Texas House Bill # 658

[annac]

Hello Texans. :p
Texas now has a House Bill for Medical Marijuana. :D HB #658. here is a link (http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/tlo/textframe.cmd?LEG=79&SESS=R&CHAMBER=H&BILLTYPE=B&BILLSUFFIX=00658&VERSION=1&TYPE=B)
to the offical web site. Here is a copy from the site.
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H.B. No. 658
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

relating to the medical use of marihuana.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 481.121, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows:
(c) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
Subsection (a) that the person possessed the marihuana as a patient
of a practitioner licensed to practice medicine in this state
pursuant to the recommendation of that practitioner for the
amelioration of the symptoms or effects of a bona fide medical
condition.
(d) An agency, including a law enforcement agency, of this
state or a political subdivision of this state may not initiate an
administrative, civil, or criminal investigation into a
practitioner licensed to practice medicine in this state on the
ground that the practitioner discussed marihuana as a treatment
option with a patient of the practitioner.
SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
only to an offense committed on or after September 1, 2005.
(b) An offense committed before September 1, 2005, is
covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of
this section, an offense was committed before September 1, 2005, if
any element of the offense was committed before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
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Support HB 658
Problem: Seriously ill Texans currently face jail and prison time for using marijuana as medicine based on their physicianâ??s recommendation.
Solution: Amend the Health and Safety Code to allow jurors to grant an affirmative defense related to the use of marijuana based on a doctorâ??s advice.
What this legislation would do

Allow a person arrested on possession of marijuana, who has a bona fide medical condition and a recommendation from their physician, to present an affirmative defense to their prosecution.

Enable Texas jurors to hear evidence and determine whether or not the individual has a valid medical defense.

Protect doctors from being investigated solely on the grounds that they discussed marijuana as a treatment option with their patients.

Allow police and prosecutors to exercise discretion and save taxpayer money when they come in contact with a legitimate medical marijuana user. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2003 there were 57,172 people arrested and prosecuted for possession of marijuana in Texas. If only 5% (2,858) of those arrested were medical marijuana users, the tax payers of Texas spent an estimated $11.6 million dollars to apprehend them.
What this legislation would NOT do

Change criminal penalties for sale of marijuana.

Change criminal penalties for possession of marijuana when there is no recommendation from a licensed physician.

Provide a defense to marijuana dealers.

Allow doctors to write a prescription for marijuana, which would be a violation of federal law.

Change the FDA drug approval process.

Violate federal law because each state has the freedom to determine their own criminal laws.
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here is the web site for "Texans for Medical Marijuana" tfmm.org (http://www.texansformedicalmarijuana.org/)

I just got back into the States and I don't know anything about any details on if and when there will be a vote on this House Bill but it is a start in the right direction and as a native Texan I am overjoyed with the idea that someone is finally listening to us. Please post any updates you may find here and help keep everyone informed of the good news that is moving swiftly in the Great State of Texas (Salute).

Sincerely
annac

[Torog]

Howdy annac,

Yes..this is a step in the right direction,I'm 100% disabled and medical marijuana,would help me greatly,especially if I didn't have to take what I consider to be dangerous and addictive,muscle relaxors and pain pills. The problem is,is that I'm not currently under a doctor's care,I don't ever git sick,so I don't have any reason to have a regular doctor,except for prescribing pain med and muscle relaxors,so I go without any,in order to keep from gittin addicted to them.

I reckon,if this bill passes,I may just look up my old family doctor,and have a talk with him..I just hope he don't charge me a new patient fee..but you know how money-hungry docs are ! lol

Thanx for posting this bill here,and thanx for your interest in the matter.

Have a good one ! :D

[shiva]

Yup, good news. gonna check it out. Just barely got out from under a possession charge, very pro-state rights. Gonna move to a state with lesser possesion penalties if I get caught again.

[annac]

Hello Torog & shiva.
thanks for the replies. We have a long way to go when it comes to medical reform. I have ALS,Marfans Syndrome, Spinal Stenosis and Hep C+. I have been in and out of the Doctors offices for 10 years now and there is nothing that they can do for anyone as long as they carry on the way they do. Doctors will never be able to heal a human soul with a 3 month waiting list and a 15 minute look over. They are to busy talking to their stockbrokers in between the patients. Thin walls make for bad conversations!!!
I have no immune system and I sit outside of most of the Doctors offices until my name is called, I live in the 4th largest city in the USA and I go to one of the better Hospitals. One of my Doctors is in a 7 story building full of Doctors and last visit I counted 23 Pharm reps peddaling their carts to and from the evevators. That was 1 floor and 23 pill pushers in 30 minutes. I played with a little math and figured the averages. 7 floors 23 pillvendors at 8 hours a day for 5 days. This would give us a total count of 161 vendors on 7 floors in 30 minutes time. Lets round it off to 200 an hour just to keep it safe and small. That is 1600 vendors a day and 8000 a week at one hospital. These people are nothing more than licensed dope pushers who take away from the Doctors and patients time for no other reason but to make a comission off us being sick. The average pharm rep makes anywhere from 40K to 150K a year. I have spoken to many of them during my visits and I have ask them point blank what is their modivation. It is always the same answer "money"

I had a seizure last February and I was taken to the ER room by my wife. She immediatly told the ER that I was a med user. Blood was drawn and it took the lab 5 hours to get the results back. The ER doctor let me go through 2 more seizures without lifting a finger while waiting on the toxicilogy report. It came back negative except for the cannabis in which my wife told them about and I was given 1 shot of .75 morp in the 5 hour period. My Neuro surgeon was notified on the 4th hour that I was in the ER and he arrived about the 5th hour. As I was being carted away to the OR room he was rippping the butts' out of the ER doctor and all the staff for the way they handled me. They thought I was a junkie and were testing me for other opaites and cocaine and we had no idea of what they were doing until my Neuro surgeon told us. The doctor thought I was in withdrawls because my wife told them I was a med user. They though I was using it as an excuse to cover all the other toxins that they were expecting to find in me, none were and the ER doctor screwed himself and he knew it. I spent 12 days in the hospital for 2 tumors that were removed from my cerebellum and when I returned home I got a call from the insurance company stating that my toxicology report had been returned to them and since I had a "controlled substance, in which they call cannabis" in my blood then they are were not liable for the bill. I called my Neuro Surgeon and we have both filed suit against the ER doctor and the Hospital ER itself. He has also waived his 4 hour procedure and all his OR cost he paid out of his own pocket. He is indeed a one of a kind Doctor and I am blessed to have found him. I am still 70k in the hole and the hospital calls me everyday wanting their payment. It is so out of controll that all I can do now is laugh at them all. Here is a Doctor that took a oath to save lives yet his own pride or lack there of caused me more grief than the surgery itself. Doctors will never be able to cure a human soul but thank God for the powers of the awsome cannabis plant. I don't use any pharm meds what so ever except a B.C. Powder and my somatooth # 2 oils. She is highly narcodic and all indica and all I need. With my ALS coming on strong I have decided to quit breeding and devote my remaining time to Med Marijuana reform. Wish me luck, I will spend my last few years behind bars if I have to. The lies have gone on long enough and it is time to tell the truth about Cannabis no matter what my cost. I believe that there is a healing power to this plant that no med profession will ever be able to touch or duplicate. The healing powers that the plant posess in simply growing it alone brings out more positive vibrations than any doctor involvment or script bottle sitting on top of your microwave could ever give you. I have been told on three different ocassions to get my house in order yet here I am living to speak about it. To me it is nothing more than the Cannabis working it's magic and if that is what gets my head in the right direction in positive thinking then that is good enough for me. Thanks for taking the time for reading this tidbit. If I can help anyone out with growing tips or garden setups then please feel free to call on me. I have been growing since 1979 and started my genetic lines back in 1999.
sincerely
annac
email me at [email protected]

[Torog]

Howdy annac,

Thanx for telling us about your trials and tribulations,you are indeed lucky,to have a doctor on your side. I will keep you and your family,in my prayers..you have a heavy load to bear,my brother..and I pray that it will be eased and that you will be healed.

