{"id":7039,"date":"2018-09-18T14:22:43","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T18:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lcpllutzlivetotell.org\/?p=7039"},"modified":"2019-08-08T12:29:27","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T16:29:27","slug":"moab-inspires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/?p=7039","title":{"rendered":"MoAB inspires House Candidate David Shapiro to push for legal cannabis for veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>House candidate David Shapiro wants legal cannabis for veterans<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H3TqdJMRdeg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"byline-item\">By <a href=\"mailto:billy.cox@heraldtribune.com\">Billy Cox<\/a><br \/>\nStaff Writer<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-summary\">Removing marijuana\u2019s federal schedule 1 status is a campaign issue in the 16th Congressional District race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">SARASOTA \u2014 Candidates for the District 16 congressional race are staking out divergent positions on the question of whether marijuana should be removed from Schedule 1 status to afford military veterans another potentially potent option for dealing with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, something explored recently by the Herald-Tribune and supported by a growing field of veterans and national veterans organizations in the face of an <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/rxforveterans.com\/\">epidemic of military suicides<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Herald-Tribune report, \u201c<a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/rxforveterans.com\/\">Warriors Rise Up<\/a>,\u201d addressed the suicide phenomenon that has claimed the lives of more than 75,000 veterans and uniformed military personnel from 2005 to 2015, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study released in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Survivors of war in Afghanistan and Iraq shared horrific tales of addiction to VA-dispensed painkillers. Some spoke of being reduced in rank or drummed out of the military for seeking pain relief from cannabis. They insist marijuana is far less dangerous and often more effective than prescription \u201ccombat cocktails,\u201d some of which can trigger suicidal ideation. All who participated in the story were exasperated by the categorization of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug with no medicinal value. In demanding legal access, they want the plant descheduled altogether.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Democrat David Shapiro, the Siesta Key attorney running against incumbent Rep. Vern Buchanan, favors removing marijuana\u2019s Schedule 1 status, which equates the plant with heroin and as something more dangerous than Schedule II cocaine. Buchanan says more research into medical marijuana is warranted, and he does not support changing cannabis\u2019 status.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related related-media\">\n<article class=\"summary\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<div class=\"gh-slider-wrapper gallery-inline\" data-gh-slider-gallery-object=\"{&quot;main&quot;:&quot;gh-slider-180917530-main&quot;,&quot;nav&quot;:&quot;gh-slider-180917530-nav&quot;,&quot;counter&quot;:0,&quot;interval&quot;:3,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Related Images&quot;,&quot;link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;articleTitle&quot;:&quot;House candidate David Shapiro wants legal cannabis for veterans&quot;,&quot;category&quot;:&quot;&quot; }\">\n<p class=\"article-summary\">Removing marijuana\u2019s federal schedule 1 status is a campaign issue in the 16th Congressional District race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">SARASOTA \u2014 Candidates for the District 16 congressional race are staking out divergent positions on the question of whether marijuana should be removed from Schedule 1 status to afford military veterans another potentially potent option for dealing with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, something explored recently by the Herald-Tribune and supported by a growing field of veterans and national veterans organizations in the face of an <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/rxforveterans.com\/\">epidemic of military suicides<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Herald-Tribune report, \u201c<a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/rxforveterans.com\/\">Warriors Rise Up<\/a>,\u201d addressed the suicide phenomenon that has claimed the lives of more than 75,000 veterans and uniformed military personnel from 2005 to 2015, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study released in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Survivors of war in Afghanistan and Iraq shared horrific tales of addiction to VA-dispensed painkillers. Some spoke of being reduced in rank or drummed out of the military for seeking pain relief from cannabis. They insist marijuana is far less dangerous and often more effective than prescription \u201ccombat cocktails,\u201d some of which can trigger suicidal ideation. All who participated in the story were exasperated by the categorization of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug with no medicinal value. In demanding legal access, they want the plant descheduled altogether.