MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL TO GET ASSEMBLY HEALTH COMMITTEE HEAR

[Tafari]

Wisconsin Coalition for Safe Access
Is My Medicine Legal YET?
Wisconsin NORML
Madison NORML

For Immediate Release: Monday, November 21, 2005

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL TO GET ASSEMBLY HEALTH COMMITTEE HEARING TUESDAY
NOV. 22: SUPPORTERS PLAN TO TESTIFY

What: Assembly Health Committee Public Hearing for AB-740, Wisconsin`s
current medical marijuana bill.
When: Tuesday Nov. 22, 2005 10:30 a.m.
Where: State Capitol Room 417 North (GAR Hall) Madison.

Mondovi & Madison - Jacki Rickert and Gary Storck will be among
Wisconsin patients and supporters testifying Tuesday at a public hearing
for Assembly Bill 740, sponsored by Health Committee chair Rep. Gregg
Underheim (R-Oshkosh).

This is the first public hearing on a medical marijuana bill in 25 years
in Wisconsin. The public is encouraged to come and register in support
and/or share compelling testimony in support of medical marijuana. To
read the full text of the bill go to
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2005/data/AB740hst.html or www.immly.org.

Also scheduled to testify is federal medical marijuana patient Irvin
Rosenfeld, a Florida stockbroker. Rosenfeld has received over 220 pounds
of medical marijuana from the federal government since joining the
program 23 years ago.

Please come down and watch history being made.

Contact info:
Irvin Rosenfeld: 1-877-447-9625 x120, cell 1-954-536-9011,
Irosenfeld@newbridgesecurities.com.
Jacki Rickert, 715.926.4950, rxganja@immly.org.
Gary Storck, 608.241.8922, cell 608.217.4136, gstorck@immly.org.

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Newshawk: Is My Medicine Legal YET? www.immly.org
Source: Wisconsin State Journal
Pubdate: November 22, 2005
Author: PHIL BRINKMAN pbrinkman@madison.com

MEDICAL POT BILL WILL GET HEARING

Every day for the past 23 years, Irv Rosenfeld has smoked up to a dozen
marijuana cigarettes.

On probably every one of those days, someone, somewhere, was arrested
for doing the same thing. But the government not only doesn't care about
Rosenfeld's drug use; it's been his supplier.

One of just seven remaining patients in the federal government's
"compassionate use" program, which provides marijuana for medical uses,
Rosenfeld said the drug helps him cope with the excruciating pain caused
by an estimated 200 benign bone tumors that daily poke at his muscles
and veins.

Rosenfeld, 52, a stock broker from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is the star
witness in a planned hearing today on legislation to exempt patients
with debilitating medical conditions from prosecution for using
marijuana.

Supporters say he's well- qualified to speak on the subject: As of this
week, Rosenfeld has smoked an estimated 220 pounds of marijuana grown by
the federal government on a farm in Oxford, Miss. He's the
longest-serving participant in the program, which stopped accepting new
patients in 1991.

Doctors remain divided over the safety and efficacy of marijuana in
treating pain, nausea and loss of appetite that often accompanies
debilitating illnesses such as cancer and AIDS. Not so Rosenfeld.

"Without marijuana, I probably wouldn't be walking, if I were even still
alive," he said.

Rosenfeld wasn't always a fan of pot. In high school, he actually spoke
against the drug at school rallies. Holding up a bag of the prescription
drugs that had been his near constant companion, he'd say, "Look at me:
I'm not healthy. I have to take all these legal drugs. Why would you, a
healthy person, want to take an illegal drug?"

But after a friend urged him to try marijuana in college, Rosenfeld
said, he found he could sit for more than half an hour. Up to then, he
said, he could only sit for 10 minutes at a time before he had to stand.

In 1982, the Food and Drug Administration authorized him to use
marijuana. Once a month, he goes to his pharmacist for a tin of 300
s.

Rosenfeld maintains he doesn't get a high from the drug - either because
the receptors in his brain are damaged or his pain is so great - and
isn't advocating broader legalization, like many who plan to attend
today's hearing do. Rather, he says doctors should be able to prescribe
the drug when needed.

Although supported mostly by Democrats, the bill's lead author is
Republican state Rep. Gregg Underheim of Oshkosh, who said he was
inspired to introduce it by conversations he had with cancer survivors
while he was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.

Few give the bill much chance of passage in the GOP- controlled
Legislature, where many view it as the first step toward legalizing
marijuana.

Medical experts remain skeptical about marijuana's effectiveness -
especially when it's smoked - in the absence of controlled, large-scale
studies, said Mark Grapentine, a lobbyist for the Wisconsin Medical
Society. A prescription pill containing THC, the active ingredient in
pot, is already available to relieve nausea and vomiting associated with
chemotherapy.

"To this point, there haven't been those kind of peer- reviewed medical
journal (articles) that show that inhaling marijuana through smoking it
is the right way to go, especially when you have all the negative
effects that come with smoking," Grapentine said.

According to the National Institutes of Health, those include a possible
increase in cancer of the respiratory tract and lungs from exposure to
the more than 400 chemicals found in marijuana smoke, including many
found in tobacco. Other risks are well known - if disputed - including
addiction and memory loss.

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Please if your a critically ill patient take a couple minutes to write a letter to the Health Committee members. It is not necessary to contact Rep. Underheim unless you are a constituent as he is the bill's sponsor.

Sample script:

Hello, I am calling about AB 740, Rep. Gregg Underheim's medical
marijuana bill that is being considered by the Health Committee today. I
am asking that Rep. ----- vote for this sensible and compassionate
legislation.

Please stand up for Wisconsin patients by contacting Health Committee
members. Let them know the public thinks safe access to medical
marijuana is a reasonable and overdue action for the legislature to
take.

http://165.189.139.210/WAML//
Gregg Underheim, chair- R Oshkosh
(608) 266-2254 or (888) 534-0054

Leah Vukmir, vice chair- R Wauwatosa
Telephone (608) 266-9180

Curt Gielow- R Mequon
Telephone (608) 266-0486

Steve Wieckert- R Appleton
Telephone (608) 266-3070

Judy Krawczyk- R Green Bay
Telephone (608) 266-0485 or (888) 534-0088

Jean L. Hundertmark- R Clintonville
Telephone (608) 266-3794 or (888) 947-0040

Pat Strachota- R West Bend
Telephone (608) 264-8486

Terry Moulton- R Chippewa Falls
Telephone (608) 266-9172

Sheldon A. Wasserman-D Milwaukee
Telephone (608) 266-7671 or (888) 534-0022

Jennifer Shilling-D La Crosse
Telephone (608) 266-5780 or (888) 534-0095

Amy Sue Vruwink-D Milladore
Telephone (608) 266-8366 (888) 534-0070

Chuck Benedict-D Beloit (Retired Neurologist)
Telephone (608) 266-9967

Tom Nelson-D Kaukauna
Telephone (608) 266-2418 (888) 534-0005

[Tafari]

A little update on some news about the medical bill in WI.

Peace; Tafari


Newshawk: Is My Medicine Legal YET? www.immly.org
Source: Core Weekly
Pubdate: 8 December 2005
Author: Gary Storck

[Note: While I wrote 18, there are actually 19 GOP state senators
now! -- GS]

BILL STANDS CHANCE THIS YEAR

Thanks to Katie Bain for her report on the recent public hearing for
AB-740, ("Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced," Dec. 1).

One point in the article needs clarification. While the article noted,
"Even if the bill is passed by the assembly, the Senate would not get
the opportunity to vote on it during the current session," there remains
an outside chance it could receive a vote in the full legislature this
session.

Since Republicans control both houses, a Republican state senator would
first need to introduce a companion bill in the Senate. If this happened
fairly soon, there would conceivably be enough time before late March or
so when the session is winding down to pass both houses this session.

Eighteen of 33 state senators are Republican. Unfortunately, none have
yet shown interest in taking up this issue. Until that happens, the
farthest the bill can possibly go this session is to pass the Assembly.
But, it first must pass the Assembly Health Committee.

While the process has been agonizingly slow, particularly for patients
and their loved ones, the public hearing was a huge step forward. If the
committee does the right thing and passes AB-740, it will be another
huge step forward. The best thing supporters can do now is write and
call Health Committee members and ask GOP state senators to sponsor a
Senate version this session.

Gary Storck
Director of Communications
Is My Medicine Legal YET?