Medical Cannabis Awareness

It's My Right to Choose   /  Cannabis is a Gateway Drug?                  

 Don't Dis- my Ability    /  

Our letter to Nicola Roxon, Health & Ageing Dept. Australia

Alzheimers and Cannabis /

Medical Cannabis - Suffering before Supremacy

Follow Up Letter to Nicola Roxon - our reply to the reply sent to us 'on her behalf'

    Paul Connett, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at St. Lawrence University, New York stated recently, “Enforcing the public to consume (a particular medication), NSW Health is doing what no Doctor is allowed to do - enforce medication. This is an unethical violation of a central tenet of medical practice and a breach of some basic human rights”.

    Yet, this is what happens even in this country of the 'Fair Go.  People who have been brought before the courts for using cannabis as a medicine have been told they cannot use it and must instead see their doctor and get a prescription medication, one that has been 'approved'. (5,000 years of medical use by tribes/people across the world doesn't count?)

     Medical Cannabis users are already sick and suffering. They are not going to put something into their bodies that is going to make them feel worse or become sicker, which is why many people do not choose to use prescription drugs due to the side effects.

     Cannabis has an LD50 ratio of 40,000:1 compared to the majority of Prescription drugs which average 16:1. Even alcohol (Most Australian's favourite drug of choice has an LD50 of 4:1 to 20:1 depending on body mass size and health).

   The right to choose a particular Medication, (as with religion, education, marriage partner and anything else we choose for ourselves as we get into adult years), is a person’s fundamental human right, especially if it proves to be beneficial to them. 

    There is no ‘one size that fits all’. Everyone has different needs and those needs should be adequately met. What suits one person does not suit another, and even Doctors know this with the various medications they prescribe.

     Being able to choose is important to people.  People even take risks every day that could lead to injury and even death, yet still people take those risks. But when it comes to using Cannabis as a medication (or even recreation), adults are not allowed that choice, and if they decide to go ahead, they are branded 'criminals', 'losers', 'dickheads' etc.  (Yes, there was a tv campaign using these exact terms).

    Meanwhile, our former Australian P.M. John Howard said, .....“It is not the role of Government to tell people what risks and choices they can and can’t take”.  Admittedly he was talking about a different subject (on people going to Bali after the Bali bombings), but the principle is still the same.

    Our present Prime Minister, Mr. Kevin Rudd, stated (while in Opposition), ......"Australians must not kow-tow to others when it comes to freedom in this country". .....Being able to choose is a freedom that the majority of people cherish and expect.

And President George Bush stated, ....."In all we do, we must remember that the best health care decisions are not made by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors". 
 

    (Pity those in Power don’t always believe and put into into practice what they are   saying).

Cannabis is often spoken of as 'A Gateway Drug', but always in the negative. Well, we are here to tell you that......

 Dear Ms Roxon,

     I am writing to you about a much maligned issue in Australia, and parts of the world, and how this issue affects me on a very personal, and individual, level. My name is David Nentwig and I am a chronic sufferer of an ‘orphan’ seizure disorder called Cataplexy.

     Ever since I was 3 years old, I have had some form of seizure disorder. At this age I suffered from a major Grand Mal seizure after having an accident. From this age onwards I started suffering from occasional grand mal as well as frequent petit mal seizures and occasional severe, violent night terrors. As I got older, they became more frequent and more prolific. By the age of 9, they were fairly frequent on a daily basis and I started suffering with shock seizures, from even very light impacts to any part of my body, extremes in weather and emotional disturbances.

     The name Cataplexy was not put to my disorder until I was 20 years old (I‘m now 28 at time of writing). However from the age of nine, I was also experiencing what I now know was full cataplectic seizures, also called ‘drop seizures. The word ‘Cataplexy’ comes from the Greek word ‘Kata’ meaning ‘down’, and ‘plexis’ meaning ‘a stroke or seizure’. Wikepedia defines cataplectic manifestation as ‘a muscular weakness which may range from a barely perceptible slackening of the facial muscles, to the dropping of the jaw or head, weakness at the knees or a total collapse. Usually the speech is slurred, vision is impaired (double vision, inability to focus) but hearing and awareness remain normal. These attacks are triggered by strong emotions such as exhilaration, anger, fear, surprise, orgasm, awe, embarrassment and laughter’. (end of definition).

     Even though just this description sounds horrendous enough, allow me to put into detail exactly what I go through, and have gone through, for nearly all of my life. (There is a reason for me explaining this in full, so please bear with me).

     I have personally, on a regular basis, experienced the shock seizures, the emotionally charged seizures, change of weather/temperature seizures, the ‘drop’ attacks seizures combined with ‘rag doll’ syndrome. These alone are frightening enough, but my form of Cataplexy also includes Day and Night time paralysis (sometimes partial, sometimes full), hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations occurring usually when either drifting off to sleep or waking up (although I have had them even in waking hours, ever since I was nine years old. A very frightening experience for a nine year old, and I still find it just as frightening and disturbing to my quality of life, today, at 28 years old).

     When I have a seizure, it starts with numbing, tingling and coldness, that moves through my body, slowly numbing and weakening my entire body, while I smell and taste what can only be defined as ‘cold, chlorinated pool water’. My lips, tongue, neck and jaw go numb and I start slurring my speech. The numbing then goes around the back of the ears, up the back of my head and works its way to the front. At this point I am either collapsed on the floor, paralysed, or slumped against a wall trying to hold my body up. Through this understanding, I have learned the art of body collapse, and I can usually make it to the ground before I fall and hit my head or do myself some other injury, although with shock seizures this is not the case as my head spins, my body goes ice cold, the blood drains from my face and I drop like a bag of potatoes.

     While I am in the seizure, I can hear everything around me and I can still feel, but I cannot react. I have trouble opening my eyes, I see red, I have trouble breathing and when I finally come out of the seizure I am covered in sweat, my arms and face have drool on them, I occasionally lose bladder and bowel control (mostly bladder) and I shake and shiver with ice cold sweat that feels like icicles on my skin. Welcome to my private horror. A horror that 2,000 Australians are diagnosed with each year - hence it being an ‘orphan’ disease and one that gets misdiagnosed on a regular basis, and its awareness dismissed and discarded in favour of the more prevalent disorders and diseases.

     Regarding the sleep paralysis & night terrors - drifting off to sleep I usually experience either a floating or sinking feeling combined with bed spins. When I get to sleep, I go straight into REM sleep and I experience sometimes up to 8 hours+ of night terrors which wake me up through the night, then I go back to sleep and straight back into the terror. When I wake up from these terrors, I am completely burned out and exhausted as if I’ve been running a marathon for the entire night. On many an occasion I have bounced out of my sleep, been completely wide awake, and been able to see that same terror with (to coin ‘Froddo’ from ‘Lord of the Rings’) ‘my waking eyes’. This can take up to an hour to wear off. On many an occasion, I have woken up and been either completely or partially paralysed, and in the partial sense I have had to drag myself, literally, out of my bed, pull myself along the floor and up onto my lounge chair.

     When it comes to complete paralysis, I have to wait for it to wear off (anywhere between five minutes and an hour). This includes waking up on the floor after I have been thrown out of bed after a particularly violent night terror. The word ‘terror’ and ‘terrorism’ are defined as ‘putting people in perpetual fear and dread for their life and/or quality of it’. Cataplexy is my personal terrorist, but it is not the only one.

     Over the years I have had seizures in the bath, the shower, on the toilet, in the swimming pool/local swimming hole/sea; while riding a push-bike, while working, while at play (ie kicking a ball around with my friends and lightly banging my toe, then going straight into a shock wave seizure for about 10 minutes - in which I did lose bladder control, which my friends found highly amusing, but I did not and neither did my mother); while waiting in line at Centrelink (I am on a Disability pension) and other public places.

     Altogether, Cataplexy -as well as my arthritic disorder and my food and chemical allergies/ sensitivities - have been highly detrimental to my quality of life. I cannot get a licence, a job, I cannot ride a pushbike, I have been made a recluse in my own home, I can’t travel, etc. This disorder has taken me prisoner. But, it is not only the disorders that have taken me prisoner, the Policies to do with choice of medicine that benefits me, the individual sufferer, have also taken me as a hostage and prisoner.

     At the age of twelve, the doctor who I was under at the time, suggested I be put on a prescription medication to ‘help’ me. It did not help me, in fact it hindered me and caused more detriment to my quality of life and to my mother. Let me explain, the particular medication I was on caused me to be depressed, morose, basically a zombie and I considered (even at this early age) committing suicide…but, as we all know, suicide is not the answer. Thankfully, I had a mother (my carer) who saw what was happening to me and took me off the medication, (plus I changed my diet which helped in the respect of certain foods being a catalyst in setting off certain seizures), but the main thing was that the depression and zombie syndrome were no longer a factor, although cataplexy still occasionally sends me into bouts of depression. I’d say that anybody would be depressed after going through this much, for want of a better term, ‘hell on earth’.

     Due to ‘being different’ I suffered horrendous bullying at school, which led me to leave school at 14. From there, I went and did a bricklaying course but didn’t finish it due to my disorder. I also did ‘Work for the Dole’ and some Land Conservation and Restoration courses, also which were greatly hindered by my seizure disorder, which ended up getting so bad that after a particular nasty seizure, in which I came close to cracking my head open, the boss helped me into the car and dropped me off at home and suggested I didn’t go back.

     At this time I started consuming the drug ethanol (which no-one told me could set off seizures, I found out the hard way) to try and cope with the cards I had been dealt. After giving up the drug ethanol, some of my friends offered me some recreational Cannabis, which helped me cope with the chaos that my life was in at that time. However, I started to notice that when I consumed particular strains of Cannabis (in particular Indica/Kush strains that contain CBD as well as THC) I did not have nearly as many seizures. My night terrors were pretty much non-existent as I would go to sleep and wake up without having dreamed. I also noticed that I either did not wake up paralysed, or if I did, it wore off pretty much straight away and I would get out of bed without feeling exhausted and burned out.

     I tried telling this to my mother, who didn’t believe me and accused me of using it as an excuse. We had many an argument. (This same argument is wielded constantly by the pro-legal anti-illicit collective against sufferers who benefit from natural, non-chemicalize, non-extracted cannabis as medicine).

     The way I proved it to her and to myself was by giving up Cannabis for months at a time on a few occasions through the years, and ALWAYS my seizures, my night terrors and my paralysis etc. came back with a vengeance. After the last ‘test’ my mother and I decided to do some serious study and correlated study and research on Cannabis as a medicine, to do with seizure disorders. Here is a brief summary of what we found. (We have been doing this vital study for 5 years now).

     Dr. William B. O’Shaugnessy, 1839, “In Cannabis (Indica), the medical profession has gained an anti-convulsive remedy of the greatest value”.   

     Dr. J. Russell Reynolds, March 22^nd 1890, The Lancet), “There are many cases of so-called epilepsy in adults, but which in my opinion, are the result of organic disease of a gross character in the nervous centres, in which India hemp (Indica/Kush) is the most useful agent with which I am acquainted”.

     He also stated, “When pure and administered carefully (not corrupted, not contaminated, not manipulated and not made toxic through added poisons) Cannabis is one of the most valuable medicines we possess”. (Remembering, of course, that the value to the sufferer has nothing to do with the value of a drug cartel’s wallet, or the wallets of those involved).

     World News Report, 1971, - Dr. Todd Mikurya, “Cannabis is probably the most potent anti-epileptic known to medicine, today”.     

     Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Harvard Medical School, “Epilepsy is a disorder which has been treated by Cannabis for centuries“.(If not Millenia) “About 25% of people in the U.S. who have various forms of epilepsy (seizure disorders), don’t get good relief from conventional medicines. Many of them do get relief from one of the oldest anti-epileptic medicines, Cannabis”.

     Science Service, 1999, “Clinical and anecdotal evidence also points to the effectiveness of Cannabis as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of a variety of spastic conditions, such as Multiple Sclerosis, Paraplegia, Epilepsy and Quadraplegia. Animal studies and carefully controlled human studies support cannabis’ ability to suppress convulsions”.

     Dr. Lorna Cartwright, Pharmacology Lecturer, Sydney University, “I think Cannabis should be allowed to be used for conditions in which it has been shown to have effect, such as for Glaucoma, for children having chemotherapy, and for epilepsy. I always feel that if something is good, even for a small percentage of patients, it should be allowed to be used”.

     In the U.S. Dispensary List of Medicine from 1852 onwards, (before it was banned for purely Political and monetary reasons…what else could it be?), Cannabis was listed as being, “Beneficial in the treatment of neuralgia, gout, tetanus, hydrophobia (rabies), cholera, CONVULSIONS, chorea, depression and insanity”.

     Note: Although excessive THC bombardment has been proven to set off, or exacerbate, psychological disorders, CBD mixed with THC and the other 58 main cannabinoids has been beneficially applied to help fix these disorders and to stop them from being set off.

     To help prove this, on Dec. 1^st 2005 The Australian newspaper stated, “Australian researchers believe Cannabis, a drug believed to increase the risk of psychosis (through excessive THC bombardment, without the CBD to balance it) may also be able to revers psychotic behaviour.

     Scientists at Monash University in Melbourne say they have ‘found’ (Note: It wasn’t lost to begin with, it was just dismissed) a chemical compound in Cannabis, Cannabidiol (the same one they are now stating can help Alzheimers sufferers….we knew both these things years before they decided to tell anyone, and we wrote to various people about it e.g. Politicians, Doctors, Researchers, Professors and Drug Bodies) that reverses drug induced behavioural disturbances in mice.    

      Lenora Long, researcher from Monash, stated, “The interesting thing is that you have these two compounds in the Cannabis plant that produces opposing effects. One is liable to produce psychotic symptoms (rarely), while the other may be protective against psychosis”.(…..This news would not be good for the campaigners who are addicted to Cannabis persecution and creating Cannabis clinics. We wouldn’t need Cannabis clinics if those ‘in the know’ would actually tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, about Cannabis).

      Lenora Long continued, “Cannabidiol may also help alleviate the symptoms of epilepsy and also pain associated with inflammatory disorders such as multiple sclerosis”.

     Note: For well over a century Cannabis Indica, which contains a balance of CBD and THC, has been known as a neuro-protective, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, analgesis, anodyne, anti-convulsant, anti-spasmodic and anti-epileptic etc. CBD and THC have been known about for decades now when it comes to one balancing out the other, but the truth has been suppressed.

     There are many more statements and quotes from those in the know about how Cannabis can work for seizure disorders, for arthritic disorders, for allergy disorders, etc. but that would take a book. So, here are the statements from those that you would either know or have heard of, in this Great Southland of ours.

     Dr. McDonald Christie, Head of Pharmacology, Univ. of Sydney, “Several overseas studies have shown that Cannabis can alleviate nausea and stimulate appetite”. (Note: Two side effects of Cataplexy are nausea and hunger suppression. I can go for days without feeling hungry and I have to force myself to eat, otherwise mum has to constantly nag me to eat). “This yields enormous quality of life benefits for some individuals (…..and it’s the individual sufferer that matters…..) who suffer from diseases or disease treatments that produce impaired appetite or nausea”.

     Dr. David Hadorn M.D, NZ, “A society that can handle codeine over the counter can learn to live with cannabis”.

     “Medical Cannabis is something practical we can do to reduce the sum of misery in the world. As legislators, we should be able to rise to this challenge. The complexity of an issue does not provide a license to walk away while ordinary people suffer and acquire criminal records simply for treating their illness and relieving their suffering in the only way that works for them. With a sensible mixture of compassion and common sense, we can make a medical cannabis regime work in this State, as it works in other jurisdictions around the world”.

     Talking about compassion, Prime Minister, Mr. Kevin Rudd, once stated, “Compassion is not a dirty word….it’s time we rehabilitated compassion into the national political vocabulary of this great Nation of ours”.

     Compassion may not be a dirty word, but combine the most politically hated name Cannabis with the word compassion and it becomes classed as the most filthy, disgusting and phobic word in Australia, but Cannabis compassion is of great benefit to sufferers who gain compassionate benefit from medicinal cannabis application in its NATURAL form, untampered with.

     (NOTE: Most sufferers who benefit from medical cannabis do not want tablets, tinctures, suppositories, or injections of something that was originally -and naturally still is - safe and non-toxic with a 40,000:1 LD50 for the natural plant and   10,000+-1 for THC alone).

     Sarah Price - The Sun Herald (19^th Dec. 2004)

     “After suffering from bone cancer for 5 years, and having two bone marrow stem cell transplants, Edward, 55, decided to try Cannabis after hearing how it could ease pain. Edward, who lives in regional NSW, and asked for his surname not to be revealed, said, “I got a much better sleep and felt better in my stomach”. Since then, he uses it at night to help him bear the disease for which he has refused the latest round of chemotherapy because he says his body “just would not take any more”. - “I was hesitant to do it, but when you’re sick in the belly from the morphine, there’s nothing else”, he said.

     Mr (John) Della Bosca said, ‘The Government has a responsibility to look to other solutions (like medical cannabis) to help patients suffering from those conditions, as soon as possible’.”

     Please understand the word responsibility in this statement, Ms Roxon. Please understand that this neglect of care when it comes to health is a violation of sufferers’ rights. If Panadol (a drug known to kill) can be pushed on the public with the words, “Panadol, it’s MY choice”, then why are sufferers denied their choice of medicine that benefits them and not just the cartel or body that wants to deal it? At the moment, sufferers are forced to live in fear and are forced to go out and mix with the criminal element (created by Prohibition) just so they can acquire their vital medicine of choice.

      During our Medical Cannabis Awareness Camapign, a lot of sufferers were coming up to us and asking if we knew where they could either acquire medical cannabis or the seeds to grow the natural race that provides their medicine, that at the moment has a genocide policy against it. (Note: Genocide means ‘to murder a genus’ and Cannabis is a living, breathing, fornicating and procreating genus, before it is food, medicine, recreational or spiritual agent).

     The ages of the people that were coming up to us, were from 18 to 80+. A lot of them had stories/testimonies about how prescriptions had failed them miserably and how medical cannabis had benefited more than the quantity of different medications that they used to consume before they switched to medical cannabis. One man (50’s) stated that he used to take 84 tablets a week, then he changed to Cannabis and needed none of those to control his different disorders, and he has improved his quality of life greatly.

     A challenge was issued years ago (1999) by Dr. Kerryn Phelps, former AMA President, who stated, “Cannabis was sometimes the only thing that helped people deal with the pain…..”, (a nasty side of cataplexy is muscle cramping and severe aching, something that Cannabis helps brilliantly with, as well as for the pain and inflammation of arthritis)…….

     “…and intractable nausea of diseases such as leukaemia, lymphoma and certain AIDS related conditions and their treatment. Yet such people faced arrest and prosecution for using an ‘illegal’ drug……..(Note: The words ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ are not reasons, they are prejudices. They do not take into account the individual, they only target the collective. This is a crime in itself. These words also have nothing to do with the Criterias of Harm, Efficacy, Potency and Reliability)……

     Kerryn Phelps continued, “The bottom line is we are talking about people who, on COMPASSIONATE grounds need a medical treatment…..I would challenge any Politician to look any person in the eye who has intolerable symptoms….. (defined in my story…my eyes are still open and waiting for someone to look me in the eye - when my eyes aren‘t weighed shut from a cataplectic attack, that is)…..and say -  

   -  WE KNOW THERE IS SOMETHING THAT MIGHT WORK FOR YOU, BUT WE ARE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT LEGAL”.

     I, David Nentwig, on behalf of myself and the other sufferers in this country (and many of them are just as badly off, if not worse, than myself) put this challenge to the Health Dept, Politicians, the Prime Minister, Legislators, and anyone else who stands in the way of a vital medication and a person’s individual choice. I (we) ask, will you take up this challenge? Will you show us the compassion that P.M. Rudd was talking about? Will you show us the respect that we deserve?

     Ms Roxon, when talking about fairness, justice, equality etc. to do with the Howard Government, here is your personal statement. “The Howard Government has a growing tendency to down-grade the rights and needs of individuals. Although they are still, in name, the Liberal party, Mr. Howard has abandoned the liberal party’s traditional attachment to the rights of individuals…….(Is the Labour.Rudd Government going to be any different when it comes to the rights and needs of individuals?)……When human rights is just a catch-all phrase to cover the basic chance all Australians should have to a fair go, equal treatment and full opportunity in life. There is no doubt about it - the Howard Government has little respect for human rights and no regard for the desire of all Australians - of whatever background, religion or ethnicity - to want to participate fully in our community. This is not an abstract issue, it has a very real impact and it is dividing our country”.

     Note: This division of human rights, freedoms, choices, culture etc. can easily be defined as “a policy of social segregation upon individual and collective coverings, defined by differential and/or preferential treatment”, better known as apartheid discrimination. The word ‘discriminate’ comes from an Aryan word meaning ‘to divide and separate’. This is what the Un-civil war on use and choice has done to this country. They call it a War on Drugs, but in reality it’s a War waged by people on drugs (albeit buzzword legal) against other people on drugs, including those who gain true benefit from their drug/herb/medication of choice.

     You continued, Ms Roxon, to state, “The last nine years has shown us what it is like, we have experienced first hand what it is like to have a Government that is openly hostile to human rights. In the past, Australians have felt (…..not all Australians…..) with some good reason that fundamental rights were so embedded in the Australian way of life, that they did not need specific protection - our Politicians could be trusted not to go too far. The Howard Government has tried, but not yet succeeded, to extinguish the traditions of human rights in Australia”. (…note: The right of individual choice of medicine affects all humans equally, making it a human right, and Cannabis traditions, culture and the race itself have been violated and forcefully almost extinguished by all parties of Government……)

     You continued, “Australia’s proud history of protecting rights and freedoms has not been extinguished - but it must be tendered to survive”.

      We know….Cannabis culture has been persecuted on par with religious culture, sexuality culture, ethnic culture, music culture, being a single mother, and many other persecuted forms of culture, belief, freedoms and lifestyle. The word ‘freedom’ means, ‘to have free dominion over things that are individual to oneself‘, and to deny though force this free dominion has a very simple definition in all culture and dictionary/encyclopaedic definitions. It’s called ‘slavery’.

     “We have always had a vibrant democracy and have stood behind the development of International rights, conventions and institutions”. (…except when it comes to Cannabis culture, then those words get changed - democracy becomes dictatorship, International rights becomes International slavery and conventions and institutions become prisons and forced rehabilitation centres).

     “But more fundamentally, if there is one defining Australian value, it is the belief in a ’FAIR GO’. And what is a fair go other than a down to earth description of a bunch of ideas we call justice and human rights”.

     Note: A Fair Go can be easily defined as a ’just, equal, balanced journey through life for every individual’….and didn’t Prime Minister Rudd state, “We are not going to throw the Fair Go out the back window”. Did he not state about free dominion, “Australians should not be kow-towing to anybody when it comes to freedom in this country”. And didn’t he recently state, “We are there to extend a helping hand to those in need”.

     I challenge him to live up to these statements. The fair go, when it comes to Cannabis, has been thrown out the back window, after they tried to flush it down the toilet and it wouldn’t go. The right of free dominion has been forced to kow-tow to Drug Lords, Politicians, and other vested interests, while sufferers are left begging for their rights. It’s not, “Please sir, can we have some more” (‘Oliver’), it’s, “Please sir, can we have some?” Can we please be included and not persecuted for our choice?

     Premier Morris Iemma personally stated, (Christmas Message statement, Australia 2007)

     “Christmas challenges each of us to think of others…it’s about being grateful for the good things of life….Christmas is a season for the renewal of hope. We all want, and deserve, a place around the ‘Christmas table’ where each of us are loved, valued and included. Unfortunately, that is not the Christmas many enjoy….in 2008 let’s work hard to make it even better”.

…..Meanwhile medical cannabis, recreational cannabis and cannabis culture in general has been denied a place around the table, they have been left out in the cold, they are not loved, valued and included, and we challenge everyone to think of others equally, all year long and not just at Christmas. We all deserve a ‘fair go‘, we all deserve a ‘fair chance in life’ and every individual deserves the right of ‘justice for all’.

     Prime Minister Gordon Brown, UK, stated, “I believe that everyone deserves a fair chance in life”. (Their definition of the Fair Go).

     President George W. Bush personally stated, “(State of Union Speech Jan. 23rd 2007) - “In all we do, we must remember that the best health care decisions are not made by government and insurance companies, But by patients and their doctors".
 

    Amnesty International - “The USA (and Australia, UK, NZ etc) was founded in the name of democracy, equality and individual freedom, but is failing to deliver the fundamental promise of protecting rights for ALL.

     You continued….. “We are seeing the Howard Government’s true colours - extreme and divisive”. (….Do you mean things like Zero Tolerance, Apartheid discrimination, bias, slander ie the Dickhead and Loser Campaign, and the unemployed, useless scum statement wielded against all cannabists whether they choose to respectfully use or disrespectfully abuse?)….. “Again, many of you have seen where the use of the criminal law against Unionists can lead us”.

We have also seen where the wielding of the Criminal Law against Cannabists have led us. You (and others) believe in the Union, the Unionist culture, beliefs, traditions etc, in the exact same way that we believe in Cannabis, the Cannabis culture, beliefs, traditions etc. You understand exactly how people feel when they are persecuted, maligned, maliciously abused, slandered against, discriminated against and lied about, and had misinformation spread about your choice of culture and belief. You (and others) know exactly what we go through on a regular basis.

     The story of Prohibition can easily be defined as, “How a minority, by reaching majority, and seizing authority, hates and persecutes other minorities”. We are all children of Australia, we are all born under the Southern Cross, we all have equal rights even though those rights are denied by those who seek to establish their ‘reich’/kingdom over others.     

     Albert Einstein once stated in 1921, “The prestige of Government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition Law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the Government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country, is closely connected with this”.

     Seeing as how Australia’s motto is, “A Fair Go for all”, isn’t it time that all Australians, all stood up for equal rights and freedoms, and stood up against apartheid discrimination policies in this country and worldwide, so we can not only state, ‘We’ve done us proud”, but we can truly be proud of singing this statement, “Australians ALL let us rejoice, for we are young and free”. And so that we can truly “Advance Australia Fair”, instead of ’Advance Australia Fair for some, while advancing Australian despair for others’.

     My personal statement has always been, “I am not a criminal, I am not invisible, I am but a patriot of this Great South Land”. A patriot stands up for what their country (and the people in it) believe in, and this Southern Son has always stood up for the patriotic right of a Fair Go For ALL. Not some, not a few, not most, not many, but all equally.

     When we contacted our local M.P.’s on this matter we were ignored and dismissed, while they pushed their own drug taking agenda, and even put out (alongside with the Police) safe ethanol recreational party drug party packs. When we contacted our local Disability advocate, he was happy to listen to me when it came to my condition, but treated me with disdain and like a leper when he discovered I wanted to talk about Medical Cannabis and how it benefits my condition and many others.

     Cannabis does not deserve to be genocided just because some make the individual choice to abuse it. People who benefit from cannabis do not deserve to be persecuted, discriminated against and violated just because of their choice of medicine, culture and respect of one of the most beneficial herbal races on the Planet. All people hear about are the ‘crash’ cases, and we KNOW that this is done on purpose. There is no sensationalism. No ratings raising news in people who respect Cannabis. This majority gets dismissed in favour of touting the abusers, and they get called ‘users’, which is an INSULT to people who beneficially apply Cannabis for medicine, recreation, spiritual application etc.

     As the statement wielded by Anthony Hopkins in “Amistad” states, “They know what we are, but not who we are”. They know we are Cannabis consumers, they know that we stand for Cannabis Culture, they do not know the individual, they do not make a difference between respectful use and disrespectful abuse. Meanwhile, ’they’ call ’their’ drug a ’drink’! And finally, after many years of writing about this drug (ethanol) to various Politicians, Bodies, Media etc. we are now told that Drug Action Week has a focus called, “Alcohol is a Drug….TOO!” Goodness, has it taken people this long to find out? Or have they just dismissed it in favour of revenue and scapegoating?

     ALL drugs, whether buzzword ’legal’/’licit’ or ’illegal’/’illicit’ can be beneficially and respectfully used, or disrespectfully abused. It is the individual’s CHOICE what they choose to do with it. Abuse is the problem, not use. Abuse is the perversion of the course of beneficial action and application. The word ’use’ means ’benefit’.

     ABUSE (of all subject matter) should be targeted in this country, but as long as we do not have a clear definition between use and abuse, and only work on the ‘Our drugs all good, your drugs all bad”/ “Our drugs essential for human survival, while your drugs are medicus cannabis nullius - no medical benefit whatsoever”, then this country will continue to destroy itself through abuse, causing multi-billions of dollars worth of death, damage, destruction and side effects, all preventable when the criteria of respect is applied. The principle of respectful use is simple…..’Look again at your actions to make doubly sure that what you are truly acting on/applying is as beneficial to you and those around you, as humanly possible”.

     One of my favourite statements and one that I quoted in court (when I had to appear due to having 2 members of the cannabis race living under my roof, that I was beneficially applying to help control the vicious disorder that you read about in the first part of this letter), is “To alleviate suffering for either those who suffer all their lives, or suffer acutely, is justice. Medical cannabis is about medical necessity, not recreational frivolity. Please don’t confuse the two”.

     Everyone has a recreational drug of choice (all buzzwords aside), and this is partially why the war between legal and illegal cartels has been going on for so long. But, as the old saying goes, “If a war must be waged, one must make sure to remove the innocent, the sick and the injured from the battlefield first”.

     Ever since I discovered how beneficial Cannabis can be medicinally, I and my mother have been campaigning to raise awareness, not just about the benefits but the awareness of what can happen when the cannabis race and the fruit thereof is abused, and how to counteract that abuse…something that our Government, in its No Tolerance Crusade, have been severely lacking in. No Tolerance means no acceptance, and no acceptance of someone’s choices, human rights, freedoms, beliefs, culture etc. is a form of abuse in itself.

     Thomas Sowell stated, ‘The difference between a policy and a crusade is that a policy is judged by its results, while a crusade is judged by how good it makes its crusaders feel”.      John Owen Jones M.P. (UK) - “We have tried the Prohibition route for 30 years and it obviously, patently isn’t working”.

     Paul Flynn, M.P. (UK) - "People around the world have testified in their thousands about the benefits of taking cannabis to relieve chronic pain," he said. "But because of our hang-up in this country with recreational use of the drug, we've condemned otherwise law-abiding citizens to risk jail."     

     Paul Flynn, M.P. (UK) - “The recent case of an ex-police woman forced to buy her medicinal cannabis on the streets from the dealers she once arrested illustrates the absurdity of the current laws”.

     Dr. Russell Skiba, USA, stated, “Zero Tolerance is a political response, not an educationally sound solution”.

     Report of the British Police Foundation, March 2000, “By any of the major Criteria of Harm, mortality, morbidity, toxicity, addictiveness and realtionship with crime - Cannabis is less harmful than any of the other major illicit drugs, or than alcohol and tobacco”.

     Health Dept. of Australia - “Alcohol is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug in Australia”…..yet it has taken the Government MANY years to finally admit that their favourite ‘drink’ actually is a drug, and a psychoactive one at that.

     In regards to Australia’s ‘all good’ vs ‘all bad’ drug policy to do with medicine, the Therapeutic Goods Assoc. state, “It is impossible for any medical intervention to be entirely risk free. Therefore, the benefit and the risk must be evaluated….No medicine can be made completely safe”.

     Note: But under any Criteria, Cannabis is still statistically safer than any medication dealt in a Pharmacy today. Proven beyond any shadow of doubt.

     Talking about medication, the drugs recommended for Cataplexy include Imipramine, Clomipramine, or Protriptyline, Effexor and Xyrem (a form of GHB known as sodium oxybate). All these drugs are proven killers and dangerous side effect causers, all these drugs are toxic. Yet, I am still denied (along with hundreds of thousands of Australians and millions around the world) my proven, safer than all the above medications, medicine of choice. Where is the justice in this? Where is the Fair Go in this? Where is the individual being put first in this? Where is the compassion in this? Where is my “Your Choice” programme/policy?

     I ask you Ms Roxon, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and others, to please do the same thing to this social segregation policy against me and my choice (and on behalf of ALL Cannabists) that your Government did to John Howard’s Work Choice Policy Collective…throw it in the bin where it belongs or shred it, or incinerate it. It has no place in the Australian Fair Go. We do not deserve to be treated like heretics, criminals and ’lesser citizens’ in our own country in the same respect that the Nazis did to the Jews, the Gypsies and yes, the disabled. They not only genocided certain collectives of the human race, but they genocided their culture and their beliefs as well.

     I ask that you not throw this issue into the ‘too hard basket’, ‘the not politically or monetarily viable basket’, or the ‘phobia’basket. I only ask that you take the same consideration for our issue as you do for the issues you stand for, nothing more, nothing less.

     We have much more information on this subject and we would be pleased to discuss it with you, as at the moment, the only discussion when it comes to Cannabis is to do with either anti-cannabists or ones who want to manipulate, abuse and control this very beneficial race.

     In regards to delivery systems, Governments and other anti-Cannabis bodies always like to mention about smoking and how medicine can’t be smoked. Yet, they throw out the window, along with the fair go, the simple fact that Cannabis can be vapourised (no smoke involved, only vapour), eaten, drunk as tea, or made into butter and spread on toast, mixed into drinks and like any dried culinary herb/pot-herb, it can be crumbled over food. Yes, it can be smoked, but that’s a personal choice, just like cigarettes are.

     They also wield the words ‘pot smoker’ and ‘marihuana’ as the KKK used to wield the word ‘nigger’ when describing members of the human race of African Decent. The words ‘bulldozer’ and ‘bulldoze’ come from the vicious application of a whip wielded by the KKK against Africans, who they liked to give a ‘bulls dose’ of whipping to. In this same fashion, Governments and other vested interests are still wielding this ‘bulls dose’, as they bulldoze and eradicate the rights of true Cannabists (not abusers who don‘t care what drug they abuse), their culture and the phyto-race they have chosen to respect. Africans didn’t deserve it then, we don’t deserve it now.

     No-one deserves to be punished because someone else chose to abuse. David Koch (of ‘Sunrise’) asked the question, “Why should I pay more tax because someone else abused?” We ask the same question, ‘Why should we pay (through violation, harrassment, persecution, discrimination, social segregation and hatred) through the nose ‘because someone else abused‘?

     Those who choose to blame the subject matter of choice for the problems they received from their abuse should understand this parody of the Austrian/Sound of Music anthem ‘Edelweiss’…..written about people who abuse food and then blame their obesity, their diabetes and their other poor health problems on the choice and not that they chose to abuse it.

Evil slice, evil slice

Back to the gym you send me.

With extra cheese and toppings please,

Soon I might have diabetes.

Mountains of chips help my stomach to grow,

Washed down with coke or whatever.

Evil slice, evil slice,

‘Til I’m dead, I’ll blame you forever.

     It’s time we stop blaming the subject matter for the individual choice to ABUSE that subject matter of individual choice. The subject matter is not the problem, abuse is. Abuse has a simple mandate - it can, so it does.

     The only way that scientists get a negative reaction from a study on Cannabis is to overload the ‘victim’ (mouse, rat, dog or human) UNTIL a negative manifestation occurs. Kind of like the ethanol drug dealing and consumption establishment ‘workers’ overloading the ‘patrons’/ethanol drug consumers, and then throwing them out on the street for the Police, the average citizens and their families to suffer the negative consequences of the abuse of the drug ethanol….which the ’workers’ helped establish.

     Thankyou for taking the time to understand this important and vital issue, that affects a large percentage of Australians (and others world wide). We appreciate your time.

     Yours with respect,

     David Nentwig 

     It’s about time that Disabled people were recognised for who they are and not just for ‘what they are’. However, all the above have ‘dissed’ medical sufferers when it comes to a vital medication.

     1) They’ve DIS-MISSED medical cannabis and its beneficiaries.

     2) They’ve DIS-ALLOWED individuals to choose vital medication that truly benefits them.

     3) They’ve DIS-CRIMINATED against disabled people for their choice.

     4) They’ve DIS-APPROVED of medical cannabis no matter the proven benefits or improvement of quality of life for its beneficiaries.

     5) They’ve DIS-COURAGED any positive research and application in favour of the ‘take our drugs only’ policy.

     "When wealth replaces health, there’s a problem. When greed takes the place of need, there’s a problem. When people have to suffer because of unjust policies, there’s a problem. All the above is not the ‘FAIR GO. ‘Fair’ = ‘just’, ‘balanced’. ‘equal’". -

     Up until about 60 years ago, Cannabis was available and approved of as a medicine, then was promptly pulled off the shelves and dismissed as 'unecessary'. Instead, began a tremendous push for Pharmaceutical drug extracts and synthetic drugs. It was then taken further, by announcing that ALL cannabis use was illegal regardless of whether it was for recreation, medicinal or spiritual application, which made the people who utilised it for their specific needs into criminals.
This was a criminal act in itself.

     Instead, people are 'encouraged' (forced) to take the available legal drugs for both recreation and medicine, regardless of their toxicity, addictive properties and side effects by making their choice illegal.

     Quote from Paul Connett, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry St. Lawrence University, New York

     "By enforcing the public to consume (a particular medication), NSW Health is doing what no Doctor is allowed to do - enforce medication. This is an unethical violation of a central tenet of medical practice and a breach of some basic human rights”.

 REPORTER: http://www.pressemeldinger.no/read.asp?recno=55507

LONDON, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Cannabis-derived medicines may one day be used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease which affects 417,000 people in the UK.

Professor Raphael Mechoulam of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, will present new findings to a group of international experts at a Cannabinoids Medicines Symposium to be held at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) in London on Monday, 10 March.

The research, still at an early stage, indicates that memory loss, the main symptom of Alzheimer's, can be slowed down significantly in mice by some of the chemicals present in cannabis. The next step will be to initiate human trials to see if the same effect can be achieved on the human brain.

MCA REPLY: Meanwhile, people (of all ages) have been taking the initiative to do their own, individual human trials (albeit ‘illegally’), for many decades now, and the statements coming back from sufferers and carers are nothing short of miraculous. However, the natural herb they benefit from is of no interest to active ingredient, chemically oriented, drug pushers, drug lords and cartels, who really want a patent to make billions of dollars for something that grows for free and can be provided for free to the sufferer.

This makes no sense to drug cartels or the Politicians sponsored by them They believe that if you want to take something that benefits you, then they must be the ones that sell it to you after they have manipulated and changed it - or, if not changed, is pure active ingredient extraction which is not needed by anyone except a money grabbing drug cartel and their servants the money grabbing Politicians and the money grabbing Police, who are paid to eradicate this vital herbal medicine in favour of drugs and drug cartels that pay their salary. Meanwhile, people are forced to suffer with the disease and the prohibition of their choice of disease control/cure.

REPORTER: The research is promising for the millions of suffers of the disease and their carers.

MCA REPLY: It would be promising if they were actually allowed it, naturally, instead of waiting for a drug lord to have supremacy over it and then deal it to them for a price, way higher than the herbal medicine would cost to start with. It is a huge multi-trillion dollar industry that rides on the backs of suffering and sufferers.

REPORTER: Alzheimer's disease is the commonest form of dementia, which affects an estimated 24.3 million people worldwide.

MCA REPLY: Ethanol drug induced dementia and pre-dementia is now fully on the rise, and CBD has been proven to protect against the neuro-toxic bombardment damage to the brain caused by the abuse of the drug ethanol and its conversion in the body to acetaldehyde.

REPORTER: It is ten years since the RPSGB launched its protocols to demonstrate the therapeutic effectiveness of cannabis.

MCA REPLY: That means that sufferers have been waiting for 10 years for something that could grow in their garden as a vegetable and medicinal herb, one they can eat, vapourise or make into a tea. It does not have to be smoked or put into an ethanol drug-based tincture. Some medical cannabis sufferers even dry it and then sprinkle it over their food as they would any other culinary herb. This would be ideal for older people, but sufferers are denied by drug cartel and Government policy that states, “Only I DEAL”.

Cannabidiol and Delta 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol are Neuro protective antioxidants.

Abstract - The neuroprotective actions of cannabidiol and other cannabinoids were examined in rat cortical neuron cultures exposed to toxic levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate toxicity was reduced by both cannabidiol, a nonpsychoactive constituent of marijuana, and the psychotropic cannabinoid (Delta⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Cannabinoids protected equally well against neurotoxicity mediated by N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, 2-amino-3-(4-butyl-3-hydroxyisoxazol-5-yl)propionic acid receptors, or kainate receptors. N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor-induced toxicity has been shown to be calcium dependent; this study demonstrates that 2-amino-3-(4-butyl-3-hydroxyisoxazol-5-yl)propionic acid/kainate receptor-type neurotoxicity is also calcium-dependent, partly mediated by voltage sensitive calcium channels. The neuroprotection observed with cannabidiol and THC was unaffected by cannabinoid receptor antagonist, indicating it to be cannabinoid receptor independent. Previous studies have shown that glutamate toxicity may be prevented by antioxidants. Cannabidiol, THC and several synthetic cannabinoids all were demonstrated to be antioxidants by cyclic voltametry. Cannabidiol and THC also were shown to prevent hydroperoxide-induced oxidative damage as well as or better than other antioxidants in a chemical (Fenton reaction) system and neuronal cultures. Cannabidiol was more protective against glutamate neurotoxicity than either ascorbate (Vit. C) or -tocopherol (Vit. E), indicating it to be a potent antioxidant. These data also suggest that the naturally occurring, nonpsychotropic cannabinoid, cannabidiol, may be a potentially useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of oxidative neurological disorders such as cerebral ischemia.

Alzheimer's Disease occurs when a protein called amyloid accumulates in the brain. The brain cells (neurons) are damaged when this protein reacts with the metals copper and iron which are abundant in the brain. This chemical reaction is similar to rusting and the affected neurons no longer transmit information properly.

Alzheimer's Disease is not a natural part of ageing. It is a degenerative disorder of the brain that causes impaired mental functions affecting memory, personality and intellect.

Currently Alzheimer's Disease is the fourth largest cause of death in Australia and affects one in four people over 85 years of age.

http://www.mhri.edu.au/alzhiemers.htm

REPORTER: These protocols led to the Government funded UK trials that looked at the medicinal benefits of cannabis for patients with multiple sclerosis and in the treatment of severe pain. Cannabis-derived medicines have subsequently entered the market and are currently available to patients in Canada.

MCA REPLY: Why does cannabis (a minimal toxicity, nutritious herb) have to be turned into a cannabis-derived medicine. We can only see one excuse for this, and that’s the statement of it ‘entering the market’, in other words becoming a viable monetary product, instead of just a natural, beneficial herb like the Cannabis race always was and always will continue to be, no matter the genocide policy wielded against it.

When greed replaces need there’s a problem. When wealth replaces health there’s a problem. When the Dept. of Health and Aging becomes the Dept. of Wealth and Waging War, there’s a problem. When drug takers are teaching other drug takers that their drugs are all bad, while the drugs they take themselves are all good, there’s a problem.

Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, stated in his promo speech that, “We are not going to throw the Fair Go out the back window”. To this we reply, we would have to fish it out of the toilet first before throwing it out the back window. It seems that the Fair Go has become a slave that is chained to a wall of Policy, and occasionally taken out and walked around for all the public to see, before chaining it back up again.

REPORTER: Professor Tony Moffat, who is chairing the Symposium on Monday said: "We have come a long way in ten years and there is still a lot of research ground to cover.

MCA REPLY: 5,000 years of history (much of that documented), that Cannabis is a PROVEN medical marvel isn’t enough? The fact that it doesn’t kill (while every drug in the Pharmacy can kill) isn’t enough? The fact that it has a 40,000:1 LD50ratio isn’t enough? The fact that millions of people worldwide are already using it beneficially isn’t enough?

The reason there is still a lot of research ground to cover is that the War against the Cannabis Race declared No Tolerance on any positive studies. Anything released had to be negative, and any positive results were covered up.

REPORTER: There is currently considerable interest in the medical benefits of cannabis and related compounds for a range of conditions including arthritis, multiple sclerosis and neurological pain.

MCA REPLY: This would be a good thing if the interests of the people suffering from arthritis, M.S. seizure disorders and neurological pain etc. were actually put first, but the interest that Governments are interested in are the interests of the VESTED interests, who want to become the newest form of Cannabis active ingredient only, drug lords. Which is why people who are suffering from these ailments are still waiting for the drug lords to get their hands of their vital medication and allow them their human right of beneficial application of the Cannabis Race, and all parts of it, not just the extracted forms that the drug lords want to deal.

No two patients are the same, different strains for different pains, so to speak. A pure Sativa has little to no CBD, Indicas have a balance of both, and Ruderalis is very high in CBD and very low in THC. What they are messing around with, we already have and already respect. Drug Lords do not respect their drugs, and Therapeutic Greed Associations do not really care about how dangerous a drug can be, or about how many studies have been covered up. Medicine is now an Industry, which puts the patient last and the wallet first.

REPORTER: Although recent press coverage has focused on the abuses associated with the plant…….

MCA REPLY: Aside from the occasional blue moon statement about beneficial application of cannabis, (usually active ingredients dealt by a Pharmaceutical drug cartel, funnily enough), all press coverage looks at nothing but ‘crash cases’ and abusers. This is their mandate. There’s no news in respectful drug taking. They can’t wield their headlines and their abusive opinions if they write about people who respect their drug of choice. Proven. Politicians and drug bodies are exactly the same. They only talk to abusers. They do not even understand, or seek to understand (with some exceptions as there are some working in these fields who actually care about the sufferer instead of just the ratings, the political point scoring and the revenue raised), people who respect Cannabis as their medicine, recreation or spiritual sacrament.

REPORTER: ……cannabis-derived medications may offer novel opportunities in drug discovery."

MCA REPLY: Drug discovery when it comes to Scientists supposedly ‘discovering’ things that sufferers have known and have been stating for years, is like someone stating in 2008, “Guess what! I’ve just discovered the earth is round!”, to which we reply, ‘No shit, Sherlock. You would have discovered it decades ago if you had actually discussed it with people who are on the front line of the medical cannabis issue, and that is the sufferers themselves. They KNOW it works, which is why they state, (to paraphrase an acetaminophen drug cartel), “Cannabis - it’s MY Choice”. They are not saying, “Pure THC is my chice”, “Pure CBD is my Choice”, “Pure active ingredient anything is my choice”, they are stating, “Medical Cannabis it’s MY Choice“.

This choice seems to be left out of the Government and the Police etc’s statements and programmes of, “Your choice”, and “Remember the power of choice”. It most certainly was left out of this statement by our P.M. Mr. Kevin Rudd, “Australians should no be kow-towing to anybody (which includes drug cartels and the vested interests sponsored by them) when it comes to freedom in this country”. Freedom means Free Dominion, and to steal a sufferer’s inalienable human rights of free dominion when it comes to anything they choose that improves their quality of life, and benefits them the individual, is nothing but an act of enslavement and forced slavery.

One of Prime Minister Rudd’s other recent statements was, “We are there to extend a helping hand to those in need”. Well, Mr. Rudd, to coin one of Australia’s rock bands, Screaming Jets, “Won’t someone please understand. Won’t someone lend (us) a helping hand?” It is usually the ones who are persecuted, ridiculed and put down that are the ones who actually offer the helping hand to others. A good analogy of this is the story of The Good Samaritan.

A man was beaten and left bloodied and bruised on the road, and nobody stopped to help him - not the rich, not the clergy, not the know it alls, it was a Samaritan, who himself was looked down upon, reviled as ‘lesser,’ or if we want to wield the Government’s Cannabis culture bashing terms, “Dickheads, Losers and Unemployed, useless scum”. (Howard Government era statements…but all Governments bash Cannabis culture and protect and advocate their own drug culture and the cartels involved.

The difference between a drug cartel collective and Mother Nature, is that Mother Nature doesn’t want your money, just your respect. Something to think about.

Last, but not least, two statements:

1) “Compassion is not a dirty word….It’s time we rehabilitated compassion into the National Political vocabulary of this great nation of ours”. Prime Minister, Mr. Kevin Rudd.

2) “The last nine years have shown us what it is like, we have experienced first hand what it is like, to have a Government that is openly hostile to human rights. In the past, Australians have felt - with some good reason - that fundamental rights were so embedded in the Australian way of life, that they did not need specific protection. Our Politicians could be trusted not to go too far”. Nicola Roxon, M.P.

The question remains though……How can we trust any Government, including Nicola Roxon’s, that is openly hostile to human rights, choices, beliefs, freedoms and culture?

    To a sufferer, medical cannabis has no monetary value. They don’t want to sell their medication, (if they do then they’re an idiot if it improves their quality of life). Cash doesn’t stop seizures, or pain, or night terrors etc.

    The most dangerous thing that could ever have been applied to medicine, is to turn it into a Business. Now people care more for money , power and prestige than they do for the ones who actually suffer from the diseases that they could have cured or helped control YEARS ago if money had not been a factor. There is an old saying, that “evil succeeds when good men state ‘it’s just business’.”

    To a sufferer, even though medical cannabis has no monetary value, it has intrinsic value way higher than any monetary price placed on it. It is highly valued as a vital medicine, it is highly valued as a medicine that cannot kill the patient, it is highly valued as having very few side effects when respectfully applied, it is highly valued when it comes to the individual sufferer wanting to improve his/her quality of life.

    Considering that Cannabis can be grown and turned into tea, vapourised or turned into butter to be cooked with for very little cost, here is a question and factor that might not have been thought of……

    Question: Why are we (sufferers who benefit from medical cannabis) forced to pay ‘protection’ money to Drug cartels and other vested interests, when we can protect ourselves for a very small percentage of the cost that they want us to pay. This is nothing but a ‘shake-down’ of the sick, suffering and dying.

    This country, its drug cartels and its Governments force sufferers to either buy ’their’ drugs or be hunted, persecuted, fined, condemned, slandered, ostracised, and discriminated against under a social segregation, discrimination, ‘our drugs all good, your drugs all bad’ Policy.

    When criminals go into people’s businesses and threaten, shake down, harass and otherwise abuse others in the name of ‘turf war’, greed, monopoly, supremacy, domination etc. the Police, Politicians and Media go after them and help protect the victim/s from violation. However, when this crime is perpetrated by Governments, Police, Media and their chosen drug cartels (albeit ‘legal’), the victim/sufferer is branded the criminal and the ones committing the crime get praised for their efforts and get away Scot free. Why?

    Medicine used to be an individual’s choice. So why are criminals allowed to steal the human right of individual choice from the individual whose choice it is?

    When one individual/collective, forcefully makes choices/decisions for another then they are stating, unequivocally, that “I am your Master, and you are my slave, and as my slave you will do exactly as you are commanded, or you will be punished”.

    I expect that no-one has defined this before, but as the old saying goes, “If the shoe fits……”

    When it comes to medicine that benefits me, this statement sums it up. “Governments want control and revenue, Drug cartels want money and dominion, Police want to enforce and eradicate, I just want to improve my quality of life as I see fit, as is my human right”.

26^th April, 2008

Dear Ms Roxon,

Thankyou for the letter sent on 14^th April 2008, written by Virginia Hart on behalf of yourself. We do have a few things we would like to comment on. The words in italics are from her letter.

Firstly - the letter was concerning me, the individual, the particular illnesses/disorders that I suffer with and it also concerned how medicinal cannabis was the most beneficial medication for me under the Criterias of Harm, Safety, Efficacy, Potency and Reliability, things you and your Department have dismissed out of hand.

There was no discussion. I stated exactly what my condition is, how it negatively affects my life, and how medical cannabis benefits my quality of life greatly. As a HEALTH Department, I would have thought that you would be more interested in improving life for the sufferer by any means necessary, instead of just forcing us to suffer more by the policies and the drugs you personally push and advocate. Medical Cannabis users don’t get given discussion, they get given slander, bias, discrimination, vilification, and eradication…usually unleashed by the same people who state “It’s wrong to slander, be biased, discriminate, vilify and eradicate”. Medical Cannabis users do not appreciate this, which is why we have taken the time to explain the issue.

….and am sorry to hear of the health issues you have faced.

How can you and yours be sorry?. You are responsible for the Health issue I now face. You now put me through more health issues than I face normally just with my condition, because your Government forces me to either take your drugs only (Pharmaceuticals - which have a great track record when it comes to side effects and deaths), or feel and be put through terrorisation in my own home, as the word ‘terrorism’ means to put someone in perpetual fear and dread for their life and/or quality of it. Remember… “Fear hath torment”.

There is an old saying, “Pity just feels sorry, compassion does something about it”. I don’t need to be pitied by people who do the same thing that I do (and that is take a drug of choice for medication) while they try to eradicate my beliefs and needs. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stated,

“Compassion is not a dirty word….it’s time we rehabilitated compassion into the national political vocabulary of this great Nation of ours”. Perhaps he should have stated,…. ‘Cannabis users excluded, of course, as the ‘fair go’ doesn’t apply to them’, they just get forced into rehab/ David McGrath's anti-cannabis clinic.

Once again, this is a lie. True, there has been discussion between drug lords (albeit legal ones), drug taking and advocating Politicians, Doctors, Researchers etc. but there has been no discussion with those who actually MATTER in this debate, and that is the sufferers who benefit from it. It is a one sided debate and one that always seems to fall on two issues - 1) segregation and 2) monetary profit, two things that do not benefit the sufferer, only the drug lord who wants control.

Some people? Try millions worldwide who do not state that it ‘appears’ to relieve the symptoms, they state that it does, and that it does on a regular basis. They also report that with medicinal cannabis, they have been able to get off Government and legal drug cartel dealt, advocated and manufactured drugs - something the Government does not want people to do, as scoring drugs off them and theirs is a mandate enforced by prohibition…even if the place you are forced to score your drugs at is called a Pharmacy, a Supermarket, a Pub, a Servo etc that hide behind the buzzword ‘legal‘ and the ‘our drugs all good, your drugs all bad‘ Policy.

Doctors and Scientists/Researchers etc. who decide to advocate medical cannabis get discriminated against by the same people who they used to push drugs for. Ministers are now ad-ministers who now forcefully ad-minister what drugs you can and can’t take, and they wield the law to do this. They know they take, advocate and push drugs that are way more dangerous than Cannabis ever could be, they know the drugs they take, advocate and push, kill on a regular basis, and they also know that Cannabis does not kill.

This is another blatant lie, as until the 1950’s it was a much applied, much approved, therapeutic drug until drug supremacy/prohibition policies forced this vital medicine to go underground and kow-tow to the new order, the Pharmaceutical drug flood. This is the same one that we are forced to kow-tow to, even though Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (while still in Opposition) stated, “Australians should not be kow-towing to anybody when it comes to freedom in this country”. Cannabis was removed because Government’s and drug lords saw it as direct competition for their Cartels, their culture and their choices.

Some Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, were/are removed because they kill and cause highly toxic, highly damaging side effects, even when they were approved as a Therapeutic drug by the TGA - a group whose track record has proven that it cannot be trusted to fully protect the people, to fully tell the truth, and to fully release all the information about the particular drug they have decided to unleash upon the population that comes from a Drug cartel now linked in to the Great Revenue Stream and the “our drugs all good, your drugs all bad” Policy.

It makes not a single bit of difference which Political Party gets in, as they are one and the same in this regard…. ‘take our drugs only, stand for our drug culture only, buy our drugs from our drug lords only, contribute to our Great drug fuelled Revenue Stream and eradicate the competition that stands in the way.

Nicola Roxon, you blamed the Howard Government for the increase in binge ‘drinking’. We would like to state that both Governments are equally to blame for any form of drug abuse crisis in this country, but more than that…they are equally to blame for teaching that drugs can be all good or all bad, depending on buzz-words -- that a drug on par with heroin is nothing but a ‘drink’, and hard core drug abuse is called binge ‘drinking’. Abuse of the drug ethanol behind the steering wheel of a car is called ‘drink’ driving. They both allowed ethanol drug lords to completely drown, soak, and fuel every single medium in Australia, and they didn’t give a damn what age medium was targeted. Where can a child go where they are not targeted by the drug cartels of ethanol, nicotine, caffeine, acetaminophen, Ibuprofen etc. etc. and drug lord so forth! (“Hey kids, drugs give you wings”, signed Red Bull). (“The true Aussie spirit of Sport is drugs!” - Bundy Rum). (“Stay true to drugs” - Jim Beam). (“Drugs live here” - Jack Daniels). (“Double up on and multi-buy drugs” - Woolworths etc Food and Drug Cartels). And the drug pushing list goes on…and on….and on…

When one drug pusher (albeit Government) blames another drug pusher (also albeit Government) for the drug abuse crisis in this country, while also stating “we will deny you (the sufferer) the right of medicine of choice, while we advocate our recreational drugs to adults and children equally”, it just shows yet another great example of hypocrisy in democracy, as all this is… is an ACT and a disguise in the same form as a drug cartel was allowed to create a cricket series solely to push drugs, not only on adults but as “intoxication destined for the next generation”. Where were you or any of the other Health Ministers (both present and past) on this subject?

Getting back to Cannabis not being a therapeutic drug, Cannabis does not have to be approved as a therapeutic drug, it just needs to be re-instated as a natural herbal medicine, as it always has been for over 5,000 years, with the words ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ not making a damn difference to how much it benefits or harms people. However, these two words make one hell of a difference when it comes to increasing the harm to do with cannabis. Minimising harm is something all Governments are supposed to be ‘for’, yet when it comes to Drug Policy, they are hard core addicted to increasing the harm, ignoring the benefits, as well as of course, ignoring the blatant abuse of the things they have chosen to advocate. They ignored them when cost was $4.5 Billion for a drug they call a ‘drink’, and they ignored it when it was at $7.6 BILLION…and it’s climbing - so are the deaths, hospitalisations and side effects.

Then we have to wait for your defined week to show up (Drug Action Week) before the Government finally has the guts to state what they all should have been stating for at least 4 years now, because we (and others) have written to them on this….. “Alcohol is a Drug….TOO!” Question: After Drug Action Week finishes, will the drug ethanol go back to being called a ‘drink’? And, will ‘Good Booze Year’ continue, yet again under the drug lord slogan, “It’s all good, mate”, that was originally a teenager’s slogan that was high jacked and then wielded by a drug cartel, with full blessing from the Government.

Now, considering that (while they have been Hell-bent on eradicating anything to do with Cannabis), for the last 4 years we have told our ethanol drug taking and advocating Government that 1) Alcohol is a drug 2) Its true drug names are ethane hydroxide, ethanol and ethyl alcohol 3) It is a Class A drug under the criteria of harm -(mortality, morbidity, toxicity, addictiveness and relationship with crime) 4) It is a depressant drug 5) The drug ethanol breaks down in the body from ethanol to acetaldehyde (an 8 times as toxic substance than ethanol) to acetate to CO2 and water 6) It is a 2-carbon alcohol (2 carbon molecules to 1 oxygen combined with ethane gas =- ethane hydroxide, a hydroxyl alcohol). 7)

 It is dangerous to call and to teach kids that a drug is a drink, and one that must be associated with Sport, Fashion, Celebrity, Music, Politics, Family Events, Festivals, Fun etc. 8) It is irresponsible to put an 18+ drug so blatantly displayed on every street corner, building, sport’s field, clothing, cinemas etc. where under 18’s (children) can be targeted with them in every colourful, attractive, thought provoking, and addictive way imaginable through jingles, slogans, competitions, celebrities , mascots etc. It beggars belief why our Governments have allowed a blatant ethanol drug crisis to be unleashed by a cultural collective of abusers who think they’re ‘only drinking’.

This is a blatant crime of neglect of care put out by the same people who believe that while they can target children with this drug, they have the right to deny sufferers their choice of medicine, or even have the right to deny others their choice of recreational drug, even though they themselves blatantly and regularly consume recreational psychoactive, mind-altering, dependence forming, addiction creating, drugs of choice that have all been proven to kill (albeit legally).

There are a few reasons why medicinal cannabis has not been approved. 1) Medicinal cannabis has been proven to safely take its rightful place in front of hundreds of other medicines that already make profit for drug lords and Governments. 2) It can be grown naturally, without chemicals and without having to spend heaps of money on it, or to patent it. It gives the right of power back to the individual, and that is one thing that Governments and drug lords cannot tolerate - the reason being that nature doesn’t want your money, just your respect. Therapeutic Goods Administration want your money. Drug Lords want your money. Governments want your money. Nature just wants your respect.

Quality - Sufferers who would grow their own, or have a carer grow it for them who have done a Cannabis horticulturist course would know exactly how much quality is in their chosen medicine. They would also know that their drug/herb’s quality would be 100%, unlike Pharmaceutical drugs which have other toxic substances added on top of the active ingredient, which in itself is usually toxic. Safety - Considering that 10,000 plus end up dead per year (in Australia alone) from the drugs dealt by those who say they stand by this criteria for their drugs, safety is relative. However, Cannabis’ safety ratio is 1:40,000 in LD50 and the majority of Pharmaceutical drugs are on average 1:16, and the drug that our Governments are having a hard time calling a drug (ethanol) is from 1:4 to 1:20 depending on body mass.

Our Health System isn’t even safe at the moment. Our streets aren’t safe at the moment, Our homes aren’t safe at the moment. Our privacy and freedom are not safe at the moment either. The ‘Fair Go for all’ is not safe in this country, in fact looking at the Criteria of safety for everything in this country, Cannabis is one of the safest things in this country, overall. You cannot overdose to death on cannabis. However, you can on buzzword ‘legal’ Pharmaceutical drugs. Just ask Heath Ledger….oh wait, you can’t - he’s dead ….from ‘your’ drugs. (Along with many other people).

Do you understand yet why I (and others) do not want to join your drug club? Do you now understand why Newspapers and other surveys put out the headline, ‘Cannabis preferred by the sick’.… and we shouldn’t have to be forced to join it either. You wouldn’t appreciate being forced to join the Liberals considering you are 100% Labour would you? All I asked for in my letter was my human right when it comes to my individual beliefs and choices. What we got back was that the ‘Fair Go’ was not applicable to me (my beliefs, my traditions, my culture), but this is not surprising in a country that touts multi-culture while forcing mono-culture.

Efficacy - Those who rely on medical cannabis state, “It works. It works regularly and repeatedly”. Doctors, Specialists, Researchers etc. who have also seen it work, also state this. But for those who do not find efficacy in Cannabis…try something else! All Medical Cannabis users are asking for is to have the freedom to ‘try something else’ and not just something that someone else is trying to shove down their throat. One size does not fit all. If something does not work that the Doctor has prescribed for you , he will say, “If this doesn’t work, come back and we’ll try something else”….and they do, until what benefit’s the individual sufferer is found…..except when it comes to medical cannabis, of course.

The only legal problem associated with cannabis is the sadistic brand ’illegal’ applied to it. The words ’legal/licit’ and ’illegal/illicit’ are not reasons, they are prejudices. These prejudices then get wielded against people’s human rights, beliefs, freedoms, traditions and culture. One only has to look at the ’White Australia’ Policy to understand this. Apartheid is apartheid whichever way it is applied - social segregation principles do not change, only the subject matter does. Remember, to a sufferer, medical cannabis has no monetary value, but its value is priceless. Someone asked the question, ‘How can we put a price on life?’ and Sigourney Weaver personally stated, ‘There comes a time when we have to put health first’. This is what I and many others have done, and we are classed as criminals for it? This in itself is a crime and a human right’s violation.

Health risks when it comes to Cannabis are increased exponentially thanks to Prohibition/the ’our drugs all good, your drugs all bad’ policy. Those who rely on cannabis for medicine (because they’ve found it WORKS for them), are forced to purchase their medicine on a Black market (created by Governments with a Zero Tolerance/No Acceptance Policy and who are solely interested in control, manipulation and monetary and power profit). This was the exact same problem with our Government’s favourite recreational psychoactive drug of choice’s prohibition (ethanol). They gave the criminals the power, established drug cartels on both sides, sent them to war against each other, dragged society and our law enforcement into the bargain, and the war continues to this very day - just with a different drug. Again proving that social segregation policies of yesteryear are alive and well today.

Maybe now that our Politicians have finally had the ‘guts’ to state…and I quote…. “Alcohol is a DRUG….TOO!” then they will finally get off their ‘our drugs all good, your drugs all bad’ proverbial high horse and realize that others deserve a fair go, too - for they certainly tout the ‘fair go’ statement enough when it comes to their choices, beliefs, freedoms, traditions and culture.

All health risks pertaining to Cannabis could have been knocked on the head years ago. Instead, our Government and their policies (and this goes for the Opposition too), have taught that ABUSE in this country is the ‘norm’. They have taught that you can judge a drug’s criteria of harm by the buzzwords ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’. They have taught that it’s okay to vilify and persecute people who take drugs of choice, slander them and treat them differently - all the while, while having a drug in your hand that you haven’t even got the guts to call a drug, whether it’s dealt by a drug lord like Foster’s, a drug lord like Peter Jackson (noting that nicotine patches are also a drug), or a drug lord like Gloria Jean, and that’s only on the recreational side.

The drug cartels on the Pharmaceutical side include Glaxo-Smith Kline, Roache, Mayne and others, by whom we are now forced, (by our Minister and Department), to buy their drugs only in the exact same fashion as a cocaine cartel coming in and forcing a heroin user to switch drugs of choice, and drug lords of choice, or else be eradicated in a blatant turf war.

This may be true, but your Department is responsible for forcing this law on the States and Territories by classing Cannabis as an ‘illicit,’ and all State and Territory Governments are all bought by the legal recreational and medicinal drug cartels. It would not make any sense for them to allow any competition to be released, that would put any form of dent into the Great revenue Stream now made from blatant drug dealing from drugs way more dangerous (under given Criteria) than cannabis ever could be. For that matter, than even the pure active drug THC (tetra-hydro-cannabinol) ever could be, as THC has a safety LD50 of 1:10,000.

Besides, as President George W, Bush personally stated, ““(State of Union Speech Jan. 23rd 2007) - “In all we do, we must remember that the best health care decisions are not made by government and insurance companies, but by patients and their doctors".

Pity he doesn’t believe it. Pity our Government doesn’t believe it either, in their quest to be Daddy Gov. over their ‘children’ (even their adult ‘children‘).

Really? At the moment ‘illicit’ cannabis is being bought non-medically, on the Black Market, and is being diverted into medicinal purposes where it should have been to start with. Hmmmm! Prohibition forces honest people to become criminals. There is no bigger significant risk posed to the community today than Prohibition. Prohibition forced knowledge and understanding underground to exponentially increase the risk, when it comes to drugs of choice.

The Netherlands has respectful Cannabis Colleges. We have disrespectful and highly violatory Cannabis clinics, which forces people (as the newspaper statement said), to get ’cured’. Prohibition is this Government’s disease and addiction and they want ’us’ to get cured? It’s time ’they’ “cast the bottle of Beam found pleasing to their own eye, before seeing fit to cast the cannabis mote out of someone else’s eye”. Our Government, by teaching disrespect, want our people to learn respect. This is nothing but the blind leading the blind, and we all know where they end up.

Notwithstanding that the Australian Government, by doing this, actually committed a human right’s atrocity against its own people, and that this signatory law was written by a bunch of drug users, abusers and addicts of their particular drugs of choice…did not this country and its Government violate and contravene the United Nation’s Convention when it came to declaring Unilateral War in blatant violation of the United Nations Policy?

By this Act, all Conventions are now null and void. We have broken the United Nation’s Treaty by following President George W. Bush’s invasion of the country of Iraq. They thumbed their noses at the U.N., dismissed them out of hand, while yet forcefully mandating us to kow-tow to the same treaty they snapped in half. The U.N. has no more mandate over us that we cannot break. The precedent has been set. Break one rule, you break them all.

The Prohibition Drug War, signed by the United Nations, is in direct violation to their own declarations, anyway. According to them, Article 1.

Article 2.

Article 3.

Article 4.

Article 5.

Article 6.

Article 7.

Article 8.

Article 10.

1) “ANY drug that acts on the brain can have potential side effects”.

(Dr. Murkesh Haikerwal, A.M.A. President at the time, Australia)

2) “It is impossible for any medical intervention to be entirely risk free. Therefore, the benefit and the risk must be evaluated in the use of all Pharmaceutical (drug) products. No medicine (drug) can be made completely safe”.

The Therapeutic Goods Association, (TGA), Australia

The letter on your behalf continued,

- increased risk of respiratory diseases associated with smoking, including cancer:

Simple solution - cannabis does not have to be smoked.

- drowsiness - considering that people take cannabis to help them sleep, isn’t this a benefit?

- loss of co-ordination - depends who you ask. To neurological sufferers, Cannabis is greatly beneficial to improving their co-ordination.

Now that this letter has finished with trying to state all the bad things about Cannabis only…..

so much for discussion, so much for understanding, so much for non-biased ‘fair go’ statements, so much for compassion……here is the other side.

Under this Criteria, let us apply the principle of pros and cons when it comes to benefit vs risk.

Benefit 1 - “We have found that Cannabinoids are very powerful anti-oxidants….in fact, they appear to be more powerful than Vit. C or Vit. E”. Dr. Aidan Hampson, Biologist for NIMH.

Benefit 2 - “One of Cannabis’ greatest advantages as a medicine is its remarkable safety. It has little effect on major physiological functions. There is no known case of a lethal overdose. Cannabis is also far less addictive and far less subject to abuse than many drugs now used as muscle relaxants, hypnotics and analgesics”. Journal of the American Medical Assoc. June 21^st 1995.

Benefit 3 - “Cannabis was sometimes the only thing that helped people deal with the pain and intractable nausea of diseases such as leukaemia, lymphoma and certain AIDS related conditions and treatment”. Dr. Kerryn Phelps.

Benefit 4 - “Several overseas studies have shown that compounds in cannabis can alleviate nausea and stimulate appetite. This yields enormous quality of life benefits for some individuals who suffer from diseases or disease treatments that produce impaired appetite or nausea”.

Benefit 5 - “From working with AIDS and cancer patients, I repeatedly saw how Cannabis could ameliorate a patient’s debilitating fatigue, restore appetite, diminish pain, remedy nausea, cure vomiting and curtail down-to-the-bone weight loss”. Kate Scannell M.D. (2003)

Benefit 6 - “By any of the major Criteria of Harm, mortality, morbidity, toxicity, addictiveness and relationship with crime - Cannabis is less harmful than any of the other major illicit drugs or than alcohol and tobacco”. (….which are DRUGS - TOO!) British Police Foundation, March 2000.

Benefit 7 - “One of the best effects Cannabis can have in any terminal illness, is to produce a degree of euphoria which boosts moral in a depressing situation“..Dr. Anthony Henman, USA

This statement can be backed up with, “Almost every sick and dying patient I have ever known who tried medical cannabis experienced a kinder death”. Dr. Kate Scannell M.D. USABenefit 8 - “Cannabis is probably the most potent anti-epileptic known to medicine, today”. World News Report, 1971, - Dr. Todd Mikurya

“In Cannabis (Indica), the medical profession has gained an anti-convulsive remedy of the greatest value”. Dr. William B. O’Shaugnessy, 1839

“There are many cases of so-called epilepsy in adults, but which in my opinion, are the result of organic disease of a gross character in the nervous centres, in which India hemp (Indica/Kush) is the most useful agent with which I am acquainted”. Dr. J. Russell Reynolds, March 22^nd 1890, The Lancet

“About 25% of people in the U.S. who have various forms of epilepsy (seizure disorders), don’t get good relief from conventional medicines. Many of them do get relief from one of the oldest anti-epileptic medicines, Cannabis”. Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Harvard Medical School.

….As you can plainly see, Cannabis’ benefits clearly outweigh its risks. As you can plainly see, it is the individual sufferer who must be put first. As you can plainly see, there is a specific criteria that governs all drugs, and Political bias does not influence it, even though it tries to manipulate it. Whether a hundred thousand people agree with something or just one person agrees with it makes no difference to the Criteria’s of Harm, Safety, Efficacy, Potency and Reliability. It affects the individual, so it’s the individual who must matter, otherwise we are all nothing but slaves, with some slaves being given the option to enslave others to improve their own quality of life.

Cannabis’ benefits as medicine are proven. They are anti-oxidant, anti-toxin, anti-carcinogen, anti-fungal, anti-nauseant, anti-histamine, Neuro protective, analgesic, anti-diarrhoeic, anti-diabetic, anti-bacterial, anti-convulsant, anti-epileptic, anti-spasmodic, and highly nutritious as well as being extremely cost effective (when allowed to be grown naturally), which is greatly beneficial not only for those who are struggling to afford their medication, but is also greatly beneficial for those who have to choose between buying medicine and buying food…this includes those who have allergies who are now forced to pay exorbitant prices for food without gluten/lactose/etc. It also helps remove the symptoms of these allergies as it is anti-inflammatory, an anti-histamine and an analgesic etc.

It is greatly beneficial as a hunger stimulator for those with appetite suppressant and wasting disorders.

As you can see, when the entire picture is shown, Cannabis becomes like a prize fighter and takes on and beats hands down, all comers under the Criteria set before them.

Vicodin or Cannabis? Valium or Cannabis? Vioxx or Cannabis? Acetaminophen or Cannabis? Ibuprofen or cannabis? Epilum or Cannabis? Prozac or Cannabis? Ritalin or Cannabis? And so on.

All the above kill, Cannabis doesn’t. Cannabis can take the place of all the above without the risk of death, hence Cannabis is more beneficial. Now do you understand why Politicians and their vested interests/legal Drug lords do not want us to have something that is so beneficial?

The worst thing that ever happened to our Health Department and Society, is when ‘Health and the Sick, Suffering and Dying‘, was turned into a money making supremacy pushing business, that doesn’t give a damn whether you get better or not as long as they can continue dealing their drugs to you for a price.

When wealth replaces health, there’s a problem.

When greed replaces need, there’s a problem.

When supremacy is placed before suffering, there is a problem.

When revenue is placed before respect, there is a problem.

When politics is placed before patients, there is a problem.

When media is placed before medicine, there is a problem.

When brutality is placed before benefit, there is a problem.

When apartheid is placed before acceptance, there is a problem.

When discrimination is placed before deliverance, there is a problem.

When control is placed before compassion, there is a problem.

Lots of problems - one solution………….

The true meaning of ‘a fair go’ for all is “a just, equal and balanced journey in life for every individual”.

Prof. Ian Lowe, at the National Press Club, Sydney on the 30^th Aug. 2006 stated, “The Prime Minister’s views are fossilised to a certain era…..every example needs to be judged on a case by case basis”.

We can say the exact same thing to our new Government who is still just as fossilised as the old Government, who judge people on collectives under apartheid policy instead of every individual example being judged individually on a case by case basis. At the moment, users are lumped in with abusers and medical is lumped in with recreational. Scheduling is thrown out, Classing is thrown out, the difference between use and abuse gets thrown out and the right of benefit gets thrown out the proverbial window, alongside with the fair go….even though P.M. Kevin Rudd personally promised this would not happen with his statement, “We will not throw the fair go out the back window”.

He also stated on Anzac Day in his speech, “That we stand for a deep sense of liberty for which our forebears fought and which should never be surrendered – whatever the cost“.

“That we are a people who by instinct cannot stand idly by and be indifferent to the suffering of others”.

“A people with a sense of a fair go for all (not just for many, not just for some, not just for a selected few, but for ALL) carved deep into our national soul“.

However, thanks to selective prohibition….. human rights, beliefs, traditions, culture, freedom, choice, religion etc. have all been thrown out the back window in favour of drug supremacy. For a Government who constantly states that we need to be free from rule and domination, ie Republic, they certainly force the kings of the earth policies on their own people. A country divided against itself cannot stand. Yes, I can quote the Bible, too. The difference is…practicing what one preaches. One can tout the ‘fair go’, one can tout ‘justice and fairness’, one can tout ‘compassion, freedom and liberty’, but does one practice it? The Bible also states, “By their fruits ye shall know them”. This is how we noticed the ethanol drug crisis years before the Government and others ‘recognised’ it. It’s easy to recognise an abuser once you can recognise ABUSE. Abuse is the problem, not the choice.