Transcript

Cultural Baggage / November 24, 2013

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Broadcasting on the Drug Truth Network, this is Cultural Baggage.

“It’s not only inhumane, it is really fundamentally Un-American.”

“No more! Drug War!” “No more! Drug War!”
“No more! Drug War!” “No more! Drug War!”

DEAN BECKER: My Name is Dean Becker. I don’t condone or encourage the use of any drugs, legal or illegal. I report the unvarnished truth about the pharmaceutical, banking, prison and judicial nightmare that feeds on Eternal Drug War.

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DEAN BECKER: Hello my friends. Welcome to this edition of Cultural Baggage. Here in just a moment we’re going to bring in a gentleman who had to move from I think it was Tennessee to Colorado for the medical marijuana available there for his child.

I also want to point out that yesterday news came down that Mr. Peter Lewis, a major funder of drug reform especially marijuana reform, passed away. Here, according to the AP, it says, “He really was a special person. He turned his wealth in to support for a number of progressive causes including strong support for marijuana law reform that began after he used it following a leg amputation.”

I think we do have our guest available now. Are you with us Mr. Koozer?

JUSTIN KOOZER: Yes, how are you?

DEAN BECKER: I am good, sir. I apologize for the confusion. If you will tell us a little about yourself, your family circumstance.

JUSTIN KOOZER: My wife and I have been married for some time now and we have a 2-year-old daughter who was born with Aicardi syndrome. Aicardi syndrome is...one of the major markers is she is missing her corpus callosum which is a bundle of fibers which connects the two halves of her brain.

As part of that she has a severe form of epilepsy called infantile spasms and she’s basically had multiple spasms every day of her life since she turned 3-months-old.

DEAN BECKER: Let’s talk about the need to move to Colorado. I was right you were based in Tennessee?

JUSTIN KOOZER: Yes. We were living in Knoxville, Tennessee and so we have been through 9 different seizure medications. We’re on our fifth neurologist and we have been told by 3 of them now that we have one other option from a pharmaceutical side of things and that option has a very high risk of liver failure.

We started looking into alternative options and came across this group out here in Colorado that is using very low THC marijuana with a high content of CBD and they’re having extremely good success with seizure control so decided in July of this year to pack up and move out here.

We moved out and we’re here on August 1 and we’ve been on what’s known as “Charlotte’s Web” for about a month now.

DEAN BECKER: Let’s talk about your 2-year-old daughter, Piper. She has had access to this for a limited time now and what have been the results, sir?

JUSTIN KOOZER: She’s been on it for about 4 weeks right now. We’ve been increasing the dose that she takes every day and while we’re not seeing complete seizure control what we are seeing some differences in her personality. She seems to be in a better mood most days. There’s been a few days where she’s had significantly fewer seizures throughout the day.

We kind of like to reference that on her worst day ever she was having over 400 spasms and I think this past week I think there was 2 or 3 days where she had just 2 or 3 single spasms.

We’re starting to see things change in her. It’s almost like a fog has been cleared from her mind. She’s smiling and laughing a lot more. She seems to be getting a little bit stronger as well. Her sleep has improved.

DEAN BECKER: Justin, what you mentioned there at first is she is starting to recognize you, to be part of the moment. Am I right?

JUSTIN KOOZER: Yeah, it seems that she is just more aware. When we talk about developmental level for her she’s about a 3 or 4-month-old. She’s just now discovering...she’s looking at her hands. She’s playing with her toys like she never has before so it’s pretty incredible to see the changes.

We’re a little reluctant on whether or not we’re going to say that it’s the results of the cannabis but the evidence is building up.

DEAN BECKER: I wanted to come back to the fact that you had to pull up roots. You had to move from Tennessee to Colorado because this medicine wasn’t available in Tennessee. I guess I’m hoping that you and your wife had the type of experience necessary to get a job up there. That’s been quite a chore in itself. Has it not?

JUSTIN KOOZER: We are very blessed in that aspect. We understand that we have had more support than a lot of other families. My job actually agreed when I approached them and said we wanted to move out here...the original intention was to move my wife and daughter out here and I would stay back home in Tennessee and my job was flexible enough to allow me to move out here with them.

So it wasn’t as difficult as a lot of families are having which is really unfortunate but, yeah, we did have to pack up everything and it really is a leap of faith. With her syndrome we’re the first one to try this treatment. We feel like we’re being pioneers in that kind of aspect.

As far as jobs and everything the hardest part was leaving the family behind.

DEAN BECKER: Yeah, I’m sure it is. The other thought that comes to mind is that you’re I think blessed to be working with the Stanley brothers, their compassionate care outfit up there. Tell us about how that works.

JUSTIN KOOZER: The Stanley brothers have started what they’re calling Realm of Caring. They’ve set up a non-profit organization that they’re basically giving the medicine in an oil at their cost which is about 5 cents per milligram of CBD.

The normal therapeutic dose is around 3 milligrams per pound of body weight. They’re significantly cutting the cost. They have put their whole industry, their whole life into what they are doing now.

I know that Josh Stanley has been traveling all over the country trying to push for change in multiple states. I heard that he was in Utah 2 weeks ago and Pennsylvania and D.C. last week.

What they’re doing is incredible. They have a grow up in the mountains and they’ve slowly been adding more and more of this particular strain. They are also growing other varieties of cannabis for sale in their dispensary which they’ve used the profits from that to kind of help subsidize the non-profit side.

DEAN BECKER: This also brings to mind and I don’t want you to get too political or whatever on this but just this past week the DEA and the state authorities busted some 20 dispensaries up there. I guess what I’m trying to get to is that the Stanley’s represent the compassionate, the straight-forward, the legal side of this and, perhaps, (I don’t know any details) there are still a few bad actors up there. What’s your thoughts about that, sir?

JUSTIN KOOZER: They did bust a handful here in Denver but you have to realize that there’s over 400 dispensaries just in Denver alone. This is actually a good thing that they’re taking down the guys that aren’t doing things the right way.

They’re trying to connect it through some Colombian drug cartel. We can get into that another day. That’s actually happening. If that’s the case then I don’t think what the Stanley brothers are doing is in immediate threat right now.

We have the DOJ coming out and saying, “Please don’t go after the people who are doing it right.” So, we understand that the DEA is still out there and it’s still against federal law but when I look at it personally I kind of look at this as kind of a power grab for what’s coming on January 1st which is when the dispensaries will be able to sell marijuana recreationally.

DEAN BECKER: Once again, we are speaking with Mr. Justin Koozer who is now based in Denver, Colorado with his daughter, Piper, who is using CBD to help with her epileptic seizures.

We’re going to be back in just a minute. I want to play a clip for you that shows this is not a lone story. This is not a single story. This is happening all across this country.

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REPORTER: Wonderful moments of joy for the Chandler family. There is also plenty of anguish.

2-year-old Carly has a rare genetic disorder causing severe seizures.

AMY CHANDLER: It’s devastating to watch.

REPORTER: The family shared these graphic videos with us.

DUSTIN CHANDLER: I challenge people to watch that video and as a parent if they can sit there and watch that video and put themselves in our shoes with their child.

REPORTER: They can only watch helplessly as their little girl cries out.

AMY CHANDLER: I had my breaking point that I knew that I could not sit back and not fight for her.

REPORTER: That fight means taking on a sometimes unpopular cause especially here in Alabama. Countless drugs with horrible side effects have failed to help Carly. Now the family wants to try medicinal marijuana.

DUSTIN CHANDLER: What we’re talking about is an extract from the cannabis plant which is high in CBDs and very low in THC. It does not get you high. It does not have the psychoactive properties.

REPORTER: A cannabis and hemp producer in Colorado developed the oil extract. He says there’s no high and it’s not addictive.

JOSH STANLEY: Our first little girl, Charlotte, was having 400 seizures a week. The first week on these meds 0.

REPORTER: You can put it in food.

DUSTIN CHANDLER: That has been the common misconception, “How are you going give it to her? Is she going to smoke a joint?”

No, she’s not going to smoke a joint. It comes in an oil form.

REPORTER: Dustin Chandler is Pelham police officer and says he will not break the law but if his daughter gets worse they may have to move to a place where this is legal.

DUSTIN CHANDLER: This is not a “red” or “blue” issue. This is a parents’ issue. This is a human issue. This is a compassion issue.

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DEAN BECKER: Alright, once again, you’re listening to the Cultural Baggage show on the Drug Truth Network and Pacifica Radio. I am Dean Becker. We have with us online here Mr. Justin Koozer.

Justin, that, in itself, is an anecdotal story but the fact of the matter is when you start stacking it up with the tens if not hundreds of Jhervas syndrome kids in Colorado and the hundreds elsewhere around this country it should be recognized for what it is. The science should come forward. What’s your thought, Justin?

JUSTIN KOOZER: This is how science progresses. They look at what’s going on in the patient population and then they take that and they study it with the scientific method. The problem is the federal government has not allowed that kind of testing to happen so that’s all they can say now is that it is anecdotal evidence.

Now I know about the kids here in Colorado that they are doing a research paper on which we hope will lead to a clinical trial on the full plant extract but we also know that GW Pharmaceuticals is getting ready to start their clinical trial so things are coming. It’s anecdotal at this point but the more the evidence builds up the local government especially will have to take a look at that.

DEAN BECKER: I want to come back, once again, to the situation in Colorado. Again, the Stanley brothers, you and I talked last week and I said they need to put Josh Stanley’s face up there on Mt. Rushmore.

These people are basically giving this what could be expensive medicine away trying to prove this science. A bit later I’m going to play a segment from Dr. Sanjay Gupta but there are more and more people with that authority, with that respect whose words we should respect as well. It’s time to take another look at this isn’t it, Justin?

JUSTIN KOOZER: I think the time is coming, Dean. We’re hitting a tipping point. You look at the number of states that have legalized and the number of states that are getting ready to have ballot initiatives...even in Tennessee we’re just hearing now that a bill is going to be introduced. It has one sponsor in the house and we’re still looking for a sponsor in the senate.

I know the family that you just played down in Alabama is really pushing for change and I’ve heard a lot from that family as well. Even in cases where you talk about Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina – I’ve heard Texas, too – you talk about the reddest of red states that are finally looking at it and the change is coming.

Last week we had Utah - one of the reddest states, most conservative states in the U.S. – said, “OK, we’re not going to totally legalize cannabis but we’re going to allow these families to bring in this hemp oil.”

People are starting to realize that there’s no side effects. It’s not just a smoke screen for people to use it recreationally. It is something that can be used to help epilepsy, pain and nausea – the list goes on and on.

We see more and more case studies coming out of Israel and other countries ...what was the one two weeks ago that said cannabis can lead to the destruction of leukemia cells...

I think we’ve hit a tipping point where people are starting to look at it in a more scientific perspective. Even if you look at the polling you see that 58% of Americans are for the legalization of medicinal cannabis.

DEAN BECKER: Is there a website where you might want to point folks to get more information in this regard?

JUSTIN KOOZER: You can visit the Realm of Caring website for more information. There’s a lot of articles that are coming out now. There’s a lot of documentaries. I know that the CNN documentary will be airing again tonight at 7 your time so it’s probably on right now.

The Realm of Caring is a good place to start. They can get you in touch with the right people. They are starting another branch in California so it’s not just going to be Colorado moving forward.

Currently there is a wait list for this particular strain but we’re taking people off that list very rapidly. What I would encourage people to do is be very safe about this. If you’re going to try it for your child, if you are going try it for you have your particular strain tested and know they are some bad actors out there that are not extracting properly and they’re not testing properly to see the amount of CBD. I would encourage anyone that is doing this to do it alongside of a doctor if possible. Try to be as scientifically as possible to avoid any of the criticism from people.

DEAN BECKER: I appreciate you being with us. I hope you’ll hug your daughter, Piper, and I hope that progress continues as time goes by.

JUSTIN KOOZER: Thank you guys. Keep up the fight. I appreciate it.

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(Game show music)

DEAN BECKER: It’s time to play: Name That Drug by Its Side Effects.

Euphoria, drowsiness, nausea, confusion, constipation, sedation, unconsciousness, coma, tolerance, addiction, respiratory arrest and death.

