Reefer Madness: The debate about Medical Marijuana is on!

Does marijuana help people like Angel Raich? Is it illegal if a doctor prescribes it? "The justices refused three years ago to protect distributors of medical marijuana from federal anti-drug charges." Or do people just want to get stoned?

There’s also the argument that says we need the FDA to study it more closely. What about the Vioxx scandal and a supposed coverup by the FDA that David Graham brought to the public? I think all you need to do is talk to someone from the seventies and you'll get all the information that you need to know. Why did it take a study from 2001 to tell us that pot gives you the munchies?

I'm surprised the big drug companies aren't pushing to allow them to distrbute yet another drug legally out into society. There are ads on 24/7 that makes it seem like happiness is a just a pill away!

Yet children are commiting suicide from these Antidepressants that are supposed to be a godsend.

Where’s the outrage?

When has anyone jumped off a bridge after smoking a joint? You might want to eat the bridge, but normally, one wants to lie on the couch with a bag of chips and a subway footlong sandwich and watch the tube.

The side effects for oxycodone, percocet, and vicodin often include addiction and painful withdrawals, yet are almost completely ignored as a deterrent in their prescription by doctors.

The other argument that doctors will write prescriptions blatantly like drug dealers is capricious at best. I don’t think a person will be able to walk into a doctor’s office and say, "I have this twinge, can you write a script for chronic?" They can already go to the mall and do that. If marijuana will help people, then what is all this hubbub? Do we still have Reefer Madness on our minds?

Talk Left has a series of great articles about MM.

Here's an in-depth video clip segment from Aaron Brown on the subject:

Video

My landlady told me a few days ago how surprised she was to hear an interview on the local NPR station with two families from our neighborhood, who were some of the 100 local families using a local church's food bank. When I saw her the next day, she said she'd mentioned the story to a friend who belongs to that church, and the friend told her the story was wrong: There are actually 200 families using the food bank.

I'm going to go through my cabinets and see what I can spare. In the meantime, I thought I'd remind readers how many of our neighbors are struggling through these desperate times. If you can still afford to give anything, please go through your cupboards and donate this week to your local food bank.

If you don't know of one, you can look for them here. You can also contact them if you need help for yourself or your family (in many states, you can also call 211 to see what services are available):

Feeding America

Pantry Net

Angel Food Ministries

Foodpantries.org

The Harry Chapin Food Bank (Northwest Florida)

The Chester County Food Bank (PA)

New York State Regional Food Banks

Food Bank NYC

Northern Illinois Food Bank

North Texas Food Bank

There are, of course, thousands more food banks around the country. If you know of one you'd like to recommend, please leave a link in the comments.

What are you watching? I finished my Buffy and Angel marathon and now I'm starting on "Sports Night"

I'm on season five of Angel now. Amy Acker's transformation from Fred into Illyria was a really interesting choice on Joss Whedon's part..

As many of you know, Jane Hamsher has breast cancer and is scheduled for surgery Thursday (correction). FDL had to shut down the comment section so you can leave one on the new thread here. I know in my heart that she'll be at the Libby trial faster than a speeding bullet and I hope by her staying with me---it has brought her a small measure of comfort before she goes in for treatment.

I broke out Buffy The Vampire Slayer and we've been watching some episodes in between her doctor visits. Yes, she's an Angel and Buffy fan too, (She digs Spike) and we've had some incredible pretzel rolls and Ben & Jerry's ice cream. We've been close friends almost from the beginning of our blogging days and I couldn't have been happier that she's here with me. The whole blogosphere is praying for her and wishing her all the best and she has had a smile on her face for much of her stay so far. I'm not that eloquent a writer to adequately express myself at times like these--so I thought I would use this time to say that if you ever have the chance to help somebody---please don't hesitate. I've been lucky to have people help me when I've needed it and it's nice to pay it forward, especially for someone like Jane.

I'll echo Duncan's fine words.

Still, like many people, when faced with awful news I plea for miraculous fortune. Hope is not a plan, but hope is hope. So let's hope for Jane.

I won't be posting much myself in the coming days, as you know. Please link all the posts about Jane that you find in the comment section. It would be nice to keep them in one thread....

Open Thread

"You were looking at my neck." "What?" "You were checking out my neck, I saw that."
"No, I wasn't." "Just keep your distance, pal." "I wasn't looking at your neck."
"I told you to eat before we left." -- Xander and Angel

Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Gallactica are all back with their premier episodes tonight.

SG-1 is my least favorite ( I do like it. I'm up to season six now via Netflix ), but I saw two actors from Farscape in the trailer so I'm jacked about that. Atlantis and Gallactica flat out rock. Get away from the mad world of politics (I've been through evey Buffy and Angel) and don't miss out on Sci-Fi Friday.

I need a break from politics

John Cole posted on this yesterday. Yes I am a Buffy and Angel fan. Own all the seasons on DVD. Joss Whedon is a phenomenal writer ( Toy Story oscar nomination ) I've always felt that if the series were called: "The Slayer" it would have attracted a far greater audience. Buffy is being taught in Pop Culture classes now.

What I find is that in the last several years women are much more interesting characters to watch as hero figures on TV or in the movies for that matter. It started for me with Emma Peels , but Buffy took the mantle in the late 90's and w/o the series would Alias have ever been made? Sydney is really Buffy without the mystical aspects built in. Actually two former Buffy and Angel writes were hired for this last season. (Update)-Great article in USA TODAY "Holding out for a heroine"on women as leads in the new action films.

John is on Season Five which I liked. He was asking for "Cool v. Uncool" Anyone care to weigh in? If you do "No spoilers" I will say that "Faith" ( Eliza Dushku ) needs her own series. The choice Eliza made of Tru Calling is a big mistake. Maybe when she stops getting the "bad" girl rolls on B-movies she'll realize that a Faith series would catapult her career. By the time she turns 30, the series would be over and she'd be doing A movies projects like Sarah.

Since I've seen Season V, I won't say much. My favorite Seasons are II and III.

Here's Cole's picks:

Buffy's sister- uncool
Giles's new car- cool
Xander tired of being everyone's 'bitch'- cool
Riley- still uncool
Buffy in pink leather pants- cool
Spike only having cameos- uncool
My still missing the bitchy, whiny, shallow, obnoxious, and insufferable Cordelia (BEST. BUFFY. CHARACTER. EVER. Spike and Drusilla are a close second) even though she has been gone a season- uncool.
Xander's Demonic girlfriend- very cool