Green Therapy | High Hopes | Medical Marijuana Comedy Fundraiser

GreenTherapy's aim is to raise awareness of the benefits of medical marijuana and to help bring patients some relief by giving them a laugh or two through comedy show ExtravaGANJA's. Past performers have included: Bill Maher, Joe Rogan, Rick Overton, Kevin Nealon, Dom Irrera, Harland Williams, Gregg Proops, Jim Gaffigan, Bil Dwyer, Doug Stanhope, Patton Oswalt, Rick Rockwell, Doug Benson, Sabrina Matthews, Ngaio Bealum, Kerry Talmage and others. Click here to view some of the flyers from past shows. Check below to view the press release for the next upcoming show.

Green Therapy events have also been a platform for like-minded organizations to attend and disseminate information and materials about their services and/or products that support the legalization of medical marijuana and all hemp products.

Medical Marijuana should be legalized. Period. There is no reason to deny a dying person a substance that brings them relief. Marijuana keeps people alive. How's that for a statement. And believe it, because it's true. For those affected with HIV and AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses, marijuana can be the difference between living and dying, coping and suffering. Marijuana has many medicinal values; click here to read Jack Herer's comprehensive list. (Incidentally, everyone should own a copy of his book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes"). To learn more about medical marijuana and to visit like-minded organizations, click here for links.

Compassion clubs and collectives, when they are not being raided by the D.E.A., are instrumental organizations that provide medical marijuana and related supplies to those who suffer everyday with chronic pain. They are also a place for support, education and compassion. To be eligible to join, one must suffer from a list of ailments and have a medical doctor's recommendation. (The Wo/men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (wamm.org) has a waiting list of over 200 people).

In the United States, marijuana (and for that matter, industrial hemp) is classified as a Schedule 1 drug, a category reserved for dangerous and medically useless drugs, such as heroin and LSD. Methamphetamine, PCP and cocaine fall into a lesser serious category. Huh? Marijuana more dangerous than cocaine or PCP? Let's work to correct this wrong and raise awareness as to the value of marijuana as a medicine.

Upcoming Shows
* Tuesday, April 20 - The Comedy Store in La Jolla
9 pm showtime and only $10 to get in.

* Sunday, May 2 - The Comedy Store in Hollywood
9 pm showtime and only $20 to get in. Rowdy Roddy Piper has signed on for this show!!

POT YOUR ORDINARY COMEDY SHOW
By Julie Seabaugh (reprinted from LAWeekly.com)

Why wouldn't onetime star witness, sometime actor and all-the-time fame chaser Kato Kaelin want to explore a stand-up comedy career? It's worked out so well for Screech and Christopher "Kid" Reid, after all. But apparently the houseguest extraordinaire's infectious enthusiasm lends itself surprisingly well to hosting, say scene insiders who've witnessed his recent onstage exploits, thus Kaelin should be right at home emceeing the latest installment of the ExtravaGANJA show.

The brainchild of comic Howard Dover (Weeds, Kids in the Hall's Brain Candy) and dedicated to raising awareness of the benefits of medical marijuana, the event also features sets by Whitney Cummings, Sam Tripoli, Frazer Smith, Steve Rannazzisi, Jon Schieszer, Suli "Crazy Legs" McCullough and more, as well as offstage representation from health-evaluation collective BerkeleyClinic.net and initiative-campaign site TaxCannabis.org.

"Even the AMA is now saying we should take a look at marijuana as a medicine," Dover offers. "I want people to get involved: 'Never underestimate your power as an individual to effect positive change.' " Or at least the power of Kato Kaelin to draw a curious crowd.

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“Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of the substance." -- Francis L. Young, DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge, 1988

MPP and MPP Foundation believe that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is imprisonment. Therefore, MPP and MPP Foundation are working to change U.S. policies to remove criminal penalties for marijuana use, with a particular emphasis on making marijuana medically available to seriously ill people who have the approval of their physicians.

Americans for Safe Access is the nation’s largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.

Here’s what you missed at a recent ExtravaGANJA… Click here to watch it.

Learn a little about Eddy Lepp and his situation as he’s interviewed by Howard Dover. Click here to watch it.

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A brief overview of Medical Marijuana:

In 1978 the federal government created the Investigational New Drug (IND) compassionate access research program to allow some patients to receive medical marijuana. The IND was closed in 1992 after it was flooded by applications from AIDS patients and the remaining patients had to sue the federal government on the basis of “medical necessity” to retain access to their medicine. Today, eight surviving patients still receive medical marijuana from the federal government. The most a single patient receives is 9 pounds a year. Despite this successful program, marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I substance, defined as having a high potential for abuse and no medicinal value. Did you get that? The federal government is supplying sick people with medical marijuana, yet at the same time, they’re saying it’s more dangerous than pcp and cocaine…

In 1988, the DEA’s chief administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, ruled that, “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known . . . It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance.” Hello? Anyone listening?…

Since 1996, voters in 14 states plus the District of Columbia have passed favorable medical marijuana ballot initiatives.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine, in the most comprehensive study of medical marijuana’s efficacy, concluded that, “Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety . . all can be mitigated by marijuana.” Allowing patients legal access to medical marijuana has been endorsed by numerous organizations, including the AIDS Action Council, American Bar Association, American Public Health Association, California Medical Association, The New England Journal of Medicine, several state nurses associations and Howard Dover.

On October 25, 2001 the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center was raided, forcing them to close their doors to their 960 seriously ill patients. DEA raids on patient cooperatives and patient-providers continued over the next year, with raids on the Wo/men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, Genesis 1:29 in Petaluma, and Shelter from the Storm in San Diego. Obscene if you ask me. Check out http://www.wamm.org.

In October 2002, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously decided to uphold the right of doctors to recommend marijuana to their patients and for patients to receive that recommendation. When it comes to health concerns, oddly enough, I’d rather listen to my doctor’s advice. Fortunately, the courts agree.

Want more information? Check out the following websites: safeaccessnow.org, mapinc.org, mpp.org, rxmarijuana.com, green-aid.com and of course, jackherer.com.