(gong)

Time’s up!

This drug, 80-times stronger than morphine and heroin, is available via Schedule II prescription: Fentanyl, for major pain.

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SANJAY GUPTA: First, as you may know, I travel the world in search of alternative therapies that may treat people. The answer is not always pharmaceutical medicines. As I found this year marijuana can sometimes help when nothing else does but legally it is so difficult to obtain in many places around the world - including right here in the UK.

You are about to meet Jamie who has done something not previously possible and could offer a glimpse of the future of medical marijuana.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What number 20, or 26?

SANJAY GUPTA: In just a few moments, 33-year-old Jamie Watling will get the medicine he says he desperately needs. The medicine his doctor prescribed. We weren't allowed to record him inside this pharmacy. But there, you can see him waiting.

JAMIE WATLING: In my country, no, they won't dispense it.

SANJAY GUPTA: This is no ordinary visit to the pharmacy because Jamie had to fly from his home in the U.K. to here in the Netherlands. And this is no ordinary medicine. It is Bedrocan, known as medical marijuana, illegal in the U.K.

(on camera): Are you more functional? Are you able to do things that you otherwise could not to do?

JAMIE WATLING: Yes, or I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you.

SANJAY GUPTA: As soon as Jamie gets his medication, within minutes, he's in the closest coffee shop.

JAMIE WATLING: I need to borrow a grinder and order a cup of coffee.

SANJAY GUPTA: So he can light up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much.

SANJAY GUPTA: And find some relief.

JAMIE WATLING: We're covered all the way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like Christmas. You can't wait for it to get here. Once it's here, you don't want it to go.

SANJAY GUPTA: What happened?

JAMIE WATLING: I was attacked in a subway when I was 13 and got my back fractured in three places. Then, a work accident, and I opened up all three fractures again when I was 18.

SANJAY GUPTA: So you were originally beat up?

JAMIE WATLING: Beat up, yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: And three spinal fractures?

JAMIE WATLING: Three spinal fractures. I was told it was a miracle I wasn't disabled from that.

SANJAY GUPTA: He saw doctor after doctor and took a staggering number of medicines.

JAMIE WATLING: Stronger and stronger. Baclofen.

SANJAY GUPTA: Baclofen for spasticity.

JAMIE WATLING: Gabapentin.

SANJAY GUPTA: Gabapentin, that's for nerve pain.

(voice-over): But none of it really for him. And the young man was pretty certain he had reached the end of the line.

JAMIE WATLING: It was my only option. Apart from ending my life it was my only chance of a piece of happiness.

SANJAY GUPTA: That's really how bad things were? I mean, were you actually thinking about ending your life?

JAMIE WATLING: Yes, yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: Until his doctor prescribed medical marijuana. Only problem, it is illegal in the U.K., though many doctors have started recommending it. Dr. Eli Silber is a neurologist at London Bridge Hospital.

(on camera): Would you say medical marijuana has been accepted in the medical community here?

ELI SILBER: I think that if you use it for appropriate patients, who are not responding to conventional therapies, then cannabinoids that have been properly developed at proper doses for proper patients I think is entirely reasonable and most of my colleagues would believe that this is an entirely acceptable way of treating patients.

SANJAY GUPTA: But here again in the U.K., the law hasn't caught up with the attitudes of those doctors, forcing Jamie's journey.

(on camera): So you were nervous the first time?

JAMIE WATLING: Yes, completely.

SANJAY GUPTA: He declared his medical marijuana to the customs agent and was allowed to bring it back here.

(on camera): So, this is it, this is your medicine now?

(voice-over): To his home.

Jamie hopes none of this is forever, and would love to be off all of his meds one day, including medical marijuana.

JAMIE WATLING: I want to be fixed. I don't want to keep medicating. I want my life back. I want to be able to work and go out partying with the rest of the world. I want to be able to drive a car. I want to walk down the road and get a pint of milk.

SANJAY GUPTA: This helps with the pain, but this doesn't fix the underlying problems.

JAMIE WATLING: Doesn't fix the underlying problems, but it helps a hell of a lot with the pain.

