Medical Marijuana and the DEA

Phillip Leveque has spent his life as a Combat Infantryman, Physician and Toxicologist.

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I guess I’m just getting old (eighth decade). I just cannot understand the recent raids by Drug Enforcement Agency bozos on sick, debilitated medical marijuana patients. I suppose that if the U.S. Government pays these bozos enough, they will do anything they are ordered to, even against sick patients.

One of the worst I heard about was raiding and taking the medical marijuana crop of a bed-bound quadriplegic with the parting sneer, "We could take your car and house, too, if we wanted to."

The recent raid on Don Dupay, a former Portland, Oregon detective who is very sick with Hepatitis C and on a medical disability pension, stretches understanding. He was growing legally for forty other patients, which is a noble act considering the DEA "goon squads."

I will presume these goons are so brainwashed and regimented that they will just obey orders. The really weird aspect is that in California there are 160 legal dispensaries where 300,000 medical marijuana patients can buy their medicine.

THE DEA IS TRYING TO STOP THIS. What birdbrain hallucinated this? In Oregon there are about 15 thousand patients and 7 thousand caretaker/growers; the DEA is trying to stop this. Am I hallucinating? They must be!

British Columbia grows about 20 billion dollars worth of marijuana per year. California is about the same. Oregon, a smaller state, grows about one billion dollars worth.

Even the U.S. Government estimates 70 million people have tried marijuana and as many as 10 million use it regularly. I won’t call this strange; I’ll call it schizophrenic. Who is running this insanity? Whoever it is, they need to burn a little weed and chill out. PLEASE.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR DR. LEVEQUE? Email: newsroom@salem-news.com or simply write a comment at the bottom of the page. You do not have to use your real name if you are not comfortable doing so. We will do our best to have your questions addressed in upcoming segments.

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Phillip Leveque is a physician, toxicologist and WWII Combat Infantryman. Watch for his video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King.
You can email your questions to the doctor: newsroom@salem-news.com

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George Washington Carter August 14, 2007 11:45 pm (Pacific time)

Having blown weed in my younger days, I realized a keen mind was worth much more than the buzz encountered. I left it long agon and never looked back; decision made when it was affecting not only short term, but long term, memory. Still feel it's less harmful than alcohol, but both do impair! The loss of your brain cells will catch up to you some day. Saw that for sure in the ageing hooka smokers in Morocco. They're totally bonkers, and scary!

To George Washington, 14 August:

Yes! A person can get addicted to euphoria but they must work at it.

viva la MJ August 13, 2007 11:26 pm (Pacific time)

I especially like this post: Reverend Vapor August 13, 2007 6:10 am (Pacific time) legalize. Decriminalize. Plant a seed, water the plant. No law can take away what naturally grows amongst our land.

To JC_IN_OR, 12 August: Marijuana makes a patient feel better. This is BAD. Thanks.

L. Reyes August 13, 2007 7:42 pm (Pacific time)

Thank you for publishing a story that doesn't distort the truth and create more paranoid and ridiculous propaganda against marijuana. The war on cannabis is a war on the American people! It has nothing to do with "the war on drugs!" When kids were only smoking pot in high school, they didn't shoot and stab their classmates like they do on Ritalin, Luvox, and a plethora of other "legally" prescribed drugs! Where's the outrage against "legal" pharmaceuticals? Leave the weed alone.

To L. Reyes, 13 August:

You are correct about Ritalin, etc. being dangerous. Thank you.

Reverend Vapor August 13, 2007 6:10 am (Pacific time)

legalize. Decriminalize. Plant a seed, water the plant. No law can take away what naturally grows amongst our land.

Ralph Givens August 12, 2007 8:22 pm (Pacific time)

It's time to wake up to the fact that punishing "victimless" or "consensual crimes" is a crime against humanity because punishing victimless "marijuana crimes" exceeds the standard for retributive punishment established in the Bible— Exodus 21:23 "life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise" (Also see Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21) Since nobody has been murdered or blinded and no teeth have been knocked out and no maiming or injury of any kind has occurred, ANY punishment for a "marijuana crime" is excessive. Punishing "victimless crimes" is precisely what the Nazis did and we know history's judgement on those morally bankrupt creatures. Drug crusaders and Nazis scapegoat the victims of their inquisitions as the cause of great societal woes, but offer nothing in the way of proof. Both systems are based on lies used to justify bone deep criminality and moral decay. Drug convictions often bring more prison time than hijacking a plane, beating someone to death in a fight, detonating a bomb in an aircraft or providing weapons to support a foreign terrorist organization. The maximum sentence for all those crimes together is less than the mandatory minimum under federal sentencing rules for many victimless "marijuana crimes." Enforcing Draconian drug laws is clearly a crime against humanity.

To Ralph Givens, 12 August: You are totally correct. Thank you.

jeff August 12, 2007 3:59 pm (Pacific time)

legalize marijuana

catfish August 12, 2007 11:52 am (Pacific time)

This should be a WAKEUP CALL to all Oregonians....this war against medical patients is really being waged from the office of President Cheney ( you know, the one we elected as VP; but who is really attacking Oregon's Salmon and Legal Structure!) It is an attack on Oregon, and our STATE RIGHTS!!! The federal OPPRESSION can be likened to Nazi Gestapo tactics!.... "Secret Courts" and feds forcing people to narc on their friends and Patients! I hope that all of you realize that this is yet another example of the Oval Offices' attempt to SUBJEGATE US Voters to the White Houses' "FEAR CAMPAIGN"! It is WASTING MILLIONS OF OUR TAX DOLLARS ON POINTLESS PERSECUTION OF SICK PATIENTS! It is being conducted for the benefit of Shrub's Friends at the Big DRUG companies!....they are trying to do the same thing as was tried 100 years ago...the "Prohibition" of Alchohol. It didn't work back in Elliot Ness's day and it won't work now! Just TAX Cannabis and STOP ATTACKING SICK PEOPLE AND TAKING THEIR EFFECTIVE MEDICINE!!! Oregoniams MUST SPEAK UP, or we will be subjected to the same FEDERAL OPPRESSION THAT CALIFORNIA IS! BUSH HAD GOT TO GO - NOW. IMPEACHMENT rallies are being held in several Oregon towns this week - BE there! I will! ConcernedCat

To Catfish, 12 August: Hoorah! Thank You.

S.LaMarche; August 12, 2007 8:02 am (Pacific time)

Nobly spoken Dr., nobly spoken.

To S. LaMarche, 12 August: Now we know the cause of Tourettes. Thank you.

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Medical Marijuana and the DEA

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