I too,believe in the healing power of cannabis,I have seen it help and heal,where no other medicine will,and I believe that God created marijuana for just such a purpose. My goal,is to help those who could benefit from medical marijuana,not just myself,my gal,needs it for her depression,I need it for my chronic pain,another gal I know,needs help with her bi-polar disorder,another gal,needs it for fibro-myalgia,arthritis,chronic pain..there are many in need..and I will strive to help them. My best hope for now,are some indica plants I've just started,and some skunk hybrids. I don't know yet,what exactly,will help me and my friends,I'm in the process of discovering what will work. If you have any recomendations,I would like to hear them..so I can focus on growing that which will work,and speed help and relief,to my friends and loved ones.

I look forward to our future conversations,I pray that God will bless you and heal you,and give you and your family,the strength to endure.

Have a good one !:)

[annac]

Howdy annac,

Thanx for telling us about your trials and tribulations,you are indeed lucky,to have a doctor on your side. I will keep you and your family,in my prayers..you have a heavy load to bear,my brother..and I pray that it will be eased and that you will be healed.

I too,believe in the healing power of cannabis,I have seen it help and heal,where no other medicine will,and I believe that God created marijuana for just such a purpose. My goal,is to help those who could benefit from medical marijuana,not just myself,my gal,needs it for her depression,I need it for my chronic pain,another gal I know,needs help with her bi-polar disorder,another gal,needs it for fibro-myalgia,arthritis,chronic pain..there are many in need..and I will strive to help them. My best hope for now,are some indica plants I've just started,and some skunk hybrids. I don't know yet,what exactly,will help me and my friends,I'm in the process of discovering what will work. If you have any recomendations,I would like to hear them..so I can focus on growing that which will work,and speed help and relief,to my friends and loved ones.

I look forward to our future conversations,I pray that God will bless you and heal you,and give you and your family,the strength to endure.

Have a good one !:)

Hello Torog
Thank you for those wonderful kind words. Much more compassion :D than from any Doctors mouth. I wish I could hire a camera crew to go with me to the Doctors offices, I would love to point out all the pharm reps in the halls eating up the time of the Doctors in which makes our office visit shorter. I wouldn't think that the FDA would allow a Pharm Reps to go into a Doctors office and ask to speak to anyone but a doctor...you would think? I was wrong but somehow the ystill tend to spend less time with their patients and more time on the phone with their home builder or stockbrokers. The act of going to the Doctor alone in a big city and the 3 month waiting periods between visits alone can cause more problems than the sickness itself. 10 years worth of this has taken it's toll on me. I wish I could kick them all in the fanny but I can't lift my leg that high, they made sure of that....I guess to cover their own fanny!! :D
100 years from now people will look back on Medicine like we do at the young Pioneers of yesterday. Modern Day Surgery will be called a "Bloodletting" all over again. I ask a doctor once " Everything you know was taught to you by someone else, what are the chances of just one person being wrong !!! " He just laughed but it is true, Doctors are like our beloved plants. They are a product of their environment and as much as they are gene dominant they are only as good as their current surroundings and upbringing. I use to hold Doctors high in my People to appreaciate list but now I realize that most are just type A personalities and they like money more than people and that is the carreer they chose to make the most $$$
I will quit my griping...for now. :D

thanks again for the kind words.
sincerely
annac

[RidingHigh]

These kind of stories should realy be told to everyone, i do 2 also believe in the Healing powers of the Plant. This *War on Drugs* has realy blinded People. Im only 17 but iv been thru alot my self. I guess you could say I Preach the good word to anyone who wants to Listen that i kno. I read all kinds of stories about it working its realy is a beautiful thing. Im very Pro-Medical Mj If we could just get it Out in the public so that everyone could hear the goods and not the just Sick lies of the government people could maybe Open their eyes for once and not just have Big Brother Holding their hand and making the Choices. My Prayers will be with you both and i hope u live a happy long Life, God Bless

Sincerely
Iudicium