[Mtnorml-list] Action Alert: Tell Congress to end DEA War on Patients

[Montana NORML]

Friends,

We just got this press release from our friends at Patients & Families 
United, a Montana medical marijuana patient advocacy group.  As you 
might remember (http://tinyurl.com/2z3wfk), DEA has acted against 
Montana patients recently.

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Montanans Who Suffer Obstacles to Pain-Relief Urged to Alert the State’s 
Congressional Delegation

Congress Taking Close Look at DEA’s Immoral War on Patients

(July 11, 2007) -- Montanans who have suffered from pain – but been 
unable to obtain effective, helpful treatment from their physicians – 
should let the state’s congressional delegation know about these 
problems, a support group for medical marijuana patients said today.  It 
might be especially important to communicate with Rep. Denny Rehberg 
because of a House hearing scheduled tomorrow morning, said Patients & 
Families United.

The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and 
Homeland Security plans to hold hearings tomorrow, July 12, at 10 am, 
focused on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s “regulation of medicines.”  The 
hearing is expected to include the subjects of pain management issues 
and medical marijuana, and people can watch a live video feed of the 
event at: 
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://judiciary.house.gov.

Patients & Families United, a Montana group representing the state’s 368 
registered medical marijuana patients, called on all Montanans who have 
faced pain-relief obstacles to get involved now, whether they are 
medical marijuana patients or not.  The group noted that information 
sent to Rep. Denny Rehberg could be entered into the House congressional 
record if received by his office before next Tuesday, July 17.

“The federal DEA’s continuing war on suffering medical marijuana 
patients, even in states with compassionate policies like Montana’s, is 
well known,” said Bob Meharg, a retired critical-care nurse who is 
chairman of Patients & Families United.  “But the DEA’s unscientific and 
immoral behavior goes far beyond the issue of medical marijuana.  They 
have been actively and deliberately making it increasingly difficult for 
sick people who are suffering to get the relief they deserve and that 
should be readily available from their physicians,” Meharg explained.

“It may be that licensed, practicing physicians are even more afraid of 
the DEA than medical marijuana patients are,” Meharg noted.  “Just as 
doctors can be reluctant to recommend medical marijuana to patients who 
clearly would benefit from its pain-relief and other scientifically 
proven values, physicians are increasingly afraid to prescribe even 
ordinary pharmaceuticals because of paranoia about DEA intrusion and 
interference with their professional judgments,” he reported.

Meharg said that the issue of fair and adequate treatment for pain is a 
fast-growing national concern, especially as the population of America 
ages and as the draconian “war on drugs” escalates.  He said that dozens 
of states now feature “pain management initiatives,” including Montana, 
whose coalition on pain management recently held its first statewide 
conference on the subject of improving policies to make life better for 
patients.

“Our research shows that fear of the DEA is one of the major reasons 
that many physicians won’t recommend medical marijuana, which scientists 
have proved has great value in treating cancer, diabetes, M.S. and 
numerous other conditions, as well as in reducing pain of all kinds, 
without the negative side-effects and risks involved with opiates,” 
Meharg said.  He noted that 121 physicians in Montana have recommended 
marijuana to 368 patients in 36 counties, who are now registered in the 
state health department’s medical marijuana program.

He said the national Pain Relief Network is calling on Americans who 
have faced obstacles to getting effective pain relief to let their 
congressional delegations know about their difficulties as soon as 
possible, so that awareness might increase in conjunction with the 
Thursday hearings.

“We’re asking every Montanan with a pain relief horror story to tell, or 
who has an informed opinion about the pain relief crisis in America, to 
tell our delegation, and especially Denny Rehberg.  If people convey 
this information to Congressman Rehberg by early next week, their 
comments can be entered into the Congressional Record,” he concluded.

He said people can learn more at www.painreliefnetwork.org.  Montana’s 
Patients & Families United offers information about its work in Montana 
at www.mtmjpats.org, a website that is still under construction.

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