News! Medical Marijuana Bills To Hit Senate Floor Next Week!

[ozzrokk]

Ahhh more things to help patients............... How kind of them..............

 

 

Edited to add........... Hey Tim should we still trust the snake Jones?

Edited December 13, 2014 by ozzrokk

[bobandtorey]

No

The last time I heard anything from him was at the Lansing protest when he looked out the window and said to the people on his front steps


THEY DON'T LOOK SICK TO ME

Edited December 16, 2014 by bobandtorey

[slipstar059]

Does anyone else think this bill leaves no room for someone who doesn't already have a lot of money to startup a provisioning center. If you find a bank willing to give low interest loans to a person who wants to start a center, let us all know. As far as I know, they don't exist in this state.

 

If you already have seed money and somehow get a license to open one, than you can't even control your own quality, by growing it yourself. You have to rely on caregivers, who may or may not have enough to supply you, and without the medicine itself, what good is the store?

 

Do caregivers who sell to dispensaries, get charged at that point, for growing excess amounts (not excessive as in over 15 oz but as in more than the patient can use)? Can a dispensary owner also be a caregiver and sell to his own store? They say the 2008 law is grey, well after reading it, a couple times, this feels pitch black.

 

There should have been a farmers bill, that coincided with 4271, that allowed anyone the option to buy a license 1 square foot at a time. Hell, you wouldn't have to amend anything, keep the caregiver system in play, and if they want to buy sq footage, they have the option. As the bill stands, it's still just legalizing everything, but the plant.

 

When's the last time you heard of a Republican that wanted to regulate anything. Isn't that against everything they're supposed to stand for?

[slipstar059]

Also does anyone else think that there are a lot of people overestimating the amount of money to be made in Michigan, our economy isn't as good as Colorado, or Washington. If your a caregiver, think about how much medicine you've given to patients, forgoing the work you did that week, because they couldn't afford it.

 

I don't think the dispensaries will have that same level of compassion unless they're really there for the patients, or are forced to give free cannabis to low income patients, like they're mandated to in Oakland.

[jointedone]

Well,guess it depends on how you look at it. .....................as an owner of a business or a customer. FRANCHISE,anybody? Disp in the same building as White Castle? It could work! (But not with Starbucks,those bums never leave,just keep drinking coffee.) Times are changing,you may be the next self made millionaire.

[+Malamute]

Michigan is the second largest medical marijuana state, second only to California.

 

I would slow down until we see what the final bill says.  But, no commercial growing is allowed at this time.

 

I am sure people will be able to make a living running a provisioning center. 

 

Also,... as far as "economy"

 

Michigan is ranked 17th in the country.

 

Colorado is 21st.

 

Washington is 5th.

 

:-)

[slipstar059]

Michigan is the second largest medical marijuana state, second only to California.

 

I would slow down until we see what the final bill says. But, no commercial growing is allowed at this time.

 

I am sure people will be able to make a living running a provisioning center.

 

Also,... as far as "economy"

 

Michigan is ranked 17th in the country.

 

Colorado is 21st.

 

Washington is 5th.

 

:-)

I think it just depends on where your looking. Our Economic outlook rank is 12, and our economic performance rank is 50, according to ALEC's "Rich State, poor state" guide. That means we expect good things, we're just arent close yet. Also Washington, was in USA's Today's, top 7 most expensive places to live. 8th place was an honorable mention of Colorado, and 6 other states. Odd coincidence, but every state on that list has legalized cannabis in some form. I know quite a few 15+ year factory workers trying to make ends meet on 25000 a year.

[t-pain]

.

Edited December 15, 2014 by t-pain

[+Malamute]

ALEC?

 

Not a great choice for reference. Actually, a ridiculous source to reference.

 

I see Michigan in the top 20 across the boards.

[+Malamute]

OIC,

 

 you are referencing a coporate paid for ranking that ranks states by not having unions, lowest corporate tax rates, lowest environmental standards, lowest product oversight and lack of property taxes.

 

Hahahaha....

 

I am talking about actual economy here.

[+Malamute]

Here is who funded that paper :

 

The Searle Freedom Trust (SFT), formerly called the D&D Foundation, is a conservative 501©(3) private foundation, consisting of wealth inherited from pharmaceutical G.D. Searle & Company, which created the artificial sweetener aspartame marketed as "NutraSweet" and is now part of Pfizer. Daniel C. Searle formed the trust in 1988 in order to back his ideas as a "free enterprise conservative," according to former board member Howard J. Trienens. The foundation funds Americans for Prosperity, the American Enterprise Institute, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Heartland Institute, State Policy Network, and many other right-wing groups. Kimberly O. Dennis is its executive director. The trust describes itself as intending to "foster research and education on public policy issues that affect individual freedom and economic liberty."

[+Malamute]

HOW ASPARTAME BECAME LEGAL

Dec 24,2002

 

 

In 1985 Monsanto purchased G.D. Searle, the chemical company that held the patent to aspartame, the active ingredient in NutraSweet. Monsanto was apparently untroubled by aspartame's clouded past, including a 1980 FDA Board of Inquiry, comprised of three independent scientists, which confirmed that it "might induce brain tumors."

 

The FDA had actually banned aspartame based on this finding, only to have Searle Chairman Donald Rumsfeld (currently the Secretary of Defense) vow to "call in his markers," to get it approved.

 

On January 21, 1981, the day after Ronald Reagan's inauguration, Searle re-applied to the FDA for approval to use aspartame in food sweetener, and Reagan's new FDA commissioner, Arthur Hayes Hull, Jr., appointed a 5-person Scientific Commission to review the board of inquiry's decision.

 

 

It soon became clear that the panel would uphold the ban by a 3-2 decision, but Hull then installed a sixth member on the commission, and the vote became deadlocked. He then personally broke the tie in aspartame's favor. Hull later left the FDA under allegations of impropriety, served briefly as Provost at New York Medical College, and then took a position with Burston-Marsteller, the chief public relations firm for both Monsanto and GD Searle. Since that time he has never spoken publicly about aspartame.

 

 

Aspartame/NutraSweet: The History of the Aspartame Controversy

 

By James Turner, ESQ. Director of the National Institute of Science, Law, and Public Policy (NISLAPP)

National Institute of Science, Law, and Public Policy 1400 16th Street, NW, Suite 330, Washington, DC 20036 (202) 462-8800(202) 462-8800 Fax: (202) 265-6564 nislapp@swankin-turner.com

 

 

 

 

Timeline

 

December 1965-- While working on an ulcer drug, James Schlatter, a chemist at G.D. Searle, accidentally discovers aspartame, a substance that is 180 times sweeter than sugar yet has no calories.

 

Spring 1967-- Searle begins the safety tests on aspartame that are necessary for applying for FDA approval of food additives.

 

Fall 1967-- Dr. Harold Waisman, a biochemist at the University of Wisconsin, conducts aspartame safety tests on infant monkeys on behalf of the Searle Company. Of the seven monkeys that were being fed aspartame mixed with milk, one dies and five others have grand mal seizures.

 

November 1970-- Cyclamate, the reigning low-calorie artificial sweetener -- is pulled off the market after some scientists associate it with cancer. Questions are also raised about safety of saccharin, the only other artificial sweetener on the market, leaving the field wide open for aspartame.

 

December 18, 1970-- Searle Company executives lay out a "Food and Drug Sweetener Strategy' that they feel will put the FDA into a positive frame of mind about aspartame. An internal policy memo describes psychological tactics the company should use to bring the FDA into a subconscious spirit of participation" with them on aspartame and get FDA regulators into the "habit of saying, "Yes"."

 

Spring 1971-- Neuroscientist Dr. John Olney (whose pioneering work with monosodium glutamate was responsible for having it removed from baby foods) informs Searle that his studies show that aspartic acid (one of the ingredients of aspartame) caused holes in the brains of infant mice. One of Searle's own researchers confirmed Dr. Olney's findings in a similar study.

 

February 1973-- After spending tens of millions of dollars conducting safety tests, the G.D. Searle Company applies for FDA approval and submits over 100 studies they claim support aspartame's safety.

 

March 5, 1973-- One of the first FDA scientists to review the aspartame safety data states that "the information provided (by Searle) is inadequate to permit an evaluation of the potential toxicity of aspartame". She says in her report that in order to be certain that aspartame is safe, further clinical tests are needed.

 

May 1974-- Attorney, Jim Turner (consumer advocate who was instrumental in getting cyclamate taken off the market) meets with Searle representatives to discuss Dr. Olney's 1971 study which showed that aspartic acid caused holes in the brains of infant mice

 

July 26, 1974-- The FDA grants aspartame its first approval for restricted use in dry foods.

 

August 1974-- Jim Turner and Dr. John Olney file the first objections against aspartame's approval.

 

March 24, 1976-- Turner and Olney's petition triggers an FDA investigation of the laboratory practices of aspartame's manufacturer, G.D. Searle. The investigation finds Searle's testing procedures shoddy, full of inaccuracies and "manipulated" test data. The investigators report they "had never seen anything as bad as Searle's testing."

 

January 10, 1977-- The FDA formally requests the U.S. Attorney's office to begin grand jury proceedings to investigate whether indictments should be filed against Searle for knowingly misrepresenting findings and "concealing material facts and making false statements" in aspartame safety tests. This is the first time in the FDA's history that they request a criminal investigation of a manufacturer.

 

January 26, 1977-- While the grand jury probe is underway, Sidley & Austin, the law firm representing Searle, begins job negotiations with the U.S. Attorney in charge of the investigation, Samuel Skinner.

 

March 8, 1977-- G. D. Searle hires prominent Washington insider Donald Rumsfeld as the new CEO to try to turn the beleaguered company around. A former Member of Congress and Secretary of Defense in the Ford Administration, Rumsfeld brings in several of his Washington cronies as top management.

 

July 1, 1977-- Samuel Skinner leaves the U.S. Attorney's office and takes a job with Searle's law firm. (see Jan. 26th)

 

August 1, 1977-- The Bressler Report, compiled by FDA investigators and headed by Jerome Bressler, is released. The report finds that 98 of the 196 animals died during one of Searle's studies and weren't autopsied until later dates, in some cases over one year after death. Many other errors and inconsistencies are noted. For example, a rat was reported alive, then dead, then alive, then dead again; a mass, a uterine polyp, and ovarian neoplasms were found in animals but not reported or diagnosed in Searle's reports.

 

December 8, 1977-- U.S. Attorney Skinner's withdrawal and resignation stalls the Searle grand jury investigation for so long that the statue of limitations on the aspartame charges runs out. The grand jury investigation is dropped.

 

June 1, 1979-- The FDA established a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) to rule on safety issues surrounding NutraSweet.

 

September 30, 1980-- The Public Board of Inquiry concludes NutraSweet should not be approved pending further investigations of brain tumors in animals. The board states it "has not been presented with proof of reasonable certainty that aspartame is safe for use as a food additive."

 

January 1981-- Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of Searle, states in a sales meeting that he is going to make a big push to get aspartame approved within the year. Rumsfeld says he will use his political pull in Washington, rather than scientific means, to make sure it gets approved.

 

January 21, 1981-- Ronald Reagan is sworn in as President of the United States. Reagan's transition team, which includes Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of G. D. Searle, hand picks Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. to be the new FDA Commissioner.

 

March, 1981-- An FDA commissioner's panel is established to review issues raised by the Public Board of Inquiry.

 

May 19, 1981-- Three of six in-house FDA scientists who were responsible for reviewing the brain tumor issues, Dr. Robert Condon, Dr. Satya Dubey, and Dr. Douglas Park, advise against approval of NutraSweet, stating on the record that the Searle tests are unreliable and not adequate to determine the safety of aspartame.

 

July 15, 1981-- In one of his first official acts, Dr. Arthur Hayes Jr., the new FDA commissioner, overrules the Public Board of Inquiry, ignores the recommendations of his own internal FDA team and approves NutraSweet for dry products. Hayes says that aspartame has been shown to be safe for its' proposed uses and says few compounds have withstood such detailed testing and repeated close scrutiny.

 

October 15, 1982-- The FDA announces that Searle has filed a petition that aspartame be approved as a sweetener in carbonated beverages and other liquids.

 

July 1, 1983-- The National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) urges the FDA to delay approval of aspartame for carbonated beverages pending further testing because aspartame is very unstable in liquid form. When liquid aspartame is stored in temperatures above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, it breaks down into DKP and formaldehyde, both of which are known toxins.

 

July 8, 1983-- The National Soft Drink Association drafts an objection to the final ruling which permits the use of aspartame in carbonated beverages and syrup bases and requests a hearing on the objections. The association says that Searle has not provided responsible certainty that aspartame and its' degradation products are safe for use in soft drinks.

 

August 8, 1983-- Consumer Attorney, Jim Turner of the Community Nutrition Institute and Dr. Woodrow Monte, Arizona State University's Director of Food Science and Nutritional Laboratories, file suit with the FDA objecting to aspartame approval based on unresolved safety issues.

 

September, 1983-- FDA Commissioner Hayes resigns under a cloud of controversy about his taking unauthorized rides aboard a General Foods jet. (General foods is a major customer of NutraSweet) Burson-Marsteller, Searle's public relation firm (which also represented several of NutraSweet's major users), immediately hires Hayes as senior scientific consultant.

 

Fall 1983-- The first carbonated beverages containing aspartame are sold for public consumption.

 

November 1984-- Center for Disease Control (CDC) "Evaluation of consumer complaints related to aspartame use." (summary by B. Mullarkey)

 

November 3, 1987-- U.S. hearing, "NutraSweet: Health and Safety Concerns," Committee on Labor and Human Resources, Senator Howard Metzenbaum, chairman.

[slipstar059]

I know what ALEC is. How about a 7.1 percent rate of unemployment in October (to be fair it dropped from 8.6 in 2013) from the Bureau of Labor, last I checked we ranked at 49th in job growth (unsure?). We're also a low pay state,with a low income per capita. The BEA ranks us within the ten lowest states, but we're really good at being friendly, ranking 12th in a list of business friendly places in the US (with a flat business rate tax of 6%). Edited to say that 1999 was an awesome year in Michigan. I had a Moderate paying job, but the cost of living was great. I could afford to go to the beach on weekends, and take a nice vacation. I think the price of fuel coupled with the loss of the auto industry, had a big impact on local economy.

Edited December 16, 2014 by slipstar059

[slipstar059]

I know all about aspartame as well. I watched a doc about that whole story.

Edited December 16, 2014 by slipstar059

[bobandtorey]

Wow! 

 

maybe i can get a VA loan 

[trichcycler]

take a guess at Monsanto's attorney's name, before he became a judge, just in time to prohibit anyone from winning a law suit against the giant. C.T.

[t-pain]

darn, i have a friend who has holes in his brain and has seizures/blackouts.

 

nutrasweet info makes me sick. thanks for posting.

 

grass: clarence thomas now supreme court judge??

 

making whoopee monsanto, really? really??

Edited December 16, 2014 by t-pain

[+Malamute]

Sorry. I got off topic.

 

:-)

 

When I seen who did the research it hit a touchy spot for me. :-)

[OZONE]

Has anyone seen the two bills since the senate got done with them

[Hayduke]

Well for one, the Senate is not done with them.

 

For two, yes we have now seen the language and expect to see more tomorrow.

 

Still a couple items to finish, but they both look pretty good, and I think they have a strong chance of passing...

 

But to directly answer your question, a handful have the most current language, and likely that will stay tha way until Thursday. Mal or I will post them as soon as we have a green light to do so....

[Hydraulic Jack]

It's been said before...Thank you for all you do!   HJ

[Norby]

Ditto!

[Willy]

yup thanks for your hard work... keep floggin them till they give in

[+Malamute]

We will see what happens.  Ya never know till it's over.

[Hayduke]

yeah you don't sometimes even know then, eh?