Florida lawmakers for trying to cap THC levels for medical marijuana?

Medical marijuana patients lash out at Florida lawmakers for trying to cap THC levels

Orlando Weekly
Posted By Dara Kam
News Service of Florida
Apr 9, 2019

“A bill that was supposed to be about helping a community that is plagued with drug addiction and drug overdose … a bill that was supposed to be about helping a veteran community that is plagued (with) suicide is now being used as leverage by lawmakers to try and impose their will on the people."

Photo via Florida House of Representatives State Rep. Ray Rodrigues

After fiery exchanges with veterans and patient advocates who accused a legislative leader of relying on faulty research, members of a House committee on Tuesday pushed forward a proposal that would cap the level of euphoria-inducing THC in smokable medical marijuana.

The House plan would also give veterans free, state-issued medical marijuana identification cards, a sweetener that angered veterans who lashed out at the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ray Rodrigues, during an emotionally charged House Appropriations Committee meeting.

Jimmy Johnston, a veteran who is president of the North Florida chapter of Weed for Warriors Project, lashed out at the committee for linking the free ID cards for veterans, a savings of $75 per year, with the THC cap.

Rodrigues, a soft-spoken Estero Republican who serves as chairman of the House Health & Human Services Committee, was visibly shaken following a meeting that became so heated the House sergeant and his aides were summoned.

Rodrigues has shepherded House medical-marijuana legislation since the state first authorized non-euphoric cannabis for a limited number of patients in 2014.
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Air Force #MissingVeteran mixed emotions about Green Alert

Balancing Safety And Privacy When A Veteran Goes Missing

NPR
Quil Lawrence
April 9, 2019

Heard on All Things Considered
A Wisconsin combat veteran was driving down the highway in February when he suddenly found his name, license plate number and mental health information broadcast on the radio, on television and posted on electronic billboards across the state.

"It felt very violating. Because I didn't want everyone who doesn't know me to know I have problems. It made me want to crawl into a bigger hole," he told NPR.

But the "Green Alert" might have saved his life.

"It's still affecting me dramatically and negatively, but at the same time it's quite possible that it's why I'm here right now," says the former Air Force staff sergeant. "It's kind of a double-edged sword."

NPR is not divulging the man's name because he never consented to have his information made public. A new Wisconsin law allows authorities to put that information out the same way an AMBER Alert publicizes missing children or a Silver Alert does for people with cognitive impairment. It's the first Green Alert to take effect — green for the color of military fatigues — though many states are considering the program.

The Wisconsin law is called the Corey Adams Searchlight Act. Adams was an Afghanistan vet from Milwaukee who went missing in 2017. His family feared he was suicidal. But police didn't immediately treat him as a missing person, because unlike children, adults have a right to disappear if they want to.

Adams was found dead weeks later. His family mobilized around the idea of an alert system for veterans and it became law in Wisconsin last year. That attracted a powerful advocate – the retired commander of U.S. special forces in Africa, Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc.
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Crooks robbed Vietnam Veteran while he was in coma

update Suspects Arrested 

BOSTON (CBS) – A man and woman charged with burglarizing the home of a Vietnam veteran while he was fighting for his life in the hospital claimed they needed money so one of their dogs could have surgery.

Police said 35-year-old Joseph Migliaccio, of Woonsocket, R.I. and 31-year-old Sarah Hampton, of Sudbury, burglarized the home three times over the weekend. They broke into the house in broad daylight, authorities say, while the veteran, Gene Rano, is fighting for his life in the hospital.

Boston 25 News
By: Heather Hegedus
Apr 11, 2019

Rano's son says he thinks he has seen the pair in his father's home socializing with him and he tells Boston 25 News he feels disgusted they may have preyed on the home knowing Rano was in the hospital.

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. - Two people have been arrested after Marlborough Police say surveillance video showed them breaking into a house while a Vietnam veteran was in the hospital fighting for his life.

Last week, 68-year-old Gene Rano was hospitalized after suffering serious burns to more than 40% of his body while burning brush near his home.

Rano is currently in a coma at Massachusetts General Hospital after doctors amputated both of his legs.
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Vietnam Veteran gunned down in his home

Family: Vietnam Vet Shot to Death by 16-Year-Old Boy His Granddaughter Snuck into Detroit Home

FOX 35
April 8, 2019

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A 70-year-old man was killed in an altercation overnight at a home in Detroit.

A family member tells us the man's granddaughter lives with him, and that she snuck a boy into the house. The boy and the grandfather got into an argument and we're told the boy shot and killed the man.

This happened at a home in the 9900 block of Mansfield, which is on the city's west side near Greenfield and W Chicago. We're told the argument happened after the grandfather had asked the boy to leave.

Detroit police tell us the suspect, a 16-year-old, left the home with the gun.
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Shepherd Center helped veteran heal...now he helps others

Army veteran once called his parents to say good-bye as he contemplated suicide. Now he helps other struggling veterans.

11 Alive 
Author: Hope Ford
April 8, 2019

Gary Herber made a plan and waited until he had 10 percent battery left on his phone to call his parents to say goodbye. Years later, he works with the same program that helped him change his life around.

ATLANTA — Two veterans committed suicide outside of VA medical clinics in Georgia over a weekend in April.

It's a harsh reminder of the struggle and pain of many veterans in America. Roughly, one veteran dies by suicide every 65 minutes in the country.

Gary Herber was almost one of them. In November of 2010, Herber made a plan and called his family to let them know.

"I waited until I has about 10 percent left on my battery and called my parents to say goodbye," Herber recalled. "In a 10-minute phone call, thank God they were able to get the New York City Police to my house and they kicked the door in and saved my life."

Herber served in the Army for close to five years and while in Afghanistan, the truck he was in was hit with a bomb.

"In that moment, my whole life changed," he stated.

He returned to America, his health problems consuming him as he isolated himself from the world around him.

"From chronic pain to anger to anxiety, I just decided I was done with the world and no one could understand what I was going through," he explained.

But that door kick from police saved him and he ended up in Atlanta at a program called SHARE Military Initiative with the Shepherd's Center.

"I spent 14 weeks at the Shepherd Center center and it turned my life around 180 degrees," he said.

Herber now works with the center, run by The Shepherd's Men, a group of veterans and civilians, who help raise awareness, fund raise and work with veterans with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. The programs at the center help address their needs and veteran suicide, with over 500 veterans graduating from SHARE since 2008.
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Austin Veteran Affairs Clinic shut down after suicide on Tuesday

update Veteran who killed self at Austin clinic was referred from local VA

McLennan County Veteran’s Service Officer Steve Hernandez said the veteran was a patient who had been enrolled in the Phoenix program at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center in Temple and was discharged, but somehow his case was transferred to the Austin facility.

“When he found out he couldn’t get the help he needed there, he chose to take his own life,” Hernandez said.

Suicide inside Austin Veterans Affairs Clinic shuts down building

KXAN News
Tom Miller
Posted: Apr 09, 2019

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin's Veteran Affairs Clinic shut down Tuesday as detectives investigated a suicide in the first-floor waiting room.

Witnesses reported hundreds of people were inside the room when a man shot and killed himself shortly after noon.

Ken Walker, who's been going to the VA Clinic on Metropolis for more than two years, said he continued with his group therapy class for nearly an hour after the shooting before he learned what happened.

"All of a sudden, over the intercom, they have this statement about everyone must clear the building including staff, so it was a little surprising," Walker said.

Despite signs prohibiting weapons, the VA does not have metal detectors in the building. Instead, VA police do random bag searches.
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They gave up for themselves but when they do something like this, they do it for all the other veterans.

Have we heard enough of them to know we have to change what we are doing? 

To our veterans: #BreakTheSilence with words...not a gun! #TakeBackYourLife and fight to heal...not to leave!

Volunteer Firefighter Marine Killed in Afghanistan

update Charity will pay mortgage for family of fallen FNY firefighter

FDNY firefighter from the Bronx killed in Afghanistan suicide attack

By Derick Waller
April 9, 2018

CLAREMONT, Bronx (WABC) -- One of four Americans killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan was an FDNY firefighter.

It is a devastating reminder that this 18-year-long war continues despite recent peace talks.

Christopher Slutman was identified by the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department in Landover, Maryland, where he is a lifetime member.

Slutman, a married father of three, was a 15-year veteran of the FDNY. He most recently worked as a firefighter at Engine 46 Ladder 27 in the Claremont section of the Bronx.

In 2014, he received the FDNY's Fire Chiefs Association Memorial Medal for pulling an unconscious woman from a burning Bronx high-rise apartment.

He served as a Staff Sergeant with the United States Marine Corps.
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Marine received Navy Cross...52 years after acts of heroism

How a bloody Ka-Bar knife fight during the Vietnam War got this Marine a Navy Cross 52 years later

Marine Corps Times
By: Shawn Snow
April 8, 2019

For his heroism under fire, Stogner was finally awarded the Navy Cross nearly 52 years after his actions saved the life of his machine gunner and other Marines in his company.

Lance Cpl. James H. Stogner was a young 18-year-old Marine ammo humper serving with a machine gun team in Vietnam.

Marines on patrol in Vietnam in March, 1967. James Stogner, the fourth Marine Marine in the patrol, was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism during the Vietnam War. (Courtesy photo)

On the evening of April 5, 1967, as the sun set, Stogner and machine gunner Cpl. Eli Fobbs along with other Marines assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines were tasked to push across a tree line and hedgerow towards a village suspected of hiding North Vietnamese Army, or NVA, troops.

But on this mission, NVA troops were lying in wait to ambush the Marines.

Stogner continued to crawl and moved undetected towards Fobbs’ screams, where he found four NVA soldiers kicking and abusing his comrade.

Stogner killed one of the NVA troops quietly with his Ka-Bar as the enemy soldier moved towards vegetation Stogner was hiding in, and a second NVA soldier was killed in similar fashion.

With two NVA soldiers remaining, Stogner stormed the position armed with his knife, thrusting it into one of the men’s chests as hand to hand combat ensued.

