FED'S POT IS SCHWAG, SAYS MEDPOT CONFERENCE ORGANIZER

At high noon on April 7th, Patients Out of Time organizer Al Byrne will open a sealed can of U.S. government marijuana, to prove that what they have been sending to patients in their IND* program is mostly schwag--seeds, sticks, stems, etc.

This event, to which the public and the media are cordially invited, will take place on April 6-8 in Santa Barbara, California, at the Fourth National Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics, co-sponsored by the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine and the California Nurses Association—in conjunction with Patients Out of Time.

Byrne was accused by government agencies of “doctoring” photographs showing the poor quality of the federally supplied medicinal marijuana. This time the sealed can will be opened in front of witnesses.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for supplying the drug to seven patients, including Barbara Douglass, Irv Rosenfeld, George McMahon and Elvy Musikka, who will be present at this event, and available for interviews.

So if you want to see egg on the faces of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the two agencies that were questioning the authenticity of Byrne’s photographs, visit the campus of Santa Barbara City College on April 7^th.

For further information, please visit the POT website at www.medicalcannabis.com.

*

The program under which seven patients are still receiving U.S. government marijuana was started under the Carter administration. It’s called the Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program and is administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Four of these patients are on the Board of Directors of the Virginia-based advocacy group, Patients Out of Time (POT). A fifth patient, Elvy Musikka, is the national spokesperson of POT. Their personal stories can be accessed through the POT website at www.medicalcannabis.com.

Ethan Russo, MD of Missoula, Montana, intensively examined four of the patients over a 3-day period in 2001, looking closely at every system in their bodies, to determine any effects of prolonged marijuana use.

The Missoula Chronic Use Study, as it is widely known, came to the conclusion that the subjects, after having used cannabis therapeutically for 11 to 27 years, depending on each case, were all in fine condition, considering their original illness and the effects of age.