Letters
• Medical Marijuana - Dr. Allan
Frankel
• Thoughts on the future - Nick
Napolitano
• Another View of the Ocean
Front - Annette Robinson
• Say No to
Permit Parking in Venice
Medical
Marijuana
Dear Beachhead,
Recently the media has been covering
the latest round of DEA “busts” of Los Angeles Medical Marijuana
Caregiver clubs. Although Medical Marijuana is legal in California, the DEA
continues in its attempts to override this decision made by the people of
California in 1996. These attempts will ultimately be decided in the courtroom.
Political and financial issues are driving this turf war. Unfortunately, those
who lose in this battle are the legitimate qualified patients who find the
greatest benefit in the use of this medicine. I’d like to leave the
political situation aside and take a look at the issue as a medical one, from
the perspective of a physician.
As a
Board-Certified Internist, a physician licensed to practice in the State of
California, I believe Medical Marijuana is a powerful yet extremely safe
medication. Anything that interferes with patients getting the best possible
medication compromises care and is a violation of the “Doctor Patient
Privilege.” After thirty years of practice and serving two decades as a
Clinical Instructor of Medicine at a prestigious University Hospital, I believe
I am qualified to decide whether a given patient might benefit from Medical
Marijuana. Whether suffering with cancer, AIDS, depression, anxiety, nausea, or
chronic pain, all patients should have the option of discussing their symptoms
and treatment plan with a physician. If this plan includes Medical Marijuana as
determined by the Patient/ Physician partnership AND is legal, (as it has been
since 1996 in California), any qualified “Care Giver” should be
permitted to dispense the medication to this physician-verified patient. Most
people don’t know that Marijuana is far safer than both Aspirin and
Tylenol. It has highly predictable effects and has no known lethal dose. The
“Therapeutic Ratio,” (benefits to side effects), is the highest of
any known medication. There are also predictable side effects as no medication
is without side effects.
Various
strains of Marijuana have very different physiological and psychoactive effects.
If a patient medicates with an activating form, he might become over-stimulated.
If a patient medicates with a sedating strain, she may become sleepy. Knowing
how to take a medication is always critical and the same applies to Medical
Marijuana. The great news is that all strains of Marijuana can be effective,
safe, and non-addicting when taken as directed by a knowledgeable physician.
Marijuana is, in fact, a “medicine,” and should not be used without
adequate professional advice.
Remember, Marijuana is a
“restricted” drug for political reasons - not for medical safety or
efficacy issues. The current California Medical Marijuana System is emerging as
a significant force in alternative care for patients who have not been helped by
traditional methods. Many individuals have dedicated their lives to this end.
Without these pioneers risking incarceration to help patients who truly benefit,
we would be light years behind. Although Marijuana has been used medicinally for
thousands of years, it was not until recently physicians and patients learned
the myriad strains of the plant have entirely different actions and therefore,
diverse applications. Many Marijuana strains are mind activating and are used
for conditions such as depression and ADD/ADHD.
Other strains can be as sedating as
sleep medications. With the assistance of a medical doctor, various strains can
be used for specific patient needs. For example: SATIVA STRAINS: The THC
molecule in these Marijuana strains have been genetically altered over many
years. They have stimulant, activating, focusing and anti-depressant activity.
An individual medicated with a Sativa strain can achieve an increased level of
focus, alertness, mood elevation and creativity. I have many patients who have
unsuccessfully tried numerous other medications for mood disorders who currently
use Sativa Marijuana strains to alleviate their depression. These patients do
not look or act “stoned.”
Contrary to popular belief, with a
properly determined dosage they function at or above their usual functioning
levels. INDICA STRAINS: These strains have very different biological effects
than the Sativas. Indicas are sedating, calming, and muscle relaxing. These are
the strains best used for pain, anxiety, and insomnia. The patient, however, may
look and feel “stoned.” These can be used at bedtime or during an
acute migraine headache or acute back spasm. Even with the sedating Indicas, if
the dosage is correct, this medicine can achieve its desired effect without the
patient experiencing undesired psycho-physiological side effects. On the
“street,” most Marijuana strains are never identified. I recently
saw a Breast Cancer patient on chemotherapy who was told by her well-meaning
chemotherapy nurse to go “try Hollywood Blvd....” to obtain
Marijuana to treat her nausea, weight loss, and pain symptoms. Not only is it
unsafe and unsavory, the patient may have no idea whether she is purchasing a
stimulant or relaxant. These are major issues when it comes to proper
treatment.
Who would deprive an AIDS
patient with a wasting syndrome a medication proven to revive his appetite? Who
would persecute a cancer center for allowing their patients a Medical Marijuana
Recommendation giving them access to a gentle and non-toxic medicine to address
their appetites, nausea, depression, mental anxiety and pain? What is seemingly
immoral is the fact that people who could most benefit from Medical Marijuana
have no idea that it is even an option - a safe, effective, and legal option in
the State of California. This needs to be remedied.
