Events > Global Marijuana March > 2009
Info on Eugenes Global Marijuana March as well as any related Items. Click > here < for more events.

Elvy Musikka is one of the four surviving recipients of US Government grown marijuana, under the Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program.  She receives 300 joints a month from uncle sam for glaucoma, which translates to 12 a day on the average. She has been receiving her government-issued supply since October 1988 and is the first woman to get it. 

This is her story:

“In late February 1975 I went to see Dr. Rosenfeld, a general practitioner in the Ft. Lauderdale area. He concluded a very thorough examination and said my eyes had been stricken with glaucoma. My [intraocular fluid] pressures were in the high 40s [pressure in the low teens is normal], and Dr. Rosenfeld insisted I see an ophthalmologist immediately. His suspicions were confirmed and I was started on pilocarpine eyedrops.

“By the spring of 1976 the pilocarpine itself was becoming a problem. I began seeing circles but assumed they were a symptom of the glaucoma. Wearing contact lenses was uncomfortable and my pressures were going up. A new doctor suggested I consider marihuana because it was likely that otherwise I would go blind. He told me this as a friend, not a doctor; it was then that I began to realize that sometimes doctors have to choose between Hippocratic oaths and hypocritical laws. I was most fortunate this man had a heart.” Visit - http://www.marijuanalibrary.org/MTFM_Musikka_1993.html

Elvy Musikka Speaks About Medical Cannabis

“We were forced to exercise our instincts of self-preservation...because we understood that a man-made law could not possibly wipe away our common sense when it came to survival.” Elvy Musikka speaks out at HempStalk in Portland, Oregon, 2007. visit - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNxqtXUxg-w

Elvy Musikka, Glaucoma patient, one of only eight legal medical marijuana users in the Federal IND Program, Successfully Defends Marijuana Cultivation

Photo: Elvy holds her can that she gets every month containing 300 IND issued joints. Living in Florida, Elvy Musikka bought the Reefer Madness story, hook, line and sinker. As her already bad eyesight continued to deteriorate, she endured prescription pharmaceutical drugs which had uncomfortable side effects, but little effect on her glaucoma. Turning to ever more desperate measures, Elvy agreed to undergo a risky surgery on her better, right eye. The operation left her blinded in that eye. Only then did she consider suggestions to try using marijuana to reduce the buildup of inner eye pressure. To her grudging surprise, she found that it seemed to work. Visit - http://www.hr95.org/musikka.htm

Name: Elvy Musikka, Title: Medical Marijuana Patient in the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational New Drug (IND) Program, Position: Pro to the question "Should marijuana be a medical option?"

Reasoning: "I am patient no. 3 of 8 who today currently receives medical marijuana through the federal government of the United States. [...] By 1991, I am aware of at least 50 patients who through extensive medical records, reputable doctors, and sometimes through courts -- such as in my case -- were able to convince all three drug-related agencies, FDA, DEA, and NIDA, that for us, marijuana isn't just medicine, it is the most efficient, reliable and safest part of our treatment and sometimes it is our only treatment." Letter to President Bill Clinton, Jan. 13, 1997. Visit - http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewsource.asp?ID=005418

If you would like Elvy to speak at an event, or to address legislature in your community, also to testify at medical marijuana trials, call her directly at 916-320-9052 –or- Visit - http://www.elvymusikka.com/

Dr. Arthur Livermore is a businessman, activist and the Executive Director of the The American Alliance For Medical Cannabis-Oregon.   For more on Arthur Livermore Consultants, Arch Cape, Oregon, 97102, Telephone: 503-436-1882, or visit - http://www.bizwiki.com/computer-software/8972712/arthur-livermore-consultants.htm

We Stand Here Today! by Arthur Livermore

When I was a young man of 16 years, I had the privilege of being one of the thousands who marched on Washington D.C. and listened to the "I have a dream" speech of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Little did I know then of the value and far-reaching effect that speech would have on me as I progressed through life seeking my own freedom to speak out and bring about a change of mind and heart toward the medicinal value of a prohibited plant. We stand here today as a positive reflection of that value. We stand here today for all of those who have been and are presently suffering untold miseries because they have and are using cannabis as an alternative medicine for their illness. Visit - http://www.letfreedomgrow.com/articles/or070505.htm

American Alliance For Medical Cannabis, 44500 Tide Avenue, Arch Cape, OR 97102. Phone: (503) 436-1882, or visit - http://www.letfreedomgrow.com/

Allan Erickson is the 11th most published drug reform author in the US and a 'Newshawk' for the Media Awareness Project. He is also a photographer for hire, and his writing services are available as well.

Group Educates Oregonians About Medical Marijuana Program at State Capitol by Allan Erickson for Salem-News.com
There are over 30 bills in the Oregon legislature dealing with cannabis, most dealing with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP).

(SALEM, Ore.) - Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse (MAMA) held an event at the state capitol on Monday, April 13. The all-day presentation, "The Faces of the OMMP: We're the People in Your Neighborhood" featured a display of posters and educational material, and put faces on some of Oregon's patients who utilize cannabis as medicine. Oregon has a large and dedicated (but occasionally prickly) population of cannabis/drug policy activists and organizations. MAMA sharply demonstrated that our politicians have fallen behind citizens in their understanding of the truth about cannabis. Click > here < for more.

Marijuana Prohibition Is Sheer Folly (LTE by Allan Erickson)

Alas, Oregon has added itself to the states suffering a lethal case of reefer madness. Hubert Henkel is dead after being shot in early March by two Clackamas County sheriff’s deputies serving a warrant for cannabis cultivation at 10:30 p.m. on his farm near Mulino. A neighbor described the 68-year-old Henkel as “the hardest working guy I’ve ever met.” His longtime companion, Marjorie Crawford, 80, was arrested. A hardworking pair of seniors is terrorized in their home, late at night, because they enjoy pot?

Henkel’s death proves the adage that pot doesn’t kill, but prohibition does. Unfortunately, Henkel’s death is not an anomaly. There is a litany of names of those who have died because of the war on pot. No one else ever should die over cannabis. Visit - http://www.cannabisnews.org/?p=2458

And / Or, visit AE's blogspot, the Morning Donut, like a Café … where you can Grab your coffee and get yourself a donut. Simple musings for thoughtful folks... (or is that thoughtful musings for simple folks? hmmm...) Or, consider it... like sitting down for coffee in the kitchen.

Only you're at home, sitting in front of a computer. So its a virtual kitchen, with real coffee (at least here it is!) and virtual donuts. I mean after all, that is what the new millenium is about, eh? Its a virtual world, literally. And this is just a quick stop for a coffee and donut. Mmmm.... the smell of a donut shop early in the a.m. when the first batches are put up for cooling... yumm. Visit - http://www.morningdonut.blogspot.com/  

Brian Michaels is a Eugene based lawyer who specializes in criminal cases, drug crimes, search and seizure, forfeiture, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, and civil rights cases. He is a member of the NORML Legal Committee among other notable groups.

Gathering Steam, Eugene attorney Brian Michaels challenges the constitutionality of the 34-year-old Oregon Mass Gathering Act.

For Brian Michaels, this fight started a long time ago. Even before he went to law school at age 34, the now 50-year-old Eugene attorney spent his free time fighting state and federal officials who wanted to shut down legal counterculture gatherings such as the annual assembly of the Rainbow Family. Prior to getting his law degree, he faced down the government in North Carolina, Texas and West Virginia to name just a few. As an attorney licensed in Oregon, he's fought for medicinal marijuana patients who were illegally searched and arrested. Last year he won a $70,000 judgment against Lane County. Visit - http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2005/07/28/coverstory.html

Judge won’t grant new trial in Eugene police Taser case

Lane County Circuit Judge Jack Billings swiftly denied a defense request for a new trial for a University of Oregon student convicted of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest at a downtown demonstration in Eugene, Oregon. Brian Michaels, an attorney for Ian Van Ornum, argued that Billings had improperly denied a defense request to include a special jury instruction that would have provided the six jurors additional context for evaluating whether the 19-year-old demonstrator was unlawfully resisting arrest or engaging in lawful self-defense against excessive force by police. Click >here < for more.

Contacting Brian Michaels, Phone: 541-687-0578, mail to: 259 East Fifth Avenue, Suite 300-D, Eugene, 97401, or Fax: 541-686-2137

Edward 'Nurse Ed' Glick, longtime MMJ activist and former RN, has conducted extensive research and is currently petitioning the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program to allow PTSD to be included in the approved conditions list.   He is also author of The Oregon Medical Marijuana Guide (OMMG), which is Available Online at the Contigo-Conmigo website. visit - http://www.or-coast.net/contigo/index2.html  

Nurse Claims He Was Fired For Pot Advocacy

A longtime Samaritan Health Services nurse is contesting his dismissal, claiming he was fired not because of his job performance but because he has been an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana. An executive of the health care network disputes that claim. Ed Glick was terminated April 18, 2006 from his job as a nurse at Samaritan Regional Mental Health Center in Corvallis after he refused to take a drug test. Visit - http://mercycenters.org/action/Case_Ed.html - for more.

Ed Glick has been a champion in our movement for some time now. This story comes from the Corvallis Gazette-Times. It should be noted that Glick is not an OMMP patient, rather just a regular person like many who choose to self-medicate with cannabis yet do not fit under the definitions of the OMMA. With the critical shortage we have in nursing today, it is ridiculous that Samaritan Health Services would want to dismiss nurses for something as trivial as their after-work use of marijuana. However, that is the way the laws are written and we cannot blame Samaritan or the State Board of Nursing for following the rules. We must work to change the laws so good people like Nurse Ed are protected. Visit - http://www.ornorml.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=1239

Medical Establishment Abandons Patients and Ethics, Is There a Doctor (or Nurse) in the House? By Ed Glick

Nursing is caring. Twenty years ago I began to learn what real suffering looks and feels like. I watched helplessly while beautiful young men would, in three months time, age 50 years, dying from a disease no one knew anything about at the time. I have watched tobacco-cancer eat the lungs, livers and hearts out of people. They had no idea, when they began using this legal herb, the consequences in store for them. I’ve cared for all of these people because they were suffering, and because I am a nurse.

Today I sadly witness another widespread—and preventable—tragedy of human suffering. It is the pain of ill and dying people, legally persecuted for using an illegal herb, and simultaneously denied their appropriate medicine by the medical establishment. This is the everyday experience of cannabis patients, the “untouchables” of American medicine. Visit – http://www.alternativesmagazine.com/21/glick.html

Jennifer Valley is a member of the Board of Directors for Voter Power and Willamette Valley NORML, winner of the 2002-2003 Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards (OMCA), and organizer of Stoney Girl Gardens, home of the best 100% Organic Medicine grown in Oregon. Visit - http://gro4me.com/ for more on Stoney Girl and her Gardens. Her unique strains of marijuana will be featured in  the "Big Book of Buds- Volume Four.  

Patients & Concerns Citizens United Against Senate Bill 388

Patient and activist, Jennifer Valley, along with Federal medical marijuana patient Elvy Musikka, holding a tin containing marijuana grown and distributed by the United States government, following Monday's hearing on Senate Bill 388. visit - http://voterpower.org/blogs/

2007 HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, ETHICS AND RULES, TAPE LOG, May 16, 2007 - Hearing Room E, 8:30 A.M. Tapes 87 – 90; Lindsey Bradshaw, Cannabis Activist, Jacksonville. 90A. 026. Chair Rosenbaum. 030 ... Jennifer Valley, Member, Willamette Valley NORML. 89B. 076. Chair ... Click > here < for more.

Shawn Flury Shawn Flury was the founder of Oregon Green Cross and former drug war prisoner who served 20 months in prison for growing marijuana for sick and dying people.  

Case challenges Oregon's medical marijuana law, Two men face charges after a 2004 raid in Clackamas County netted 100 plants grown without paperwork

Oregon City, OR July 28, 2005 -- Criminal proceedings that began Wednesday will test the limits of Oregon's medical marijuana law. Clackamas County sheriff's deputies arrested Shawn Flury, 44, and David Thomas Howard, 51, more than a year ago during the raid of an Oregon Green Cross marijuana-growing operation. Both are charged with possession, manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance.

"They don't respect the law. They think it's all criminal activity," Flury said this month of law enforcement officials. He contends the case is an attempt to unravel the state's medical marijuana law. Visit - http://hempevolution.org/media/oregonian/o050728.htm

MMJ licensing leads to surplus in state coffers

Baylen at D'Alliance points us to a story on medical marijuana patients in Oregon and their caregivers. The caregivers grow the cannabis for those unable to grow it themselves. People like Shawn Flury, the director of Independence-based Oregon Green Cross, which provides two ounces of marijuana per month to each of its 35 patients donate their time and risk their safety from federal intervention to provide the herb to the sick and the dying for free. Under the system in Oregon, a caregiver is allowed to cultivate up to seven plants per patient. The caregivers tend to provide for more than one patient at a time as the demand is high and the cost of start-up is prohibitive. It's simply most cost effective to grow more plants. Visit - http://lastonespeaks.blogspot.com/2004_08_22_archive.html

Man loses card for medical pot; activists cry foul  

Medical marijuana activists say a Lane County judge overstepped his authority Wednesday when he ordered a Eugene man to surrender his medical marijuana card as a condition of probation for illegally growing marijuana. Matthew Lee Hardy, 23, said the ruling means he must resort to narcotic painkillers to treat the chronic back injury he suffered five years ago in an automobile accident. He said he will appeal the ruling. Visit - http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=1275&printsafe=1

Deputies raid medical marijuana operation

PORTLAND - Sheriff's deputies have seized 110 marijuana plants from a greenhouse in Woodburn operated by a medical marijuana group. Shawn Flury of Oregon Green Cross says the crop was for about 35 people allowed to smoke marijuana under Oregon's medical marijuana law. Each person was given an ounce of the drug twice a month. However, sheriff's officials say they seized the marijuana because the operation lacked the documentation needed to grow that many plants. Click > here < for more.

Two Face Terms Today on Medical Marijuana

Oregon City -- Two medical marijuana growers, including one who told police that Jesus called him to "grow the herb" for sick people, will be sentenced today in a case that highlights ambiguities in Oregon's medical marijuana law. Shawn Flury, 44, and David Thomas Howard, 51, this month joined the ranks of growers convicted on felony drug charges for violating the state's medical marijuana law at their Clackamas County greenhouse.

"The whole thing is a morass," Clackamas County Circuit Judge Ronald Thom said of the medical marijuana law during the trial. Visit - http://cannabisnews.com/news/21/thread21148.shtml

Barry Stull Barry Stull one of Oregon's pioneers in Cannabis Research is a long-time activist on hemp and medical cannabis issues.    

Nothing intimidates Barry, LC elder

Many Lewis & Clark students wear hemp necklaces or bracelets. Junior Barry Joe Stull puts them to shame. He wore a 100% hemp suit to his jazz band performance last Tuesday. The next day, he wore jeans made of hemp and a tee-shirt with "hemp" emblazoned across it. He then proceeded to help distribute posters printed on hemp paper to advertise the LC Hemp Club's first event. Stull, a music and pre-law major and recipient of a Dean's Scholarship, is the coordinator and founder of the club.

More than just his passion for hemp advocacy sets Stull apart from his LC classmates. Stull, 39 years old with a bald crown and long hair, served almost 18 months of a five-year prison sentence in the Oregon State Penitentiary for manufacturing and possession of a controlled substance. He is also a singer and songwriter and performs the mandolin once a week at the It's a Beautiful Pizza restaurant in Portland. Visit - http://www.lclark.edu/~piolog/archive/971107/features/features.html

Many Obstacles To Implementing Law

CARSON CITY -- Oregon medical marijuana advocate Barry Stull figures he knows what will happen when Nevada legislators try to carry out the wishes of voters and devise a way for patients to smoke pot. "The people opposed to marijuana will try to make it fail, no matter what you do," he said. "Police have been taught to oppose it. It is going to be a struggle.” Visit - http://drugsense.org/dsw/2000/ds00.n176.html#art19

Rev, Will I Am is a citizen-activist and co-host of the Eugene weekly public access TV show "Cannabis TV". His church, The Church of the Caring, has cannabis as their sacrament, More info available through their webpage - ChurchOftheCaring.org

Jim Greig is an Organizer for Americans for Safe Access ( http://www.safeaccessnow.org/ ) and a member of the Board of Directors for Voter Power ( http://voterpower.org/ ) and Willamette Valley NORML ( http://w-v-norml.org/ )  He co-organized this year’s event.  

Dan Koozer is the other co-organizer of the GMM.  He is the producer of the weekly TV show "Cannabis TV” and the Emerald Empire Hempfest.  He is also the Chapter President of Willamette Valley NORML and will be the Master of Ceremonies for this years Global Marijuana March.

[    Press Release in WORD (doc)   |   Adobe (PDF) version   ]

[    Proclamation in WORD (doc)   |   Adobe (PDF) version   ]

Eugene, Oregon Formally Recognizes Legal Medical Marijuana with Proclamation

(EUGENE, Ore.) - The city of Eugene, Oregon has done something that few cities so far have had the courage to do; Eugene is commemorating Oregon's Medical Marijuana Program during a special week-long observance. Read more >>>

We at Willamette Valley NORML would like to note that this is the result of no small amount of work by W-V-NORMLs own Jim Greig and no small amount of courage by the Mayor of Eugene, Kitty Piercy.   Word of her proclamation has already circulated to the conservative elements in Eugene and we hope many of you will help her out and follow the story up with letters to the editor expressing your opinions and help her to more than just survive.   Click > here < to hear an audio clip as read by Russ Belville, NORML National Outreach Coordinator and Host of the NORML Daily Audio Stash.

Eugene (KMTR) – Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy plans to speak at a rally Saturday in support of medical marijuana. And for the second time, she will be making a proclamation marking Medical Marijuana Awareness Week in her city.

Mayor Piercy was asked if attending a rally for medical marijuana is the right message to send during a time of economic crisis.

“The major issue facing most people right now is jobs and economy and being able to get through this very difficult fiscal time,” Piercy said, “that doesn't take away from the fact that there are other people out there that in addition to dealing with jobs and the economy have serious illnesses they want to have access to medication that helps them manage their illness.” Read More >>>

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
City of Eugene, Oregon
PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS: In November 1998, Oregon voters passed into law the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, allowing Oregonians suffering from debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana as medicine. Currently, nearly 25,000 patients are enrolled and over 2,900 doctors have provided recommendations for patients’ utilization of medical marijuana; and

WHEREAS: Thirteen states have passed laws allowing for chronically and seriously ill patients to use cannabis with the approval of their physicians; and

WHEREAS: On September 6, 1988, Drug Enforcement Administrations (DEA) own Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, ruled that “Marijuana, in it’s natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known”; and

WHEREAS: There are over are over 17,000 published scientific studies on the therapeutic values of cannabis and cannabinoids in the National Library of Medicine, and, there are over 2,600 patents filed for the medical use of cannabinoids in the United States Patent office; and

WHEREAS: Pre-Clinical and Clinical trials indicate that cannabinoids are useful in controlling Alzheimer’s Disease, Cancer, Chronic Pain, Diabetes, G I Disorders, Hepatitis C, Multiple Sclerosis, Osteoporosis, Pruritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Sleep Apnea; and,

WHEREAS: Marijuana has a history of thousands of years of safe use without any recorded deaths attributed to its use, and, all citizens deserve to know the truth about cannabis,

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Kitty Piercy, Mayor of the City of Eugene, Oregon, do hereby proclaim the Week of April 30th, 2009 to May 6th, 2009 as

"Medical Marijuana Awareness Week”

in the city of Eugene, and encourage all citizens to join in this observance.

Kitty Piercy, Mayor
Dated this 22nd day of April 2009

[    Proclamation in WORD (doc)   |   Adobe (PDF) version   ]

About the GMM 

The Million Marijuana March is an annual global event celebrating the benefits of cannabis and hemp that takes place, for most participants, on the first Saturday in May. On that day – referred to as Jay Day by some organizers – people in hundreds of cities around the world rally and march in unison for cannabis law reform. A peaceful party to celebrate our gains and to re-energize for the next steps. The main purpose is to raise awareness about the issues, to inform and educate thru the publicity involved. Secondly, we want to register every person there and further empower them by providing whatever is needed to getting them to the voting booth at the right time. Also we want a good show, a nice time for every one - entertaining as well as informative. And, at the same time, we can also raise a little money and fund some projects for the cause - like sponsoring OMMA patients who can't afford a fee or a Hemp Initiative. We pick up steam every day, we gain more sponsor$ and other support each time we talk about it.

Also, different groups with related agendas can be represented. We can use this opportunity to stand united as one voice.

The GMM is an event that has been going on for somewhere around 25+ years and has years of tradition of which many are unaware. It started as the Yippie! organized "May Day 5th Avenue Pot Pride Parade" in New York City and in 1996 became known as the Million Marijuana March. Even though the event still occurs on the first Saturday in May, it has now established tradition of its own, spreading beyond NYC.

The emphasis of the following years events are turning from that street party into a productive political venue that the NAACP and the ACLU would be proud to co-sponsor. We folks in Salem are doing this successfully, we believe. Let's honor our counter-cultural elements, history, heroes and activists, but at the same time be aware that we need to better coordinate our efforts for the maximum politically-positive media spin and potential resulting benefits for our on-going political efforts.

Ours are not the minds we need to be concerned with. Its success depends on our ability, each and every one of us, to become a teacher.

For more info, try these LINKs >

• For updated full list and maps, go to > www.globalmarijuanamarch.com

• There is also some international MMM networking going on at this CannabisCulture.com message forum > http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/cfrm

• MERCYs MMM page > http://mercycenters.org/events/MMM.html

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