cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana's Side Effect: Fear





Medical Marijuana's Side Effect: Fear
Posted by CN Staff on November 23, 2003 at 08:29:30 PT
By Stephanie Desmon, Sun Staff
Source: Baltimore Sun 
Joan Holland's pain finally received a name in 1988, the summer she went to the beach with her husband and two little girls and kept getting knocked over by the waves. It was diagnosed as multiple sclerosis. Over the years, the retired schoolteacher has tried seemingly everything, from the traditional to the admittedly wacky, to find even a little bit of comfort. 
She had her mercury fillings removed from her teeth, after learning they might be linked to autoimmune problems. She got treatment in a hyperbaric chamber, after hearing that a man in Florida may have quelled his symptoms with extra oxygen infusions. For two years, she even kept a beehive in her Jessup back yard and subjected herself to three dozen bee stings three times a week, feeling the venom gave her more mobility. Now, at age 57, Holland is trying something she never thought she would: marijuana. She is one of the hidden legions of the chronically ill who use the illegal drug to ease their pain, to help them sleep, to soothe their nausea just enough so they can keep food down. The drug, classified legally the same way as heroin, is not approved for any of those uses. This year, Maryland legislators passed a law to reduce penalties for those caught using marijuana for medical purposes. Though still opposed by many who think the state has gone too far toward making marijuana legal, the law isn't a panacea for people like Holland - those for whom it was designed to help the most. If she is caught with marijuana, she is breaking the law. She can be arrested. She can be prosecuted. And if a judge doesn't believe her story, she can be jailed. Forced to 'sneak' "We're in a better situation than we were, but we're not home free yet," she said. "It's still requiring that you sneak around and hide." Possession of marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and Holland fears constantly that the Drug Enforcement Administration will knock on her door. Dr. Andrea Barthwell, deputy director for demand reduction at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, rejects the term "medical marijuana," instead calling it "medical excuse marijuana." She says those who push for laws like Maryland's are "feeding off the pain and suffering of people" in pursuit of their real goal: complete legalization of marijuana. "There's no basis in medical [knowledge] for taking a crude plant material and providing it as medicine," she said. "It has not passed the test of having medicinal value. ... You've created a system where a skinned knee and a tennis elbow will be presented in a court of law to explain marijuana use." State Sen. David R. Brinkley, a Republican who represents Frederick and Carroll counties and one of the main sponsors of the bill, said the current law was the only compromise that would satisfy those legislators who refused to pass anything to contradict federal law - despite laws in several other states that do just that. "The minute that the federal government changes its stance, we can be a little more selective about what we do," said Brinkley, a cancer survivor. But, he conceded, "you're crawling." "You've got to crawl before you can walk before you can jog before you can sprint." It's unclear if anyone has used the law - which went into effect Oct. 1 - as a defense. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. signed the legislation after intense lobbying from the White House and others to veto it. Many people remain afraid to talk publicly about their use of the drug. One man with a serious nerve disorder said he didn't want to give his name because his parents don't know he has turned to it. One with multiple sclerosis said he wanted to talk but works for the federal government - which is a drug-free work zone. 'I was desperate'Lawrence Silberman, 52, has been in remission from cancer - in his case, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - for going on 18 months. But when he was the sickest, on chemotherapy, wired on steroids, he couldn't sleep. He would wake up after an hour or so in bed feeling as if he had swallowed a pot of espresso. Someone suggested he try marijuana. "I would go downstairs around 11 o'clock," said the Burtonsville carpenter. "I would stand on the toilet, turn on the exhaust fan and take one or two puffs on the marijuana and blow it into the exhaust fan." He felt like a teen-ager, sneaking around, but he had teen-agers in the house. "I didn't want to be flagrant. I was desperate," he said. "People have kids who turn them in, for goodness' sake." When Silberman would go for chemotherapy, which would take up to four hours, he would talk with other patients receiving theirs. And talk sometimes turned to the benefits they were feeling from using marijuana. "We were all in the same boat," he said. "Those aren't people who are going to be lying to each other." Lacks safe, legal sourceHe sees the law as a