Citing Michelle Leonhart's controversial position on prescription pain-killers for terminal patients suffering intractable pain, Senate Judiciary Committee Member Senator Kohl (D-Wis.) will block her nomination to head the DEA.
Senator Kohl has the power to stall Leonhart's confirmation for a very long time.
Last month in Leonhart's formal hearings, Sen. Herb Kohl questioned Leonhart to clarify her policy concerning new legislation to permit nurses in long-term care facilities to prescribe a range of anodynes including morphine to patients suffering intractable pain.
The backstory is quite simple. In October 2009, Sen. Kohl and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called attention to perplexing orders issued by Leonhart as Acting Administrator of DEA that restricted prescription drugs to patients in nursing homes. According to Kohl and Whitehouse, patients in American nursing homes are suffering intractable pain as a direct repercussion of Leonhart's directive.
Leonhart has a professional reputation as a strict prohibitionist and tough drug enforcement official. Leonhart assumed her post as Acting Administrator of DEA in the autumn of 2007. This February, she was nominated to the post of Administrator, but her nomination has been languishing in the Judiciary Committee due to the growing sense of concern about her personal capacity to conduct her office with objectivity and respect for the scientific community.
Leonhart is a long-serving law enforcement official who rose to prominence under President George Bush who nominated her to the position of Deputy Administrator of the DEA in 2004.
Leading authorities in the scientific and drug reform community have serious doubts about Leonhart's personal capacity for logical objectivity and her willingness to accept the scientific evidence concerning the therapeutic application of medical marijuana.
In recent months, a group of drug reform organizations have called upon President Obama to rescind official support for Leonhart. These institutions include: Students for Sensible Drug Policy; Drug Policy Alliance; Law Enforcement Against Prohibition; National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Marijuana Policy Project.
Perry Parks, a Board member of the North Carolina Cannabis Patients' Network, expressed his concerns about Leonhart, "Michelle Leonhart is not qualified for the office of Administrator, because she refuses to accept the overwhelming preponderance of scientific evidence about the therapeutic properties of marijuana. America and her veterans suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) deserve a scientifically objective approach to the evidence about a medication that alleviates the symptoms of PTSD and has been authorized by the Department of Veterans Affairs."
Now that Leonhart's nomination has stalled in the Senate after ten months of sober deliberation culminating in her problematic and ambiguous testimony, it is likely that the White House will look beyond her for a new nominee to head DEA early next year.
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The hold is off
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/12/06/847736/president-obama-vists-nc-120610.html
After his remarks, he came directly to where I was standing and reiterated his support for the rights of veterans access to medical marijuana, especially in the wake of the latest medical evidence concerning brain injures (IEDs) and the healing properties of a CBD, component of cannabis, in helping brain cells to mend.
As one of four vets chronicled in the Emmy winning documentary "the good soldier"
you can see a trailer at www.thegoodsoldier.com
I presented a copy to the President, along with a photo of the Emmy presented to us at Lincoln Center in NYC.
At the last NC Dem Party Conventon, with 450+ elected delegates , representing all 100 counties, I was able to get a resolution in support of removing all barriers to passage of legislation to make medical marijuana available for veterans and patients under a doctors supervision. The unanimous vote occurred after the rules were suspended for special consideration..which required a 75 percent majority!
Is this newsworthy. Should our elected leaders follow the grass roots directions?
This disconnect is affecting both political parties. If it is not recognized soon. I fear the fabric of our society will become permanently frayed.
This is part of the problem. Leonhart (Nonheart) is a dogmatic throwback from the days when government claims were accorded a bit of credibility..that day has long past on this subject and the results from the UC School of Medicine, along with numerous recent studies by micro-biologists confirm the true benefits of this safe and natural alternative to conventional narcotics.
Please, if you really want to help the veterans, call Sen Kohl and express your support (202) 224 5356
I am one of the soldiers featured in Bill Moyers Journal version of “The Good Soldier” which was recently awarded an EMMY at the News and Documentary Awards in September.
We are not criminals..we chose to treat our war wounds with cannabis..
As the president approached the podium, I yelled "BaraK". He turned and looked my way and then to my surprize, he came over and shook my hand as he thanked me for my service.
I was even more surprized when he came back over after finishing his remarks and posed for a quick picture with me. With no camera, I did manage to get a "self" portrait of us both with my cell phone. I then told him about the good soldier video I gave to the staff and since I was in my uniform, I am hoping when the staff get the photo of me with the EMMY that someone may make the connection....which could get the message to rise above the chatter to really make an impact.
I will not stop until she is gone...
I believe the hold is still on
According to the latest Gallup poll, 55% of Democrats are in favor of marijuana legalization. If we come out in force to defeat prohibitionists in the primaries, politicians will start to realize that opposition to reform can be a career-ending position.
Schedule I Cannabis is a damned lie. "By any measure of rational analysis..." Time to repudiate the prohibition of earth's most beneficial plant species. Do it.
-Richard Paul Steeb, San Jose California