HB434 The Micheal Phillips Compassionate Care Act in Committee April 8

I just got the following note from Rep. Patricia Todd.

We have another delay with the bill. It seems that the Leg Ref Ser gave me a version of the bill that is NOT the same as the version passed by Judicary in 07. I will have to get LRS to draft a substitute bill that is the same so the committee will be able to pass it.

This means another week delay.....


Representative Patricia Todd
1320 58th Street South
Birmingham, AL 35222
205.599.2856 Home
205.567.9419 Cell
reptodd@gmail.com
www.patriciatodd.com

DO NOT SHOW UP IN MONTGOMERY TOMORROW!


All,

Our bill, HB434 The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act
will be in the judiciary committee THIS Wednesday (tomorrow) April 8.
Needless to say I am very excited and I know all of you are too.

I need to know today who all is definitely coming to Montgomery on Wednesday.
Get that information to me as soon as you read this email.

Here is the plan.

We will all meet up in front of the State House located at 11 South Union St. in
Montgomery around 8:15 AM. It is critical that you be there early because the
meeting room is small and we want to get all the seats if we can. Once the room
is full the door is closed and no one is allowed in. If you want a seat then be
there on time. If you are late and we are not standing outside then proceed to
the elevator, go down to the first floor and take a right until you come to room
123. That is where the committee meeting will be held.

There will be no testimony by patients or opponents on Wednesday. Our plan all
year has been to get this bill out of committee on a voice vote so that it
doesn't get hung up or assigned to sub-committee. We still expect it to pass on
a voice vote.

During the committee hearing we will not talk. We will not roll our eyes at each
other over some of the undoubtedly borderline insane things some of the
committee members might say. We will not show anger. I do however give my
blessing to an eruption of applause and cheers when the bill passes on a voice
vote.

Dress appropriately. Dress like you are going to church. Wear comfortable shoes
though because we might pay visits to your individual representatives after the
committee meeting is over. The dress protocol is so very important. If you have
a green ribbon or something similar that you would like to wear that will be
fine. I wish I had some "STOP ARRESTING PATIENTS" buttons but I don't. No pot
leaves anywhere. No anything that confuses this issue with outright
legalization.

You have to go through a metal detector to enter the State House. Please leave
things like pocket knives and such in your cars. If you forget they will take it
at the door and you can get it on the way out.

If any of you need to talk to me via phone please call me at 1-877-528-5647.

My cell phone number is 256-625-9599. You will need it for Wednesday.

I hope to see all of you on Wednesday. If there was ever a day to pack out your
car with supporters and make the trek to Montgomery Wednesday will be the day.
The more people who show up the more legislators will understand that we are
serious and want this bill passed.

Loretta Nall

Sen. Larry Dixon Implies Medical Marijuana Makes You Lesbian

At least I guess that is the point Senator Larry Dixon and the hosts of Morris/Montiel were trying to make this morning on WACV 107.9 FM in Montgomery.

I got an email from a friend of mine who called in and asked Senator Dixon how come he never responded to repeated requests for his position on HB434 The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act. Senator Dixon's response was that he would never support it and that the sponsor of the bill was none other than Lesbian Patricia Todd.

Y'all reckon that pissed me off?

So, I called in and asked the following questions of Senator Dixon.

The first question was "Since you don't support medical marijuana does that mean that you support locking up cancer patients in prison?"

The second question was, "Why did you find it necessary to bring up Rep. Todd's sexuality in reference to this bill as it has absolutely nothing to do with medical marijuana?"

He answered the second question first and said, "Well, she is a lesbian, and she ran her campaign on being a lesbian and she advertises it at the State House you know she does she advertises it at the state house...that she is a lesbian. She is a lesbian and she advertises it and I was just letting people know who she is. I'm older now and more accepting of people that ain't like me you know and I like Rep. Todd just fine...we get along just fine...but she is a lesbian."


One of the hosts pointed out that Rep. Todd is a 'liberal democrat' and that the medical marijuana bill is a liberal bill. I wonder if he thinks that cancer, HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, Alzheimer's, chronic pain, glaucoma, epilepsy and illness of that nature are liberal illnesses that only attack those bad liberal people who just beg to be attacked?

They of course never answered why they thought it was important to discuss Rep. Todd's sexuality in the context of the conversation about HB434. I guess maybe they were trying to imply that smoking medical marijuana for cancer might turn you into a lesbian. I suppose if Ms. Laura Hall had still been sponsoring the bill they would have implied that smoking medical marijuana would turn you black.

How can people be so deliberately ignorant and willfully stupid? Are the listeners of that show equally ignorant and willfully stupid? I hope not. I know at least two that do not fit that description and that would be the friend who emailed me about Senator Larry Dixon being on the show and a gentleman named Andrew who called in after me, identified himself as a conservative and said he supported medical marijuana and the right of people to be gay as long as no one was being hurt. I'd say Andrew is a TRUE CONSERVATIVE.

Back to the first question which was, "Since you don't support medical marijuana does that mean you support locking cancer patients in prison?"

Sen. Dixon, "No, No I don't support locking cancer patients in prison. There are no cancer patients in prison. I have just as much experience with cancer as you do (and how much would that be and how much experience do you reckon he thinks I have with cancer?) and there are oncologists studying this thing and"

At this point one of the hosts jumps in and says "Yeah and there's pain doctors"

Sen. Dixon, "Yes pain doctors and Marinol which is Tetra-Hydra-Cannabinol (boy he sure knows a lot about marijuana if he knows the scientific name for THC and how to say it for someone who does not support the bill) in pill form that can be prescribed. There's just no way to enforce such a law about who can smoke it and who can't."

Unfortunately they control the phones at the station and cut you off as soon as you ask your question so I didn't get a chance to respond. I did record it but messed up the file because I didn't have the audio turned up loud enough so it can barely be heard. If anyone out there knows how to boost the audio on a WMA file please let me know.

If I had gotten the chance to respond I would have pointed out the obvious, which is that Marinol isn't covered by most insurance companies and costs about $700 a month for 30 pills. Plus the fact that cancer patients often have trouble taking pills because they cannot keep anything down due to nausea and vomiting caused by the chemo/radiation. Not to mention that the government has no business interfering in the doctor/patient relationship and as 'conservatives' who oppose 'large government' in general (yuk yuk) and socialized medicine (on the grounds that it will put the government between you and your doctor) they sure aren't acting 'conservative' on this issue.

It's amazing how two radio hosts and one Senator think their uninformed opinions mean more than what a doctor says regarding medical marijuana. I'd wager that none of them have ever been to medical school. I'd also wager that if anyone in their family is ever stricken with a terrible ailment that medical marijuana can help they will go and find some.

This is also not a partisan issue. As I stated earlier disease and terminal illness and chronic pain don't discriminate between liberals, conservatives, libertarians, independents, black, white, straight or gay, so how can medical marijuana be a 'Liberal' issue?

For those of you who would like to tell the show what you think you can do so by signing up on their forum here. Also feel free to let Senator Dixon know what you think.