Madison NORML

For Immediate Release:

When Noah started to give God some lip he was asked, “Noah, how long can you tread water?

The US government’s free for the asking (once) medical marijuana program has treaded in an ocean of medical cannabis hypocrisy for 30 years.

This hypocrisy is best personified by Irv Rosenfeld: husband, career stock broker, dog lover, champion handicap sailor and recipient of 9 ounces of US government supplied medical cannabis every three weeks since 1982. Irv just passed the previous record held by the late Robert Randall, who in 1976 became the first patient to be supplied cannabis from the federal government for the treatment of glaucoma and received it for 26 years.

Irv Rosenfeld comments that, “Four of us in the federal medical cannabis program (IND) were examined for three days at St. Joseph's Hospital, Missoula, MT in 2001using private funds. All of us were found to be in fine physical and mental condition. (1). I am long passed feeling euphoria from my medical use but what I do feel is a lack of pain and discomfort and a frustration with my government for not allowing other citizens to have what is given to me with my gratitude.”

Sitting in his Florida office Irv continued, “While the US government has been arresting patients and caregivers for using cannabis medically they have been sending it to four of the Directors of Patients Out of Time (POT). In my case I have gotten my medicine for over 26 years, the longest use of any medicinal cannabis patient. Federal myths about cannabis not being medically accepted, coupled with its world wide use as a medicine on every continent plus the 14 states that have accepted the medical community’s endorsement of medical value (1) has created a conundrum for US medical cannabis policy. Political whim versus hard science for the federal employees of the HHS and NIDA has been the mantra for making medical decisions concerning cannabis. That professional betrayal the Obama administration can correct. HHS needs to answer The Petition to Reschedule Cannabis in the affirmative. Meaning, declare my medicine may be good for all citizens and turn our medical use of cannabis over to the health care community instead of having us treated by the police and jailers.”(2)

Mary Lynn Mathre, RN, President of POT and pioneer in the education of the health care community about the therapeutic uses of cannabis adds her comments from her VA office, “Irv suffers from a rare disorder called multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis and without the medical use of cannabis he would be crippled, unable to work and on numerous pharmaceuticals to manage his pain or maybe even dead. Cannabis is a safe and effective medicine for a variety of ailments. Irv and only 3 other US citizens can legally smoke cannabis supplied by our government. What about the rest of us? Why does our government forbid us this medicine? There is no honest justification for the prohibition of cannabis”

(1)www.medicalcannabis.com
(2)www.drugscience.org
IND=Investigational New Drug Program

Irv Rosenfeld
Newbridge Securities
(877) 447-9625 x120

Al Byrne, Co-founder
Patients Out of Time
(434) 263-4484