Honorable Rep. Gus Bilirakis
House Committee on Homeland Security
Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications
Committee on Homeland Security
U.S. House of Representatives
H2-176 Ford House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Rep. Bilirakis,
I have been referred to you by the office of my Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, in reference to a time-sensitive issue of emergency preparedness. On March 16th, 2012, President Obama became the seventh American President to sign an Executive Order identifying "hemp" as a "strategic food resource." President Obama included "essential civilian demand" ( as did President Clinton) in mobilizing civilian resources for national and global emergency.
I would appreciate your guidance in exercising "essential civilian demand" for "hemp" in time to plant a crop this spring. This requires an accelerated mobilization protocol to be initiated and completed before the end of June 2012. Following are the three reasons why hemp is both unique and essential, and therefore critical to national security:
1. Cannabis hemp is the only common seed that produces three essential fatty acids (EFAs) in proper proportion for long term consumption. Taken by itself, the EFA profile of hemp seed makes Cannabis both unique and essential to national food security. In addition, Cannabis seed is also the best available source of organic vegetable protein on Earth. Protein determines carrying capacity, and is therefore another measure of hemp's incontestable value as a "strategic food resource."
2. Cannabis is the only crop that produces complete nutrition and sustainable biofuels feedstock from the same harvest. In essence, this means that by farming hemp the United States could be energy independent without inducing food insecurity and malnutrition.
3. Conditions of increasing UV-B radiation have resulted from the loss of protective atmospheric aerosols (called "monoterpenes"), historically produced by the boreal forest regions of the world. Monoterpenes protect the surface of the planet by reflecting UV-B radiation away from the Earth and nucleating persistent cloud formation.
Since 1950, approximately half (50%) of the boreal forests have either been cut down (mostly to make paper), or have died from increasing insect pest infestation, resulting from global temperature increases extending the breeding cycles of the insects. Cannabis is the only agricultural crop that produces sufficient quantities of atmospheric monoterpenes, and sufficient fiber and cellulose, to replace those lost by the on-going decimation of the boreal regions.
Such is the magnitude of the threat from increasing UV-B radiation that geo-engineering through the aerial spraying of toxic substances is already being done, with "chemtrails" of aluminum being systematically dispersed. Other toxic substances are also being considered (i.e. sulfur) rather than considering biogenic aerosols produced by hemp.
Below are listed the on-line references to all of the Executive Orders and federal documents relating to emergency preparedness, essential civilian demand and hemp as a strategic resource that I believe are relevant to reintroduction of hemp to American farming rotations, before this planting season passes.
'Time' appears to be the limiting factor in the equation of successful, proportionate response to climate change. Please do whatever you can to make reintroduction of hemp a priority, before the window of opportunity closes on the 2012 growing season. If we fail to plant hemp this season, we will not be able to harvest this strategic resource "of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country" in the fall.
Thank you sincerely for your time and attention. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely yours,
Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
Sebastopol, CA 95472
Cc: Alene Seward, Office of Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
References:
1. 44 C.F.R. PART 334—GRADUATED MOBILIZATION RESPONSE
Title 44 - Emergency Management and Assistance,
§ 334.6 Department and agency responsibilities. (f)
http://law.justia.com/cfr/title44/44-1.0.1.6.83.html
2. THE DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT OF 1950,AS AMENDED[50 U.S.C. App. § 2061 et seq.]Title VII - General Provisions Sec. 708. VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS AND PLANS OF ACTION FORPREPAREDNESS PROGRAMS AND EXPANSION OF PRODUCTIONCAPACITY AND SUPPLY [50 U.S.C. App. § 2158] Page 2, paragraph 1
http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=3590
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt Executive Order 9280 - December 5, 1942
Delegating Authority Over the Food Program.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16211&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
4. Harry S. Truman Executive Order 10161 - September 9, 1950
Delegating Certain Functions of the President Under the Defense Production Act of 1950
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=60772&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
5. Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Order 10480-- August 14, 1953
Further providing for the administration of the defense mobilization program
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=59221&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
6. John F. Kennedy Executive Order 10998 - February 16, 1962
ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58936&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
7. Richard Nixon Executive Order 11490 - October 28, 1969 -Assigning Emergency Preparedness Functions to Federal Departments and Agencies
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=60479&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
8. William J. Clinton Executive Order 12919 - June 3, 1994
National Defense Industrial Resources Preparedness
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50295&st=hemp&st1=hemphill%2C+hempstead#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
9. Barack Obama Executive Order 13603 - March 16, 2012
National Defense Resources Preparedness
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Obama signs seventh Executive Order identifying "hemp" as a "strategic resource" & the 4th federal document to reference "essential civilian demand."
Last Friday, President Barack Obama joined the ranks of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon and William Clinton, by signing the seventh Executive Order that identifies "hemp" as a "strategic resource." His is also the second E.O., and the fourth federal document to acknowledge "essential civilian demand" as a part of a coordinated response to national defense.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 16, 2012
Executive Order — National Defense Resources Preparedness
EXECUTIVE ORDER
NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS
PART I - PURPOSE, POLICY, AND IMPLEMENTATION
Sec. 103. General Functions. Executive departments and agencies (agencies) responsible for plans and programs relating to national defense (as defined in section 801(j) of this order), or for resources and services needed to support such plans and programs, shall:
(a) identify requirements for the full spectrum of emergencies, including essential military and civilian demand;
PART VIII - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 801. Definitions.
(e) "Food resources" means all commodities and products, (simple, mixed, or compound), or complements to such commodities or products, that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals, irrespective of other uses to which such commodities or products may be put, at all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products thereof in vendible form for human or animal consumption. "Food resources" also means potable water packaged in commercially marketable containers, all starches, sugars, vegetable and animal or marine fats and oils, seed, cotton, hemp, and flax fiber, but does not mean any such material after it loses its identity as an agricultural commodity or agricultural product.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 16, 2012
Executive Order — National Defense Resources Preparedness
EXECUTIVE ORDER
NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS
PART I - PURPOSE, POLICY, AND IMPLEMENTATION
Sec. 103. General Functions. Executive departments and agencies (agencies) responsible for plans and programs relating to national defense (as defined in section 801(j) of this order), or for resources and services needed to support such plans and programs, shall:
(a) identify requirements for the full spectrum of emergencies, including essential military and civilian demand;
PART VIII - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 801. Definitions.
(e) "Food resources" means all commodities and products, (simple, mixed, or compound), or complements to such commodities or products, that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals, irrespective of other uses to which such commodities or products may be put, at all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products thereof in vendible form for human or animal consumption. "Food resources" also means potable water packaged in commercially marketable containers, all starches, sugars, vegetable and animal or marine fats and oils, seed, cotton, hemp, and flax fiber, but does not mean any such material after it loses its identity as an agricultural commodity or agricultural product.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Dr. Tod Mikuriya: The Lost Interview, Berkeley, California, 2004.
Transcript of the video interview
made by Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry,
Between the Dreams Productions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Introduction
Considered the "grandfather" of the medical marijuana movement, Dr. Tod Mikuriya was the first physician to start writing medical prescriptions for marijuana.
Dr. Tod Mikuriya
The use of Cannabis goes into antiquity, as probably everybody knows, but what is not known, or what is not appreciated, is the fact that it was clinically available for roughly a hundred years in America and Western Europe for a variety of therapeutic uses. It was called "Cannabis."
And the term 'marijuana' was described as a "mongrel word," that was applied to the Mexican use of Cannabis, that very few agencies within the federal government at the time back in 1937 understood that it was the same as Cannabis, so they thought that marijuana was really a separate plant, a separate material. And didn't connect it with the medicinal uses.
Well, in 1937 they had hearings before the Ways & Means Committee about marijuana, which then produced the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act. And they imposed an additional regulatory scheme and tax on physicians for using Cannabis. This was more or less the death nell of the medicinal uses of Cannabis that were lost until just recently.
Many years ago I was smitten by an attack of idle curiosity during my sophomore year in medical school during the pharmacology course. I happened to unintentionally read a chapter on Cannabis in Goodman & Gilman, which described the medicinal uses and described also, fairly Draconian punishment for its use. This was consistent with what social attitudes existed back then in 1959.
Well, this ilicitude needless to say, whetted my curiosity. I realized that I should really keep this to myself, that this was not something I would submit to any department for a research project because it would surely have been the end of my medical career.
So, I read up on what was available at the library, and then that summer went down to Mexico, and across the border where it is technically illegal, but available. So I used some slang words for it and the street dealer that accosted me upon my arrival immediately understood.
He then got me ten joints. that I paid for and I said "Okay, come with me. I took him up to my hotel room and, at random, picked one of the hand-rolled marijuana cigarettes out and said, "Okay, light it up, take a few puffs." He showed no hesitation, so I at least realized that it was no t poisonous. So then I embarked upon my personal bioassay experience.
I put this down after a while, having no one to communicate with and no source, until 1964. At which time, during my psychiatric practice training up in Oregon I became aware of it.
I finished my psychiatric residency in Mendocino State Hospital in California and sought to find out more about it by forming a Socratic relationship with somebody who was in the biz of psychedelic drugs. So, went to serve a brief preceptorship with Dr. Humphrey Osmond, back at the New Jersey Neuropshychiatric Institute. This is 1967.
