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Wednesday, 11.26.2014 The Daily Herald
Bill would allow medical pot for VA patients The Washington Post Arguing that medical marijuana may help wounded warriors with anxiety and stress disorders, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., have introduced legislation that would allow Department of Veterans Affairs’ doctors to recommend the drug for some patients. The Veterans Equal Access Act and would challenge the VA’s policy that
forbids doctors from consulting about medical pot use. “We should be allowing these wounded warriors access to the medicine that will help them survive and thrive, including medical marijuana, not treating them like criminals and forcing them into the shadows,” Blumenauer said. The federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, the same as heroin and LSD, deeming that it has no accepted
medical use and a high potential for abuse. That means the VA, which runs the largest network of hospitals and health clinics in the country, cannot prescribe pot as a treatment, even for veterans who live in a state where medical marijuana is legal. VA says that its physicians and chronic-pain specialists “are prohibited from recommending and prescribing medical marijuana for PTSD or other pain-related issues.”
Medical staff are also prohibited from completing paperwork required to enroll in state marijuana programs because they are “federal employees who must comply with federal law,” a VA spokeswoman said. More than 20 percent of the 2.8 million American veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD and depression, Blumenauer said. In addition, a recent study found that of the nearly one million veterans who receive opioids
to treat painful conditions, more than half continue to consume chronically or beyond 90 days, he said. Another study found that the death rate from opiate overdoses among VA patients is nearly double the national average. “In states where patients can legally access medical marijuana for painful conditions, often as a lessaddictive alternative, the hands of VA physicians should not be tied,” he said. Researchers in the United
States and several other countries have found evidence that cannabis can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder and pain, although studies — such as those looking into the best strains and proper dosages — remain in the early stages. Michael Krawitz, executive director of Veterans For Medical Cannabis Access, said they “are very proud to stand by Congressman Blumenauer and support the Veterans Equal Access Act.”
Rain, snow could mess up Thanksgiving travel Associated Press MINEOLA, N.Y. — Thanksgiving travelers scrambled to change their plans and beat a storm expected to bring snow, slush and rain to the crowded Washington-to-Boston corridor Wednesday on one of the busiest, most stressful days of the year. Forecasters said major Northeast cities will probably see moderate to heavy rain most of the day, though New York and other places were also gearing up for several inches of snow. Higher elevations west of the I-95 corridor could see as much as 6 to 12 inches before the nor’easter exits Wednesday night, meteorologist Andrew Orrison said. “I always go on Tuesday to try to avoid the Wednesday rush, but it seems like more people are leaving on Tuesday now,” said Bill
SETH WENIG / ASSOCIATED PRESS
Travelers pass a large mural of an airplane at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Tuesday.
Fraser, a landscaper from Henniker, New Hampshire, who was taking a train from Boston to New Rochelle, New York, to visit his mother for Thanksgiving.
Jenna Bouffard, a New York City public relations executive headed in the opposite direction, changed her bus ticket from Wednesday to
Tuesday. “I don’t want to risk it,” she said. “I’d rather be safe than sorry, and if it doesn’t snow, then I just have an extra day at home with
my family” in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Major airlines dropped their ticket-change fees for people flying in and out of the Northeast, allowing passengers to try to sneak on an earlier flight, though that appeared to be a challenging proposition, since most planes were filled. By midafternoon Tuesday, just 14 flights within the U.S. were canceled for Wednesday, according to tracking service FlightAware. That’s well below the norm for even a sunny day. United said it was planning to cancel 100 flights Wednesday in and out of Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey — a small fraction of the traffic there. Delta planned to scrub 57 flights. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports, said it was lining up extra staff and
snow removal equipment in the event of a heavy snowfall. Crews were prepared to work in 12-hour shifts if necessary, officials said. At Newark Airport, retiree Sue Hansen, who lives in Roscoe, Illinois, arrived early on Tuesday to avoid the rush ahead of a big family reunion near Morristown, New Jersey. “I’ve traveled the day before, and it was no good,” she said, describing long lines, delays and lots of crowds. “This wasn’t bad at all.” In Vermont, public safety officials warned that travel could be treacherous. Up to 16 inches of snow was forecast in some areas. There was a bright spot in the forecast for residents of western New York, which last week saw up to 7 feet of snow. “Buffalo will predominantly miss this event,” Orrison said.
California set to expand earthquake early alert system Officials are planning the first major rollout of California’s earthquake early warning system next year, providing access to some schools, fire stations and more private companies. The plan shows the
progress scientists have made in building the system, which can give as much as a minute of warning before a major earthquake is felt in metropolitan areas. Until now, only academics, select government agencies and a few private
firms have received the .... alerts. But officials said they are building a new central processing system and now have enough ground sensors in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas to widen access. They stressed that the system is far from perfected
but said expanded access will help determine how it works and identify problems. The warnings would allow fire stations to get garage doors open before a quake can jam them shut, instruct students to duck and cover, and, eventually,
automatically shut off sensitive equipment at private companies and tell surgeons to halt operations. When the data is more reliable, amusement parks could have time to shut down rides. The prospect of expanding the system — which
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is dependent on federal funding coming through — has brought excitement for both emergency officials and some businesses. Even a few seconds’ notice to duck under a sturdy desk could help someone survive a building’s collapse, fire officials said.
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