Saturday, February 11, 2006

Steve Steiner: Guilty of murder?

The Associated Press is reporting that an unfriendly committee has voted to table New Mexico's medical marijuana bill, likely killing it for the session.
"Why are you trying to kill us?'' Essie DeBonet, 61, of Albuquerque shouted at committee members as the vote sank in after an emotional hearing on the proposal.

DeBonet said she has suffered from AIDS for 18 years and needs marijuana to control the pain without giving her nausea that prevents her from eating.

Reena Szczepanski of the Drug Policy Alliance Network, which lobbied for the bill, said supporters will try to regroup and get the committee to reconsider the measure before the session ends.

"We're really disappointed, absolutely heartbroken,'' she said.
In related news, the Santa Fe New Mexican ran an article exposing Steve Steiner's potentially illegal lobbying activities in the state.
Ironically, Steiner's group is partly funded by the company that makes the drug that killed his teenage son.

...

According to DAMADD's Web site, Perdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, is a sponsor of the organization.

Several other large pharmaceutical companies, including Jannsen, Bristol-Meyers, Roche, Alpharma, UCB, Endo, Cephalon, Teva and Boehringer Ingelheim, also support DAMADD. "Big (pharmaceuticals), they see what's happening," Steiner said. "They gave us funding unrestricted."

...

The pharmaceutical industry never has been visibly active in opposing medical-marijuana legislation in New Mexico.

But the industry -- which contributed more than $97,000 to New Mexico political campaigns in 2002 and more than $56,000 in 2004 -- stands to lose money if marijuana became a free and legal treatment.

Prescription drugs to combat nausea and other symptoms, as some supporters say marijuana can do, may cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month.
Good to see the mainstream press finally starting to expose this pharmagoon's antics.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Holy shit that's hilarious! I thought you guys had the NM legislature all greased up and fooled. Oh well. You lose.


Again.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, arresting and jailing seriously ill people for following their doctors' recommendations is really fucking funny.

Get a life.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought SSDP was a student drug reform group. Are you a group of doctors? Are you a public health lobbying group? Hmm....

For a minute there I thought that you were really just a bunch of pizza-peddling dopeheads trying to trick people into legalizing "medical" marijuana so that you can push your political agenda for legalizing marijuana.

Wait a second, that IS what you are.

What's really disgusting is that you use the plight of the sick and dying to push your political agenda. You got called out on it in New Mexico! You lost. You'll lose over and over again. Everyone knows you're not doctors - You just play doctors on TV.

THAT is hilarious.

Jonthon said...

"Every revolution has its counter-revolution - that is a sign the revolution is for real."
~C. Wright Mills

Thank you anonymous, for validating our efforts.

"First the ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
~Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

I look forward to the battle that will ensue. Your willingness to draw upon ad hominem arguments suggests that you will not be a worthy adversary.

Anonymous said...

"Murder?" "Pizza-peddling dopeheads?"

Does anyone else think the rhetoric is getting a tad overheated here?

I think there are lessons about all sides in this post:

Regarding the anonymous prohibitionist, (if their IP address doesn't trace back to DAMMADD's offices) I would bet that Mr. Steiner delighted reading it. It's the kind of mean-spirited attitude we've come to expect from the anti-drug establishment, indicative of how you value control over tolerance and respect. It's the same attitude that will never resonate with youth, and never stop drug use.

As far as the curt replies, and the personal attacks on Steve Steiner in DPR blogs, this is what can happen when you take their bait. Reformers lost focus of the issue by getting distracted by one man's lobbying. We're better than that, the truth is on our side.

And yet again JT Barrie proved that some people will grip a kernel of truth and rant about it ad nauseam.

So the prohibitionists pulled off a backhanded victory. Pick up, dust off, and come back stronger.

Anonymous said...

In RI, the RI Medical Society endorsed the medical marijuana bill. So did the RI State Nurses Association. So did the RI Family Academy of Family Physicians. Not to mention the founder of the Center for Addiction Studies at Brown University, along with the (physician) head of Brown's Center for HIV/AIDS. And the efforts of groups (most notably SSDP) were one of the key drivers of the law getting on the books.

Don't sound like pizza peddling dopeheads to me....jerk off

Anonymous said...

The Santa Fe New Mexican no longer has the Steiner article up, did any of you get a screen shot, I'd love to read the article.

Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

I consider it a sign of the efficacy of any particular movement when trolls show up to hector; they evidently haven't learned a lesson every commo type in the Army learns right off the bat: never let your opponent know just how effective his efforts are.

By their showing up here, they are letting us know that despite their bravado, they're scared. Very scared. If they weren't, they'd remain smugly silent. Yet...they show up here.

11 States have MMJ laws; slightly less than a quarter of the country...and more are contemplating them. Like water wearing away a rock in a stream, drug law reformers are eroding the bulwark of prohibitionism.

When the number of States passing MMJ laws reaches the same number required for a Constitutional Convention, the politicians will suddenly 'discover' this issue has legs and put their support behind it, and the bulwark will come down as fast as the Berlin Wall did. Pols fear those words "Constitutional Convention", as they know it's a 'Pandora's Box' they dare not open, and will do what they have to to avoid the necessity. There's nothing like the threat of a majority of States going against Fed will to cause a quick reversal of Fed political positions. Keep up the good work!