House passes historic health bill - Politico

I fell asleep listening to the final vote. I fell asleep with a quiet feeling of elation in my soul...they listened...amazing!

U.S. to end war on medical marijuana in legal states

 

By James Vicini and Dan Whitcomb

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a sharp policy shift, the Obama administration told federal attorneys not to prosecute patients who use marijuana for medical reasons or dispensaries in states where it has been legalized.

A Justice Department official said the formal guidelines were issued Monday to reflect President Barack Obama's views. The Bush administration had said it could enforce the federal law against marijuana and that it trumped state laws.

The decision was praised by activists in California, the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. But concern remains among some medical and law enforcement authorities about hundreds of clinics said to be selling pot under the protection of state law and without regard to health.

A spokesman for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a brief statement in which Schwarzenegger appeared to support the policy change:

"The governor believes it is appropriate for the federal government to focus their resources on criminal activity and securing the border," the statement said.

As a candidate during his presidential bid last year, Obama said he intended to halt raids of medical marijuana facilities operating legally under state laws.

After he took office in January, a Drug Enforcement Administration raid on a dispensary in Lake Tahoe, California, raised questions about whether he would follow that pledge.

A White House spokesman repeated Obama's view that "federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws."

Stephen Gutwillig, California head of the Drug Policy Alliance, called the move a good first step.

"There is a fundamental need of patients to access marijuana as medicine right now," he said. "While it's great to see the Obama administration radically de-escalate the Bush and Clinton administrations' war on medical marijuana patients, more needs to be done to protect sick people and their caregivers."

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U.S. to end war on medical marijuana in legal states | U.S. | Reuters

John Boehner: We're calling him out

Instead of building honest consensus around reform, Rep. John Boehner is choosing to be a leading peddler of health reform lies.

He's claimed that reform would result in a government takeover of health care, cuts in Medicare benefits, and federal funding of abortion -- even though his lies have been debunked by non-partisan fact checks, and his own party has voted to gut Medicare.

Enough. We're calling him out.

Sign the Petition: Healthcare not Warfare

As PDA board member Norman Solomon pointed out, “nearly one in six Americans has no health insurance, and tens of millions of others are woefully under-insured--while the war in Iraq continues to further skew the U.S. government's budget priorities.” We say “Healthcare NOT Warfare” and ask you to join our campaign.



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10 Excellent Reasons for National Health Care

Part one of a series providing basic information regarding how the health care system works, basic health care economics, and other general background to health care reform, with a single payer focus. The goal is provide a broad background that is NOT driven by specific events, news, or headlines.

DrSteveB's diary :: ::
Those 10 Excellent reasons are:
1. It's good for our health.
2. It costs less and saves money.
3. It will assure high quality health care for all Americans, rich or poor.
4. It's the best choice - morally and economically.
5. It may be a matter of life or death.
6. It will let will let doctors and nurses focus on patients, not paperwork.
7. It will reduce health care disparities.
8. It will eliminate medical debet.
9. It will be good for labor and business.
10. It's what most Americans want - and we can make it happen.
I should mention that although I am friends with some of the chapter contributers, I am not an author and have no financial stake in any of the books mentioned here.

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Planned Parenthood: Give Your Loved One the Gift of Health Care

Planned Parenthood of Indiana are offering gift certificates just in time for the holiday season to help uninsured and low income people receive health care.

Just in time for the holiday season, Planned Parenthood of Indiana has decided to offer gift certificates so people could give their loved ones the gift of health care. They came to this decision due to the economic downturn, saying:

“People are making really tough decisions about putting gas in their car and food on their table, so we know that many women especially put healthcare at their bottom of their list to do.”

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