Wednesday, January 4, 2006

Sativex in the United States Sativex, the liquid form of marijuana being marketed by GW Pharmaceuticals, has been given the OK by the Food and Drug Administration to skip ahead to phase III trials in the U.S. -- actual testing on advanced stage cancer patients to last 24 to 36 months. I guess GW gets the preferred treatment. They don't have to buy their marijuana from the U.S. government. They get to use their own. Interesting. 11:28:18 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Save our Society Save our Society has shown up a couple of times this week in their opposition to Medical Marijuana. This is another Calvina Faye group, under the Drug Free America Foundation. They were running ads (pretty outrageous from what I heard) at the last minute to try to get Rhode Island House not to override the veto. After the vote, they issued a press release: "It's a Sad Day for Children & Families of Rhode Island," Says Save Our Society Ah yes, allowing sick people access to medicine is always sad for children and families. Save Our Society From Drugs is dedicated to fighting drug use, drug addiction and drug trafficking and to promoting effective, sound drug policies, education and prevention. It is equally committed to exposing and refuting the drug legalization advocates and their deceptive tactics. Refuting? How? With that children and families nonsense? They're not just working in Rhode Island. Check out this hilarious action alert: Medical Fraud Marijuana Bill Intorduced in New Jersey for 2006 [sic] The time to act is now. It is imperative to keep this harmful schedule I drug out of New Jersey. They're going to keep marijuana out of New Jersey? This I gotta see. The rest is full of lies and exaggerations. I love the rhetoric, though... Medical excuse marijuana is the most common tactic used by long-time advocates who promote ballot initiatives and legislation to legalize marijuana. It is a toxic weed that has been rejected as medicine by most major health organizations, and the FDA. Modern medicine relies on proven scientific research, not polling results. The true intent of the pushers behind the drug legalization movement is far from compassionate and not at all scientific. 11:15:23 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Pod people and their podcasts. This is unbelievable. Via The ITT List comes this news to make your skin crawl.... John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and President Bush's "Drug Czar," today launched ONDCP's first "podcast." Podcasting technology enables users of personal audio players to receive broadcasts of audio media via an Internet feed to which users can subscribe. ONDCP's podcasts will deliver speeches, events, interviews, and the latest information regarding national efforts to reduce drug use in America. Director Walters stated, "I am pleased that we will be able to provide this service to the increasing number of Americans who use personal audio players to stay up-to-date on the latest issues affecting our Nation. President Bush and I know that most of the work to reduce the harms drugs cause to our society is done at the local level. We hope that by providing relevant and timely information via this new technology, more people will join us in educating our fellow citizens regarding the destructive effects of drugs." And yes, even now you can subscribe to this electrifying podcast -- John Walters' welcoming message is available for download, and you can once again hear him imply that there's absolutely no difference between "drug use" and "drug problems." Right about that time, my iPod turned green and started vomiting. Never had that happen before. 10:30:09 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Common Sense, Shoved Up Your... I have been remiss in not linking to Stephen Gordon's Hammer of Truth, and suddently realized through my new news reader (NewNewsWire for Mac) that he's been posting up some great drug war posts (Hammer of Truth is a libertarian blog that is on top of drug war issues.) Here are a couple from today: Drug Czar Lies and Evades on Washington Journal -- a nice recap of the Drug Czar's appearance on TV this morning. Drug Warriors to Execute another Medical Marijuana User -- on Steve Kubby's extradition case. 6:56:23 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []