CCJS418P- Exam 2
lessons in endurance and impermanence
a sense of violation and fear - the raid was a shock yet not entirely unexpected they had begun to actively prepare for such an event - some dropped out of WAMM afterwards - a lingering sense of fear and defiance taking it to the streets - a surprising breadth of support for medical marijuana and WAMM members - less than 2 weeks after the raid WAMM distributed medical marijuana at santa cruz city hall - a field poll was conducted 2 years after the raid- 74% of Californians favored legal protections for medical marijuana patients up almost 20 points since prop 215 passed in 1996
set and setting
accidental activists - personal history of valerie loveroni (corral) - article about marijuana helping to control seizures - living outside the law was the obvious thing to do it wasn't as though it was something that was wrong so that is why i never think of myself as a criminal from patient to outlaw - august 1992 helicopter flyover notices 5 marijuana plants- corrals arrested - couldn't accept diversion the marijuana controlled her seizures - medical marijuana initiative - measure a - another arrest from the personal to the public the women alliance for medical marijuana - the two days after california proposition 215 passed WAMM was incorporated as a nonprofit organization - an excursive in compassion and genorisity marijuana never sold provided free of charge to those in need - more than 80% of members living with a life threatening illness literally dying to get into WAMM - almost 200 members have died since 1996 - members produce the medicine themselves, all volunteers santa cruz- the success and survival of WÅMM depends in part on its social setting and cultural/political mindset of the peop[le of santa cruz california social movement spillover- many of the features of WAMM actually mirror the vision of earlier health and social justice movements patients producing knowledge- WAMM patients on the frontlines of public advocacy education and research stigma spillover - the american cancer society doesn't accept a check - an organization like WAMm a difficult program to run
dying to get high: medicine as marijuana: notes on research methodology
chapkins quote: my understanding of medical marijuana as a social issue relies heavily on the research strategy of participant observation an approach that inevitably and often usefully troubles the line dividing researcher from researched winona diluke: academics must address the question of how will your research benefit the people you study
what are the benefits of medical marijuana cont.
if there are pharmaceutical cannabinoids is there any reason to use plant material? - using just cannabinoids might work out fine but much more research is needed - despite good intentions marinol isn't widely used and has proven disappointingly unhelpful to patients - the synergistic effects of THC CBD and other cannabinoids and chemicals in marijuana may constitute a kind of gestaltt effect where the whole is greater than just the sum of the parts
dying to get high chapters 7-8: love grows here
secret garden - a few miles north of santa cruz is WAMM's cannabis garden - the garden evokes a profound sense of privacy and security despite existing in violation of federal law therapeutic horticulture - more than a garden a healing space - gardening can help restore physical and mental health to people suffering from a variety of ailments - passive enjoyment of healing gardens exerts a restorative influence on cognitive functioning and on emotional centers in the limbic system of the brain - therapeutic gardening provides participants with a flow experience a harmonization between demands and possibilities labor of love - each spring on march 21 Mike Corral plants hundreds of marijuana seeds from plants he has bred himself - males removed or destroyed so females aren;'t pollinated - the cannabis is grown organically which is required by santa cruz medical marijunaa ordinance that they helped draft - since 2000, 180 plants under cultivation - harvest between early october and mid november not your fathers marijuana - do high levels of THC make canabis more dangerous? not really - no increase in THC potency just higher percentages from some plants - with higher percentages of THC people may smoke less for the same effect - marijuana grown in the WAMM garden, a reputation for being pure potent and very effective - in 1999 mold attacked the plants more than 1/3 of the crop was lost before the harvest DEA on the doorstep - on september 5 2002 federal DEA agents raided the WAMM garden, 20-30 police, 8 SUVs and 2 huge moving vans - WAMM members were called and informed they arrived at the garden with local television crews - the DEA was blocked from leaving by WAMM members, Vaerie and Mike asked members to let the DEA leave turning point - no charges were filed against the Corrals and WAMM - DEA agents chopped down all the plants, the collective's entire annual crop - Mike Corral notes that after the raid, we were propelled into political overdrive
commerce v. compassion
the bush administration- more raids on medical cannabis providers and an appeal of the Raich v. Ashcroft reversal. in 2004 the supreme court agreed to hear the case now named Gonzales v. Raich (different attorneys general) in june 2005 the court ruled in favor of the federal government three justices dissented (O'Conner, Thomas and Rehnquist) objecting to the broad definition of commerce the message: medical marijuana should be handled by the legislature not the courts
taking it the courts santa cruz vs. ashcroft
WAMM sought an injection against the attorney general and the DEA defendants were: US attorney general john ashcroft DEA administrator Karen Tandy federal drug czar John Walters and 20 unknown DEAagents august 28, 2003 district court ruled against WAMM denying their injunction in another similar court case Angel Raich and Diane Monson had filed suit against the DEA and the attorney general in october 2002 (Raich v. Ashcroft) their motion for injunction was also denied in district court in october 2003 Raich and Monsoon submitted their case to the 9th circuit court of appeals the court reversed the district court's ruling the judge provided a preliminary injunction protecting them from federal interference within a few weeks WAMM filed a motion for reconsideration of their injunction in June 2004 citing the Raich v. Ashcroft reversal, judge Fogel barred the US attorney general and the DEA from interfering with the corrals WAMM patients or the collective's garden
dying to get high chapters 5 and 6: cannabis and consciousness
dangerous drug with no medicinal value - are the consciousness altering properties of cannabis an impediment to the thinking of the drug as a medicine - little evidence of harms associated with cannabis beyond the route of administration (smoking) - the first prescription drug made of botanical cannabis, sativex already approved in canada on the fast track in the US as of 2014 what makes the high a side effect? - numerous prescription drugs also have psychoactive properties - what should be considered the primary effects and what are the side effects - mechoulam regards the psychotropic effect as a side effect in the medical context - becker reminds us: side effects are not the effects desired by either the user or the person administering the drugs - both main effects and side effects as categories are socially constructed and subject to change a sense of wellness - whether called a high, euphoria or simply psychological benefits the psychoactive effects of marijana are frequently commented on aspect of the drugs medicinal value in interviews with patients productivity and amotivational syndrome - enhanced functioning or undermined productivity? - suzanne Pfeil marijuana actually gets me moving
potheads scamming the system
deserving patients and undeserving potheads neat divisions between medical and social users are unworkable medical marijuana users: - those who have never used marijuana before - pretenders who hav a social relationship with marijuana - medical and social users creating community - with the question of whether marijuana is a legitimate medicine provider organizations may be misunderstood too - no marijuana smoked at meetings - 90 minutes spent on community building - such meetings frustrating and essential and life affirming servant leaders - valerie's loving and charismatic persona positions her somewhere between selfless organizer and celebrated diva - a respected advocate and foremost authority on medical marijuana - the garden is on corrals property they are the ones at risk collective contributions - the stress of uneven participation - a kind of honor system everyone supposed to pitch in free riding - the free rider problem, when a person doesn't contribute enough to the collective - some members in disagreement on what they need or want - unequal contributions different feelings dispensing with intimacy - not a group people chose on the basis of liking each other - mandatory attendance in order to pick up medicine dying in the embrace of friends - marjority of members living with a lifethreatening illness - a place for the sic and dying - the common experience of mortality helps unite an otherwise very disparate group of individuals - WAMMs model an alternative like hospice care to terminally ill
can studies
in depth qualitative studies of one or a few illustrative cases advantages of participant observation - a direct connection to what is being studied - fun interesting sometimes a hit of danger - a flexible way to investigate phenomena disadvantages of participant observation - takes time money - danger of going nattive - ethical dilemmas - yields nonquantitative data- how to handle this?
prescribing cannabis in california: Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather
interest in marijuana began when he went off to college in the mid 60s after his residency he moved to the farm a commune in Tennessee where cannabis was used as a sacrament now he is a cannabis specialist in sebastopol California with a practivce of over 1600 patients who use cannabis for a wide range of conditions patients in his practice: - about 60% for chronic pain - about 10% nausea and anorexia - cancer, clinical observations for three cases - autoimmune and rheumatic diseases - IBS - ADD changing medical education- the endeocannabinoid system prescription cannabinoids - marinol - nabilone (cesamet brand) - sativex - rimonabant - avoid this receptor blocker single molecules or whole plant medicine?
