Leveque exposes a billion dollar medicine that turns out to be useless, and the ignorance of the federal government wrestling with a business threat called legal Medical Marijuana.
(MOLALLA, Ore.) - U.S. Representative Mark Souder from Indiana was the head of this lynch mob. Eli Lilly Company of Indianapolis was certainly one of his major constituents. They had just chemically produced a new drug for A.D.D., A.D.H.D., etc., and were heavily advertising it as a miracle drug. A.D.D. affects millions of children, so it was a multi-billion dollar product.
Simultaneously in California, medical marijuana doctors had found that marijuana cookies helped these A.D.D., A.D.H.D. patients. This was an extreme financial hazard to Lilly’s billion dollar a year medicine. Something extremely drastic had to be done to quench this disquieting news that a “weed” could be better than a billion dollar medicine.
“Let’s hold a Congressional hearing and trash medical marijuana in general and bring in fake marijuana experts and the news media in to get maximum publicity.”
Boy, oh, boy did they bring in the hired gunslingers:
1. Director National Institute of Drug Abuse, NIH
2. Director of Office of Drug Evaluation, FDA
3. Director of Institute for Behavior & Health
4. Chief of Diversion Control Program, DEA
5. Dr. James Scott, Oregon Board of Medical Examiners
There were some defenders of medical marijuana:
1. Dr. Claudia Jensen, USC/ Medical school, who taught a course in cannabis therapeutics at USC Medical School.
2. Robert Kampia, Executive Director Marijuana Policy Project, D.C.
3. Dr. Phillip Leveque, Oregon’s leading medical marijuana doctor (ME)
I was invited to pay my own way, but I was told by “friends” at Marijuana Policy Project, “If you want to get chewed up and trashed by Rep. Mark Souder, just come over.” Souder had allowed me 5 minutes to defend myself and my patients. I decided it wasn’t worth it.
Souder tried to trash marijuana from the first minute. Calling it “so-called medicine” and that we were “convincing many Americans that marijuana was a true medicine for many diseases.”
Colonel Eli Lilly opened hisbusiness at 15 W. Pearl St., inIndianapolis, Indiana in May 1876 Photo: Eli Lilly and CompanyWell, in fact it is a true medicine and a quick look at history shows us that Eli Lilly Company in Indianapolis was one of the major manufactures of cannabis medicine, up to the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.
Souder also stated that, “Marijuana’s utility as medicine was unproven.” This despite the fact it has been used for at least 4,000 years, Eli Lilly included, and was the leading medicine in the U.S. for at least 50 years. Now it was a threat to Lilly’s new A.D.D. drug.
Souder also decries California and Oregon laws that, “Few if any restrictions are placed on what conditions marijuana may be used to treat and virtually no restrictions are placed on content potency or purity of such medical marijuana.” Wrong again!
The really strange thing about this is that the U.S. Government itself says that 77 million Americans have used marijuana and probably about 10 million use it daily. Our experience in Oregon is that 99 percent of our new patients are using it for “medical purposes.” We estimate at least 100 thousand Oregonians use it medically when they can get it.
Dr. Nora Volkow of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) made the statement that, “of 21 million people who reported using marijuana in 2001, 2 million met criteria for drug addiction.” (Just because one uses it doesn’t mean he is an addict. Cannabis has a very low addiction potential.) She also made comments about the bad effects of marijuana. I thought she was talking about Oxycontin, which is widely prescribed and has caused thousands of deaths. Marijuana/cannabis has never killed anyone.
In passing, I must say she doesn’t know much about marijuana. She thinks people smoke the leaves. Wrong again!
I could go on. The congressional report is 20 thousand words over 31 pages. You get the idea though!
An unusual aside to all this, I just found out, Eli Lilly’s A.D.D. drug doesn’t work and they probably sold it to a subsidiary.
You can email your questions to the doctor: newsroom@salem-news.com
More information on the history of Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of Phil Leveque about his experiences in WWII. Order the book by mail by following this link: salem-news.com/pages/Dogface_soldier.
If you are a World War Two history fan, you don't want to miss it.
Watch for Dr. Phil Leveque's video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King.
Other articles and video segments about medical marijuana on Salem-News.com:Oregon Medical Marijuana Doctor Tells All: Q&A Part 6 (VIDEO)Medical Marijuana: Treatment for Marijuana DependenceMedical Marijuana Medical ConditionsMedical Marijuana Medical ConditionsConnecticut Governor Vetoes Medical Marijuana BillMedical Marijuana: PTSD Medical MalpracticeMarine Combat Vet Discusses Iraq, PTSD and Medical MarijuanaThe Most Dangerous Man in OregonMedical Marijuana: What it's AboutOregon Medical Marijuana Doctor Discusses PTSD Treatment (VIDEO)PTSD: Life-Long Challenge For Growing Number of VeteransMedical Marijuana: A California Success StoryOregon Medical Marijuana Doctor Tells All: Q&A Part 3 (VIDEO)Medical Marijuana: The Replacement for Very Dangerous DrugsOregon Toxicologist Says Treatment for PTSD Should Include CannabisMedical Marijuana Doctor Responds to Written Comments (VIDEO) (Originally titled Oregon Medical Marijuana Doctor Tells All: Q&A Part 3)Oregon Medical Marijuana Doctor Answers All (VIDEO)
Medical Marijuana Madness: Congressional Lynch Mob, A.D.D. and Lilly PharmaceuticalSalem-News.com