- Dr. Allan Frankel and the Green
Bridge Medical
Team
-----------
Thoughts
on the future
Dear
Beachhead,
Be awake, Be aware, Be
alive. This all will change, and not by some magic force, rather the people will
reach that all feared breaking point and react, I think the challenge is going
to be finding a way to take that energy and putting it into effective means (as
in not watching major cities simply descend into
rioting.)
I see a revolution of sorts coming
from all sides and political spectrums and even a-political spectrums. I see
people whom would normally not even associate in the same room working together
to achieve a specific end by a specific means. The question that leaves me
wondering greatly is “After the fall, and the inevitable civil war for
power ensues, and the multiple factions that once worked together are now
ripping each others throats out to be the “new kings and queens of this
republic, Would the American populace not beg for a police state that would in
effect end up being more brutal that the one that currently exists? Would the
sheep without direction, comfort, or the ability to be complacent beg for some
ultra brutal force to “restore
order?”
We must have a vision and a
direction to implement, otherwise we are inherently doomed to repeat
history.
Empire rises>Empire falls through
foreign or domestic means>Empire is restored in a similar if not more extreme
manner by those same people who advocated the
fall.
We cannot go from being the
oppressed to being the oppressors, this cannot be sustained in any realistic
manner.
The challenge has been set, how
long will the masses wait to answer the call? We cannot afford to wait for
someone else to do it, each and every one of us must do what needs to be done.
We cannot say, “X person will come along and create a movement of massive
proportions.” We need to stop waiting for some Saviour, we can save
ourselves if we choose to. We must make that choice, we must take that leap onto
the road less traveled.
Hope and truth
are great and powerful weapons that we all possess. No human or weapon can take
your hope, no human or weapon can alter what is known to be truth. The power
players have greatly underestimated the sheer power of the human spirit, no
matter how bad things get, things will come full circle. We are alive in quite
possibly the most interesting and horrific period in American
history.
We must learn to take care of
one another, all we have is each other. We must learn to live and survive
autonomously with one another with no help from those outside of our autonomous
communities.
The old ways are becoming new
again, these destructive ways that the human race has adopted must be forgotten
again.
We must end the simple chatter
of these ideas and start making the dream a reality. There is no better place
than here and no better time than now. The future is ours if we choose to shape
it. Our reality can change quicker than many would like to accept. We can be if
we choose to be, the greatest generation of all. The future is unwritten, grab a
pen.
-Nick
Napolitano
-----------
Another
View of the Ocean Front
Dear
Beachhead,
The boardwalk is humming
again. The craftspeople are working away. The visitors are striding along to see
what comes next. Business is brisk. The police are smiling at the vendors.
Everyone is content since the city officials are holed up in their offices
thinking up ways to fix the ordinance of March 2006 that lead to dismay and a
lackluster beachfront.
There is so much
to do by the city. There are the dirty rest rooms to keep clean and the
boardwalk to steam for the spots and dirt that mar the beauty of the beach.
There are vendors that take up two spaces and a few, just a few who sell
commercial goods. All this is the city’s job to regulate and repair.
The job of the boardwalk sellers is to
serve the public and see to it that the visitors go away with a feeling of good
will. The one thing that the city has done well is the lottery that insures
diversity simply by chance. Any attempt of the city to regulate the makeup of
vending will certainly spoil the excitement and charm of arts, crafts,
performances and fortune telling strung together like 200 beads that don’t
match and encouraged by the public from all over the
world.
Annette
Robinson
-----------
Say
No to Permit Parking in Venice
Dear
Beachhead,
This letter is sent in the
hopes of informing people about the organized hate directed toward poor and
homeless people in Venice. It is also a special request asking people to do
something about it: to act with a simple email, fax, letter, or phone
call.
This may sound a little odd, but
I am asking you to PLEASE write the Coastal Commission a note - in your own
words - asking them NOT to allow permit parking west of Lincoln Blvd. (see
contact information, below) This request is an attempt to offset the efforts
waged against homeless people by the Venice Neighborhood Council and others.
The Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC),
for a short while, was more diverse and progressive. It had committees for
affordable housing, poverty and homelessness, and it had people serving who were
concerned about these issues as they relate to those suffering with the lowest
“quality of life” here in Venice.
The city of Los Angeles invalidated an
election using a feeble challenge and this more diverse and progressive Venice
Neighborhood Council lost its ability to meet with a quorum. The city then
organized a new election committee consisting of those who worked to remove the
more diverse and progressive council and there’s that bit of Venice
history - in brief.
