” I appreciate coming to the great state of Michigan. My name is Irvin Rosenfeld and I am the longest surviving Federal Medical Marijuana patient in the United States. There are five patients currently in the country and there will only be five because the Bush Administration shut down the program in 1992. I have severe a bone disorder. This caused bone tumors to grow all throughout my body, growing into the muscles and the veins. As a teenager, I had many operations. I was using all kinds of drugs and I was an advocate against marijuana in the late 1960’s. Why would a healthy person use an illegal drug when I would hold up my baggie (of pills) and say look at what I have to take, be thankful you’re healthy. Went to college in Miami in 1971 and there, against peer pressure, I tried marijuana and it did nothing to me. I didn’t get high, it did nothing to me. People around me were getting high, I thought they were self inducing it. About the tenth time I did it, I sat and played a game of chess for 30 minutes and I hate chess. I used to have trouble sitting and I sat for 30 minutes. That was the first time in 5 years I did that. I had morphine, I had Quaalude, these were all prescription. It dawned on me that I hadn’t taken a pill for about 6 hours. This was the first time I had done that in 5 years.
Then they passed me garbage – marijuana. To me that’s all it was, pure garbage. That’s the only thing I did differently was this garbage. Well I’ve got an analytical mind, my family is in medicine. My great uncle was head of pediatrics and Johns Hopkins, my uncle taught pediatrics at Yale, my sister was head of nuclear medicine at Duke. Here’s the garbage that might have medical value. So we researched it and low and behold guess what? Marijuana was used in this country from 1860 to 1937. It was manufactured by Eli Lilly, Merk, all the major pharmaceutical companies. It was used for a myriad of disorders. Particularly for muscle relaxers, anti inflammatories, and pain. I said “Voila” that’s exactly what its doing for me and I’m not getting high off of it. I’ve got to have this.
Well the Federal Government outlawed it. You mean I have to take of the Federal Government to get the medicine I need? My doctor can prescribe morphine to me but he can prescribe marijuana? Well that’s the way it is. That’s what I did because I didn’t like being labeled a criminal. I took on the Federal Government. It took me ten years but in 1982 I won and I am now using this medicine legally under the Federal Government for my 25th year. I’ve used 10-12 marijuana cigarettes a day for 35 years. Now, I’ve been married for 33 years, I’m a stock broker, I handle millions of dollars on a daily basis. All my clients know I use medical cannabis. They applaud the fact that I took time off from work to hopefully come educate the people of Michigan. That this is not the hysteria people make it out to be.
Now you ask, has the FDA done any studies? Well they’ve given me this marijuana for 25 years almost. Have they done any studies on me? No. Because they don’t want to know how well it works. Myself and three of the other Federal patients had a complete private evaluation done in Montana five years ago. They did brain wave testing, IQ testing, respiratory testing, blood work, you name it. We tried to look at every aspect to see what harm this had caused us. Because we had a debilitating disease that we didn’t ask for and we believed what the government was saying that this could harm us. But we were harmed so much to begin with that the benefits would outway any harm.
So we did this testing, assuming we would find some problems. Well guess what? All four of us were perfectly fine. So now the Federal Government says “you’re an anomaly, you’re the only 4 people in this country that marijuana didn’t harm.” You know something? That’s just not the case. They don’t want to debate us, they don’t want to study us, they don’t want to know, and that’s sad. There are people in this country that are sick and didn’t ask for it. Your brother didn’t wake up this morning and say ” ya know, if I could just catch AIDS then I could use marijuana to take away my nausea and AIDS Wasting Syndrome. ” Someone doesn’t say “Hey, if I could just get cancer then I can get chemotherapy and marijuana to take away the nausea. ” They also don’t ask to be labeled a criminal. That’s what’s happening in this country.
I’m legal. I can go anywhere in the United States and US territories and I am not breaking any law. I’m a Federal Patient. I’m using marijuana. I’m legal. But that woman, I don’t know.. she’s a criminal. Per your law, she’s a criminal. She’s breaking your state law. She should be locked up and put behind bars. I don’t know about you, but I would sure sleep better tonight if she was locked up. Wouldn’t you?
That’s the problem we have here. Its the hysteria; its people being scared. Its not a harmful substance. Marijuana is one of the most benign substances known to mankind. We had DEA hearings for two years, 1986 and 1988 with Judge Francis Young, their own lawyers and judges at these hearings, which I thought was biased. He took one year to make his decision after these hearings. His decision was that it was one of the most benign substances known to mankind and it should be Schedule 2, along with morphine, along with cocaine, that has medicinal value but remains potentially harmful. And what did the DEA do after two years of hearings? They said “we don’t like this decision” and got rid of him and he died in disgrace.
The Federal Government is not going to do anything about this subject. So what each state has to do, which I’m really sad about because its a Federal program – the government grows this for me on the campus of University of Mississippi – your tax money pays for this, and I appreciate it. Its a medicine. I go to a pharmacy, pick up my tin can of 11 oz of marijuana. I smoke 11 oz every 25 days with no euphoric effect. No ill effect. My lung capacity is 108% normal. I have a prescription. That’s the way I think it should be. People don’t have to grow their own and all this stuff in California, I’m against. But I am for getting medicine to the people. That’s the most important aspect. The only way is by passing laws because the Federal Government won’t. …
Take the crime away from these sick patients. There’s no need prosecuting people who are sick. Wasting your resources, putting people in jail. I know myself, in Florida, we have overcrowding. If they arrest a non-violent criminal, they may put him in jail with a violent criminal. And all because of a weed that has been around for generations and centuries. And yes, no one has ever died off of marijuana.
All the drugs approved by the FDA and all the drugs that have gone through their “studies” has something that says “if you take ‘this’ much of it, then you die” . There’s nothing for marijuana because no one’s ever died off of it. No one’s gotten lung cancer off of it. Doctor Tashkin, a government doctor, a main researcher in the country for bad things with marijuana he just came out with a 10 year study out in California and he could not find one patient that had lung cancer due to marijuana. He found lots of lung cases due to cigarettes. What he also found was, but couldn’t find evidence for, was that people who smoked marijuana along with cigarettes had less risk for cancer.
The point is, I’m living proof. The government can stand up here and say how bad it is. Other people can stand here and say how good it is. I can stand up here and say “I use it.”. I’ve used it for 35 years. I’m a productive member of society. I’m married I’m married for 33 years. I don’t have children because I can pass down this disease and I wasn’t going to do that. I teach disabled people how to sail in Miami called Shake a Leg. I’m a very productive member of society because I have the right medicine. I don’t take morphine, I don’t take anything. I haven’t taken any other drug for 19 years. All I use is medical cannabis. So what does this mean to me? If I were still alive, which they think I would have died of hemorrhages or malignant tumors, I would not be a productive member of society. I would probably be home now on disability and that’s not what I want to be. I’m fortunate enough where I had the knowledge to take on the government and God’s made it where I’m still alive to help others. I thank you all very much. ”
Mr. Rosenfeld’s book is My Medicine: How I Convinced the U.S. Government To Provide My Marijuana and Helped Launch a National Movement.
Please visit: http://www.mymedicinethebook.com/
Eric Violette has been embraced by Americans as that cute guy down on his luck in a series of Free Credit Report dot com TV commercials.
“Hi everyone, I’m an actor/musician from Montréal (Québec) so I’m french… but fluent in english too. I’m a trained actor who studied at the National theatre school of Canada. If you wanna have an idea of my professionnal experiences, go see my official website. I have more experience in theatre, I love to build characters; I like them with many layers. While I was at the National theatre school, I saw a piano and I looked at it with the eyes of a lover and listened to it with the ears of a child. My singing teacher taught me some piano basics. When I finished the school, I also left the piano… It’s very heavy so I wasn’t able to steal it. But I took my father’s guitar, it’s lighter than a piano. I composed my first song in 2008 and have never stopped… I wrote about 30 songs last year and I recorded some stuff I really like (that’s right my studio is in my basement). I like to explore a lot of styles. Have a nice day. Peace.
Dr. Steven Greer is the Founder and Director of the Disclosure Project. A lifetime member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the nation’s most prestigious medical honor society, Dr. Greer is an emergency physician and former chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Caldwell Memorial Hospital in North Carolina. In addition to heading the Disclosure Project, he has also been supervising a world-wide search for alternative energy sources, specifically those known as zero-point or over-unity devices with the plan to identify and develop systems which will eliminate the need for fossil fuels.
Mr. Rosenfeld’s story in his testimony before the State of Michigan Committee on Government Operations on Tuesday November 28th, 2006:
