The Speech They Wouldn’t Let Me Make

The Speech They Wouldn’t Let Me Make

Just Another Abuse of Authority.

I’ve been gagged!

First I want to apologize to my readers for not posting this blog more often but for the past month I have been trying to figure what to write. There is too much going on and I can’t comment on all of it. I have spent the last while trying to figure out where my priorities lie and it has boiled down to the Ethical Decay of our Society that has created all these problems. There is not much point trying to advocate for Medical Marijuana because there is none now because of the opposition of the Government and the CMA creating an insurmountable blockade with their refusal to sign applications.

Following is the lecture guide for my speech that pretty much sums it all up. Enjoy and if you agree or disagree please comment. It’s not perfect and I need help polishing it. All help appreciated, and if you know a Senior who should be informed please share my lecture with them: The City won’t let me: damn them to Hell!

Thank you for your attention and consideration

The Senior Citizens Awareness Lecture

Good morning y’all

Thank you for coming and for your interest. This is the first time I have gotten up in public to deliver a speech since my high school debates over a half century ago. Why am I doing this?

My name is Blaine Barrett, I am 72, retired, live here in Surrey and I am disgusted and disappointed with Stephen Harper, his government, our Justice system, Cops- Federal and local but most of all- the Canadian Medical Association. I have become an Advocate for the use of Medical Marijuana and an Ethical Critic of our Society.

I also have a blog where I have voiced my disappointment and criticism of the various parts of the System.

I have long experience with Cannabis. I took my first toke in 1970, and have never stopped for the past 40 plus years. I enjoyed it recreationally for 30 and I still use it on a daily basis to control neurological pain and Depression. Those problems were the result a work accident and WCB mistreatment 15 years ago this coming May. I was legally licensed under the Medical Marijuana Access Program in 2009. I qualified for a 2gm./day and for 4 years I bought my weed from Health Canada:. 2 ounces per month at a cost of $300/month, or $3600 a year. Health Canada will no longer be there as a source of a legal suppy and I don’t use much but when I need it I need it! Now I am a criminal buying street weed from Dispensaries at the same price Health Canada charged-if I am Lucky.

I will not renew my license because it is useless. With it I can only buy legal pot from a Licensed Producer at double that price at best. $7200 a year is way more than I can afford. There are 40,000 other former Licensees who cannot get renewal because of the CMA blocking applications, and if they managed, the average requirement is about 10 gm./month and $36000 is too much for anyone on disability or a fixed Pension income. The Maximum Canada Pension Disability and Old Age Security combined is less than that by a long shot.

There is no Medical Marijuana Program any more. It was destroyed by the new Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations that the Harper Government imposed in April, 2014 and its never coming back. Its destruction was aided by the Canadian Medical Association who have directed all doctors to refrain from accepting patients or signing Medical Marijuana Applications for Purchase.

OUR GENERATION NEEDS IT

You and I are members of the same Generation. We comprise the largest group of people who need access to a supply of a variety of Cannabis derivatives for our Medical use. Our numbers are now growing with the addition of the Baby Boomers. We are all undergoing the unavoidable deterioration of Old Age! We suffer from a long list of complaints: nearly all of which could benefit by treatment with a Cannabis product. Our government and the Canadian Medical Association are intentionally blocking access to all forms of treatment with the exception of Dried Marijuana, the form used mostly by Recreational Smokers who want a high from the THC level.

Seniors are a major growing group who needs access to Cannabis but the majority of Senior citizens have virtually no knowledge of what it can do for them: or most importantly that they are being denied access. The 1930’s propaganda movie Reefer Madness created the basis for all the information we grew up with in mid-century 40’s and 50’s. It was biased to the maximum and portrayed Cannabis as the Demon Weed. The idea was that to smoke a joint was to go crazy and enjoy criminal behaviour because it incited violence and sexual immorality.

In 1960 the punishment for getting caught with a couple of ounces was equal to that of getting caught with heroin or cocaine-almost life in prison on conviction. Viet Nam changed that in the late 60’s when the high you got from it became common knowledge and suddenly the wide spread use of the Hippies blew away the myth of its severe consequences. There were no incidences of violence at Woodstock and Free Love ensured no rape. The promiscuity followed was not the result of Cannabis creating uncontrollable lust but the pleasure discovered in making love when high, everything was enhanced. Mine first experience was equal to a Fourth of July Fireworks show I will never forget. Those of you who didn’t try it sort of cruised through the next couple of decades sort of ignored it thinking “Well, after all it's pretty harmless, it's not affecting my life in any way, the government knows what it is doing and the Cops have things all under control.

What you all missed in those years is that Medical Benefits were discovered and a small group of users managed to get them noticed by the Liberal Party. Creating a medical program is good politics. They created the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations in 2000, received Kudo’s at the next election, and then stopped promoting it

Because of the lack of promotion the program grew very slowly and then the Harper Government came into power in 2008 appointing Leona Aglukkaq Minister of Health opposed all marijuana use and things have gotten worse every day since then. Her last act as Minster was to announce the creation of the Marijuana for Medical Research Program (MMRP) in 2013. Its implementation in 2014 blocked all access to Marijuana if for no other reason than the cost to meet Health Canada requirements. Prices from Licensed Providers today run in the $10-14 range and you can only buy that with a Doctors Declaration that is almost impossible to obtain due to a signature blockade imposed by the Canadian Medical Association.

Both the Harper Government and the CMA intentionally ignored any mention of benefit or acknowledge any positive results from the scientific community. Data does not exist and even if it did it does not meet the CMA Standards for Acceptance which are ridiculous.

Once the Medical Benefits were recognized in 2001 a dynamic world wide Technical Analysis of Cannabis (TAC) began and there has been a tremendous amount of research world wide to understand how Cannabis works and what effects were possible. The Technical Analysis revealed massive evidence of a large range of Medical benefits and our Government and the CMA have denied them all. We have all been lied to for the past 13 years but now their intentional desire to conceal all benefit has been blown to hell.

As evidence of their ignorance the Government has authorized the legal sale of dried marijuana only for all patients and has prohibited all by-products. The CMA has not objected but has restricted their position to deal only with the dried product despite knowing its limitations. You do not smoke marijuana for medical benefit except for 10% of the patient pool who require an immediate effect. Further they limit

At the current time 90% of Medical Cannabis treatment is by patients using some product that is produced by obtaining large quantities of raw green product and processing it into their particular curative concoction. Medical Cannabis is Oils, extracts, salves ointments, all kinds of concoctions. Research has revealed that the benefits of any cannabis strain to any condition is due to what combination of over 100 cannabinoids that a specific plant strain yields. It is the types of cannabinoids and their synergistic interaction that provide the specific effect on a particular problem. The technical challenge in determining the interaction of all this complexity is well underway and I expect future benefits will be amazing as results are determined.

I will end this introduction now and get to the heart of the issue. What caused this Blockade that the Government and CMA have created?

I am an Ethical Critic

I was taught that our Government, the Medical Profession, the Judiciary and the Cops all were made up of Men of Character who deserved my respect and trust. That may have been true in my youth 60 years ago but all of these have suffered Ethical Dry Rot in the past half century.

A Man of Character is a man of high ethical standards but these have been abandoned. The fundamental components are found in the Six Pillars of Character expounded by the Josephson Foundation. but I will deal with only the First Pillar- Integrity because all others are secondary and dependant on it. There are several components to Integrity but once again I will deal only with the first and most important: Honesty. Why is that most important? Because it is upon that we grant our trust. For the past twenty years our government and the CMA have betrayed that trust. They have knowingly and intentionally opposed Medical Marijuana with three major lies that they still claim are the truth

The Three Major Lies

 The Harper Government and the CMA have promoted these lies in their own self interest ever since the creation of the MMAR. These are:

1.    There are unknown terrible risks for both Doctor and Patient in its use. The doctors fear Liability for imaginary bad results that will never happen.

The truth is that in 5000 years of use both recreationally and medically there has not been one death attributed it: nor any medical problem as a result of its use. There is no Risk! Even if there were there are “Disclaimer of Liability” contacts available from their College for the asking. If they were so concerned with risk why do they still use Oxycontin, heroin, morphine and Fentanyl with the known consequences? In the 1900’s Cannabis concoctions were available off the shelf: It was used as a common home remedy until its classification as a Category One drug in the 20’s and Reefer Madness followed. There is no risk in its use.

2.    There is no medical benefit to Cannabis.

That is Stephen Harpers belief and the CMA backs him up by citing a lack of acceptable studies showing benefit.

The truth is that Stephen Harper will not accept science in any way. He comes from a Fundamentalist background that would conclude that it cannot have been use for 5000 years because that’s when his God created the World and there’s no mention of it in his Good Book

The CMA’s position that there are no significant studies shows they are either blind or, asleep and ignorant. In the past ten years there has been more research done on Cannabis and its use and effect than any other Pharmaceutical concoction. Everything about it is being studied:

The most important studies have been the Genetic engineering and the resultant hybrids that are being developed to target the makeup of the mixture of the cannabinoids and their relative strength and what it does for a particular condition. This is going on in as many fields as there are diseases that have shown any benefit from use. There are at least a hundred for almost every ailment that a person can suffer.

The CMA has stated and holds that testimonial evidence is unacceptable. That may have been in the past but it is the nature of the testimonial itself that has changed to warrant its serious consideration and study. It previously was confined to spoken or written testimonial that could not be validated with further study. Such is not the current case because of technology and the internet.

Facebook alone has hundreds of claimed benefits from individuals. Many are complete with a physicians certification of accuracy, backed up by MRI, x-ray, lab results but I know of no attempt by the medical; community to do any follow-up or verification. All they have to do is ask for it and hit send. I am not kidding when I state that over my experience in Advocacy I have seen at least a hundred testimonials claim it cures of a wide number of cancers but no-one checks them out.

Even if the cannabis doesn’t cure whatever you have; it can relieve the symptoms of both your condition and is of great help relieving the nasty side effects of chemotherapy and radiography. Anyone who is diagnosed as terminal should seriously consider adding it to their medical treatment as a last hope when there is none. It may not cure you but it can relieve your suffering as you die. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to remember that option when your time comes.

1.    Cannabis is a Gateway drug!

It leads to addiction and use of harder drugs. Bullshit is all I can say to that. If they want to stop addiction: go after alcohol and tobacco and leave our medicine alone.

On that note I will end this lecture in the hope that you feel that you have not wasted your time. I am available here for questions the rest of the day. I’m going to grab a coffee and let’s go at it. Thanks for coming to hear me. If you have any criticism please tell me. This is my first seminar and it needs polish.

Thank you all again

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy