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Daily Vanguard

Social medication

Medical marijuana social clubs are a joke

By Natalia Grozina

Vanguard staff

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Published: Friday, November 13, 2009

Updated: Friday, November 13, 2009

clubmj

Illustration by Kira Meyrick/Portland State Vanguard

Oregonians have always held the stereotype that they smoke more marijuana than in other states—that we are hippies, that we are all vegans or even that we might not have running water. Oregon often seems to be misjudged. But some recent news, sadly, reinforces some of the aforementioned stereotypes.

 “As of next week, Oregon’s medical-marijuana patients will have two smoke-easies in Portland in which to medicate and socialize, the first such places in the country to open since the federal government indicated that it will no longer arrest or prosecute patients and suppliers,” according to an article in The Oregonian from Nov. 3.

Managed by Oregon’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the Cannabis Café will open in Northeast Portland on Nov. 13. It will be the second cafe of its kind after Club 420 opened early last month.

After reading this I was shocked. We can’t smoke cigarettes in a bar, but we can have lounges in which to smoke pot freely? Apparently, all people in the world can now label us as a “wacky state”—Amsterdam included.

What’s even worse is Madeline Martinez, executive director of NORML, saying the following quote in The Oregonian’s article about medical-marijuana cardholders.

“Do they go out into an alley and hide in the back of their car?” Martinez asked. “There needs to be a place, much like our meetings are, where people can socialize and network.”

And “network?” I can see crime rates go up as I am writing this article. It doesn’t help with the obesity rate either. Cannabis Café may not be selling marijuana but I am certain it sells the munchies. Besides, who is going to monitor these lounges so that other drugs don’t slip into them? The next thing we know there will be bongs for crack and glow sticks galore, all while we’re thinking diabetics are smoking “medical” marijuana. Yeah, right.

I don’t get the social aspect of it either. Are you that lonely that you must create a group to take medication together? Do you get together to take insulin too? If so, you might have social problems too, not just medical ones.

Perhaps that was harsh, but what I am trying to stress is that taking medications is supposed to be boring. I’ve never heard of it being something that should be a shared experience. But perhaps the 21st century demands that we must be over taking medication in the privacy of our own home. Now we have to pop pills together.

More so, if you read some of the comments that were posted online after the article, you get things like from “fixin2” who “clues” us on the fact that he smokes daily to help with pain. Yet I am sure that those who really do have medical marijuana cards for a legitimate reason don’t say things like “It’s 420. Hit it!!”
 

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16 comments

greshamite
Fri Jan 8 2010 09:11
It sounds "wacky" until you realize that marijuana was LEGAL less than hundred years ago. All we have done is enforce prohibition. You can go to a bar to get a drink, so why can't you go to a cannabis establishment? I understand about smoking tobacco, but tobacco is more harmful because of second-hand smoke, whereas cannabis smoke is not as harmful. Plus, people aren't going to bars to smoke. They are going there to drink, and not all of us want to breathe in cigarette smoke when we visit a bar. By contrast, a medical marijuana place, people are going there to smoke. If there were establishments that people just went to in order to smoke cigarettes (not just regular bars), then I'd be fine with that. Well, actually, I think that businesses should be able to do as they please, to allow smoking or non-smoking. Let's end the nanny state all together. No, this doesn't show that Oregon is some kind of pot-smoking hippy paradise at all. No, a policy allowing marijuana would show that it is a forward thinking, intelligent state with a libertarian attitude towards issues like prohibition. If only it were consistent in those attitudes.
T.W.N.
Mon Nov 16 2009 00:40
Don't worry, we (from other states) do not think that Oregon smokes more marijuana than any other state. We DO believe that Oregonians eat more magic mushrooms than anywhere else, though! Man, Oregon is getting better and better since the last time I was up there! These "marijuana clubs" that you guys have are both historical and revolutionary! BRAVO!
Anon in Portland
Sun Nov 15 2009 22:43
You need to go down to the Cannabis Cafe a half hour before they open and talk to the people in line, tell them you are from the Vanguard and that their comments will be anonymous. Ask them why they smoke. Note who they are. These are people of all ages, races, backgrounds. These are people largely in pain and seeking relief. Cancer survivors, car accident victims, war veterans, moms, fathers, grandparents, middle aged latino women, everyone you can think of. I realize that you did think before you spoke, but you failed to engage in any dialogue whatsoever with the very people you are condemning, and for that you are not only a failure as a journalist but as a human being. Grow some compassion and let others grow the medicine they need for compassionate relief.
Russ Belville, NORML outreach Coordinator
Sat Nov 14 2009 14:15
P.S. Oregon's no-indoor-smoking laws specifically address "tobacco smoke". Because that is deadly harmful to you and, guess what, second-hand cannabis vapors are not.
Russ Belville, NORML outreach Coordinator
Sat Nov 14 2009 14:13
Yet again, another commentary written by someone ignorant about the basic truths of cannabis. My bet is that you have never smoked any marijuana, but feel morally justified to judge those who do while you enjoy a nice whiskey, beer, or glass of wine.

The point is not that medical cannabis users have to medicate in a social setting; it is that they have no social settings that allow them to do so. If you are prescribed Vicodin, for example, to cope with lifelong chronic pain, you can go to any movie, nightclub, concert, cafe, restaurant, festival, parade, or sporting event and if your pain starts to make the social event uncomfortable for you, you can just open your bottle and pop a pill. But a medical marijuana patient has no such luxury. Until now, the choice has been "live in pain and have a social life" vs. "stay cooped up in my home or visit a few cardholding friends' homes."

Your implication that medical marijuana users gathered in a social setting means the crime rate will go up is ludicrous and insulting. In fact, if attending the cafe means fewer visits to illicit marijuana dealers, it could be argued that the cafe will lead to LESS crime.

You also demean the notion of medical marijuana patients "networking". Every year the Oregon legislature starts up, there are dozens of bills submitted to take from medical marijuana patients their drivers licenses, right to be teachers, doctors, police, or elected officials, right to work or apply for any job, public housing, public assistance, and 2nd Amendment gun rights. Every year, Madeline Martinez, Oregon NORML, and many dedicated activists beat back these unAmerican restrictions on people using a medicine deemed by the voters of Oregon "to be treated like other medications." Because many of these patients suffer in severe pain without medicating, getting them into one place to train as lobbyists for their right is difficult.

chastason
Sat Nov 14 2009 09:51
Hands down, this is one of the most poorly thought-out pieces of crap I've read in the Vanguard, and that is saying quite a bit. I'm not sure if the editing process ruined this piece, or if it was doomed from the start, but for *** sake, this is pathetic.

Early in the piece, Ms. Grozina claims to be upset that she can't smoke tobacco in a bar. A few graphs later, she becomes very concerned for the caloric intake of others. Forcing her second-hand smoke onto others is fine, but heaven forbid somebody might enjoy a sweet dessert.

Users wanting to socialize while they are taking medication (or not) cannot be a bad thing. Human interaction has proven to help the body in times of illness, raising both the immune system and providing some healthy interaction that can help relieve pain and suffering.

The added bit about other drugs sneaking into the scene and that marijuana is a gateway drug are the same sort of paranoia and "just say no" propaganda talking points that, time and time again, fail to be proven with sound research.

C'mon Vanguard ... if content is so low that you're forced to run shit like this in your pages, perhaps you might consider reducing the number of pages Op/Ed gets. Or get a new Opinion editor. Or both. *Edited for extreme language*

Daniel Oviatt
Sat Nov 14 2009 00:13
I challenge YOU to talk to 20+ Cancer/MS patients, patients with broken backs that smoke because they're oxycontin/morphine makes them at times violently ill. Tell a heroin addict who's kicking their habit not to smoke pot to ease the physical anguish of withdrawals and to just pop more OPIATE-BASED DRUGS ( Methadone ). Tell them everything that you just said in your "news". I can promise you that they will surely give you a piece of their minds on this "issue" of yours.
Tell us all truthfully, if you had CANCER or Multiple-Sclerosis that you'd NEVER EVER take even one puff of a joint to ease your pain? Basing my opinion off your writing, I'd be willing to bet that you'd even hate your own parents if they were users of marijuana for Cancer treatment.
You'd much rather swallow drugs that Big Pharma has been forcing down America's Throat for years, wouldn't you? Did you know that the drugs that major drug-companies are creating in labs are phenomenally more dangerous and lethal than Marijuana ever could be!! Should you have done proper journalistic inquiry and research, you'd have not even once thought to write this bigoted piece of crap you call a "news story".

It's because of people like you in this world that the "drug-war" has raged on and on for the last 75+ years.
It's because of the ignorance and bigotry Americans are cursed with that has let this bloody "war" rage on.
So go eat your dinner at McDonald's and keep your mind asleep.

{Yet I am sure that those who really do have medical marijuana cards for a legitimate reason don’t say things like “It’s 420. Hit it!!”} - Actually, YES THEY DO. That just shows how much you truly DO NOT KNOW about this subject matter you are "reporting" on.

Chuck
Fri Nov 13 2009 20:16
As a medical marijuana patient, I'm highly offended by this article/opinion piece.

These clubs are primarily for people from out of town, where they have a legal place to smoke while they're visiting. They provide patients with the ability to ingest their medicine without fear of arrest. There's also a membership fee to join these clubs. As a Portland resident, I don't need what they're offering, but I still applaud NORML for making this available. If you'd like to learn more about this, since it's obvious your only research into this was the Oregonian article you quoted, I'd suggest that you contact NORML directly, or perhaps read the article the Mercury wrote about this last week. It's way less slanderous.

Anonymous
Fri Nov 13 2009 20:06
Alcohol is a drug that kills people unlike weed. There are bars for people to drink there medication. People get together to just socialize, they get together at a bar to socialize and medicate them selves. So many people will tell you that alcohol helps them relax and makes it easier to to socialize. Is that not medication for some form of social anxiety? The reason anyone takes medicine is to make you feel better. Why not feel better together? If you can drink poison in a bar together and then go outside to smoke poison together (cigs which are also another form of social medication) than why shouldn't you be able to smoke a plant together whether it's medical or not. Don't be a hypocrite. Oh and to refer to crack when your talking about weed is just plain ignorant. If you're one of those people that say weed is a gateway drug maybe you should consider that 99.99999 percent of people that do drugs didn't smoke a plant that has never killed a person in the history of it;s use, no, they smoke tabacco or drink alcohol first. Nearly a million people die a year for that. Grow up.
Hunter
Fri Nov 13 2009 19:31
There are so many things wrong with this piece that I can't imagine where to begin. Crime rates and obesity rates going up as a result of smoking pot? You've got to be kidding.
What crimes, exactly, are committed by people solely because they are high on marijuana? Perhaps medical marijuana patients will go on a cookie-jar raiding rampage...?
As for this absurd faux-concern over rising obesity rates, who do you think you're fooling? The idea that there is even such a thing as obesity (and that it carries any significant health risks) is highly debatable, of course, but also beside the point in this case. Who cares if medical marijuana users gain weight? In fact, many patients are prescribed the drug in the hopes that it will stimulate their appetite - because of side effects from treatment for the serious illnesses they're battling, like cancer, many people lose too much weight.
As for your immature, petty, and just plain mean suggestion that patients who visit the cafe have "social problems too, not just medical ones" - grow up, and learn how to make an effective argument while you're at it. These people are demonized for turning to an oftentimes last resort treatment for their pain, and likely have nowhere else to go where they feel safe tending to their basic medical needs.
Steve Elliott ~alapoet~
Fri Nov 13 2009 17:39
Natalia, maybe it wouldn't be such a "joke" to you if you were suffering from one of the debilitating diseases for which medical marijuana is recommended by physicians.

Seems you would have all of us medical marijuana patients sit home, alone, in a dour mood and lonely. Heaven forbid we should actually ever want to socialize with like-minded people in a similar situation. And perish the thought that we should ever have a fleeting moment of light-heartedness!

Your editorial is small-minded, mean-spirited, and paints a very unflattering picture of you. It demonstrates a complete lake of sympathy, a sickeningly smugly self-righteous superiority, and an eagerness to judge and condemn those who might be just a little different than you -- never mind if they are gravely ill; to have a little compassion seems to be beyond your limited abilities.

Joe
Fri Nov 13 2009 17:33
Recreational marijuana use ought not be illegal; the fact that it is is what forces people to use these flimsy excuses to enjoy it. Additionally, the implication that social marijuana use would somehow lead to the presence/use of harder drugs is a logical fallacy. Does it follow that because a bar serves alcohol, there will also necessarily be marijuana or tobacco or cocaine for sale there? I do not think so.
Stonemark
Fri Nov 13 2009 14:40
Wow, that was extremely ignorant. Tobacco is grown with pesticides and then preservatives are added and when it's burned the smoke is carcinogenic. Smoking cigarettes causes cancer. Cannabis is often grown indoors and when it is grown outdoors nobody is adding pesticides, beside a govenment trying to destroy a marijauna crop (paraquat). Also I am pretty sure there are still hookah bars in Portland so there are places that you can go smoke tobacco. I bet there is a least one cigar lounge as well. Something tells me if you (legally) greased the right palms at City Hall you could open and establishment that caters to cigarette smokers.

Then you go on to categorize all marijuana smokers as criminals. The only thing that makes the average marijuana smoker a criminal is that marijuana is illegal. Most are law abiding citizens, that is how they manage to smoke weed for years and years and years and not get busted. You point out the connection between marijuana and appetite increase but fail to see how this could benefit someone on chemotherapy dealing with intense nausea. You must think it would be better for someone to be addicted to oxycontin than to be controoling their chronic pain with marijuana. Do you also think that people don't steal or commit violent acts to obtain this legal drug? You further the idiotic myth that marijuana is a gateway drug. Anyone who is seeking the stimulant high of crack is not looking to be "mellowed out" by weed, unless of course they've smoked too much crack. Anyone who likes the relaxed state that marijuana puts you in is not looking for a speed high like crack or meth.

You try to deny the social aspect of smoking marijuana while simultaneously whining about the lack of places to go and socially smoke cigarettes.

What I really don't understand about people like you is why can't you mind your own business? If you don't like marijuana, fine, don't smoke it. Nobody is going to hold you down and get you stoned. Nobody is breaking into cars and houses and mugging people to support their marijuana habit. The most disgusting thing about being anti-marijuana is that it actually helps people with cancer go through chemotherapy, and people like you are perfectly willing to make them suffer more than they already have to. Just so you can feel a little bit safer with all your misconceptions and prejudices.

Billy M.
Fri Nov 13 2009 14:02
Whether or not you are for or against medical marijuana, some of the things you have stated in the article are bigoted and down-right uneducated. Obviously you are not familiar with the way the medical system works in the U.S..

"We can’t smoke cigarettes in a bar, but we can have lounges in which to smoke pot freely?"
- The Cannabis Cafes are not open to the general public. They are set up for people who are medical patients and they create a social atmosphere for them to medicate. These clubs aren't exposing the general public to second hand smoke, like what used to happen in many bars until they passed bill 571.

"Apparently, all people in the world can now label us as a “wacky state”—Amsterdam included. "
- Did you know that California has Cannabis Cafes? They also have dispensaries that medical patients can get marijuana from. They even have vending machines! But that doesn't matter, now that Portland has two Cannabis Cafes we are way CRAZIER AND WACKIER than any other state out there.

"And “network?” I can see crime rates go up as I am writing this article. It doesn’t help with the obesity rate either. Cannabis Café may not be selling marijuana but I am certain it sells the munchies. Besides, who is going to monitor these lounges so that other drugs don’t slip into them? The next thing we know there will be bongs for crack and glow sticks galore, all while we’re thinking diabetics are smoking “medical” marijuana. Yeah, right."
- There are so many things wrong with this that I don't even know where to begin....
Crime rates will go down if anything. By providing a safe atmosphere for people to medicate and acquire their medicine, fewer patients will have to turn to the black-market to purchase marijuana. Do you wanna send a little-old-lady with glaucoma to a back alley to get her medicine? Fewer and fewer people will be buying from the black market and will be purchasing marijuana from a safe and legitimate source. Which will bring less revenue to the "criminals" who sell the illicit substance.

The fact that you said the obesity rate will be affected by this shows how little you know about the subject. Did you know that many cancer patients have a hard time eating because of all the medication they are on? Smoking marijuana helps settle their stomach and allows them to eat food without feeling nauseous or sick afterwards. But sure, go ahead and make a joke about "the munchies." I'm sure all the cancer patients who can barely eat food without smoking marijuana will think that is funny.

Marijuana is medicine for these people! Why the hell would you mention having bongs for crack!?! That is a complete insult to the thousands of people who truly appreciate the medical value that marijuana has. They aren't looking to "get fucked up," they are trying to alleviate the pain they have. Do you think a cancer patient or somebody with AIDS is going to be slipping crack into their bong just for the hell of it? You seem to think so. But that is probably because you know nothing about the subject, nor did you feel it necessary to do any research before stating your bull-headed opinion.

"I don’t get the social aspect of it either. Are you that lonely that you must create a group to take medication together? Do you get together to take insulin too? If so, you might have social problems too, not just medical ones."
- Since I last checked, it is legal to take insulin shots in public. Is it legal to medicate with marijuana in public? Even if you are a medical patient and legally allowed to use marijuana, you better be careful. The reason they don't medicate in public is because they can get hassled by the police, it isn't socially acceptable to smoke marijuana so they general public will look down upon them, and there is potential that somebody would mug them and take their medicine. But instead of observing these facts, you think it's better to make a joke about medical patients having social problems on top of their medical problems. Harr har har...

Since this is an opinion column that means you can get away with writing this kind of slop. I would like to think that you read some articles or tried to educate yourself on the issue of medical marijuana, but instead, it appears you thought it would be best to talk out of your ass.
Good job Natalia! Way to take journalism seriously.

LGLIZEIT
Fri Nov 13 2009 13:21
I am glad to see that we can now have an open and free social network that allows us to talk open and freely about techniques from growing to intake of medicine. You have to remember a lot of Medical Cannabis users are in many stages of many illnesses. Some people are dieing of cancer and aids, some might have chronic joint or muscle pain, some might not even be able to eat food normally without the aid of certain medicines. Cannabis is natural, it has less side effects unlike many federally accepted drugs on the market that often don't really work for the patient. Not all people take cannabis the same way, yes some prefer to smoke it and appreciate the natural flavors like the thousands of previous connoisseurs in the last 3000 years. Some people use a vaporizer, some people eat it. Education is the key in finding how to use the medicine. I met a 45 yer old lady at one of these social events that was dieing of cancer and she told me before cancer, she spoke down about "marijuana" but now found it to be the only sensible thing to get her through chemotherapy. She told me before she past away last march that she had contemplated suicide due to the pain and symptoms of her therapy, but found it selfish to her family to just let go. Attending one of several to come social gatherings, she was educated by other patients with the same issues. She told me if it wasn't for the cannabis she would have just gave up. I am sorry to see her have past, but she also taught me a few things before she left. Its amazing to see this natural healing herb, bring us sick and dying people together in such a positive manor unlike any othe social network has ever done. I have found many people who talk such nonsense and bad about medical cannabis are only healthy people who are able to live and act a "normal" life. Most people don't care to educate themselves on the subject until something unfortunate happens to them or another family member. I am happy to see that we have yet another source of safe access to medicine. You have to remember pharmacy's for cannabis patients don't exist in the real world!
Thomas
Fri Nov 13 2009 08:16
Those of us with valid reasons to smoke marijuana, some with nausea so bad they can't keep food down, are not gathering at these clubs to stuff their faces. The "network" the writer speaks of consists of people who haven't had a place to talk with others with similar health problems and hopefully find new ways to deal with their pain and suffering. Perhaps Ms. Grozina's distain for these folks would be mitigated if she would have spoken with them about the real issues involved.






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