HB642 not on calendar for Tuesday

Everyone,

I've mentioned in a few places that House Bill 642 The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act has been placed on the house calendar for full debate this coming Tuesday, April 13.

However, I just talked to Rep. Todd and she was as surprised as everyone else when that bill miraculously made it through rules committee and was placed on them calendar only one day after coming out of the judiciary committee. That never happens.

What she thinks happened is that they got her affordable housing trust fund bill confused with her medical marijuana bill and it was placed on the calendar by accident.

WE WILL NOT BE MOVING FORWARD WITH THIS BILL THIS YEAR.

There is no need to show up in Montgomery on Tuesday. When the bill comes up in the house Rep. Todd will ask that it be tabled. This is not bad news at all. She told the members of the judiciary committee that we would not try and move the bill the remainder of this session. If we were to turn around and do what we said we weren't gonna do then chances are they would kill our bill next session. And, truth be told, we have a great deal of work to do between now and next session every member of the House. We have concentrated on the committee members and not so much on the other 100 or so members of the House. That is what we will be working on between now and next session.

Rep. Todd also shared with me some really excellent news.

She said that the day after our bill passed out of committee she was on the House floor and many legislators came up to her and told her what an excellent job she did and how we are moving in the right direction and how they support the bill.

I asked her if she was a shocked by the incredible things Rep. John Robinson said in committee and she said that she was. She said Rep. Robinson was also on the house floor the next day promoting this bill to everyone and talking it up.

Folks, 2011 may be out year for finally passing legislation that protects doctors and patients in Alabama.

Loretta

Video of Alabama house committee hearing on medical marijuana

Here is the video of yesterday's Alabama House Judiciary Committee hearing on HB642 the medical marijuana bill. I had to break it up in different size parts because the file was huge and there was a corrupt place in it that my computer would not process.

I am working on getting my thoughts on all of the amazing things I heard in the committee hearing transformed into an article.

This video provides a unique look into the legislative process. It is rare that an entire committee hearing is filmed. All most people ever get to see is a blurb on the 5 O'clock News or an article in the newspaper, neither of which can tell the whole story of what goes on in a committee meeting. This particular one was fascinating and it is well worth your 40 minutes or so of time to watch it.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7

Re-Elect Patricia Todd

I don't often make public endorsements of candidates for office in Alabama. That's mainly because I am a very controversial figure and my endorsement can be a double-edged sword. However, there are a few candidates that have no problem associating with me or having me endorse their campaigns.

One of those candidates is Rep. Patricia Todd (D-54 Jefferson). Rep. Todd is our medical marijuana bill sponsor this year, as she was last year. She believes in this particular issue as much as I do and as much as the patients who make up Alabamians for Compassionate Care do. We couldn't ask for a better champion for our cause.

Rep. Todd is also a champion of what I consider to be other great causes like affordable housing, reducing homelessness, mass transit in our large cities, constitutional reform and ballot access reform.

I am asking all of my readers and everyone in Alabama who supports medical marijuana or any of the other issues I mentioned to please make a campaign contribution to re-elect Rep. Patricia Todd in November 2010. You can do that by mailing a check or money order to:

Patricia Todd
1320 58th Street South
Birmingham, AL 35222

Please make a notation on your check or money order that you are a Compassionate Care supporter and include a note thanking Rep. Todd for having the courage to take up this controversial issue during an election year. She is one of the few elected officials in Alabama that actually has guts...and a lot of them. Let's show our appreciation in the form of a campaign contribution.

If you support Public Transportation in Alabama TAKE ACTION

From: Patricia Todd
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 3:06 PM
To: Patricia Todd

Subject: IMPORTANT NOTE ON TRANSIT FUNDING! Please distribute to your lists

My bill that would amend the state constitution to allow for road funds be
used for pubic transportation is on the calendar in the Government
Appropriations Committee and the Road Builders have called for a public
hearing.

THIS IS THE TIME FOR YOUR VOICE TO BE HEARD!

Call the members of the Committee and let them know that you support my
bill, you can call the main number, fax them, email them and better yet,
come to Montgomery for the hearing tomorrow. It is 1:30 p.m. in Room 617.

Members of the Committee are:

And these are the members of the Committee:
John Knight, (77 - Chair)
Jack Page (29 - DeKalb/Etowah)
Gerald Allen (62 - Tuscaloosa),
Locy Baker (85 - Henry/Houston)
Billy Beasley (84 - Barbour/Bullock/Russell)
Greg Canfied (48 - Jefferson)
Ron Grantland (9 - Cullman/Morgan)
Laura Hall (19 - Madison)
Charles Newton (90 - Butler/Conecuh/Crenshaw)
Jody Letson (7 - Lawrence)
Jay Love (74 - Montgomery)
Yusuf Salaam (67 - Dallas )
Tommy Sherer (13 - Walker)
Elwin Thomas (34 - Blount/Jefferson)

The main number of the House where you can leave a message for members is
334-242-7600.

Two ACC Patients Tell Their Story

Couple Discuss Reasons for Medical Marijuana Use

Many thanks for Chris and DJ for being brave enough to do this interview with WAFF 48 in Huntsville. Also, many thanks to Robyn McGlohn for doing this story in such a respectful way.

Couple discusses reasons for medical marijuana use
Posted: Jan 14, 2010 5:32 PM CST Updated: Jan 15, 2010 5:37 AM CST

By Robyn McGlohn - bio | email

CULLMAN, AL (WAFF) - The debate over medical marijuana use will soon be a topic on Alabama lawmaker's agenda. A state lawmaker from Birmingham is again pushing a medical marijuana bill.

Chris and DJ Butts are both users of medical marijuana because they both suffer from illnesses. They say it dulls the pain, and it's the healthy alternative to what they are prescribed.

Chris and DJ have been married for 12 years and have three children. They tell their story in hopes House Bill 207 passes through the 2010 Legislative session.

The bill, sponsored by representative Patricia Todd of Birmingham, wants Alabama to recognize certain illnesses, like cancer, anoxeria, and chronic arthritis, are alleviated by the effects of marijuana.

The bill also states if passed, doctors will not be penalized for discussing or recommending the use, and those who qualify will be allowed to grow no more than 12 marijuana plants.

But for the last 4 years it's failed in the legislature. Which means the Butts do what they can to get it.

"Right now it's a drug deal. It's a street transaction just like anything else," said DJ.

They know their actions are not right, feel the choice to smoke is a better alternative than what their doctor's prescribe.

"First of all there are about 535 pills per month that I'm supposed to put into my body, opiate based," said Chris.

"It's a snowball, and before you know it you're taking 10 pills a day and most of them are to counteract symptoms from the original pill," said DJ.

The Butts want to make it clear they're not hippies or pot heads looking for a good time. They belong to a church and they say they're Alabama citizens who want the right to make their own decisions with their doctors.

Compassionate Care Meeting Nov. 7th

On November 7th, 2009 Alabamians for Compassionate Care will hold a meeting in Birmingham to prepare for the upcoming legislative session in 2010. The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act will again be sponsored by Rep. Patricia Todd of Birmingham. Rep. Todd will also be in attendance our meeting to tell everyone what to expect and what things they should be doing to help get this bill passed.

This meeting will take place from 2 - 4 p.m. at the Libertarian Party Headquarters located at 2330 Highland Ave. South (on Southside...not in Irondale). Refreshments will be served. So, load up your car with people who are interested and meet us there!!

If you plan to be there please RSVP to this post or to lorettanall@gmail.com so that we can properly prepare and have enough refreshments for everyone.

Sen. Larry Dixon Implies Medical Marijuana Turns Cancer Patients Lesbian

UPDATE: Many thanks to reader sixstring who fixed the audio for me so that y'all can hear this stupidity straight from the horses ummmmm mouth.



At least I guess that is the point Senator Larry Dixon and the hosts of Morris/Montiel were trying to make this morning on WACV 107.9 FM in Montgomery.

I got an email from a friend of mine who called in and asked Senator Dixon how come he never responded to repeated requests for his position on HB434 The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act. Senator Dixon's response was that he would never support it and that the sponsor of the bill was none other than Lesbian Patricia Todd.

Y'all reckon that pissed me off?

So, I called in and asked the following questions of Senator Dixon.

The first question was "Since you don't support medical marijuana does that mean that you support locking up cancer patients in prison?"

The second question was, "Why did you find it necessary to bring up Rep. Todd's sexuality in reference to this bill as it has absolutely nothing to do with medical marijuana?"

(Note: This was written before I got the audio straightened out and varies a little from what is below...but not in any way that changes the context)

He answered the second question first and said, "Well, she is a lesbian, and she ran her campaign on being a lesbian and she advertises it at the State House you know she does she advertises it at the state house...that she is a lesbian. She is a lesbian and she advertises it and I was just letting people know who she is. I'm older now and more accepting of people that ain't like me you know and I like Rep. Todd just fine...we get along just fine...but she is a lesbian."


One of the hosts pointed out that Rep. Todd is a 'liberal democrat' and that the medical marijuana bill is a liberal bill. I wonder if he thinks that cancer, HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, Alzheimer's, chronic pain, glaucoma, epilepsy and illness of that nature are liberal illnesses that only attack those bad liberal people who just beg to be attacked?

They of course never answered why they thought it was important to discuss Rep. Todd's sexuality in the context of the conversation about HB434. I guess maybe they were trying to imply that smoking medical marijuana for cancer might turn you into a lesbian. I suppose if Ms. Laura Hall had still been sponsoring the bill they would have implied that smoking medical marijuana would turn you black.

How can people be so deliberately ignorant and willfully stupid? Are the listeners of that show equally ignorant and willfully stupid? I hope not. I know at least two that do not fit that description and that would be the friend who emailed me about Senator Larry Dixon being on the show and a gentleman named Andrew who called in after me, identified himself as a conservative and said he supported medical marijuana and the right of people to be gay as long as no one was being hurt. I'd say Andrew is a TRUE CONSERVATIVE.

Back to the first question which was, "Since you don't support medical marijuana does that mean you support locking cancer patients in prison?"

Sen. Dixon, "No, No I don't support locking cancer patients in prison. There are no cancer patients in prison. I have just as much experience with cancer as you do (and how much would that be and how much experience do you reckon he thinks I have with cancer?) and there are oncologists studying this thing and"

At this point one of the hosts jumps in and says "Yeah and there's pain doctors"

Sen. Dixon, "Yes pain doctors and Marinol which is Tetra-Hydra-Cannabinol (boy he sure knows a lot about marijuana if he knows the scientific name for THC and how to say it for someone who does not support the bill) in pill form that can be prescribed. There's just no way to enforce such a law about who can smoke it and who can't."

Unfortunately they control the phones at the station and cut you off as soon as you ask your question so I didn't get a chance to respond. I did record it but messed up the file because I didn't have the audio turned up loud enough so it can barely be heard. If anyone out there knows how to boost the audio on a WMA file please let me know.

If I had gotten the chance to respond I would have pointed out the obvious, which is that Marinol isn't covered by most insurance companies and costs about $700 a month for 30 pills. Plus the fact that cancer patients often have trouble taking pills because they cannot keep anything down due to nausea and vomiting caused by the chemo/radiation. Not to mention that the government has no business interfering in the doctor/patient relationship and as 'conservatives' who oppose 'large government' in general (yuk yuk) and socialized medicine (on the grounds that it will put the government between you and your doctor) they sure aren't acting 'conservative' on this issue.

It's amazing how two radio hosts and one Senator think their uninformed opinions mean more than what a doctor says regarding medical marijuana. I'd wager that none of them have ever been to medical school. I'd also wager that if anyone in their family is ever stricken with a terrible ailment that medical marijuana can help they will go and find some.

This is also not a partisan issue. As I stated earlier disease and terminal illness and chronic pain don't discriminate between liberals, conservatives, libertarians, independents, black, white, straight or gay, so how can medical marijuana be a 'Liberal' issue?

For those of you who would like to tell the show what you think you can do so by signing up on their forum here. Also feel free to let Senator Dixon know what you think.

House panel hears case for medical marijuana

By BRIAN LYMAN
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Capital Bureau
Mobile Press Register

MONTGOMERY -- Supporters of medical marijuana, including a Butler man suffering from two forms of cancer, asked a House Judiciary subcommittee Wednesday to approve a bill allowing doctors to prescribe the drug to patients.

Donald Prockup, a carpenter by trade battling leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, brought a box full of what he said were 1,000 prescriptions he had to help him deal with pain from his illnesses -- none of which, Prockup said, worked as well as marijuana.

"This medical marijuana alleviates a lot of this," Prockup told members of the House Judiciary Committee's Civil Justice Subcommittee. "I won't need (these drugs) any more."