I then was headhunted by the National Institute of Mental Health Center for Narcotics and Drug Abuse Studies, with the specific assignment of research into marijuana. Needless to say, this seemed to be right up my area of interest. And left New Jersey for the psychosis inside the Beltway.
First stop was at the National Library of Medicine, where I ran across many more medicinal papers and pharmaceutical papers that motivated me to assemble what I felt to be the 'creme de la creme' and put it into a book, "The Marijuana Medical Papers :1839 to 1972."
I'm about to embark upon an update with a new introduction based upon my personal clinical research that I've been able to achieve since then.
It's unite a number of years between 1972 and today, 2004. I was at the National Institute of Health in 1967. Another one of my assignments was to spy on the communes in California because at the height of the fear of the Viet Nam War, the year of the Tet Offensive, and the total embroilment in the conflict in the United States as well as in Viet Nam. They were fearing the fall of civilization as manifested by certain rebellious behaviors, principally on the West Coast.
This all then intertwines with the policy on drugs, because at this time LSD was not completely illegal, and it was getting wide play. Marijuana was being used socially and as a notable part of the anti-war movement needless to say the people inside the Beltway wanted to know as much as possible because of the realizations that things weren't going well, and possibly falling apart.
The Pentagon Papers had not yet been published, Lyndon Johnson's Presidency fell as a result of the embroilment and the conflict and anti-war movement. Frankly I was aghast at being part of this machine back in D.C. that could be so blind and mean-spirited.
Their take on marijuana was "How can we suppress it and prevent it?' because this is something that promotes that dangerous trait of critical thinking." Because it was linked with the rebellion of the anti-war people against the military machine, the military industrial complex.
So, basically I defected. I came to California and left federal government and went into private practice.
PvH
Excuse me for interrupting, but you were told not to find any positive result in your research, is that true?
Dr.T
Correct. They were interested in finding anything toxic, anything that could be used to dissuade the use of Cannabis. But at the same time they recognized, although it couldn't be admitted, that it was relatively benign. The big problem with dealing within the federal bureaucracy -- or I suppose any bureaucracy -- is the compartmentalization that restriction on the flow of information.
For example I was told not to speak officially to anybody, unless I get it cleared with my supervisors and they authorize who's making the inquiry as to what could be said. And if one didn't go through the chain of command, then it just would not happen.
And this is the kind of thing I initiated to try to get harm-reduction types of information about drugs publicized over the FM, New York media, which was really leading public opinion in many ways. And set up a meeting with 'Murray the K' and other name DJs, but the meeting was scrubbed because it didn't have upper-echelon approval.
PvH
So you were censored.
Dr.T
Oh yeah.
PvH
I was hoping you could fill us in on your roll with the Schafer Commission.
Dr.T
I was simply a consultant. My specialty, and it still is, was the history of medical Cannabis and medicinal uses of it. Documenting and chronicling how much it used to be used and what it used to be used for.
PvH
Can you talk about what happened to that report?
Dr.T
This was part of the Nixon administration's distraction and palliation of the scientific and medical communities, as he put together the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, that classified Cannabis as having no medicinal redeeming importance and being Schedule One, highly dangerous, to be avoided, which was a total lie.
But this is the way it is today. That federal law still is driven by this insanity, put together by the Nixon Justice Department aparatchiks.
PvH
What was the conclusion of the Schafer Report?
Dr.T
The conclusion of the Schafer Report was that medicinal uses needed much more, further study and that it should be de-criminalized.
PvH
And what was Nixon's response to that?
Dr.T
It was D.O.A. ("Dead On Arrival") when it got to the White House. But then the whole distractive exercise of hearings and soliciting expert input was just a sham, as he worked on developing the Controlled Substances Act, and that totally insane scheduling system.
PvH
How do you see your part in the puzzle?
Dr.T
Here I though it was going to get easier. Here I thought, once we spoke as voters, once we'd gotten the law passed, the people sworn to uphold the law would implement it and make sure it was complied with. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Within a month after we passed the law back in '96, there was a meeting at McCaffery's office in the White House, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, where they hatched schemes to nullify the state laws, either directly in court or through other means. And the other means would be to go after both the patients and the physicians.
There was an injunctive decision protecting us with Conant vs. McCaffery and Conant vs. Walters, but that doesn't seem to dissuade these operatives in the DEA to both imbed themselves with local authorities as well as specifically initiate complaints of physicians identified with doing recommendation and approvals for medical Cannabis.
On top of that, we've got the collaborators in the Attorney General's Office that were not only opposed to Prop 215 before it passed. But had dedicated themselves to blocking it and suborning it.
This includes the prosecutors in my case with regard to the Medical Board. These are subordinates to John Gordonier Senior Deputy AG who was part of the list of invitees at the wine-in at Barry McCaffery's. So he and other high-ranking California Department of Justice officials were in on the conspiracy.
Interestingly, I'd found out about this meeting taking place, and tried to get myself on the list of attendees. I had Ron Dellums office -- and at the time Ron Dellums was the Chair of the Armed Services Committee, so not exactly a pussy with regard to political power inside the Beltway -- but his office was rebuffed.
When I saw the list of attendees that Pat McCartney, an investigative journalist, got through FOYA I knew why. There were representatives from the non- governmental agencies the Partnership For A Drug-Free America, and others of their ilk.
PvH
Who funds the Partnership For A Drug-Free America?
Dr.T
Oh, a bunch of corporate sponsors, that include, I'm sure the alcohol and tobacco people... (laughs)
PvH
...the pharmaceutical industry...
Dr.T
Yes, and representatives from the prison-industrial complex, our domestic version of the military-industrial complex. These are the subversives that are imbedded in the civil service system. This who we've run up against in California. The California Narcotics Officers Association, that believes that medical
marijuana is a hoax, and have sponsored and organized statewide meetings within the criminal justice system for orientation and training, in actuality laying out templates of ways for blocking it.
Back to the situation here in California, where we have the end run around Conant vs. McCaffery and Walters...
PvH
How is this effecting the patients and caregivers and physicians ?
Dr.T
Well, the marching orders came from the wine-in at Barry McCaffery's, so right down the chain of command we had involvement from the top levels of the Attorney General's Office and plays out with imbedding with the DEA agents in different communities that have ratted out other California physicians to the Medical Board initiating complaints.
Dr. Carol Woolman was an example of this in Fort Bragg. And Dr. Mollie Fry was the victim of a home invasion by the inter-agency task force in, I believe, Placer County, with the DEA and the local sheriff's department.
PvH How would you characterize that raid?
Dr.T
SWAT team holding a family at gun-point. Children ages 8 to -- I guess -- 14, terrorized; medical records confiscated and run-off with, like 7,000 medical patient's files. Then the records were turned over to the Medical Board, that initiated this set of complaints from the DEA to the Medical Board.
And so Dr. Frye at this time is in Amsterdam trying to avoid further persecution, because her husband and she were furnishing clones to some of the patients. This is looked upon by the Chief Dragon in the U.S.Attorney's Office, Nancy Simpson, in the Eastern District as a very evil thing warranting forfeiture and long prison terms.
So we have a very serious set of situations. Oh yes, and in my case, an undercover agent from Sonoma County with supposedly formerly duel- certification was sent to infiltrate a clinic of mine that I was running. Not even bothering with the niceties of the Medical Board, filtering and embellishing it, went directly to the AG's office -- Jane's Act Simon and Larry Mercer, proteges of John Gordonier who was at the wine-in.
So over these eight years, there's been this clique of opponents who are doing their damnedest to hurt the physicians and dissuade participation in the law. The California Medical Association, which at first opposed 215, has gradually been coming around to realizations of the danger to California physicians in general, by this playing fast and loose with getting ahold of medical records, and arbitrarily complaining to the Medical Board.
So we've been going to the Medical Board meetings over the last couple years and have learned more or less about their style of disfunction. We've learned that the Attorney General's office really writes policy that was supposedly put together by a joint committee with the California Medical Association and the Medical Board. That at the last minute was hijacked by the AG's office and rewritten so that recommendation and approval of Cannabis is functionally equivalent with writing a prescription.
That may seem like kind of a minor distinction, but in the legal world it's a significant factor, because this means that the physician can be held accountable for general management of the patient's continuing condition & diagnosic, and following up on any kind of pathology that was either noticed or not noticed.
Now, there's no way to prescribe Cannabis yet because there are no pharmacies that carry standardized preparations.
PvH
And it's still Schedule one isn't it?
Dr.T
That brings up another question about federal law and state law which is heading to the real clash with the Angel Raich decision over the question of commerce -- is this non-remunerative growing or clearly private kinds of contracting within the commerce clause.
Continuing interest is that the right-wingers are always making a big deal out of state's rights when it suits them but if they want to repress somebody's civili rights, federalism then holds. I mean,this is a perfect example of Ashcroft and his assault on California physicians.
You'd think that one of the first acts of suppressing or protecting against terrorism is to be unifying and bringing people together and putting resources to this focus. But no...(laughs)
What does he do? but goes and hits the L.A. Cannabis buyer's co-op and does the same in San Francisco, just to make a point of it.
PvH
...and in Santa Cruz, WAMM...
Dr.T
...and WAMM, right. And so these kinds of ill-directed, divisive, mean-spirited, moralistic, incompetent acts in his role, this is one of the continuing problems. The behavior of the 9,000 pound psychotic gorilla from inside the Beltway and their realities, clashing with our forces of pro-active structuralism.
Which are good efficacy of the medication and the growing demand in the market and the cash economy, which can't be controlled.
PvH
And also securing our civil rights. For example, it occurs to me that the federal government protects our freedom of religion, theoretically, in this country; And I know for a fact that there are people who derive tremendous spiritual benefit from this plant and recognize Cannabis as a legitimate...
Dr.T ...a sacrament!
PvH
Exactly. Can you talk to that dimension of your client's use of Cannabis?
Dr.T
Cannabis definitely causes alterations in perception. For somebody who's dealing with a chronic condition, it really is part of a healing process; or it's a way of action.
Because perception of illnesses is critical to the market that the special interest groups and the potion peddlers wish to have the locus of control outside the person, in some undefined place. The implication being, 'take the potion and counter-act the external demon' as-it-were, this is a very medieval kind of perception which is alas terribly remunerative.
As compared with, widen one's self-perception and apprehend things holistically. This is what Cannabis enables, this is what Cannabis facilitates.
It permits one to accept and own one's source of discomfiture, which in a way is therapeutic, because with so many different kinds of conditions, the discomfort, the pain triggers a train of thinking where the source of discomfort takes on a life of its own, and becomes larger than life, dominating ones awareness and consciousness.This then drives the obsessional thinking and worsening of the perceived pain.
Well this is what Cannabis interdicts beautifully. This is why I describe Cannabis as an "easement." It doesn't suppress anything it doesn't numb. In the usual sense it's not a narcotic. It enhances a certain kind of perception and permits a certain alteration in the relationship within the individual in dealing with the source of chronic pain.
PvH
Would you say that the actual act of growing the plant is a art of that?
Dr.T (laughs) Well there are many growers who seem to bond with their plants...yea, the act of caring for the plant is a functional expression of...of love. I suppose you could characterize it that way. The Cannabis plant takes on a place in that person's life, an object of thought and attention, feeling positive towards the plant.
Who knows? Maybe that somehow alters the 'set' that the person has when using the material. It's kind of like a very animistic, primitive rite of ingesting the body of the dead. Or the source of adorati, or...Jesus Christ...(laughs), if you really want to formalize things.
Cannabis is in fact a unique drug. Pharmacologically, besides alcohol it's the only product that is soluble in fat and not soluble in water. Cannabis is soluble in alcohols and fats, but not in water.
It goes through a totally different chain within the body, being picked up by the fatty portions of the blood, the phospholipids and transferred to the nervous system as well as other tissues that have a sensitivity to these materials.
The chemical structure of tetrahydrocannabinol and other cannabinoids, resembles precursors to the prostaglandins, a system that expresses the activity of the immune system throughout the body and that this unique level of action that goes both simultaneously to the central nervous system, above the hypothalamus, down the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, as well as to these peripheral sites, have Cannabis as a unique medication. Because all the others are water-soluble and have a much higher toxicity ratio as compared with the cannabinoids, which are so non-toxic that it's hard to measure. It's a factor of about 40,000 to the usual five- to ten-times the effective dose, that is usual a lethal dose in the water-solubles; maybe twenty-times the [effective] dose in very safe water-solubles, but Cannabis being far less toxic.
The Cannabis also functions differently from opiates (or several similar acting skeletal muscle relaxants), like diazepam, Valium, Adovan, that are really just kind of non-specific sedatives. Not withstanding what the pharmaceutical companies want you to think. They try to construct all these very specific kinds of applications for the benzodiazepines, that are just about as illegitimate as their efforts to do it with opiates, saying, "This opiate is different from that."
The reality is they all have the same kinds of effects and adverse effects. Cannabis on the other hand does not have these kinds of adverse effects at all. One of the things in managing chronic conditions is the absence of side-effects as being the critical factor.
Cannabis has a remarkable profile compared with any of the others; the opiates and the benzos, and other non-specific sedatives. In fact it really enhances both quality of life and rehabilitation. Since Cannabis both modulates and activates certain kinds of very positive healing functions of the body.
Number one, the normalization of gastrointestinal functioning, the promotion of peristalsis. Instead of slowing it up as the opiates do, or paralyzing it in some ways, that Cannabis facilitates it. Facilitates evacuation as well as the regularization of functioning of the small intestines and the stomach. No other medication can make that claim.
The other thing is the increased mobility and motility of people, of the chronically ill. With both the opiates and the benzos, the sedatives, it really discourages mobility, and actually enables and facilitates disability by causing depression and slowing down of both motor function and gastrointestinal function. As compared with Cannabis which lifts spirits if anything, and will improve mobility and motility
PvH
Would you say the nutritional benefits of the seed would be an adjunct to therapy, because of the therapeutic effects of eating Cannabis seed?
Dr.T
This is quite separate, the seed and the nutritional elements. This is unique also in that it has all of the essential amino acids, not just a few dominant ones.
PvH
Could there be synergistic effect between the nutritional dimensions of the plant and the herbal therapeutic dimensions of the plant?
Dr.T Well, I'm sure that a certain tribe in a remote section in Nepal would concur with that. They're so poor they have nothing except the Cannabis plant for all their nutritional needs.
PvH
...or so rich..
Dr.T
They use Cannabis as cooking oil, in addition to eating the seeds themselves. So they both get the benefits of the THC, because apparently what they cultivate is psychoactive. This was all described by Barry Bishop who was on assignment for the National Geographic back in the 1970s.
So the answer is yes, there are indications that this exists.
PvH
What about the spiritual orientation of that culture toward the plant, is that part of their spiritual...?
Dr.T
Gee, I don't know. There are so many animistic ways of looking at this or working it into the perception of their world or the mythology, and the symbolism of their world. Like, Shiva was a proponent of Cannabis. But Shiva was a devotee of other poisons as well. That's why Shiva's depicted with the blue throat, for his enjoyment of these kinds of experiences -- godly experiences.
He survived all this, and I don't know exactly where bhang falls into the celebration of Shiva's birthday, but I know it's definitely an integral part of at least the Brahmans in India. When I was in Katmandu in 1969 I had a Brahman prepare some bhang for me with the original traditional recipes.
There's an interesting paper written by an unnamed sihdhi in India by a physician in 1952 who described two segments of the society, the Rajputs and the Brahmans. The Rajputs were the alcohol-loving caste that consumed their alcohol very much like cocktail hour in the nineteen fifties in the United States, of doing things to excess, doing brave and violent active things as compared with the Brahmans , who regarded this type of behavior with great distain and would never ever think of intoxicating themselves on the alcohol, and chose to consume bhang on Shiva's birthday.
PvH
What was your experience with the bhang?
Dr.T
It was like a brownie. It was described in O'Shaughnessy, as well as different confections, back then in 1838...
(reading from his book, "The Marijuana Medical Papers")
"The oldest work in which hemp is noticed is a treatise by Hassan who states that in the year 658 in the Mohamadan era, the sheik Jaffar Shirazi, a monk of the order of Hiater, learnt from his master the history of the discovery of hemp. Hiater, the chief of aesthetics and self-chasteners lived in rigid privation on a mountain between Mishibor and Roha where he established a monastery of fakirs.
"Ten years had he spent in his retreat without leaving it for a moment. "till one burning summer's day, he departed alone to the fields. On his return, an air of joy and gaiety was imprinted upon his countenance. He received the visits of his brethren and encouraged their conversation. On being questioned he stated that being struck by the aspect of a plant that danced in the heat as if with joy, while all the rest of the vegetable creation was forfeit. He had gathered and eaten of its leaves.
"He led his companions to the spot. All ate and all were similarly excited. A tincture of the hemp leaf in wine or spirits seems to have been the favorite formula in which the sheik Hiater indulged himself. An Arab poet sings of "Hiater's emerald cup" an evident allusion to the rich green color of the tincture of the drug. The sheik survived the discovery ten years, subsisting chiefly on this herb. And on his death, his disciples by his desire, planted it in an arbor about his tomb."
And that was in William O'Shaughnessy's paper in 1839. The first case of severe depression relieved by Cannabis.
I probably have about three hundred patients who have switched from being Rahjputs to Brahmins, who have made the cultural transitions, and gotten their lives back.
(Holding up an antique bottle of Cannabis tincture)
Neither Cannabis nor human physiology have changed since this was on the market back in 1940. Neither the physiology nor the composition of the drug, so this crap about it being a new drug, by the FDA, is just pure propaganda, and this is what we're dealing with.
We're about to see Cannabis become available again pharmaceutically through GW Pharmaceutical Company in Great Britain. Its success will lead to pressure by the American pharmaceutical interests to make pharmaceutical Cannabis again available.
PvH
What do you think about our fundamental human right to a safe and effective herbal therapeutic? Rather than considering Cannabis as a drug, to recognize it as a safe and effective herbal therapeutic?
Dr.T
Well, I think that it really is a drug. (laughs)
PvH
Except that you can make a drug out of an herb, but you can't make an herb out of a drug; and there's no drug on Earth that produces viable seed. Making the distinction between an herbal therapeutic and a drug, moves Cannabis completely out of the jurisdiction of the court.
Dr.T
Well, again, I want to see Cannabis defined as an easement, which is not a narcotic, not a psycho-stimulant, not a hallucinogen...
PvH
Yes, but historically, we have the right to herbal products in the Bible. The first thing that God says is that "I have given you every herb bearing seed..."
Dr.T
Well, I think the pharmaceutical companies and special interest groups wouldn't let you get away with that kind of heresy. Being an apostate to the monomolecular mercantile madness.
Listen, the reason they resist getting involved with this is there are no patent opportunities available. All the active THC and cannabinoids are there in public domain. No matter how you're going to try to depict different kinds of products they're not going to get away with it. Because it's in the scientific body of literature already.
What we need is to restore Cannabis to the formulary of provisions under the grandfathering for the FDA. We need to have public hearings as to why it was taken off the market in the first place.
But visit my website, www.mikuriya.com and read my ten point proposal that I made to the Republicans a few years ago, when Tom "The Bag Man" DeLay from the Congress sent out a fundraiser.
Good luck on your quest...
PvH Thank you very much.
made by Paul J. von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry,
Between the Dreams Productions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Introduction
Considered the "grandfather" of the medical marijuana movement, Dr. Tod Mikuriya was the first physician to start writing medical prescriptions for marijuana.
Dr. Tod Mikuriya
The use of Cannabis goes into antiquity, as probably everybody knows, but what is not known, or what is not appreciated, is the fact that it was clinically available for roughly a hundred years in America and Western Europe for a variety of therapeutic uses. It was called "Cannabis."
And the term 'marijuana' was described as a "mongrel word," that was applied to the Mexican use of Cannabis, that very few agencies within the federal government at the time back in 1937 understood that it was the same as Cannabis, so they thought that marijuana was really a separate plant, a separate material. And didn't connect it with the medicinal uses.
Well, in 1937 they had hearings before the Ways & Means Committee about marijuana, which then produced the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act. And they imposed an additional regulatory scheme and tax on physicians for using Cannabis. This was more or less the death nell of the medicinal uses of Cannabis that were lost until just recently.
Many years ago I was smitten by an attack of idle curiosity during my sophomore year in medical school during the pharmacology course. I happened to unintentionally read a chapter on Cannabis in Goodman & Gilman, which described the medicinal uses and described also, fairly Draconian punishment for its use. This was consistent with what social attitudes existed back then in 1959.
Well, this ilicitude needless to say, whetted my curiosity. I realized that I should really keep this to myself, that this was not something I would submit to any department for a research project because it would surely have been the end of my medical career.
So, I read up on what was available at the library, and then that summer went down to Mexico, and across the border where it is technically illegal, but available. So I used some slang words for it and the street dealer that accosted me upon my arrival immediately understood.
He then got me ten joints. that I paid for and I said "Okay, come with me. I took him up to my hotel room and, at random, picked one of the hand-rolled marijuana cigarettes out and said, "Okay, light it up, take a few puffs." He showed no hesitation, so I at least realized that it was no t poisonous. So then I embarked upon my personal bioassay experience.
I put this down after a while, having no one to communicate with and no source, until 1964. At which time, during my psychiatric practice training up in Oregon I became aware of it.
I finished my psychiatric residency in Mendocino State Hospital in California and sought to find out more about it by forming a Socratic relationship with somebody who was in the biz of psychedelic drugs. So, went to serve a brief preceptorship with Dr. Humphrey Osmond, back at the New Jersey Neuropshychiatric Institute. This is 1967.
I then was headhunted by the National Institute of Mental Health Center for Narcotics and Drug Abuse Studies, with the specific assignment of research into marijuana. Needless to say, this seemed to be right up my area of interest. And left New Jersey for the psychosis inside the Beltway.
First stop was at the National Library of Medicine, where I ran across many more medicinal papers and pharmaceutical papers that motivated me to assemble what I felt to be the 'creme de la creme' and put it into a book, "The Marijuana Medical Papers :1839 to 1972."
I'm about to embark upon an update with a new introduction based upon my personal clinical research that I've been able to achieve since then.
It's unite a number of years between 1972 and today, 2004. I was at the National Institute of Health in 1967. Another one of my assignments was to spy on the communes in California because at the height of the fear of the Viet Nam War, the year of the Tet Offensive, and the total embroilment in the conflict in the United States as well as in Viet Nam. They were fearing the fall of civilization as manifested by certain rebellious behaviors, principally on the West Coast.
This all then intertwines with the policy on drugs, because at this time LSD was not completely illegal, and it was getting wide play. Marijuana was being used socially and as a notable part of the anti-war movement needless to say the people inside the Beltway wanted to know as much as possible because of the realizations that things weren't going well, and possibly falling apart.
The Pentagon Papers had not yet been published, Lyndon Johnson's Presidency fell as a result of the embroilment and the conflict and anti-war movement. Frankly I was aghast at being part of this machine back in D.C. that could be so blind and mean-spirited.
Their take on marijuana was "How can we suppress it and prevent it?' because this is something that promotes that dangerous trait of critical thinking." Because it was linked with the rebellion of the anti-war people against the military machine, the military industrial complex.
So, basically I defected. I came to California and left federal government and went into private practice.
PvH
Excuse me for interrupting, but you were told not to find any positive result in your research, is that true?
Dr.T
Correct. They were interested in finding anything toxic, anything that could be used to dissuade the use of Cannabis. But at the same time they recognized, although it couldn't be admitted, that it was relatively benign. The big problem with dealing within the federal bureaucracy -- or I suppose any bureaucracy -- is the compartmentalization that restriction on the flow of information.
For example I was told not to speak officially to anybody, unless I get it cleared with my supervisors and they authorize who's making the inquiry as to what could be said. And if one didn't go through the chain of command, then it just would not happen.
And this is the kind of thing I initiated to try to get harm-reduction types of information about drugs publicized over the FM, New York media, which was really leading public opinion in many ways. And set up a meeting with 'Murray the K' and other name DJs, but the meeting was scrubbed because it didn't have upper-echelon approval.
PvH
So you were censored.
Dr.T
Oh yeah.
PvH
I was hoping you could fill us in on your roll with the Schafer Commission.
Dr.T
I was simply a consultant. My specialty, and it still is, was the history of medical Cannabis and medicinal uses of it. Documenting and chronicling how much it used to be used and what it used to be used for.
PvH
Can you talk about what happened to that report?
Dr.T
This was part of the Nixon administration's distraction and palliation of the scientific and medical communities, as he put together the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, that classified Cannabis as having no medicinal redeeming importance and being Schedule One, highly dangerous, to be avoided, which was a total lie.
But this is the way it is today. That federal law still is driven by this insanity, put together by the Nixon Justice Department aparatchiks.
PvH
What was the conclusion of the Schafer Report?
Dr.T
The conclusion of the Schafer Report was that medicinal uses needed much more, further study and that it should be de-criminalized.
PvH
And what was Nixon's response to that?
Dr.T
It was D.O.A. ("Dead On Arrival") when it got to the White House. But then the whole distractive exercise of hearings and soliciting expert input was just a sham, as he worked on developing the Controlled Substances Act, and that totally insane scheduling system.
PvH
How do you see your part in the puzzle?
Dr.T
Here I though it was going to get easier. Here I thought, once we spoke as voters, once we'd gotten the law passed, the people sworn to uphold the law would implement it and make sure it was complied with. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Within a month after we passed the law back in '96, there was a meeting at McCaffery's office in the White House, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, where they hatched schemes to nullify the state laws, either directly in court or through other means. And the other means would be to go after both the patients and the physicians.
There was an injunctive decision protecting us with Conant vs. McCaffery and Conant vs. Walters, but that doesn't seem to dissuade these operatives in the DEA to both imbed themselves with local authorities as well as specifically initiate complaints of physicians identified with doing recommendation and approvals for medical Cannabis.
On top of that, we've got the collaborators in the Attorney General's Office that were not only opposed to Prop 215 before it passed. But had dedicated themselves to blocking it and suborning it.
This includes the prosecutors in my case with regard to the Medical Board. These are subordinates to John Gordonier Senior Deputy AG who was part of the list of invitees at the wine-in at Barry McCaffery's. So he and other high-ranking California Department of Justice officials were in on the conspiracy.
Interestingly, I'd found out about this meeting taking place, and tried to get myself on the list of attendees. I had Ron Dellums office -- and at the time Ron Dellums was the Chair of the Armed Services Committee, so not exactly a pussy with regard to political power inside the Beltway -- but his office was rebuffed.
When I saw the list of attendees that Pat McCartney, an investigative journalist, got through FOYA I knew why. There were representatives from the non- governmental agencies the Partnership For A Drug-Free America, and others of their ilk.
PvH
Who funds the Partnership For A Drug-Free America?
Dr.T
Oh, a bunch of corporate sponsors, that include, I'm sure the alcohol and tobacco people... (laughs)
PvH
...the pharmaceutical industry...
Dr.T
Yes, and representatives from the prison-industrial complex, our domestic version of the military-industrial complex. These are the subversives that are imbedded in the civil service system. This who we've run up against in California. The California Narcotics Officers Association, that believes that medical
marijuana is a hoax, and have sponsored and organized statewide meetings within the criminal justice system for orientation and training, in actuality laying out templates of ways for blocking it.
Back to the situation here in California, where we have the end run around Conant vs. McCaffery and Walters...
PvH
How is this effecting the patients and caregivers and physicians ?
Dr.T
Well, the marching orders came from the wine-in at Barry McCaffery's, so right down the chain of command we had involvement from the top levels of the Attorney General's Office and plays out with imbedding with the DEA agents in different communities that have ratted out other California physicians to the Medical Board initiating complaints.
Dr. Carol Woolman was an example of this in Fort Bragg. And Dr. Mollie Fry was the victim of a home invasion by the inter-agency task force in, I believe, Placer County, with the DEA and the local sheriff's department.
PvH How would you characterize that raid?
Dr.T
SWAT team holding a family at gun-point. Children ages 8 to -- I guess -- 14, terrorized; medical records confiscated and run-off with, like 7,000 medical patient's files. Then the records were turned over to the Medical Board, that initiated this set of complaints from the DEA to the Medical Board.
And so Dr. Frye at this time is in Amsterdam trying to avoid further persecution, because her husband and she were furnishing clones to some of the patients. This is looked upon by the Chief Dragon in the U.S.Attorney's Office, Nancy Simpson, in the Eastern District as a very evil thing warranting forfeiture and long prison terms.
So we have a very serious set of situations. Oh yes, and in my case, an undercover agent from Sonoma County with supposedly formerly duel- certification was sent to infiltrate a clinic of mine that I was running. Not even bothering with the niceties of the Medical Board, filtering and embellishing it, went directly to the AG's office -- Jane's Act Simon and Larry Mercer, proteges of John Gordonier who was at the wine-in.
So over these eight years, there's been this clique of opponents who are doing their damnedest to hurt the physicians and dissuade participation in the law. The California Medical Association, which at first opposed 215, has gradually been coming around to realizations of the danger to California physicians in general, by this playing fast and loose with getting ahold of medical records, and arbitrarily complaining to the Medical Board.
So we've been going to the Medical Board meetings over the last couple years and have learned more or less about their style of disfunction. We've learned that the Attorney General's office really writes policy that was supposedly put together by a joint committee with the California Medical Association and the Medical Board. That at the last minute was hijacked by the AG's office and rewritten so that recommendation and approval of Cannabis is functionally equivalent with writing a prescription.
That may seem like kind of a minor distinction, but in the legal world it's a significant factor, because this means that the physician can be held accountable for general management of the patient's continuing condition & diagnosic, and following up on any kind of pathology that was either noticed or not noticed.
Now, there's no way to prescribe Cannabis yet because there are no pharmacies that carry standardized preparations.
PvH
And it's still Schedule one isn't it?
Dr.T
That brings up another question about federal law and state law which is heading to the real clash with the Angel Raich decision over the question of commerce -- is this non-remunerative growing or clearly private kinds of contracting within the commerce clause.
Continuing interest is that the right-wingers are always making a big deal out of state's rights when it suits them but if they want to repress somebody's civili rights, federalism then holds. I mean,this is a perfect example of Ashcroft and his assault on California physicians.
You'd think that one of the first acts of suppressing or protecting against terrorism is to be unifying and bringing people together and putting resources to this focus. But no...(laughs)
What does he do? but goes and hits the L.A. Cannabis buyer's co-op and does the same in San Francisco, just to make a point of it.
PvH
...and in Santa Cruz, WAMM...
Dr.T
...and WAMM, right. And so these kinds of ill-directed, divisive, mean-spirited, moralistic, incompetent acts in his role, this is one of the continuing problems. The behavior of the 9,000 pound psychotic gorilla from inside the Beltway and their realities, clashing with our forces of pro-active structuralism.
Which are good efficacy of the medication and the growing demand in the market and the cash economy, which can't be controlled.
PvH
And also securing our civil rights. For example, it occurs to me that the federal government protects our freedom of religion, theoretically, in this country; And I know for a fact that there are people who derive tremendous spiritual benefit from this plant and recognize Cannabis as a legitimate...
Dr.T ...a sacrament!
PvH
Exactly. Can you talk to that dimension of your client's use of Cannabis?
Dr.T
Cannabis definitely causes alterations in perception. For somebody who's dealing with a chronic condition, it really is part of a healing process; or it's a way of action.
Because perception of illnesses is critical to the market that the special interest groups and the potion peddlers wish to have the locus of control outside the person, in some undefined place. The implication being, 'take the potion and counter-act the external demon' as-it-were, this is a very medieval kind of perception which is alas terribly remunerative.
As compared with, widen one's self-perception and apprehend things holistically. This is what Cannabis enables, this is what Cannabis facilitates.
It permits one to accept and own one's source of discomfiture, which in a way is therapeutic, because with so many different kinds of conditions, the discomfort, the pain triggers a train of thinking where the source of discomfort takes on a life of its own, and becomes larger than life, dominating ones awareness and consciousness.This then drives the obsessional thinking and worsening of the perceived pain.
Well this is what Cannabis interdicts beautifully. This is why I describe Cannabis as an "easement." It doesn't suppress anything it doesn't numb. In the usual sense it's not a narcotic. It enhances a certain kind of perception and permits a certain alteration in the relationship within the individual in dealing with the source of chronic pain.
PvH
Would you say that the actual act of growing the plant is a art of that?
Dr.T (laughs) Well there are many growers who seem to bond with their plants...yea, the act of caring for the plant is a functional expression of...of love. I suppose you could characterize it that way. The Cannabis plant takes on a place in that person's life, an object of thought and attention, feeling positive towards the plant.
Who knows? Maybe that somehow alters the 'set' that the person has when using the material. It's kind of like a very animistic, primitive rite of ingesting the body of the dead. Or the source of adorati, or...Jesus Christ...(laughs), if you really want to formalize things.
Cannabis is in fact a unique drug. Pharmacologically, besides alcohol it's the only product that is soluble in fat and not soluble in water. Cannabis is soluble in alcohols and fats, but not in water.
It goes through a totally different chain within the body, being picked up by the fatty portions of the blood, the phospholipids and transferred to the nervous system as well as other tissues that have a sensitivity to these materials.
The chemical structure of tetrahydrocannabinol and other cannabinoids, resembles precursors to the prostaglandins, a system that expresses the activity of the immune system throughout the body and that this unique level of action that goes both simultaneously to the central nervous system, above the hypothalamus, down the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, as well as to these peripheral sites, have Cannabis as a unique medication. Because all the others are water-soluble and have a much higher toxicity ratio as compared with the cannabinoids, which are so non-toxic that it's hard to measure. It's a factor of about 40,000 to the usual five- to ten-times the effective dose, that is usual a lethal dose in the water-solubles; maybe twenty-times the [effective] dose in very safe water-solubles, but Cannabis being far less toxic.
The Cannabis also functions differently from opiates (or several similar acting skeletal muscle relaxants), like diazepam, Valium, Adovan, that are really just kind of non-specific sedatives. Not withstanding what the pharmaceutical companies want you to think. They try to construct all these very specific kinds of applications for the benzodiazepines, that are just about as illegitimate as their efforts to do it with opiates, saying, "This opiate is different from that."
The reality is they all have the same kinds of effects and adverse effects. Cannabis on the other hand does not have these kinds of adverse effects at all. One of the things in managing chronic conditions is the absence of side-effects as being the critical factor.
Cannabis has a remarkable profile compared with any of the others; the opiates and the benzos, and other non-specific sedatives. In fact it really enhances both quality of life and rehabilitation. Since Cannabis both modulates and activates certain kinds of very positive healing functions of the body.
Number one, the normalization of gastrointestinal functioning, the promotion of peristalsis. Instead of slowing it up as the opiates do, or paralyzing it in some ways, that Cannabis facilitates it. Facilitates evacuation as well as the regularization of functioning of the small intestines and the stomach. No other medication can make that claim.
The other thing is the increased mobility and motility of people, of the chronically ill. With both the opiates and the benzos, the sedatives, it really discourages mobility, and actually enables and facilitates disability by causing depression and slowing down of both motor function and gastrointestinal function. As compared with Cannabis which lifts spirits if anything, and will improve mobility and motility
PvH
Would you say the nutritional benefits of the seed would be an adjunct to therapy, because of the therapeutic effects of eating Cannabis seed?
Dr.T
This is quite separate, the seed and the nutritional elements. This is unique also in that it has all of the essential amino acids, not just a few dominant ones.
PvH
Could there be synergistic effect between the nutritional dimensions of the plant and the herbal therapeutic dimensions of the plant?
Dr.T Well, I'm sure that a certain tribe in a remote section in Nepal would concur with that. They're so poor they have nothing except the Cannabis plant for all their nutritional needs.
PvH
...or so rich..
Dr.T
They use Cannabis as cooking oil, in addition to eating the seeds themselves. So they both get the benefits of the THC, because apparently what they cultivate is psychoactive. This was all described by Barry Bishop who was on assignment for the National Geographic back in the 1970s.
So the answer is yes, there are indications that this exists.
PvH
What about the spiritual orientation of that culture toward the plant, is that part of their spiritual...?
Dr.T
Gee, I don't know. There are so many animistic ways of looking at this or working it into the perception of their world or the mythology, and the symbolism of their world. Like, Shiva was a proponent of Cannabis. But Shiva was a devotee of other poisons as well. That's why Shiva's depicted with the blue throat, for his enjoyment of these kinds of experiences -- godly experiences.
He survived all this, and I don't know exactly where bhang falls into the celebration of Shiva's birthday, but I know it's definitely an integral part of at least the Brahmans in India. When I was in Katmandu in 1969 I had a Brahman prepare some bhang for me with the original traditional recipes.
There's an interesting paper written by an unnamed sihdhi in India by a physician in 1952 who described two segments of the society, the Rajputs and the Brahmans. The Rajputs were the alcohol-loving caste that consumed their alcohol very much like cocktail hour in the nineteen fifties in the United States, of doing things to excess, doing brave and violent active things as compared with the Brahmans , who regarded this type of behavior with great distain and would never ever think of intoxicating themselves on the alcohol, and chose to consume bhang on Shiva's birthday.
PvH
What was your experience with the bhang?
Dr.T
It was like a brownie. It was described in O'Shaughnessy, as well as different confections, back then in 1838...
(reading from his book, "The Marijuana Medical Papers")
"The oldest work in which hemp is noticed is a treatise by Hassan who states that in the year 658 in the Mohamadan era, the sheik Jaffar Shirazi, a monk of the order of Hiater, learnt from his master the history of the discovery of hemp. Hiater, the chief of aesthetics and self-chasteners lived in rigid privation on a mountain between Mishibor and Roha where he established a monastery of fakirs.
"Ten years had he spent in his retreat without leaving it for a moment. "till one burning summer's day, he departed alone to the fields. On his return, an air of joy and gaiety was imprinted upon his countenance. He received the visits of his brethren and encouraged their conversation. On being questioned he stated that being struck by the aspect of a plant that danced in the heat as if with joy, while all the rest of the vegetable creation was forfeit. He had gathered and eaten of its leaves.
"He led his companions to the spot. All ate and all were similarly excited. A tincture of the hemp leaf in wine or spirits seems to have been the favorite formula in which the sheik Hiater indulged himself. An Arab poet sings of "Hiater's emerald cup" an evident allusion to the rich green color of the tincture of the drug. The sheik survived the discovery ten years, subsisting chiefly on this herb. And on his death, his disciples by his desire, planted it in an arbor about his tomb."
And that was in William O'Shaughnessy's paper in 1839. The first case of severe depression relieved by Cannabis.
I probably have about three hundred patients who have switched from being Rahjputs to Brahmins, who have made the cultural transitions, and gotten their lives back.
(Holding up an antique bottle of Cannabis tincture)
Neither Cannabis nor human physiology have changed since this was on the market back in 1940. Neither the physiology nor the composition of the drug, so this crap about it being a new drug, by the FDA, is just pure propaganda, and this is what we're dealing with.
We're about to see Cannabis become available again pharmaceutically through GW Pharmaceutical Company in Great Britain. Its success will lead to pressure by the American pharmaceutical interests to make pharmaceutical Cannabis again available.
PvH
What do you think about our fundamental human right to a safe and effective herbal therapeutic? Rather than considering Cannabis as a drug, to recognize it as a safe and effective herbal therapeutic?
Dr.T
Well, I think that it really is a drug. (laughs)
PvH
Except that you can make a drug out of an herb, but you can't make an herb out of a drug; and there's no drug on Earth that produces viable seed. Making the distinction between an herbal therapeutic and a drug, moves Cannabis completely out of the jurisdiction of the court.
Dr.T
Well, again, I want to see Cannabis defined as an easement, which is not a narcotic, not a psycho-stimulant, not a hallucinogen...
PvH
Yes, but historically, we have the right to herbal products in the Bible. The first thing that God says is that "I have given you every herb bearing seed..."
Dr.T
Well, I think the pharmaceutical companies and special interest groups wouldn't let you get away with that kind of heresy. Being an apostate to the monomolecular mercantile madness.
Listen, the reason they resist getting involved with this is there are no patent opportunities available. All the active THC and cannabinoids are there in public domain. No matter how you're going to try to depict different kinds of products they're not going to get away with it. Because it's in the scientific body of literature already.
What we need is to restore Cannabis to the formulary of provisions under the grandfathering for the FDA. We need to have public hearings as to why it was taken off the market in the first place.
But visit my website, www.mikuriya.com and read my ten point proposal that I made to the Republicans a few years ago, when Tom "The Bag Man" DeLay from the Congress sent out a fundraiser.
Good luck on your quest...
PvH Thank you very much.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
A Shift in Values: The Power of Axiology
Axiology, the study of value, encompasses every dimension of culture and social evolution. What is recognized by humankind as having value will determine whether or not life on Earth survives.
As it is, mankind has lost sight of what is truly valuable. Our species is teetering on the brink of irreversible, systemic collapse. Our collective disregard for the Natural Order in deference to toxic materialism, has established a course toward inevitable extinction.
There may still be enough time to resolve atmospheric imbalances imposed by addiction to fossil fuels, but with every passing spring, it becomes more unlikely that we will recover. Unfortunately for our children and grandchildren, our capacity to shift values is limited by inertial politics and illusory economics.
Time is clearly most valuable, the "limiting factor" in the equation of survival. Unless we come to understand, very quickly, how important Cannabis agriculture is to developing "Gaiatherapeutic" values, then we will run out of planting seasons, very soon. All credible indicators of environment, social order and economics point to a brick wall that we are hurtling toward in the delirium of a so-called "drug war."
In reality, prohibition of Cannabis is institutionally-imposed, essential resource scarcity. Chemically-intensive "Gaiacidal" industries have displaced organic agriculture, from the fertilizers used to grow the GMO crops to the toxic products pouring into landfills, air and water, the spiritless cultures have "fouled our own nest" for as long as we can get away with it.
A polar shift in values is the only remedy for the exaggerated imbalances currently determining mankind's extinctionistic trajectory. Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade are as critical to our survival as they can be. Our species needs to grow Cannabis as fast as we can, in every soil and climate condition to which hemp may be able to adapt, and pray it's not too late.
"In 2006, researchers at the world-renowned Scripps Institute in La Jolla, California announced that THC is more effective at preventing Alzheimer s disease than any other substance or drug. Kim Janda, the spokesperson for the study, stated that while the researchers were "certainly not advocating the use of illegal drugs, these findings offer convincing evidence that THC possesses remarkable inhibitory qualities," especially when compared to currently available treatments. "
Lawsuits of "criminal negligence" against the DEA are called for, when information of this stature and magnitude goes unrecognized. Forget about rescheduling of marijuana. Cannabis is too valuable, sacred and "strategic" a resource to be anti-Constitutionally suppressed by thugs running interference for chemical corporations.
"Essential civilian demand" and jury nullification of non-violent marijuana cases are called for, immediately, to suspend the jurisdiction of any court over natural resources that are both unique and essential -- as Cannabis surely is. No vote is need. Neither is a change in the illegal statutes. The laws must simply be recognized as the threat to national security and global integrity that they are, and disregarded in time to "sow hemp everywhere" this spring, as George Washington so wisely enthused.
Cannabis is essential, not illegal. That fundamental shift in value will determine the character of our common future.
As it is, mankind has lost sight of what is truly valuable. Our species is teetering on the brink of irreversible, systemic collapse. Our collective disregard for the Natural Order in deference to toxic materialism, has established a course toward inevitable extinction.
There may still be enough time to resolve atmospheric imbalances imposed by addiction to fossil fuels, but with every passing spring, it becomes more unlikely that we will recover. Unfortunately for our children and grandchildren, our capacity to shift values is limited by inertial politics and illusory economics.
Time is clearly most valuable, the "limiting factor" in the equation of survival. Unless we come to understand, very quickly, how important Cannabis agriculture is to developing "Gaiatherapeutic" values, then we will run out of planting seasons, very soon. All credible indicators of environment, social order and economics point to a brick wall that we are hurtling toward in the delirium of a so-called "drug war."
In reality, prohibition of Cannabis is institutionally-imposed, essential resource scarcity. Chemically-intensive "Gaiacidal" industries have displaced organic agriculture, from the fertilizers used to grow the GMO crops to the toxic products pouring into landfills, air and water, the spiritless cultures have "fouled our own nest" for as long as we can get away with it.
A polar shift in values is the only remedy for the exaggerated imbalances currently determining mankind's extinctionistic trajectory. Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade are as critical to our survival as they can be. Our species needs to grow Cannabis as fast as we can, in every soil and climate condition to which hemp may be able to adapt, and pray it's not too late.
"In 2006, researchers at the world-renowned Scripps Institute in La Jolla, California announced that THC is more effective at preventing Alzheimer s disease than any other substance or drug. Kim Janda, the spokesperson for the study, stated that while the researchers were "certainly not advocating the use of illegal drugs, these findings offer convincing evidence that THC possesses remarkable inhibitory qualities," especially when compared to currently available treatments. "
Lawsuits of "criminal negligence" against the DEA are called for, when information of this stature and magnitude goes unrecognized. Forget about rescheduling of marijuana. Cannabis is too valuable, sacred and "strategic" a resource to be anti-Constitutionally suppressed by thugs running interference for chemical corporations.
"Essential civilian demand" and jury nullification of non-violent marijuana cases are called for, immediately, to suspend the jurisdiction of any court over natural resources that are both unique and essential -- as Cannabis surely is. No vote is need. Neither is a change in the illegal statutes. The laws must simply be recognized as the threat to national security and global integrity that they are, and disregarded in time to "sow hemp everywhere" this spring, as George Washington so wisely enthused.
Cannabis is essential, not illegal. That fundamental shift in value will determine the character of our common future.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
"Essential civilian demand"
"Essential civilian demand"(1,2,10) for an "herb bearing seed" (3, 4) of known and demonstrated "strategic resource" value (5-12) "of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country"(12) is the surest, most time-efficient legal avenue for ending all prohibitions and regulation of Cannabis agriculture, manufacture and trade. Cannabis is valuable beyond the rightful jurisdiction of any court because it is both unique and essential to national security and global integrity. (13) It is both fraudulent and treasonous to tolerate obvious disinformation being presented as fact by the DEA (14) regarding a critically important agricultural resource.
Time is the limiting factor in the equation of survival. Every spring planting season that passes without the benefits of Cannabis, is gone forever. Considering our responsibility to future generations, and the creatures with whom we share this planet, it is everyone's responsibility of to exercise essential civilian demand as soon as possible in order to obviate the essential resource scarcity that has been illegally imposed.
The evolution of revolution is revaluation: Cannabis is essential, not illegal.
"Viva la revaluación!"
Blessed rushes to all our relations,
Paul J. von Hartmann,
Cannabis scholar
Biodynamic agriculturist
October 26, 2011
California Cannabis Ministry
http://californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com/
References
1. 44 C.F.R. PART 334—GRADUATED MOBILIZATION RESPONSE
Title 44 - Emergency Management and Assistance,
§ 334.6 Department and agency responsibilities. (f)
http://law.justia.com/cfr/title44/44-1.0.1.6.83.html
2. THE DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT OF 1950,AS AMENDED[50 U.S.C. App. § 2061 et seq.]Title VII - General Provisions Sec. 708. VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS AND PLANS OF ACTION FORPREPAREDNESS PROGRAMS AND EXPANSION OF PRODUCTIONCAPACITY AND SUPPLY [50 U.S.C. App. § 2158] Page 2, paragraph 1
http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=3590
[Also, see #13. William J. Clinton Executive Order 12919 below]
3. Genesis 1:29-31. Holy Bible
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A29-31&version=ESV
4. First Amendment. U.S Constitution. "Amendment I -- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html
5. Franklin D. Roosevelt Executive Order 9280 - December 5, 1942
Delegating Authority Over the Food Program.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16211&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
6. Harry S. Truman Executive Order 10161 - September 9, 1950
Delegating Certain Functions of the President Under the Defense Production Act of 1950
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=60772&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Order 10480-- August 14, 1953
Further providing for the administration of the defense mobilization program
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=59221&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
8. John F. Kennedy Executive Order 10998 - February 16, 1962
ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58936&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
9. Richard Nixon Executive Order 11490 - October 28, 1969 -Assigning Emergency Preparedness Functions to Federal Departments and Agencies
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=60479&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
10. William J. Clinton Executive Order 12919 - June 3, 1994
National Defense Industrial Resources Preparedness
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50295&st=hemp&st1=hemphill%2C+hempstead#axzz1Gylt2Jf6CFR 44
11. "Hemp for Victory". U.S.D.A. film. 1942.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jokV8xlJTNE
12) Thomas Jefferson. “Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country.”
http://www.marijuanaquotes.org/top-5-marijuana-quotes-from-early-us-presidents/
13. "Cannabis vs. "Global Broiling": An Inconvenient Priority" Paul J. von Hartmann. California Cannabis Ministry.
http://californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com/2011/03/cannabis-vs-global-broiling.html
14. DEA Clarifies Status of Hemp in the Federal Register. October 9, 2001. "“Hemp” and marijuana are actually separate parts of the species of plant known as cannabis. ...“hemp” is not a term that is found in federal law...DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson stated that “...hemp and marijuana are both parts of the same plant and that hemp cannot be produced without producing marijuana.”"[sic]
http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr100901.html
Time is the limiting factor in the equation of survival. Every spring planting season that passes without the benefits of Cannabis, is gone forever. Considering our responsibility to future generations, and the creatures with whom we share this planet, it is everyone's responsibility of to exercise essential civilian demand as soon as possible in order to obviate the essential resource scarcity that has been illegally imposed.
The evolution of revolution is revaluation: Cannabis is essential, not illegal.
"Viva la revaluación!"
Blessed rushes to all our relations,
Paul J. von Hartmann,
Cannabis scholar
Biodynamic agriculturist
October 26, 2011
California Cannabis Ministry
http://californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com/
References
1. 44 C.F.R. PART 334—GRADUATED MOBILIZATION RESPONSE
Title 44 - Emergency Management and Assistance,
§ 334.6 Department and agency responsibilities. (f)
http://law.justia.com/cfr/title44/44-1.0.1.6.83.html
2. THE DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT OF 1950,AS AMENDED[50 U.S.C. App. § 2061 et seq.]Title VII - General Provisions Sec. 708. VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS AND PLANS OF ACTION FORPREPAREDNESS PROGRAMS AND EXPANSION OF PRODUCTIONCAPACITY AND SUPPLY [50 U.S.C. App. § 2158] Page 2, paragraph 1
http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=3590
[Also, see #13. William J. Clinton Executive Order 12919 below]
3. Genesis 1:29-31. Holy Bible
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A29-31&version=ESV
4. First Amendment. U.S Constitution. "Amendment I -- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html
5. Franklin D. Roosevelt Executive Order 9280 - December 5, 1942
Delegating Authority Over the Food Program.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16211&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
6. Harry S. Truman Executive Order 10161 - September 9, 1950
Delegating Certain Functions of the President Under the Defense Production Act of 1950
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=60772&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Order 10480-- August 14, 1953
Further providing for the administration of the defense mobilization program
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=59221&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
8. John F. Kennedy Executive Order 10998 - February 16, 1962
ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=58936&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
9. Richard Nixon Executive Order 11490 - October 28, 1969 -Assigning Emergency Preparedness Functions to Federal Departments and Agencies
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=60479&st=hemp&st1=hempstead%2C+hemphill#axzz1Gylt2Jf6
10. William J. Clinton Executive Order 12919 - June 3, 1994
National Defense Industrial Resources Preparedness
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50295&st=hemp&st1=hemphill%2C+hempstead#axzz1Gylt2Jf6CFR 44
11. "Hemp for Victory". U.S.D.A. film. 1942.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jokV8xlJTNE
12) Thomas Jefferson. “Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country.”
http://www.marijuanaquotes.org/top-5-marijuana-quotes-from-early-us-presidents/
13. "Cannabis vs. "Global Broiling": An Inconvenient Priority" Paul J. von Hartmann. California Cannabis Ministry.
http://californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com/2011/03/cannabis-vs-global-broiling.html
14. DEA Clarifies Status of Hemp in the Federal Register. October 9, 2001. "“Hemp” and marijuana are actually separate parts of the species of plant known as cannabis. ...“hemp” is not a term that is found in federal law...DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson stated that “...hemp and marijuana are both parts of the same plant and that hemp cannot be produced without producing marijuana.”"[sic]
http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr100901.html
Friday, October 14, 2011
"Cannabis Holy Anointing Oil vs. Gangrene"
by Reverend Roger Christie
(edited and passed on by yours truly, because Roger has been imprisoned without trial or bail or visitors since July 8th, 2010 and cannot continue being as active and effective a Cannabis activist, minister, healer, cultural pioneer and true American hero that he would otherwise be if he weren't being illegally rendered and marginalized as a political prisoner.)
The following accounts of Cannabis Holy Anointing Oil (made by Roger according to the recipe in Exodus 30:23) apparently being effective in healing gangrene, are a compilation of posts and photos which can be found at the Hawaiian THC Ministry forum
http://www.thc-ministry.org/forum/showthread.php?t=173&highlight=Mindy%27s+precious+legs
and emails I have recently received from Roger regarding a total of three gangrene healings. The photographs were made by Roger on Maui in 2004. I am posting this information here for the first time, with future edits and updates to come.
Please pass this information on and send whatever support you can to Roger
The Last Marijuana Trial
http://the-last-marijuana-trial.com/
=======================
09-27-2004
Dear Friends,
Aloha. I have received a personal testimony about the holy anointing oil that is so touching and so real that I want you to know about it. The people whose story this is don't have a computer, however they have promised to send me a written copy of their testimony. As soon as it arrives I will post it here for you all to enjoy. Until then, this is what I know:
I heard from Robert H. of Lahaina, Maui about a month ago with a very sad story. His sweet girlfriend, Mindy was in terrible pain and discomfort and wanted to die. She was on multiple pharmaceutical prescriptions, the strongest pain-killing kind, and yet the only remedy that gave her comfort was smoking cannabis. They had no money as every month they spent all of their small income on rent, some food and her medicines.
I connected Robert with my partner in healing sacrament on Maui. He was able to deliver some flowers to them a couple of times for free. It was a blessing and gave Mindy some well-deserved comfort. Still, her condition worsened and she wanted to die to escape the misery, the pain and the poverty.
Apparently diabeties has taken a terrible toll on her, and both of Mindy's legs were green and black and there were holes in her skin all the way to the bone. She was scheduled to have her legs amputated last week as there was no hope, according to her doctors.
When I heard this story I immediately sent Robert and Mindy a bottle of holy anointing oil with THC Ministry membership and ordainment papers for both of them. Now for the good news:
I heard back from Robert last week and he said that a miracle has happened! Get this; the holy anointing oil has caused new skin to grow on Mindy's legs! They both tell me that the skin is now fresh, pink and healthy after applying just ten drops - three times per day to her legs. A visit to the doctor last Wednesday was joyous instead of tragic. Instead of making arrangements for amputation, the doctor was completely amazed and surprised.
Yesterday I spoke with Mindy and she was HAPPY! I could feel the smile in her voice and the will to live back in her life now. Both Robert and Mindy are on a healing path and are praying and working for 'full recovery'. Apparently the healing has been so dramatic that at this rate they hope and expect Mindy to be up and possibly out of her wheelchair in a week or two.
I must say that this is a 'chicken-skin' story to tell you. It is the latest in our miracle testimonies and is my pleasure to pass along. I must say that I am drawn-in closer and closer to the Bible as we get blessings with the holy oil recipe of Exodus 30:23. There is something miraculous in this formula and it's being proven, day after day, by Lilli and Kate and Meghan and now Mindy. We also have another special holy oil testimony coming in the next few days that I know about. Have I missed anyone else? Please remind me if I have.
What can I say? Mahalo ke akua. Hallelujah!!!!
Much love and respect to one and all,
Roger
============================
10-04-2004
Hello everyone,
Aloha. I just returned from four terrific days and nights on Maui. One of the most special things I did was to visit Mindy and her devoted lover Robert, and I got to see Mindy's legs; her precious, pink-skinned, almost fully-healed legs! It was a sight to see and a visit to remember. What nice people, too.
Mindy told me that her doctor called her (previous) condition, the 'never-healing disease'. Can you imagine? I suggest that if you ever hear that kind of negativity from your doctor that you get another doctor immediately!
We visited for over an hour and had a fine time together, including tears and laughter. I even got a few revealing photographs, including one of Mindy standing outside on the lawn in the yard. That might not sound very dramatic ... until you know that Mindy has not stood on her own legs in over three years. :-}
All the very best to you,
Roger
================================
ROGER CHRISTIE on 10/11/2011 wrote
@@@
God/dess bless you for doing this sacred service!
You may call the patient Mindy as that was her name; unfortunately she passed away about five years after the successful leg treatment. She never re-ordered holy anointing oil. I've always called that experience 'Mindy's precious legs'. Bless her and R.I.P.
Yes, you have my permission to post this as far as it will go. Remember that there is still a controversy about making the holy anointing oil and what 'fragrant cane', 'sweet cane', or 'aromatic cane' is. The King James version of the Bible says that the mystery ingredient is calamus root (as far as I know it's not in the 'cane' family of plants). With something so extremely important to Christians ('anointed ones') and Jews, one would think this very sacred recipe would be crystal clear in every translation of every Bible as it's to be used 'throughout all the generations'. Hopefully our personal experience of making and using the holy oil with Cannabis as the fragrant cane will help to spread the very effective and inexpensive recipe to those who need it most.
The bottle of holy anointing oil I sent to Mindy was one-half liquid ounce. She applied ten drops @ three times per day directly into the nasty wounds. One small bottle was all that was necessary for complete healing of 'incurable' gangrene. Can you imagine her joy in her calling Maui Memorial Hospital and canceling the amputation surgery? Wow!
Mindy asked me to keep her last name a secret as she was NOT following her doctor's orders by using the holy anointing oil and by canceling the amputation surgery. She was concerned about possibly losing her medical benefits and her Social Security disability benefits. Her doctor never knew the truth of her miraculous recovery.
In my opinion, one bottle (or more!) of holy anointing oil should be in every personal and professional first aid kit, in every doctor's office and in every hospital all over the world. In addition to gangrene, the 'oil of gladness' has proven effective for staph infections, cuts, warts, dental abceses, pain and more.
Holy anointing oil is a topical to be used for opening the crown chakra in a sacred ceremony as in 'anoint the head with oil', and as a topical treatment for infection, disease and pain. We've also found it useful for brushing teeth and absorbing into the gums to fight tooth decay.
Did you receive my email about a month ago about the book "Anointing: Secrets of the Messiah Medicine" by Michael Albert-Puleo, M.D.? It's a fantastic edition well worth reading! Please get it as it's a crucial Ministry read - and important for your library.
* This is one of the MAIN points we want to make in calling our trial "the last marijuana trial". If / when 'Christians' (90% of USAmericans!) understand that THEIR sacred and necessary holy anointing oil is supposed to be made with Cannabis - Cannabis will be freed. Simple as that. Since the very word 'Christian' means 'anointed one', and the vast majority of Christians are zero anointed, we think there will be a great renewal and revival of true Christianity once this sacred anointing is brought back into common usage like Jesus the Christ did. *
Je/sus = I am Latin or French ("Je suis") to this day.
Christ = anointed
Jesus Christ = I am anointed
Anti-Christ = I am not anointed, or I am opposed to the anointing.
One can only imagine how wonderful this world will be with masses of people being properly anointed and sincerely prayed over. And so it is.
Love and healing to you and all,
Roger
================
Mindy's infection was caused by diabetes, which turns into gangrene way too often.
I understand that the cause of Mindy's death was the diabetes.
@@@
Another case of gangrene was my friend, Lee, who called me one Sunday afternoon from Hilo Hospital. He called to tell me that he was in the hospital and scheduled to have his big toe amputated at 8 a.m. the next day, because of gangrene. He was looking for a prayer of support. Well, yeah! I said I'd be right up there.
I arrived to see Lee in bed with a large amount of bandages wrapped around his foot. He was in pretty good spirits considering the situation. I told him about my experience with Mindy's legs so he let me see his affected toe and give the holy anointing oil a try (without his doctor knowing). The toe was totally black! I had a 1/2 liquid ounce bottle of the sacrament with an eye-dropper top for him. I said a prayer of positivity and applied the oil all over his toe with the help of his wife. I left them the bottle and suggested they re-apply the oil many times before the morning. I got a call the next day around noon from Lee who told me that when he woke-up his toe had obviously healed well enough overnight so that the amputation surgery was cancelled and he left the hospital soon afterwards.
Another important piece of the healing puzzle here is that Ministers, Priests and Rabbis are officially allowed into all hospitals that I know of to counsel and pray and give sacraments to patients. I think it's important for Cannabis Ministers to introduce themselves to their local hospital Administrators, openly and honestly discuss their services and sacraments and invite themselves in as part of the services to their patients.
@@@
The last example of healing gangrene with holy anointing oil came just about two years ago at the THC Ministry offices. Share will remember this, too. Our friend and Rabbi Ministry member Owen had a friend on Oahu who used to be his landlady and she had a gangrene foot that he was especially worried about. I think the woman's name was Sally.
Sally didn't want to go to a doctor or hospital as she was ashamed of her condition and embarassed or afraid to have it looked at. The worse it got - the more she resisted treatment. Owen told her about our successes and he persuaded Sally to fly to Hilo to meet Share and me, and to get our prayers and holy anointing oil treatment.
When she arrived we couldn't believe it! Sally had her terribly gangrene foot wrapped in paper towels (soaked in pus) slipped into a Croc sandal. The smell was SO TERRIBLE we could hardly breathe! She flew on the airplane that way. Thank God there were open windows and a fan overhead in our office.
I counseled with Sally for a while (I think Share did, too.) and we gave her confidence in the Ministry and our ways and our sacraments so she became willing to show us her foot.
OMG, it was awful. Almost the entire foot was a mess; oozing pus all over and being eaten away by the disease. Gangrene is a "flesh-eating disease", literally. Well, it was time for me to get some more paper towels and dab away the pus and get to a place where we could apply the holy anointing oil and then pray for healing and a full recovery. We did the necessary and got her fresh towels for the airplane trip home. (We might have wrapped a plastic bag over the whole foot and sandal, as I recall.) Sally took about 5 bottles of holy anointing oil with her.
We heard a few weeks later that she finally went to a doctor and he insisted on amputating a few toes, but the majority of her foot was saved.
Monday, June 27, 2011
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