Now the VNC has an
on-line petition against homeless people and it has an on-line form to report
people living in vehicles to the City Attorney’s office – listed
right on the front page of its web site. No forms or links were found there to
help people report violence or criminal activity committed by the housed people
in Venice.
The VNC is not very
progressive on poverty issues now, to say the least. It has a committee that has
been organizing to get rid of poor people living in vehicles by creating
Overnight Parking Districts (OPD). This is a permit parking system with rules
and restrictions. There are charges for permits, renewals, and separate guest
pass permits. It allows only so-called “residents” with matching car
registrations to get the “resident” permit. It is implemented by
small areas or blocks and it restricts parking in the middle of the night. This
is a relatively new Los Angeles municipal law, which came from Venice property
owners and Los Angeles Councilman, Bill Rosendahl, District 11.
The Coastal Commission recently denied
this OPD permit parking system for the area west of Lincoln Blvd. This area is
under their coastal jurisdiction. The Coastal Commission previously stated
‘beach access’ as a reason for denying permit
parking.
A few “residents,”
and even the council office, might pretend that the permit parking is not mainly
about getting rid of poor people who are forced to live in vehicles. But a
Rosendahl aide, Mark Antonio Grant, did admit at the August VNC meeting that the
homeless issue is a “hot button” for permit parking.
Some of their alternative statements have
been:
• The beach is closed
between 10pm and 7am anyway, BUT these hours come from the county (which is
contracted to manage the beach). It is my understanding that the Coastal
Commission may not agree with the county on this issue for many reasons.
• People are storing cars on
streets, BUT there is a 72-hour City law and easy access to a special number to
call and get these vehicles cited and towed if they are not moved.
• The City is allowing parking
requirement exemptions to businesses and the residents suffer when the
businesses take away the residential parking. This is a problem, BUT when the
City allows businesses to pay a relatively small fee so that they can get out of
complying with the parking requirements, it is a separate
issue.
Please also note that there is
quite a bit restricted parking in Venice already: 2-hour parking signs,
no-parking signs for nighttime hours, city or county-owned lots that cost money
or have no overnight parking, and residential parking given away to businesses
by granting variances. The many 2-hour parking, and the no-overnight parking,
street signs have been initiated by anti-homeless movements in Venice that are
supported by the city and paid for using our tax
money.
Since the Coastal Commission
denied the OPD permit system, there appears to be a VNC movement to send
documentation of so-called criminal activity associated with the homeless to the
Coastal Commission to help their case.
The whole concept of creating permit
parking, street sign restrictions, or municipal codes specifically to get rid of
homeless people from an area - essentially criminalizes the people with the
lowest “quality of life” in Los Angeles. In 2005 the homeless count
was 91,000. These are disabled people, war veterans, aging people not eligible
for social security, working people unable to pay rent, and families.
Criminalizing these people is not
humane, it is not cost effective, and it is not a solution to the homeless
problem.
The time and money it takes to
implement or lobby for these laws could be MUCH BETTER SPENT creating more
affordable housing (not just a few token bits in big expensive developments),
protecting any lower income housing left standing, and getting people more
services - as opposed to the limited services forced on poor people (by using
punitive methods) that help create “chronically” homeless statistics
(42-percent of the 2005 homeless count was considered “chronically”
homeless). Stop and ask yourself why the LA County Jail is still the largest
mental health facility in the county.
I
have heard politicians say that there is no political will to get more
affordable housing or services. The people lobbying them are the ones who want
the court system and law enforcement to remove the people living with the lowest
“quality of life” out of communities suffering from heavy
gentrification, such as Venice.
Please send
an email or a letter to the Coastal Commission people I have listed here asking
them not to allow permit parking west of Lincoln. This is nothing but an effort
to eliminate poor and homeless people from the
area.
Please consider sending emails to
our city council, Assembly members, Senators and Congress people to lobby for
transitional housing connected to services, more [real] affordable housing, and
to stop the insane use of law enforcement to criminalize those living with less
privilege than the property
owners.
Peter M. Douglas, Executive
Director
Coastal Commissioner Steve
Blank
Coastal Commissioner Dr. William A.
Burke
California Coastal
Commission
45 Fremont St. #2000, San
Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 904-5200 •
Fax (415) 904-5400
Jack Ainsworth,
Deputy Director, Los Angeles County, California Coastal
Commission
200 Oceangate, 10th Floor, Long
Beach, 90802
(562) 590-5071 • FAX (562)
590-5084
Bill Rosendahl, Los Angeles
Councilman Dist. 11
Mike Bonnin, Chief of
Staff (mike.bonin@lacity.org)
City Hall
Office: 213-473-7011
200 N. Spring Street, Rm
415, L.A.
90012
councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org
-Peggy
Lee Kennedy
Posted: Sat
- September 1, 2007 at 08:00 PM