first step, but he thinks more could be done. For example, there is no safe way for patients to buy the drug, as there is in some states where medical marijuana is legal. He and others must turn to college kids, to the streets, to any number of dangerous ways to obtain what they want. Still, he said, "I don't think you're afraid of going to jail when you've got cancer. It's like 12th on your list." Holland, a warm woman with an inviting smile and wire-rimmed glasses, said she took her first puff this year, when it became clear that the legislature was inclined to move closer to making medical marijuana legal. She had never considered using it until last year, when she and her husband, Tom, went to Annapolis as part of a group lobbying for similar legislation that didn't pass. They heard the testimony of many others - a cancer patient, a young man with Crohn's disease - who swore by their marijuana. Research continuesThere is conflicting science on how and if marijuana eases symptoms; the Food and Drug Administration does not recognize any benefits. Research is being done on the chemical components of marijuana to see if there are legitimate uses for it, Barthwell said. Multiple sclerosis, a neurological disorder that can manifest itself in many ways, including numbness and paralysis, is a disease whose progression is hard to quantify. Holland knows she has felt better, in small ways, since she began smoking marijuana. She has more energy - she used to be so exhausted by the time she put dinner on the table that she couldn't eat. She can lift her legs a little higher. Her handwriting, once so beautiful, deteriorated to the point of illegibility; now it can be read again. She even feels like working in the garden. "Something is doing a lot to help me feel like participating in life," she said. 'Nation of laws'At the same time, she worries about what her daughters - now 18 and 21 - might think, that she could be sending them mixed messages while telling them drugs are bad and then lighting up. When she taught ninth-graders in Prince George's County, her course, Contemporary Issues, covered the court system, the legal system, "living in our society." "I was always a super-patriot," she said. "I thought: 'This is a great country.' I take it very seriously. We are a nation of laws, not a nation of men." Now, after all of her preaching and teaching, she finds it hard to believe that she violates the law every day. "I don't think they're going to put me in jail," Holland said. "I don't think they will. I hope that's not being too optimistic." Note: Md. patients desperate for relief from symptoms worry about arrest, image.  Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)Author: Stephanie Desmon, Sun StaffPublished: November 23, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Baltimore SunContact: letters baltsun.comWebsite: http://www.sunspot.net/Related Articles & Web Sites:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Md. Starts Test Run Of Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17442.shtmlEhrlich Signs Marijuana Bill http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16364.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #9 posted by kaptinemo on November 24, 2003 at 09:17:03 PT:
Something else many missed...and shouldn't have
*"I didn't want to be flagrant. I was desperate," he said. "People have kids who turn them in, for goodness' sake."*Yes, unfortunately, that has happened before in Maryland: The Kitty Tucker incident. http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=kitty+tucker&H=40&T=BYessir, all thanks to that wonderful, friendly, oh-so-helpful DARE officer. Who teaches little tykes that it's okay to rat on Mommy and Daddy; they'll just get a 'time out' and a 'talking-to' like they do to little Johnnie and Suzy at public school when *they* are naughty. At least, that's what the nice policeman *says* will only happen...The reality, if you do not have sufficiently good lawyers, is considerably less pleasent.Don't vorr-ee, Amerrrika! Only ze guilty need vee-ah in dee Fourt' Reich von, uh, oops, zorry, in Herr Busch's Homeland!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on November 24, 2003 at 02:24:10 PT
Side effect of what?
The Netherlands has MMJ without fear. So where does the fear enter the equation? Fear is not a side effect of medical marijuana, it is a side effect of prohibition.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by gloovins on November 23, 2003 at 20:10:55 PT
I had to ck all the comments before posting this..
because I can't believe someone didn't point this sentence of this article before me. call me arrogant.."He felt like a teen-ager, sneaking around, but he had teen-agers in the house...."Read this a couple times, realize this is a paid, professional journalist, & NOT need to smoke herb..??! damn, Jesus help us...Maybe I need to go back to school...in Goose Creek South Karolina...?Join the party below & vote young & old & in between.. 
http://lp.org
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by BlakNo1 on November 23, 2003 at 15:47:52 PT:
damn right!