All four NVA troops were killed as Stogner slung Fobbs over his shoulder and grabbed his M60 machine gun, carrying him to friendly lines through a hail of gunfire and grenade explosions.
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In two days, two Georgia veterans went to their local VA, and killed themselves

update Mom filed lawsuit against the VA

update 'I just wish they would have found him and stopped him:' Central Georgia family mourns after veteran commits suicide

The family of 28-year-old Gary Pressley is now searching for answers after he took his own life in the parking lot of the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center

In this case, Pressley's family says the VA did have the chance to help him, but didn't act. His sister, Lisa Johnson, says she called the VA to tell them her brother was threatening suicide from their parking lot just moments before he killed himself. read more here

Two veterans kill themselves at separate VA medical centers in Georgia

Atlanta Journal Constitutional
By Jeremy Redmon
April 8, 2019

The victim in Atlanta was 68 years old and shot himself, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Two veterans killed themselves at separate Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in Georgia over the weekend, refocusing attention on what the VA has called its “highest clinical priority.”

The first death happened Friday in a parking garage at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, according to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s office. The second occurred Saturday outside the main entrance to the Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur on Clairmont Road. The VA declined to identify the victims or describe the circumstances of their deaths, citing privacy concerns.
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It happened 27 times last year when veterans screamed for help as loud as they could. They committed suicide in public, and most of the time, at their local VA. Too bad too many only spread the "suicide awareness" instead of healing awareness. Had that message been spread...maybe these two veterans would have found hope instead of their guns.

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife because you can defeat PTSD and live a better life.

Oregon taking a sledgehammer to suffering in silence

Oregon is trying to #BreakTheSilence

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 9, 2019

To tell the truth that is the way to save lives. #BreakTheSilence and make it safe for someone to talk about what is going on. Most of the time they just need someone to listen. 

But that is not all. They need the one listening to them to actually listen and not try to "fix them" or judge them, or look at their watch as if they want to be someplace else at that moment.

You need to know who to call if the person you are listening to needs more help than you can give.

There is only one reason a person decides that they do not want to try one more day. They ran out of hope that it would be any different than their worst day was. Help them know that there is hope and they do matter.

Whatever you do DO NOT KEEP SPREADING SUICIDE AWARENESS because all that does it let them know you did not care enough to not buy into the BS that has done more harm than good.

How do you break the silence? With the sledgehammer called knowledge that there is hope of healing! If you read this site with any frequency, you've read enough reports to know that Suicide Awareness does not work but Suicide Prevention does. 

We need to make sure we stay on top of what is actually going on so that the people in charge know if what they are doing is working or not.

After 37 years now, I can tell you, making them aware of other veterans who gave up on themselves is the last thing they need to hear. The first thing they need to hear is it is possible to #TakeBackYourLife and live a happier ever after.

Oregon newsrooms team up to 'Break the Silence' around suicide

KTVZ reports to focus on veterans helping veterans
By: Sarah Zimmerman, AP staff writer and KTVZ.COM
Posted: Apr 04, 2019

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — If you're a regular reader or viewer of your local news, it's likely you'll have a good sense of how many people died in a car crash or of a terminal illness. But it's less likely you'll hear when somebody dies by suicide.

It's partly because of a long-held rule across newsrooms not to report on most suicides, out of respect for the family and from the belief that reporting on the topic could have a "contagious effect" and inspire others to also take their own lives.

While there's some evidence for that logic, the nation's growing number of suicides has become difficult for reporters to ignore. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the national suicide rate is at a 50-year high, climbing 33% since 1999. It's estimated 25,000 Americans died by suicide in 2016 alone.

"Journalists stopped covering suicide for some very good reasons," said Nicole Dahmen, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Oregon. "But the unintended consequence of that is that suicide has remained unreported, and death by suicide has been on the rise so much so that it's become a public health crisis."

The issue has prompted reporters in Oregon, which has a suicide rate 40% higher than the national average, to take a different approach to tackling the topic.

Over 30 newsrooms from around the state, including NewsChannel 21, are banding together in an unprecedented, weeklong reporting collaboration to shed light on suicide and its effect on the community. The project, known as "Breaking the Silence," will run from April 7 to 14 and involve newspapers, TV stations and student media organizations across Oregon.
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BREAKING THE SILENCE: Rural areas have higher suicide rates

The Oregonian/OregonLive
By Carol Cruzan Morton
April 7, 2019

A focus on suicide prevention is showing results as Oregon combats one of nation's highest rates of suicide. This report lists resources to help.

Oregon’s suicide rate has been higher than the national average for the past three decades. More than 800 people killed themselves last year in Oregon.

The problem affects everyone. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people, but 90 percent of Oregon’s suicides are by people older than 25 years old. Most suicides are men, but it crosses social, economic, and geographic boundaries.

The highest rates are shared by groups with deep historical and cultural differences—white men and Native Americans. One in every five suicides is a veteran.

These heartbreaking statistics are part of a longstanding and perplexing pattern of higher suicide rates in the West. For decades, the western half of the country, stretching from Montana to Texas and west to California and Alaska, reported persistently higher suicide rates.

Now they are highest in the Rocky Mountain states and Alaska, with Oregon not far behind.

No one really knows why.
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