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, would allow Alabama doctors to prescribe marijuana to alleviate the symptoms caused by 13 different medical conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, seizures and glaucoma.

It would also allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for any medical condition that severely limits a person's ability to perform "major life activities" or would cause serious injury to a person's safety or medical health if not prescribed.

Hall, whose son died of AIDS 15 years ago, said marijuana could have alleviated some of the symptoms that he faced in his final months, including nausea and loss of appetite. She called the bill "very personal."

"This is a difficult week for me," she said. "This week, in 1992, our son was dying of AIDS. He was very ill, and if I'd had any opportunity to make that time easier, I would have done that."

Michael Phillips, a former Montgomery Advertiser writer who suffers from a benign brain tumor that gives him seizures, said four surgeries to remove the tumor have failed. He told the committee that marinol -- an FDA-approved drug whose active ingredient is THC, which is also found in marijuana -- has not controlled seizures he suffers due to his condition.

Marijuana, he said, reduced seizures from three to five a day to two seizures every six to eight weeks. He said he has been arrested twice for possession.

"Because of my disability, I'm considered a criminal, because of my four unsuccessful brain surgeries," he said.

Twelve states have decriminalized the use of medical marijuana, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York-based group that seeks changes to national drug policies. In 2004, 76 percent of respondents in a Press-Register/University of South Alabama poll said they approved of doctors prescribing marijuana to patients.

Committee members did not vote on the bill at Wednesday's public hearing.

No one spoke in opposition to the bill, a fact noted by subcommittee Vice Chairman Charles Newton, D-Greenville.

Newton said the witnesses made an "outstanding case, an eloquent case" for the bill, but that he wants to hear from any opponents.

"We may ask why other states have not legalized it," he said. "We need to be more informed."

The Legislature has only four business days left on its calendar, and Newton noted that it would be very difficult -- but not necessarily impossible -- to pass the bill into law.

Hall said she would be content with getting the Judiciary Committee to approve the it.

"I'm not known for having bills with easy roads," she said.

Medical Marijuana Gets Panel Hearing

By Jamie Kizzire
Montgomery Advertiser

Michael Phillips, 37, of Millbrook has sought surgery and medical treatments to curb the seizures caused by an inoperable brain tumor.

"I've been on every seizure medication known to mankind," he said.

The only thing that has helped has been marijuana. Since he began smoking marijuana, the number of seizures has been cut from several each day to one every six to eight weeks.

On Wednesday, Phillips and his mother joined four others to urge the House Civil Justice subcommittee to support a bill that would allow medical use of marijuana in Alabama.

While none of the six citizens support recreational drug use, they don't want the stigma of marijuana to prevent it from becoming a legitimate medical treatment in the state.

"I am considered to be in some people's eyes a criminal," Phillips said.

No opponents spoke at the public hearing, but committee chairman Rep. Charles Newton, D-Greenville, said he wished he could have heard the concerns of opponents.

Newton said 12 states have allowed medical marijuana. He said the opposing side might have told them why more states haven't followed suit.

"Alabama is not out there alone," Newton said. "We need to be informed as well as we can."

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, asked if making medical marijuana available would send mixed signals to children being taught the dangers of illegal drugs.

Dr. Ken Collins of Gardendale, who spoke in favor of the bill, said it's simply a matter of education.

"There's recreational use and then there's medical use," he said. "I think the differentiation would come from just basic knowledge."

Phillips, who learned about medical marijuana from a news program, had to make that differentiation to his mother.

"I was totally against it to begin with," said Jackie Phillips. "But I have changed my mind."

Her son lives with her because of his condition. She has seen marijuana help curb his seizures.

"I pray to God it will be legalized (for medical use) because I know that there are people out there that it will benefit," she said.

Bill sponsor Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, said it's unlikely the measure will pass since the session is almost over. She said if the bill came up for a vote, there would likely be more opposition.

"A lot of times you don't hear from the opposition until it's ready for a vote on the floor," she said.

However, she said it's good to educate other lawmakers about the issue.

"These are real people who expressed their concerns," said Hall, who believes medical marijuana could have helped her son dying of AIDS in 1992.

Other speakers included Don Prockup Jr. of Butler, who said marijuana helped during his treatment for lymphoma.

Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, said the bill could help ease the pain of HIV and AIDS patients.