U.S. medical marijuana facilities raided
Legal growers of medical marijuana in the state of Montana were outraged after federal agents raided greenhouses and dispensaries in several cities.
The raids on Monday marked the first such crackdown in Montana by the federal government since a state ballot measure legalizing cultivation and possession of marijuana for medical purposes was overwhelmingly approved by voters there in 2004.
The busts also appeared to mark a reversal of the policy the Obama administration announced in 2009 when the U.S. Justice Department issued guidelines calling a halt to federal raids on state-approved medical marijuana dispensaries.
Marijuana is still considered an illegal narcotic under federal law.
Chris Williams, co-owner of Montana Cannabis west of Helena, one of the biggest medical marijuana operations in the state, said his entire crop of nearly 1,700 pot plants were seized from a greenhouse facility about half the length of a football field.
“This is ridiculous”, said Williams, whose operation serves nearly 300 patients. “I don’t participate in interstate commerce. I only do business in Montana, and our state has made this legal for our citizens.”
Williams said agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Drug Enforcement Administration, seized all of Montana Cannabis’ computers, paperwork, plants and medicine, with assistance from local law enforcement.
“Basically, they’ve completely uprooted our business as best they can, without any reason other than they say, federally, marijuana is illegal” Williams said.
A medical marijuana advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access, said nearly a dozen dispensaries and cultivation operations were raided by federal agents in various towns throughout the western state.
There were no arrests reported in connection with the sweep. A copy of a search warrant obtained by the group from one of the cultivation operations raided said agents were out to confiscate marijuana, drug paraphernalia, computers, firearms, cell phones, cash and vehicle titles.
The supply chain of pot-growing facilities and storefront dispensaries allowed under Montana’s medical marijuana statute is little regulated and has expanded rapidly during the past couple of years. Meanwhile, the number of medical marijuana patients, or card-holders, has jumped from about 1,000 to 28,000 in that state.
Victoria Francis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Billings, confirmed that federal agents served search warrants across Montana, but she declined to give further details.
The Obama administration has delivered somewhat mixed messages about the liberalization of medical marijuana laws at the state level.
In a departure from the stance taken by the Bush administration, the Justice Department said in October 2009 it would no longer prosecute patients who use medical marijuana, or dispensaries that distribute it, in states where marijuana has been legalized for such purposes.
Baby Joseph likely to receive tracheotomy
A hospital in St. Louis, Mo., will likely perform a tracheotomy on Joseph Maraachli — the year-old Ontario baby at the centre of a right-to-life battle — by the end of the week, officials say.
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Centre (CGCMC) had planned a news conference for Tuesday, but cancelled it because a treatment plan for Joseph, who has an unidentified degenerative brain disease, is still in the works.
Doctors ran tests on Monday on the baby to provide his family with a second opinion on his prognosis. On Sunday, Joseph was moved to the U.S. faith-based hospital, from the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) in southwestern Ontario, where he had been since October.
The baby’s aunt, Faith Nader, said it’s like the Windsor, Ont., family has awakened from a nightmare, and they hated the way Joseph was treated in London.
“I just need someone to wake me up and say, ‘Yes! He’s not in London anymore,'” said Nader. “We all hated it so much. It was the way they were treating him. It was so, so horrible. So we just wanted our right to life. We just wanted him out of there.”
‘It was the way they were treating him. It was so, so horrible. So we just wanted our right to life. We just wanted him out of there.’
—Faith Nader, baby Joseph’s Aunt
Ashley Weihle-Fram, a communications specialist for the St. Louis hospital, said: “At Cardinal Glennon we don’t believe in turning any patient away.”
Joseph’s Canadian doctors had said his condition was deteriorating and determined he should be taken off assisted breathing. The boys’ parents lost a court appeal in which they contended that Joseph would suffer a painful death if the tube were removed.
London hospital defends baby’s care
Meanwhile, officials at LHSC are defending their doctors, saying the care baby Joseph received in London was “second to none anywhere in the world.”
The London hospital refused to perform the tracheotomy, saying it could cause infection or pneumonia. They believe the baby won’t recover, and say he was moved against medical advice.
But the medical team leader in St. Louis, Dr. Robert Wilmott, says a tracheotomy will allow Joseph to be moved to a skilled nursing facility. The surgical procedure involves creating an opening into the airway through an incision in the neck. The trache tube then help draw fluid out of the lungs, creates a safe and stable way to use a mechanical ventilator, and is more comfortable for the child, CGCMC said.
The baby was still breathing with the assistance of a ventilator on Monday evening, according to a statement from the Missouri hospital.
Priests for Life back Maraachlis
Meanwhile, the head of the group Priests for Life, Rev. Frank Pavone, said he has been told by physicians that they hope to be able to eventually send Joseph home. Pavone had accompanied Moe Maraachli, the baby’s father, on the private flight from London to St. Louis.
Pavone’s online blog on Tuesday described how he “rescued” Joseph in a “covert mission … under the cover of darkness” from his Canadian hospital. His blog is linked to a YouTube video of Pavone sitting beside Moe Maraachli, while Maraachli thanks his U.S. supporters.
Priests for Life paid for the private jet to move the baby and is footing the bill for the medical bills and expenses for the family.
Staff at LHSC have received a number of threats from “U.S.-based groups” related to Joseph’s case, said a statement from the London hospital. LHSC officials are dealing with hospital lawyers and police, where necessary, they said.
The controversy over end-of-life care has been garnering a lot of international attention. CBC News was told the parents are going to be interviewed by CNN and People magazine.
More practical training proposed for medical students
Undergraduate medical students are all set to get more practical training with the Medical Council of India proposing an innovative curriculum to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
The curriculum proposed by a special panel set up for the purpose by the MCI would be structured to facilitate horizontal and vertical integration between disciplines, bridging gaps between theory and practice and between hospital-based medicine and community medicine.
Basic and laboratory sciences (integrated with their clinical relevance) would be maximum in the first year and will progressively decrease in the second and third years as the curriculum progresses, according to the proposed curriculum.
The essentials of basic and laboratory sciences would be taught in the first year and built on in the subsequent years.
Similarly, certain subjects will get extra lectures from the first year onwards for example approximately eight radiology lectures can be included in anatomy to teach students cross sectional anatomy of brain, abdomen, foetal anatomy during embryology teaching etc. during first year itself.
This practice is already being followed by Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. This model can be adopted by other colleges as well, without changing the number of lecture hours (by integration).
Forensic Medicine can be effectively taught during gynaecology and obstetrics (rape, assault), surgery (injuries), pharmacology (toxicology). Legal experts can be called for medico-legal issues, the committee said.
Forensic medicine skills can be acquired during internship such as documentation of medico-legal cases of alcoholism, suicide or homicide, rape, assault and injury cases.Infection control section in hospital in now an important component and that should be included, the committee felt.
Both horizontal and vertical integration will be used for making the curriculum more efficient and student friendly.
Details of this are being worked out by expert committees constituted by MCI in co-ordination with the undergraduate working group.
Health bodies refuse to sign government deal on alcohol
Six key UK health associations have rejected the government’s new ‘responsibility deal’ on alcohol – ahead of its publication tomorrow.
The British Medical Association, Alcohol Concern and other medical groups have announced that they will not sign up to the Public Health Responsibility Deal.
This is a partnership between the Department of Health, UK industry and the health community covering food, alcohol, physical activity and health at work.
The six organisations give a series of reasons why – as a group – they are unable to sign up to the deal’s alcohol policy.
They believe the Responsibility Deal policy objective to foster a culture of responsible drinking does not adequately address the problems of morbidity and mortality caused by alcohol.
They also say drinks industry pledges are not reliable, and the Responsibility Deal process has not taken the health lobby’s alternative pledges into account.
These pledges include not to advertise in cinemas during under-18 films, and to put health warnings on all bottles.
While the organisations stress they ‘remain completely open to dialogue with the government’, they also say they ‘have not yet seen evidence that Government is working towards a comprehensive, cross-departmental strategy to reduce alcohol harm, based on evidence of what works, with rigorous evaluation metrics.’
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association says it will not comment before the publication of the government’s Public Health Responsibility Deal tomorrow.
The six organisations involved in today’s announcement are: Alcohol Concern, British Association for the Study of the Liver, British Liver Trust, British Medical Association, Institute of Alcohol Studies, and the Royal College of Physicians.
BMA spokeswoman Dr Vivienne Nathanson said, “The BMA has thought long and hard about walking away from the table but ultimately we do not feel we have any option. The government has talked the talk in respect of wanting to tackle alcohol misuse but when it comes to taking tough action that will achieve results it falls short. Instead it has chosen to rely on the alcohol industry to develop policies – given the inherent conflict of interest these will do nothing to reduce the harm caused by alcohol misuse.’