"She says those who push for laws like Maryland's are "feeding off the pain and suffering of people" in pursuit of their real goal: complete legalization of marijuana."It's not like this is any kind of hidden, subversive agenda. Do we have to talk real slow for these morons to get it? Yes, we want complete legalization of marijuana! Legalized, regulated and taxed.The pharmaceutical industry are the real parasites feeding off fear and pain here. They are the true drug pushers.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by Virgil on November 23, 2003 at 13:47:39 PT
DEA control Schedule of Narcotics
The DEA has always controlled the Schedule of Narcotics since Nixon created by executive order. But even that is not really true. It will take an act of Congress to reschedule cannabis and even the guidelines are but illusion.The FDA will have to certify the GW extracts as medicine. They know they will not be able to stop these extracts as there will be several years of mass marketing to document what GW research already has proven and expand on as that cash starts coming in. That is why you here Barfwell talking about smoking cannabis as so 18th century. There MMJ position is on its last strand and they know it. It is just about keeping down the cultivation which lowers prices which is the opposite goal of prohibition. They know clinical cannabis is coming and they are lining up the paths of profits at this point. They still do not want anyone having Free Cannabis for any reason.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by Arthropod on November 23, 2003 at 13:22:01 PT:
Virgil
I know it is kind of a moot point, but the federal government has tied the FDA's hands on this one. I believe it was Lyndon Johnson who signed the law that gave control over the classification of cannabis from the FDA to the DEA, back in the early 70's.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by Virgil on November 23, 2003 at 11:54:09 PT
Apex of apoplexy
 the Food and Drug Administration does not recognize any benefitsDo they recognize it as food? They are but a part of the Cannabis Curtain whose budget itself will be taken over almost entirely by the pill companies they represent. You can have all kinds of Frankenfoods, but one molecule of THC and it is worthy of arrest and seizure of business in the eyes of the Nazis. The FDA has no credibility on anything. The article should question someone about NIDA and the NIH and the FDA to show what is really wrong. I would love to read what Jack Herer has to say about any one question this reporter might have. He cannot get a word in edgewise and he started the whole reform movement. There are doctors that are experts with decades of accumulated knowledge they could talk to and unfortunately for them there will be so many doctors interested in benefits of cannabinoids that they cannot be silenced or ignored. The article is better than silence. It does not address the corruption that brings us another day of total prohibition on cannabis, but it does show enough restraint in facts and expert testimony that the media is controlled.
Americans get it. There is no free press. The interest of the multi-nationals is represented by their government and ours is history. Here we are on the verge of a cannabis age and an explosion of research on what is really nutrition from cannabis. Nothing to report today by these folks or list any websites in their article. If they wanted to report some news they could report that people on the informed side of reform have reached a new apex of apoplexy.We are ruled by treason.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on November 23, 2003 at 09:44:36 PT
Here's my letter
Dear editors,There is not "conflicting science" on whether medical marijuana helps people. There are only journalists who don't understand science well enough to report medical marijuana research accurately to their readers. They use this typical throwaway phrase "conflicting science" to hide their own lack of understanding from the readers.Please put someone on your medical marijuana stories who has enough science background to report medical marijuana science accurately. You owe your readers that much.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by OverwhelmSam on November 23, 2003 at 09:15:14 PT:
Barthwell Is Playing Dirty Politics
"She says those who push for laws like Maryland's are "feeding off the pain and suffering of people" in pursuit of their real goal: complete legalization of marijuana."It's no secret that marijuana users want marijuana legalized, but to insinuate that we are using sick people who need marijuana to get it legalized is just plain dirty and immoral.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment