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California Medical Marijuana Is a Public Danger

System makes criminals money, makes highways unsafe, and doesn't make the sick any better

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Ben McCalla of KY, medicine is not an age restricted product. No dispensary that followed accepted procedure in providing medicine to juveniles has done anything wrong. Accepted procedure is that the parents/legal guardian sign off, are assigned as the juvenile's caregiver,

It would be a beautiful thing if those under age 18 didn't get sick. A 2 year old shouldn't have brain cancer. But in the real world, cancer doesn't card its victims. Mr. Bensinger however, would gladly deprive children of needed medicine so he can line his pockets with a little more profit from urine test sales. Sick children are nothing more than pawns to despicable, morally bankrupt people like Mr. Bensinger.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/cash-hyde-youngest-medical-marijuana-patient_n_882960.html

I notice that Mr. Bensinger hasn't mentioned any objection to medicinal methamphetamine, AKA Desoxyn®, FDA approved for school children older than age 6 with a target patient between 8 and 12.

Also, please notice that he's not the CEO of DuPont Corporation, he's partnered with a man named DuPont in his urine test distribution business. While his partner is from the family that the huge chemical producing company Bensinger-DuPont is not affiliated with DuPont to the best of my knowledge. Yes, I'm certain that the two companies business interests are compatible.

Duncan20903 of MD 8:32PM October 27, 2011

This article is a complete joke and so is the author. He needs to do some research before opening his ignorant mouth.

Ignorant Author of CA 3:15PM October 27, 2011

What a load of crap. How in the hell does medicinal Cannabis damage the environment? These prohibitionists are getting really desperate. Our time is coming...politicians need to get on board or they will be thrown on the trash heap because the American ppl will not stand for these lies and hypocracy anymore!

Canis420 of FL 2:46PM October 27, 2011

It is very sad that an educated man as yourself chooses to stay ignorant. You have no real idea if marijuana helps the sick because our government will not allow proper testing of this plant. Fact is there are numerous scientific and medical studies that prove you wrong. With all due respect sir you allow yourself to appear rather ignorant.

Joel nevarez of CA 2:40PM October 27, 2011

"Marijuana, with 468 different chemicals and more cancer-causing agents and tar than tobacco cigarettes, is also a dangerous highway and workplace hazard. The use of marijuana significantly increases the risk of motor vehicle crashes."1*

1*The above referenced OPINION is prejudicial.

The fact of the matter is that the war on drugs does not work. The people who want to legalize cannabis are not the criminals, but those who are sick of being forced to deal with the criminal element just to use (not abuse) a naturally occurring plant. No one should be forced to take man made drugs when a natural alternative exists that has been proven to have no side effects and in fact has shown to be massively more beneficial than alcohol tobacco and other FDA approved drugs which have proven more harmful than Cannabis ever has or will. Why should cannabis users be forced to sit at the back of the bus, when Alcohol, tobacco and FDA approved drugs take a front seat? The American people will not tolerate this flawed prejudice any longer. God made my medicine and gave it to me. What or who gave you the right to deny me the right to use it.

annon of WA 2:40PM October 27, 2011

Pulmonologist Donald P Tashkin of UCLA tried to prove a connection between smoked cannabis and lung cancer. What he found instead was a possible protectant effect against cancer.

Maybe once they start teaching the endocannabinoid system in medical schools, we won't have to put up with or listen to venal characters who depend on prohibition for a living.

What kind of democracy IGNORES science in favor of ideology when making laws?

James L of CA 2:38PM October 27, 2011

Mr. Benzinger engages in nonsense sophistry in an attempt to fool people into believing his pack of lies above. Please notice that he's limiting his comments to "smoked" marijuana. Smoking is not required to gain the benefits of medicinal cannabis and is actively discouraged. Vaporization is proven safe and preferred by patients by a margin of 7:1.

http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149:vaporization-as-a-qsmokelessq-cannabis-delivery-system&catid=41:research-studies&Itemid=135

/snip/

The analysis suggests that the blood levels of vaporized marijuana are similar to those of smoked marijuana. However, blood concentrations at 30 minutes after drug administration and beyond were significantly higher in vaporized marijuana as compared to smoked marijuana. In addition, the carbon monoxide levels were significantly reduced with vaporization compared with smoked marijuana. Fourteen participants preferred vaporization, 2 smoking, and 2 reported no preference. No adverse events were observed.

In this study, vaporization of marijuana was found to be a safe mode of delivery. Participants had a clear preference for vaporization over smoking as a delivery system for the marijuana used in this trial.

/snip/

Duncan20903 of MD 1:59PM October 27, 2011

This is probably one of the most illogical and ill thought out commentaries on medicinal marijuana in California that I've read in a long time. It's no wonder our economy can't hold it's own when people in power can't draw rational conclusions from the simplest of political disasters. First off, this guy is from DuPont. Not just from it, he's the CEO. He's not an idiot, as much as he acts like one to sway public opinion. If this guy's serious, then I feel sorry for DuPont and its stockholders.

He can only cite one dispensary that got caught selling to minors, I wonder how many bars in LA got the same charge? Irrelevant to this guy, apparently. The truth is that regulation, not an open black market, make drugs harder for kids to get. Dealers don't ID: dispensaries do. It's that simple. Note how the sale to minors didn't even happen in California, it happened in a state where marijuana is illegal and more expensive: New York.

Medical marijuana is a pervasive for-profit industry? What the hell do you think the pharmaceutical industry is? The only difference between the two is one sells chemical medicine, the other botanical, and one has huge interest groups in Washington - it's still business. Of course they're going to turn a profit. I don't get how the medical marijuana business needs to be some kind of charity just to gain legitimacy. People who grow medical grade marijuana aren't dumb, there's a lot that goes into it and a lot of variables in play; these people deserve compensation for their work. Just because DuPont can't dip it's sticky fingers into the medical marijuana business like it can the pharmaceutical one is no reason to be sore, hoss.

Moving on, you can't discount the cancer, AIDS, and MS patients who receive immense benefit from pot just because it's also a safe recreational drug. Let's say that those 90% of people who "aren't seriously ill" is 95%, instead, is it still worth taking medicine away from that 5% just because the 95% are using an "irrefutably" harmless drug? If that's too hard for you, the answer is no.

You can't scare people with the 468 chemicals nonsense either because as a compound marijuana doesn't cause cancer. It never has and it never will, end of story. In fact, ingesting marijuana puts you at a LOWER risk of developing many forms of cancer, thanks to the wonderful relationship between apoptosis and the endocannibinoid system. Google those if you don't know what they mean.

The use of marijuana has never been shown to cause increased risk of motor vehicle crashes. The only scientific study I can find states the opposite, in fact. Not that driving on marijuana is a good idea; it isn't - you're more likely to get lost, but you aren't a danger to other motorists. You can't just say things, that's not how a debate works.

If you GENUINELY want to lower crime and GENUINELY want to keep the money out of the hands of criminals then you're doing a piss poor job of showing it, Mr. Bensinger.

Ben McCalla of KY 1:20PM October 27, 2011

Mr. Benzinger tells yet another whopper when he claims that that "90%" of California patients have no serious illness. How is Mr. Benzinger privy to such a number? California has no central registry, and strongly protects patient privacy. So where did that number come from? It's very simple, he pulled it out of his ***.

But just for a moment, let's pretend that Mr. Benzinger is correct, and that 90% of California patients are Jeff Spicoli clones. California NORML estimates that there are between 750,000 and 1,125,000 Californians claiming the protection of the Compassionate Use Act and the Medical Marijuana Program Act. Presuming Mr. Benzinger correct, that means there are between 75,000 and 125,000 seriously ill Californians that this despicable, morally bankrupt excuse for a human being would happily force to suffer more than needed. To what end? Mr. Benzinger can't be so stupid that he believes that if the medicinal cannabis patient protection laws were to disappear without a trace at 9 AM tomorrow mornings that the malingering Spicolis he so hates wouldn't have headstash in hand by noon.

Don't let Mr. Benzinger fool you. If he actually believes the nonsense in his screed he's a blithering idiot, but we can all see that he's not a stupid man. That leaves his being nothing better than a self serving sadist as the only logical conclusion. Please don't forget that Mr. Benzinger makes money selling urine testing. All that this man cares about is lining his own pockets.

The only thing required for evil to triumph is for good people to look the other way. We need to tell Mr. Benzinger that no, we're not going to discount the suffering of (at least) 10s of thousands of sick people so that he can have a few extra zeroes on his bank statement.

Duncan20903 of MD 1:11PM October 27, 2011

At 9:43pm yesterday, Oct 26 I posted the crime rate reduction for California in order to refute Mr. Benzinger's lies about increased crime due to the establishment of the Compassionate Use Act. Well, someone just whispered in my ear and reminded me that the crime rate is down substantially for the entire country, and asked if perhaps California was doing worse than the nation as a whole. It's a reasonable question, let's see how the US did for the same time frame.

For the US as a whole:

1996 population: ..... 265,284,000

Total crime index: . 5,087.6

Violent crime: ........... 636.6

Property crime: ...... 4,451.0

.

.

2010 population: ..... 308,745,538

Total crime index: . 3,345.5 ... -34.24%

Violent crime: .......... 403.6 ... -36.60%

Property crime: ...... 2,941.9 ... -33.90%

California's numbers, total crime index = -40.93%, violent crime -48.93%, and property crime -39.34%. Let's not forget that California contributes heavily to the national numbers having 12% of the population. Strip California's positive benefit from the national numbers and we can see that the claim that California's medicinal cannabis patient protection laws is nothing but a canard.