intro to medical cannabis: what are the medical benefits of marijuana
isn't smoking unhealthy? yes but potential adverse side effects need to be weighed against beneficial and therapeutic effects, other routes of administration (vaporizing, edibles etc are also available) what did the 1999 institute of medicine report say? 6 months to decide what is the state of medical marijuana literature today? always growing does marijuana have legaly recognized medical value in the US? yes and no - federal laws and regulations require a drug to meet 5 conditions - known and reproducible chemistry - adequate safety studies - adequate and well controlled efficacy studies - acceptance by qualified experts - widely available scientific evidence feds just say no... 29 states including DC and several other counties say yes why isn't marijuana available as a regular prescription drug? - marijuana is a schedule 1 drug - more fundamental answer would be: no one has done the work necessary to make it a prescription drug marijuana isn't the name of a specific drug - the federal government obstructs the research process - prescription drugs must be approved as safe and effective by the FDA also the drug must succeed in two large scale phase III clinical trials
dying to get high chapters 3-4: the greening of modern medicine
obstructing science - through the late 90s and early 2000s US supreme court ruled in favor of federal authority over cultivation and possession of marijuana even for medical use - the government agencies involved included the DEA and NIDA blocking even carefully designed research - only one source of marijunaa U of Mississippi - once marinol developed smoked cannabis unnecessary - another ACLU lawsuit against the DEA for unreasonable delay in response to am application for a license to produce small amounts of cannabis pure pharmaceuticals and crude botanicals - the IOM study- cannabinoids moderately well suited for some patients - cannabis not especially dangerous, few develop dependence - most findings ignored by federal policy makers - diversity of chemicals in cannabis not really a problem - the issue of medical purity and belief based vs science based medicine if it feels good it must be bad for you - a distrust of pleasure- pharmacological calvinism from isolation and standardization to complexity and synergy - real medicine vs. botanical remedies - judge young marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man - regulating dosage through titration - synthetic drugs not necessarily better golden bullets - the widespread popular support for medical marijuana at the turn of the 21st century is less a reflection of changing views on drug prohibition than it is of changing attitudes toward medicine - health care is espensive - 44% of all americans now take at least one prescription drug natural cures - much interest in alternative approaches to health care -the discovery of wonder drugs has fallen off a bit - CAM complimentary and alternative medicine - Suzanne pfeill quote: should have a right to relive my suffering in the way that i choose
court case timelines
october 2002: Raich v. Ashcroft denied in district court August 2003: santa cruz v. ashcroft denied in district court (judge fogel) October 2003: Raich v. Ashcroft district court ruling reversed by 9th circuit court of appeals, injunction granted June 2004: judge fogel grants WAMM injunction June 2005: supreme court hears Gonzales v. Raich ruling in favor of the federal government taking it to heart - due to the supreme court decision, WAMM was no longer protected from federal prosecution - in June 2005 WAMM members gathered in downtown Santa Cruz to protest the decision holding RIP placards with the names and pictures of over 150 members who had died since 1996 - also in 2005 Mike Corral moved off his land and divorced Valerie transplanting the WAMM model - WAMM still going strong, judge fogel has called them the gold standard of the medical marijuana movement - the Corrals sought as consultants Valerie has testified before the house judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security on the DEA's role in the regulation of medicine - the DEA's actions have proved remarkably ineffective in stopping the progression of medical marijuana and lately also the legalization for adult use - marijuana still a schedule 1 substance though farm or pharm - if marijuana is legitimate medicine the war on drugs is threatened - medical marijuana is also a symbolic challenge to the pharmaceutical industry's monopoly on drug production and provision - drug manufacturers are already involved in the development of several cannabinoid medications (marinol cesamet sativex and others) - the criminalization of medical cannabis is necessary so that cannabinoid pharmaceuticals can compete with the botanical,. is it all about protecting corporate profits?
mothers milk and the muffin man
smoking is hazardous to your health - the best established risks of sustained use of botanical marijuana are from the most popular route of administration: smoking - opponents of legalization even for medical use tend to focus on the dangers of smoking - in a published editorial in 2004, dr. jocelyn elders mentions edibles and vaporizers grassroots alternatives to smoking - WAMM members themselves produce a range pf non smoked products - members report that eating cannabis based products has a different effect than smoking - both eating and smoking canabis for therapeutic purposes requires a process of learning how to consume the plant based medicine and how to recognize an effective dose - while the buds are reversed for smoking every other part of the plant is utilized in non smoking alternatives the muffin man - john paul taylor was known as the muffin man - he used dried cannabs leaves to produce the muffins - while he rarely used muffins he found pleasure and purpose in the weekly ritual of baking for others mothers milk- a soy cannabis beverage that these days only a few members produce capsules- known as mari caps are produced twice a month by the happy cappers, the capsules contain a mixture of ground leaf and butter cooked slowly at low temperatures tincture- the mildest, least psychoactive of the orally administered non smokables made with ground leaf and 151 proof alcohol stored for at least 2 weeks, longer if possible - it has a mild sedative effect rather than a pronounced high liniment- known as rub a dub it is produced by gathering pounds and pounds of leaf stems and fragments in a five gallon jar and mixing in rubbing alcohol then lettig it sit for a month or more WAMM members have developed a variety of innovative methods of creating non smoked forms if cannabis - low cost low tech production techniques - member involvement increases their sense of patient empowerment
participation observation and case studies
the most natural form of data collection employed by social scientists is the direct observation of social phenomena in natural settings academic field research began in the late 19th century with anthropology sociological field research in the US began at the university of chicago, 3 principles emerged - study people in their natural settings - study people by directly interacting with them - gain an understanding of the social world and make theoretical statements based on the members perspective field research includes: - direct observation - participant observation - case studies types/styles of participant observation - complete observation - participant as observer - observer as participant - complete observation how to maintain objectivity in research: if the people being studied find out you are studying them they might modify their behavior by - expelling you from the group or setting - changing their speech/behavior toward social norms - changing the overall social process itself going native- over identifying with the group studied
cannabis and consciousness cont
tolerance - intensive medicinal use of any substance may create some measure of tolerance and diminished effect - many WAMM members report that the early euphoric effects diminish or disappear over time - for members with a history of drug abuse and recovery, establishing a clear distinction between recreational and medicinal use is a priority - profound differences in effects when used medically or recreationally, partying and medicating are different stoned realizations - facing difficult emotional issues with diminished anxiety - increased introspection a welcome side effect - the absence of pain and also a pleasure factor escape from reality - is the high just a distortion of or an escape from reality - maybe people with such serious medical problems need to escape them for awhile - the psychological dimensions of serious and life threatening illnesses can be as important to treat as the physical symptoms dependence and self regulation - reducing dependence on more dangerous pharmaceuticals - dependence on marijuana? self regulation through taking responsibility - WAMM members helping themselves and others - the psychoactive effects of cannabis are experienced as both compelling and therapeutic by many patients but disturbing and unwelcome by others
whats really happening in medical marijuana states
when did medical mariuama get started in the US? 1996 where does medical marijuana come from? same thing growing from plants for adult use? how medical is medical marijuana are CBD laws really about marijuna was there a sanjay gupta effect? what is the federal government doing in stats that allow medical marijuana? who recommends medical marijuana to patients? was medical marijuana invented as a wedge issue to open the gates for full legislation? do medical marijuana laws increase nonmedical marijuana use? no what are the other population level consequences on medical marijuana laws
shamans and snake oil salesman
why isn't marijuana a medcine is medical marijuana a contradiction in terms what roles do subjective expe3rience and anecdotal evidence play should politics play a role in determining the value of marijuana as a medicine is cannabis the modern day equivalent of snake oil the rise of regular medicine and the battle against botanicals - cannabis used as a medicine from ancient times - the most striking difference between marijuana and real medicine is not the physical but the social effects the plant has on users and healers alike - history of the regulars vs. eclectics demon drugs - public discussion of drugs as a social problem thus began primarily as a conversation about their medical not recreational use - intoxication a moral not a medical problem - racial involvement in prohibition of drugs the invention of marijuana - the Anslinger era and the marijuana tax act - the laguardia report - research impeded marijuana and modrn moral panic - marijuana proclaimed to be dangerous - use by racial minorities and political radicals - use by white middle class youth in the 60s - tobacco- gateway to cannabis use, t he cigarette a psychoactive drug delivery system medical necessity and compassionate access - the randall case in 1976 a federal medical necessity case - beginning and end of IND Compassionate investigational new drug program suspended in 1992 - proposition 215 passes in 1996 just say know threatening physicians the conant vs. mccaffrey case in short since the early 20th century the us federal government sometimes working in consort with organized medicine and sometimes challenging its authority effectively stigmatized most cannabis use