SANJAY GUPTA: Extreme measures. But I've seen versions of the story again and again, on both sides of the Atlantic, as laws don't seem to keep up with doctor's growing interest in this plant.

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DEAN BECKER: Once again that was Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He’s over in the UK talking about the fact that marijuana is good medicine.

Let us celebrate day 32,809 of being led to salvation by our dear Drug Czars.

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MARK PERRY: My name is Mark Perry. I’m an economist and professor of economics. I teach at the University of Michigan at the Flint campus. I’m also an American scholar at the American Enterprises Institute in Washington, D.C. I write every day on the blog called Carpe Diem.

DEAN BECKER: One of your recent posts dealt with a situation where police found a secret compartment in a car. Tell us what ensued there.

MARK PERRY: It happened in the state of Ohio. It involved a gentleman who was from the Michigan area. He was driving through Ohio on an interstate and I think he got pulled over for speeding.

In the process of giving him a ticket or pulling him over the police said they found some kind of suspicious wiring which they traced to some kind of secret compartment that may have been in the trunk of the car.

He was arrested and charged with a felony not because of any possession or trafficking in drugs or narcotics but because they have a state law in Ohio now that’s called the “hidden compartment” law. I guess any car that is found with a hidden compartment that could be used for lots of different reasons but it doesn’t matter as that is now a felony crime under the state’s law.

This gentleman was arrested and his car was confiscated for evidence and he was put in jail. Then he was released and now he’s been charged with a felony under this new hidden compartment law in the state of Ohio.

DEAN BECKER: This brings to mind the average citizen has valuables, money they want to travel across the state with and would want to hide that from any criminals who might get involved with them on the road. It just seems outrageous to me. Your thoughts there, sir?

MARK PERRY: This is where even people who don’t do drugs or don’t support the use of drugs could still become a victim of this country’s cruel and senseless and expensive and failed War on Drugs just because they might have for whatever personal reasons some desire to have a secret compartment in their car or truck or vehicle. This is just, again, a page from the Gestapo handbook.

I think this is why I’ve been pointing out on my blog that the War on Drugs isn’t just a war on drug users it’s also a war on innocent Americans. It would seem some kind of huge increase in government power. There’s been this militarization of law enforcement agencies and they’ve become addicted to the funding that comes from waging the government’s War on Drugs. It has filled America’s prisons with non-violent drug offenders and has resulted on these assaults on property of innocent Americans through these government abuses of civil forfeiture laws.

And prosecuting people for innocent crimes like I’ve documented on my blog of just holding cash in a bank account as a legitimate business or in this case possibly just an innocent reason that this gentleman had some kind of compartment in his trunk.

This is the real danger of the War on Drugs is that it’s also a war on our civil liberties and I think it’s something that everybody should become aware of and be a little more concerned about.

DEAN BECKER: I’m going to be more certain to follow your blog on a more regular basis. Do you want to point folks where you are out there on the web?

MARK PERRY: My blog is called the Carpe Diem blog which stands for “seize the day” in Latin. People can find it by doing a Google search for Carpe Diem blog or Mark Perry + Carpe Diem. I’m hosted at the American Enterprise Institute so people can also find my blog at http://aei.org. [http://www.aei-ideas.org/channel/carpe-diem/]

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DEAN BECKER: Opening up a can of worms and going fishing for truth. This is the Drug Truth Network, DrugTruth.net

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DEAN BECKER: Thank you for being with us on this edition of Cultural Baggage. I’ve got a request for you. If you’ve got a picture of some kids that are caught up in the drug war somehow...I need it to put on the cover of my new book, “End the Drug War for the Children”. So something that reflects that properly.

I want to thank Justin Koozer for being with us. I want to thank you for being with us. I think it’s time we all stood a little taller, spoke a little louder, did something about the stupidity of this drug war.

As always, I remind you, because of prohibition you don’t know what’s in that bag. Please, be careful.
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DEAN BECKER: To the Drug Truth Network listeners around the world, this is Dean Becker for Cultural Baggage and the Unvarnished Truth.

This show produced at the Pacifica Studios of KPFT Houston.

Tap dancing… on the edge… of an abyss.

Transcript provided by: Jo-D Harrison of www.DrugSense.org