COVID-19 & Healthcare

‘Marijuana Refugees’ Move to Colorado for Cannabis Oil to Treat Epilepsy

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marijuana leaf

When I first heard Democracy Now’s headline about “marijuana refugees” moving to Colorado, I, of course, thought of stoners who want to freely buy weed from a retail outlet, but the riveting story on Democracy Now focused on families that are leaving their homes in other states to get access to a particular cannabinoid oil that has been shown to be effective in controlling epileptic seizures.

That’s just plain stupid. Not getting cannabis oil– but having to leave your home, your job, and all of your friends to move across the country to gain access to an herbal remedy that can help your child lead a normal life.

Little Madeleine, who was featured on the show, had exhausted the available medical therapies and was facing brain surgery to remove half of her brain, when her mother heard about cannabis oil and decided to move to Colorado to obtain it. With cannabis oil, Madeleine went from suffering hundreds of seizures per day to being able to function as a normal child. (Check out the video, and you’ll see Madeleine and her smiling, happy Mom.)

From Democracy Now…

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, at least 115 “marijuana refugee families” from 43 states have left jobs, homes and family so they could obtain the cannabis oil to treat a variety of ailments.

The big controversy with this use of cannabis is that it’s not a research-based treatment and not controlled by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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CD2 Candidates: Where Do Barber & McSally Stand on the Issues?

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Ron Barber vs Martha McSally
Venn diagram showing where CD2 Congressional Candidates Ron Barber and Martha McSally agree or disagree. (TPP = Trans-Pacific Partnership)

Progressives have their hair on fire regarding Congressman Ron Barber’s (and Kyrsten Sinema’s) recent votes to help Teapublicans in the House of Representatives create a Congressional  witch hunt committee to re-investigate the the terrorist attack in Benghazi in 2012, when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. (Seriously, boys, if Benghazi and Monica Lewinsky’s article in Vanity Fair are all you have on Hillary, you’re in trouble. But I digress.)

On Facebook, Democrats and Progressives are vowing never to work or donate to Barber because of his Republican-lite voting record. Some say they may reluctantly vote for him but nothing more! I have often said that women’s issues (healthcare, choice, access to contraception, and equal pay) may save Barber, and that otherwise, he and challenger Martha McSally are pretty close in their views– particularly on the A-10.

Inspired by BfAZ blogger Donna Gratehouse’s Venn diagram earlier today, I offer the above Venn diagram to illustrate what issues Barber and McSally agree and disagree on. [Click on graphic to enlarge.] The information has been gleaned from statements, votes, news stories, and the candidates’ campaign websites. [NOTE: The Venn diagram includes an incomplete list of the “silent” issues. They also both void discussing: the environment; marijuana legalization; private prisons; undocumented workers; unemployment, food stamps, and other social safety net programs; and probably others I haven’t thought of.]

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The GOP’s conspiracy-palooza week in the House

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This is what happens when a major political party is run by the propagandists of the conservative media entertainment complex — you get conspiracy-palooza week — to shake down the rubes for their money and to get ’em all riled up over some perceived grievance that  has no basis in fact.

First up, yet another hearing on #Obummercare. Things did not go as planned. The New York Times reports, Called by Republicans, Health Insurers Deliver Unexpected Testimony:

ObamacareHouse Republicans summoned a half-dozen health insurance executives to a hearing Wednesday envisioned as another forum for criticism of the Affordable Care Act. But insurers refused to go along with the plan, and surprised Republican critics of the law by undercutting some of their arguments against it.

Insurers, appearing before a panel of the Energy and Commerce Committee, testified that the law had not led to a government takeover of their industry, as some Republicans had predicted. Indeed, several insurers said their stock prices had increased in the last few years.

The executives also declined to endorse Republican predictions of a sharp increase in insurance premiums next year, saying they did not have enough data or experience to forecast prices. And they said they were already receiving federal subsidy payments intended to make insurance more affordable for low- and middle-income people.

Great line from Paul Waldman at the Washington Post: “May I remind the witnesses that we brought them here for the purpose of a partisan media circus, and we expect them to cooperate!”

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Actually, the War on (Other) Women rages on

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com Pamela Powers Hannley, my colleague over at Blog for Arizona, took the Arizona Daily Star to task for running a column by Slate’s Hanna Rosin advising Democrats to back off on the War on Women rhetoric. The article itself is the usual eyeroll-inducing concern trolling that Rosin, who describes herself as liberal … Read more

All the other anti-choicers wish they could be like this guy

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Well, here’s a message to the ladies from a friendly local pastor:

AZ pastor: Childless women on birth control have destroyed the U.S. with ‘whoredom’ (via Raw Story )

Arizona Pastor Steven Anderson warned his congregation recently that birth control was not only turn women into “whores,” it was also destroying the country. In a sermon posted online this week, the Faithful Word Baptist Church leader explained…

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