Posted on 02/28/2013 10:18:49 AM PST by Lexington Green
One of the suspects in this case is dying.
She is in her 60s, and confined to a wheelchair.
One of the other suspects is her caretaker.
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He is also in his 60s, and a disabled Vietnam veteran.
This husband-and-wife crime wave were at their home in Parrish, just across the Sunshine Skyway bridge in Manatee County, when deputies arrived Monday afternoon.
It seems a real estate agent had been checking out a house next door when she spotted marijuana plants growing in the back yard of Bob and Cathy Jordan.
Several deputies, detectives and undercover narcotics cops in ski masks later, two mature plants and various seedlings were confiscated, and the case was turned over to the State Attorney's Office to determine if charges are to be brought against Ma and Pa Jordan.
This would almost be comical if Bob was not worried it might lead to his wife's death.
Cathy Jordan has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) and has depended on marijuana to combat the progressive nature and many of the symptoms of her disease.
"I know it's against the law, and I know the cops have a job to do. But I have a responsibility, too, and my responsibility is taking care of my wife,'' said Bob Jordan, a retired steel worker. "They don't have to tell me this is serious. To us, this is life-and-death serious.
"I'm not backing down. If I have to go to jail, I'll go to jail. Just because something is illegal, doesn't make it morally wrong. My wife is dying! She's dying, man.''
Unbeknownst to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, the people they were investigating have been leaders in a push to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes in Florida.
On Wednesday afternoon, two days after the incident, Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, filed the previously planned Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act (SB 1250) in the Senate.
Clemens has filed similar bills the previous two years in the House and has essentially been ignored by his fellow legislators.
Even though 18 states have passed medical marijuana laws, and recent polls indicate Florida residents are overwhelmingly in favor of it, Clemens has little faith that his legislation will pass this year. His hope is that it will at least be discussed in a workshop and pick up momentum for sometime down the road.
"What is the public purpose of this policy? Is this the best way to use law enforcement resources?'' Clemens asked. "We are spending billions of dollars investigating, arresting, prosecuting and then housing people for small-time drug offenses. It's mind-boggling.
"The hope is that by regulating medicinal cannabis we can at least eliminate the senseless cases like this one in Manatee County.''
In the meantime, the Jordans are talking to an attorney and hoping the State Attorney's Office decides this is not a case worth pursuing.
They're also worrying about Cathy's health because they say cannabis is the only drug that has alleviated her depression and muscle issues while also helping with her appetite.
"This is her medicine. It's that simple,'' said Bob Jordan. "The problem is people are prejudiced against cannabis because of the tie-dye, hippie, bulls--- image.
"They don't have a cure for this. And none of their legal drugs ever did a thing for her.''
Your words ring hollow in the cancer ward. Where is your humanity?
Why shouldnt they be legalised? Why should I be told what I can or cant ingest? By your logic all narcotics should be banned. So why not ban alcohol? As a drug that causes loss of control, alcohol is by far the worst. The fact that cocaine is illegal does not make me not do cocaine. If I want to do it, I can easily get y hands on some and do it but I dont want to. In the same way I CHOOSE not to drink alcohol and CHOOSE not to smoke pot. I did try pot when I was completing my bachelors in Chemical Engineering and masters in petrochemicals and this may be a shock to you but I am far more productive than 99% of the country.
You accuse this legislation of being left leaning but it is not, its libertarian which is not left leaning at all. Big government and government control is what the left espouses which is exactly what you are spouting right now. You want the government to dictate what you can and cant ingest.
Its pathetic to think that someone who wants to get high on cocaine would tell himself “oh no but i might go to jail for it”, if he wants to do it he will do it.
Your logic is seriously flawed and scares me to be quite honest. It seems like you would rampantly murder people if it were not illegal to do so. I, and much of the rest of the normal people in this country, on the other hand dont murder, steal, rape etc because its morally wrong not because it is illegal to do so.
If you dont agree that alcohol should be banned then you sir, are a big government hypocrite.
I will also add that if you do agree, then that still makes you a supporter of big governments. How leftie of you.
So why isn't that happening in states that have medical marijuana?
When everyone has a plant or two, the value will be a few dollars per ounce. Why would anyone bother to rob or peddle?
I know a few people who homebrew beer. They don't live in fear of someone breaking in for their latest batch of ale. If the value is low, there won't be a problem.
However, I agree that there is an intermediate, semi-legal state, such as currently exists in CA, where it's partially restricted, so there's value, and the sorts of things you postulate do happen. The solution is to make it widely legal and forget about it.
Besides, shouldn't those decisions be left to the states to work out, per the Tenth Amendment?
So they can make Tobacco into gum and Patches, but they cannot make Marijuana into a pill?????
This is the MAIN issue I have with “Medical Pot”
In every single case, for every patient? Prove it.
back around the turn of the last century, heroin and cocaine, along with opium, were legal. the streets were not lined with junkies living in boxes...
addiction rates were lower than they are now...
the vaaast majority used it as it was intended, as a pain killer..
The "marijuana pill" is Marinol:
"The poor solubility of Marinol in aqueous solutions and its high first-pass metabolism in the liver account for its poor bioavailability; only 10-20% of an oral dose reaches the systemic circulation. The onset of action is slow; peak plasma concentrations are not attained until two to four hours after dosing. In contrast, inhaled marijuana is rapidly absorbed. In a study comparing THC administered orally, by inhalation, and intravenously, plasma concentration peaked almost instantaneously after both inhalation and intravenous administration" ( http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6376&page=203)
Several other cannabinoid chemicals available in marijuana - but absent from Marinol - have also been clinically demonstrated to possess therapeutic value. Clinical data indicate that the interaction of these compounds is likely more effictive than synthetic THC alone.
"for certain patients, such as the terminally ill or those with debilitating symptoms, the long-term risks [of smoking] are not of great concern. [...] it will likely be many years before a safe and effective cannabinoid delivery system, such as an inhaler, is available for patients. In the meantime there are patients with debilitating symptoms for whom smoked marijuana might provide relief. [...] Until a nonsmoked rapid-onset cannabinoid drug delivery system becomes available, we acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain or AIDS wasting." ( http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6376&page=7 and page 8)
So why isn't that happening in states that have medical marijuana?
Because the states that have legalized it (not counting the states that did so a month or two ago) issue the bulk of their legal marijuana cards to 20-35 year olds that have "glaucoma" or "stress illness".
20-35 year olds are impossible to rob?
A dying woman "wants" her medication - what a libertine!
Why shouldn't any adult have anything they want (and can pay for or make/grow themselves) so long as it, like pot, violates nobody's rights?
“Why shouldn’t any adult have anything they want (and can pay for or make/grow themselves) so long as it, like pot, violates nobody’s rights?”
Because it’s against the law. Here’s a novel idea. Change the law.
So she should be allowed to drive drunk as long as she doesn’t hurt anyone while doing it? After all, it’s what she wants to do and it doesn’t violate anyone’s rights. How about run a dog fighting operation? No rights are violated. Aren’t rights only available to individuals and not corporations or the government? Oohhh...that opens a lot of doors. She could steal a government vehicle.
That’s one of the things I always bristled at in regards to the medical marijuana argument. Just like the homos argued that all they desired was “civil unions,” but the moment they got it, they started pushing for marriages. It’s the sheer disingenuousness of the argument, using dying cancer patients to make their case, just so they can start up legal dispensaries and use headaches and hang-nails to peddle dope. Hippie pothead scum.
They could make a MJ oil inhaler type device, the Marijuasna smoke is carcinigenic if not more so than regular cigarette smoke.
Doesn’t the 10th Amendment leave such issues to the states, in your opinion?
I'm all for it. Do you support changing the law?
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