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Democrat David Shapiro, the Siesta Key attorney running against incumbent Rep. Vern Buchanan, favors removing marijuana\u2019s Schedule 1 status, which equates the plant with heroin and as something more dangerous than Schedule II cocaine. Buchanan says more research into medical marijuana is warranted, and he does not support changing cannabis\u2019 status.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related related-media\">\n<article class=\"summary\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<div class=\"gh-slider-wrapper gallery-inline\" data-gh-slider-gallery-object=\"{&quot;main&quot;:&quot;gh-slider-180917530-main&quot;,&quot;nav&quot;:&quot;gh-slider-180917530-nav&quot;,&quot;counter&quot;:0,&quot;interval&quot;:3,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Related Images&quot;,&quot;link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;articleTitle&quot;:&quot;House candidate David Shapiro wants legal cannabis for veterans&quot;,&quot;category&quot;:&quot;&quot; }\">\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-7041\" src=\"http:\/\/lcpllutzlivetotell.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/AR-180917530-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/AR-180917530-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/AR-180917530-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/AR-180917530-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/AR-180917530-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/AR-180917530-272x182.jpg 272w, https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/AR-180917530.jpg 1320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI think he didn\u2019t hear the stories of the people who were at that symposium you held the other day,\u201d said Shapiro, referring to Buchanan\u2019s position and a Sept. 6 panel discussion stemming from \u201cWarriors Rise Up.\u201d \u201cAnd the fight of the families of these individuals who went to war for us, and come home and actually take their lives \u2014 20 a day. And the stories are the same across the country. That\u2019s a study in and of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">But Buchanan\u2019s office said his approach is appropriate and that he has advocated other actions to help veterans while studies are done.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe support the position taken by Drug Free Manatee that more research is warranted,\u201d Buchanan\u2019s spokeswoman Sally Dionne said in statement to the Herald-Tribune. \u201cIn the meantime, Vern sponsored legislation to promote legal alternatives to opioids, greater research and prevention efforts, expanded access to treatment for those in recovery and better screening to catch illegal drugs before they enter the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI think he didn\u2019t hear the stories of the people who were at that symposium you held the other day,\u201d said Shapiro, referring to Buchanan\u2019s position and a Sept. 6 panel discussion stemming from \u201cWarriors Rise Up.\u201d \u201cAnd the fight of the families of these individuals who went to war for us, and come home and actually take their lives \u2014 20 a day. And the stories are the same across the country. That\u2019s a study in and of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">But Buchanan\u2019s office said his approach is appropriate and that he has advocated other actions to help veterans while studies are done.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe support the position taken by Drug Free Manatee that more research is warranted,\u201d Buchanan\u2019s spokeswoman Sally Dionne said in statement to the Herald-Tribune. \u201cIn the meantime, Vern sponsored legislation to promote legal alternatives to opioids, greater research and prevention efforts, expanded access to treatment for those in recovery and better screening to catch illegal drugs before they enter the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cHe also co-sponsored the Veterans Overmedication Prevention Act, which would require the Veterans Affairs Department to review the deaths of all veterans treated by the VA who died by suicide or from a drug overdose in the last five years. This legislation is critical to learning if prescription drugs, specifically opioid painkillers, are a contributing factor in suicide-related deaths among veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong class=\"\">Research, formal and informal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Last year, the National Academy of Sciences announced that marijuana\u2019s Schedule 1 label is actually crippling scientific research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In November, the American Legion, the nation\u2019s oldest veterans service organization with 2.2 million members, formally urged Congress to deschedule marijuana in order to expedite that research. VA physicians are prohibited from giving cannabis to veterans, even though the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency\u2019s website reports no deaths attributable to marijuana.