A 6th Street Healing

by Ace Tafoya/PNN media intern with Michael Fordham- special to PNN

Jason Menard spray washes the metal gate to 'The Healing Leaf' at 52-6th Street in the Tenderloin District, San Francisco's "Ground Zero", with great anticipation. Off comes all the dirt and grime this building has collected. Jason, with his name on the lease of the building, has a directorial position at the clinic and refers to himself as a "servant". He glances towards Market Street and sees a streetcar pass, another day has begun.

Two weeks earlier at the same time, "Lamont" struggles to get out of bed. He's been on HIV meds for over six years. He hadn't really eaten much in the past two days and he was feeling nauseous. "The Feds or DEA raided and closed my pot club," he said to me while sipping tea. Looking out of the window while a pigeon rests on the windowsill, Lamont who's on SSI Disability rolls his weary eyes and whispers, "I need pot to increase my appetite." Marijuana seems to help Lamont with the side effects brought upon by taking his meds.

No one I talked to really knew why 'The Harm Reduction Center', a medical cannabis club was raided and closed at 6.30 a.m., Tuesday February 12, 2002. I even heard about the previous people who ran the center were growing weed on site. Something officials don't like. But the fact remained that they were being raided and the other pot clubs here in San Francisco were not. I wanted to know why. Perhaps they were in "upscale" neighborhoods? 6th Street is notorious for drugs and crime, was this a factor?

In 1996, the voters of California approved Proposition 215. Prop 215 was passed to give seriously ill residents the right to possess and use marijuana for medical purposes, when recommended by a physician. Soon "Medical Cannabis Clubs" began opening in the city and around the state.

"Xavier" is 31 and lives on the street and uses marijuana for his neuropathic pain (pain from nerve damage). He frequents different pot clubs in San Francisco. "I'm thrilled that 'The Healing Leaf' will be open, since I'm always in the area and it's close to the shelter I sometimes stay at," he said to me recently.

From the support of the District Attorney's Office, the Police Department and other clubs in the area, on April 1, 2002 'The Healing Leaf' made it's debut. Still under construction at this time, but open for business, Jason Menard and his crew are really putting their heart and souls into this project. "We've had everything donated, we've done this on a shoestring budget," he said to me while observing the different spaces the building holds. "I've put in maybe $150.00 of my own money." It is plainly clear that Jason and company want the club to be a success.

Lamont is anxious and excited about the new club opening up. He feels he'll be the person he once was before falling ill. "With pot," he said while taking a puff off his cigarette, "I just feel better, I don't feel sick all the time and I'm able to eat more. My doctor is concerned about my appearance."

As long as they follow the rules, 'The Healing Leaf' should stay open for business. Soon the clients will have free haircuts, free massages, a socialization room, a herbal tea bar and possibly free counseling. Even The Department of Public Health has their van parked outside offering information dealing with health issues, every Thursday during the afternoon. You can pick up your Cannabis ID Card Program Application to utilize at any cannabis club at 101 Grove Street, 1st Floor (between Polk and Van Ness). The card costs $25.00, and it could last for two years, making it accessible to very low income people who don't have access to health insurance.

Jason, along with his crew and with the watch dog Trixy are thrilled with the chance to help as many people who need it. "We're just hoping to help clean up the neighborhood," Jason said while surveying the busy street outside. "Make it a nicer place for people who live in the area." He wants to keep the center clean and safe for all who come by. That was reason enough for myself and Lamont to smile.

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Great Britain Anticipates Marijuana Decriminalization

By Michael Fordham

The Guardian Unlimited reported that British medical experts provided the hard scientific evidence that will finally clear the way for a relaxation of Britain's cannabis laws. The official from the advisory council on the misuse of drugs (ACMD) commissioned by the home secretary David Blunkett last October, comes out firmly in favor of downgrading cannabis from Class B to Class C legal status but warns that it is not a harmless drug. (March 15,2002)

The main findings of this report are: 1.High use of cannabis is not associated with major health problems for individuals or society. 2.Occassional use of cannabis is only rarely associated with significant problems in otherwise healthy individuals with the main worry being impaired control of blood pressure and the increased risk of fainting. 3.Occasional use can pose significant dangers for those with heart and circulation disorders and those with schizophrenia. 4.Regular heavy use of cannabis can result in dependence but its addictive potential is far less than amphetamines, tobacco or alcohol. 5.Cannabis impairs mental functions such as attention, memory and performance and so can be dangerous for drivers and those who operate heavy machinery but unlike alcohol, it does not increase risk-taking behavior. 6.The birth weight of children whose pregnant mothers smoked joints might be lower than expected due to carbon monoxide in the smoke. They also run a small risk of minor birth defects. 7.Cannabis is less harmful than the other Class B substances including amphetamines, barbiturates or codeine-like compounds.

This is not the first major study on this subject. In 1998, Canadian and Australian scientists came up with much the same results. Dr. Robin Room of Ontario's Addictive Research Foundation said "The health concerns associated with alcohol and tobacco are more serious than marijuana usage". These and other similar reports have been surpressed politically in order to perpetuate defunct United Nations Narcotic Conventions that entail criminal law in the US and other signatory nations. The Guardian reported in February 1998 that the United Nations health chief suppressed a finding that cannabis is safer than either alcohol or tobacco with the illegal drug playing little role in injuries or violence, unlike alcohol.

That research established that decriminalizing marijuana does not lead to the use of harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin, and that teenagers and children are more likely to experiment with alcohol and tobacco. Long running surveys carried out in the Netherlands, where marijuana was decriminalized in 1967 have found that even in the age group where cannabis use is highest---those between 20 and 35, of whom 12.5% are ""regular"" users---only 1.3% had used cocaine in the previous month, with a majority being aged over 30. The latest sample of more than 2,000 people in 1994 found that nobody under 20 had ever used heroin, and there were just 4 people who "regularly" used heroin, all aged between 25 and 50. Cocaine and heroin is not legal in the Netherlands.

According to New Scientist magazine, the suppressed report concludes that not only did the amount of cannabis smoked worldwide do less harm to public health than alcohol and cigarettes, but that the same was likely to hold true even if people consumed it on the same scale as the legal substances. Holland also had a lower percentage of cannabis and hard drug users than many other European countries, including Britain.

Cannabis also fared better in five out of seven comparisons of long-term damage to health. For example, the report says that while heavy consumption of either drug can lead to dependence, only alcohol produces a "well defined withdrawal syndrome". And while heavy drinking leads to cirrhosis, severe brain injury and a much-increased risk of accidents and suicide, the report concludes that there is only suggestive evidence that chronic cannabis use may produce subtle defects in cognitive functioning.

Even before the 1998 report, Robert MacCoun of the University of California at Berkley and Peter Reuter of the University of Maryland compared trends in the US and Norway (which bans it) with the Netherlands' experience and concluded that "reductions in criminal penalties have little effect on drug use at least for marijuana". How effective has it been in its main goal of keeping people off harder drugs? The Netherlands have fewer addicts per capita than Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France or Great Britain, and far fewer than the U.S. Frits Knaak of Trimbos Institute in Utrecht, the Dutch national institute for mental health and addiction, says the number of hard drug addicts in the country has been the same for a decade because fewer young people are joining their ranks.

Nevertheless, as far back as 1997 CNN reported that The New England Journal of Medicine had come out in favor of doctors being allowed to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes, calling the threat of government sanctions "misguided, heavy-handed and inhumane". In 1998 research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and revealed to the National Academy of Sciences showed that cannabis contains a chemical that can protect cells by acting as an antioxide. More effective than vitamins C or E, it offers an appealing option for the treatment and perhaps prevention of stroke, neuro-degenerative diseases, and heart attacks, the research suggests. The NIH researchers had suspected that the group of molecules including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the marijuana ingredient that produces a high would act as antioxidants. In their study, THC and cannabidiol provided equal defense against cell damage. Earlier studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson turn up no side effects of cannabidiol in people given large doses. (Science News July 11,1998)

Today, approximately 30% of the US population live under some type of marijuana decriminalization law, and this experience has been favorable. The only US federal study ever to compare marijuana use patterns among decriminalized states and those that have not, found that, "Decriminalization has had virtually no effect on either marijuana use or on related attitudes about marijuana use among young people". Moreover, privately commissioned follow-up studies from the US and abroad confirms this fact. In 1972, a US federal report (the Shaffer Report) served as the basis for decriminalization bills adopted legislatively in 11 states during the 1970s. It concluded that marijuana prohibition posed significantly more harms to the user than the use of marijuana itself.(from www.sciencemagazine.org)

In Britain, with the report from the ACMD fresh in their minds, more than a dozen Dutch-style cannabis cafe's are being planned from Brighton to Glasgow in a major movement across the country. They range from converted warehouses to upmarket cafe's in London with budgets of 250,000 pounds. The Drug Policy Alliance (formerly the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation) reported on March 14 that proponents of Blunkett's marijuana reclassification proposal claim that the tough-on-drugs approach has failed to deter marijuana use and severely weaken government credibility. Despite a reputation of having relatively tough laws compared to neighboring European countries, a majority of which has decriminalized marijuana, Britain has the highest rates of marijuana use in Europe. Claims that tough laws have no significant deterrent effect are further borne out by US statistics. Despite a zero tolerance drug war and the world's highest incarceration rate, the US has a higher rate of lifetime marijuana use than any European country.