Marijuana Therapy: The Oregonian April 22 Blesses with Full-Page Ad

Is marijuana vilification finally over?

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - Oregon's premiere newspaper, The Oregonian, up till this Sunday edition, has been vilifying marijuana and all of its aspects for about twelve years. This, in spite of the fact that it has been known as a highly safe, highly effective medicine for about four thousand years- and there are currently some 55,000 medical patients in Oregon.

For years, all of us advocates have been asking whoever we could ask for some sort of legislation which would take marijuana out of the grasp of the Mexican marijuana cartels.

It hasn’t happened and it appears the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) is actually working for the Mexicans by harassing and closing down “legal” dispensaries and making their patient-clients rely more and more on the black market. If they aren’t doing it on purpose, then so be it. The consequences speak for themselves.

Fortunately District Attorney Mike Shrunk knows that there is no way of policing 55,000 medical marijuana users and 28,000 caregivers.

The Oregonian writes that there are 50 dispensaries in Oregon. Actually there are probably about 500, mostly under the counter. The Oregonian tut tuts about “the black market” while most of those users or growers wish they could become legal but as I say, the DEA supports the Mexican cartel.

This is not a casual issue. It is estimated that the marijuana business in Oregon is worth 1 billion dollars per year.

The US government estimates there are about 300,000 cannabis users in Oregon. Right now, most of the profits go to the Mexican cartel who could not care less about federal and state laws.

Amanda Marshall, Oregon’s US attorney says they do not have the resources to even think about monitoring or control of every aspect of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program and its participants. In Medford, a dispensary is open and flourishing next to the federal courthouse.

Despite the fact that 16 states have legalized medical marijuana, only 5 “allow” dispensaries- surprise, surprise! Still, the dispensaries are there. Colorado has hundreds of dispensaries and the University of Colorado has marijuana smoke outs with up to 10,000 people/students smoking up like a London fog. Still, no harm to society.

Josh Marquis, District Attorney for Oregon's Clatsop County, seems to be almost rabidly against all marijuana, even when used by legal patients. This is a travesty of justice. I suggest he should spend his time on oxycontin which kills thousands in a year, alcohol which kills even more, or tobacco and meth, which actually kill thousands also. That would be a great service to the community that voted him into office.

MARIJUANA NEVER KILLED ANYONE. Most of the anti-marijuana adversaries seem to have absolutely no understanding that in Oregon medical marijuana is MEDICINE. The average age of the Oregon medical marijuana patient is 47.

The main group of NON-PERMITTED users are 16-24 year olds in high school or college. 40% of them profess to use marijuana. I suggest you read about the student body of the University of Oregon, if you need corroboration!

As the former leading medical marijuana doctor in Oregon with 5,000+ patients, I wish whoever is in charge (if anyone!) would do something positive or just let the marijuana community control its own destiny. We are doing reasonably well without the aggravation of occasional “Gestapo like raids”.

The times are changing, and the facts cannot be ignored. The majority of the people will no longer allow it. Even the Oregonian knows it.

IT’S OVER: GET A JOINT AND COOL OFF!

More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole".
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier

If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.

Watch for more streaming video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King and Dr. Phil Leveque.

Click on this link for other articles and video segments about PTSD and medical marijuana on Salem-News.com:
Dr. Leveque INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES

Salem-News.com Marijuana Coverage

Where and How to Smoke Legal Marijuana without Fear of Arrest in the U.S.

Eulogy of a Great Warrior: Hoss Plourde

The Ripple Effect How Marijuana Laws Are Impacting Society

Audit the Audit

Welcome Home, Tom

Comments Leave a comment on this story.

Name:

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.

---

Malcolm Kyle April 24, 2012 12:31 pm (Pacific time)

* Due to Prohibition (historically proven to be an utter failure at every level), the availability of most of these mood-altering drugs has become so universal and unfettered that in any city of the civilized world, any one of us would be able to procure practically any drug we wish within an hour.

* Throughout history, the prohibition of any mind-altering substance has always exploded usage rates, overcrowded jails, fueled organized crime, created rampant corruption of law-enforcement - even whole governments, while inducing an incalculable amount of suffering and death.

* Apart from the fact that the DEA is the de facto enforcement wing of the pharmaceutical industry, the involvement of the CIA in running Heroin from Vietnam, Southeast Asia and Afghanistan, and Cocaine from Central America has been well documented by the 1989 Kerry Committee report, academic researchers Alfred McCoy and Peter Dale Scott, and the late journalist Gary Webb.

* It's not even possible to keep drugs out of prisons, but prohibitionists wish to waste trillions of dollars in an utterly futile attempt to keep them off our streets.

* The United States jails a larger percentage of it's own citizens than any other country in the world, including those run by the worst totalitarian regimes, yet it has far higher use/addiction rates than most other countries.

---

mike April 24, 2012 7:09 am (Pacific time)

Its about time! Prohibition has resluted in nothing but loss for the economy and the denial of medicine to the sick, in Eugene we are lucky to have http://www.ommpcard.com a medical marijuana clinic for the ommp card..

[Return to Top]

---

©2025 Salem-News.com. All opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Salem-News.com.