcohol? So let the guy next door suffering from chronic back pain light up and listen to Traffic for a while; it won’t hurt you a bit and you might actually enjoy the music.

Matt Ferguson is a senior majoring in chemical engineering and is the former chief copy editor for The Crimson White. His column runs on Friday.