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Shapiro is not a veteran, but his late father was a Marine who survived the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. His dad also was a volunteer at a VA hospital, where he mingled with younger veterans recuperating from combat in the Global War on Terror. Shapiro, who often joined those conversations, said \u201cI knew of the addictions, opioids, oxycodone, but I knew that from my own work as a personal injury lawyer, so I knew the dangers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">He eventually began hearing veterans talk about how cannabis relieved pain and nausea. At the <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.heraldtribune.com\/news\/20180906\/in-sarasota-panelists-insist-cannabis-can-reduce-addictive-opioid-use\">Herald-Tribune\u2019s Hot Topics conversation<\/a> in Sarasota two weeks ago, Shapiro listened to Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Janine Lutz describe how her son Johnny was prescribed a dangerous benzodiazepine that the VA\u2019s own website warned against administering. Diagnosed with PTSD, the former Marine who saw action in Afghanistan and Iraq took his life in 2013 at age 24. Lutz sued the VA for wrongful death and was awarded a cash settlement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get (cannabis) off Schedule 1 &#8230;,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cIf we can avoid that story, of the woman\u2019s loss of her son to suicide \u2014 and we know they\u2019re committing suicide, 20 a day, and we can prevent it with the use of medical marijuana \u2014 I say let\u2019s do it, by all means.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cLet\u2019s at least see what we already know, the empirical information and data that\u2019s available to us, see the common thread, and start working toward a solution. So I would say to (Buchanan), the research to some degree is already there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong class=\"\">The roots of Schedule 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Marijuana was arbitrarily categorized as a Schedule 1 drug by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. A year later, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported on cannabis\u2019 ability to relieve pressure for glaucoma patients. America\u2019s first official medical marijuana patient was registered in 1975. Today, more than 2 million Americans have medical marijuana cards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Dozens of bills to liberalize marijuana laws are under discussion on Capitol Hill. In an especially notable move last week led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Panhandle Republican, the House Judiciary Committee voted to propose legislation that would force recalcitrant Attorney General Jeff Sessions to approve at least two applications to grow marijuana for federal research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">In 2016, the DEA agreed to accept bids from private growers that would end the 50-year marijuana research monopoly owned by the University of Mississippi and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which had been criticized for producing substandard crops. After 26 applications were filed, Sessions ordered the DEA to suspend the screening process earlier this year and has been stalling on licensing ever since. Gaetz\u2019s Medical Cannabis Research Act bill would also directly empower the VA to conduct clinical trials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWhile this vote marks a step forward,\u201d said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, \u201cit must also be acknowledged that despite existing barriers to research, ample studies already exist to contradict cannabis\u2019 federal Schedule 1 status as a substance without medical utility, lacking acceptable safety, and possessing a high potential of abuse. More clinical research is welcome, but unfortunately science has never driven marijuana policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Two weeks ago, two Democratic U.S. senators, Florida\u2019s Bill Nelson and Hawaii\u2019s Brian Schatz, filed a bill that would allow the VA to prescribe cannabis for veterans living in the 30 states where medical marijuana is already legal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">But with Schedule 1 in place, those options would not extend to active-duty troops. According to the VA, 3.8 uniformed personnel kill themselves each day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Shapiro, a political novice, said Nelson\u2019s proposal is \u201ca step. And sometimes you\u2019ve got to take that first step. And then people start becoming less afraid. So I think that sometimes you\u2019ve got to go for the half loaf, if that\u2019s what it takes to get the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who hopes to unseat Nelson in the Senate, has not responded to the Herald-Tribune\u2019s request for his stance on legal access for veterans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWell, I\u2019ll deal with that when I make it to the Senate,\u201d he said at a press conference in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Scott\u2019s office has been embroiled in litigation attempting to prevent Florida\u2019s medical marijuana patients from smoking the plant, despite a 2016 referendum approved by 71 percent of the voters without stipulations.<\/p>\n<p>Retrieved from: http:\/\/www.heraldtribune.com\/news\/20180918\/house-candidate-david-shapiro-wants-legal-cannabis-for-veterans?start=2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House candidate David Shapiro wants legal cannabis for veterans By Billy Cox Staff Writer Removing marijuana\u2019s federal schedule 1 status is a campaign issue in the 16th Congressional District race. SARASOTA \u2014 Candidates for the District 16 congressional race are staking out divergent positions on the question of whether marijuana &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cannabis","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lutzlivetotell.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}