cannabisnews.com: Ex-Addict Seeks OK To Smoke Marijuana!





Ex-Addict Seeks OK To Smoke Marijuana!
Posted by FoM on July 28, 1999 at 22:10:40 PT
Canadian Press 
Source: Miami Herald Online
PEMBROKE, Ont. -- There was a time when Robert Brown smoked pot because he liked it. Now he smokes it because he has to.The Beachburg-area man smokes up to 40 joints a day. He says he has no choice. Brown has hepatitis C, a degenerative disease of the liver.
He knows the disease or its complications will one day kill him, but he's trying to slow its progress. Pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea are part of his everyday life. Some drugs bring on severe depression, others have caused hallucinations.The drug that has proved better than any other at controlling these side effects is cannabis.But now Brown and his wife face charges of possessing and cultivating a narcotic, charges that could send them to jail.It's a bitter irony for a man who managed to turn his life around 12 years ago.Brown, 43, was a heroin addict by age 13. He quit the drug at 17 only to go on to alcohol and cocaine.A dozen years ago he ended up in jail. Eventually, he managed to kick his addictions and rebuild his life. He got a job and settled down.Three years later, he was diagnosed with hepatitis C. He doesn't know how he got it.He had to quit his job, but opened a woodworking shop in his yard, where he could make furniture, birdhouses and wooden toys when he had the energy. As his business thrived, his health declined.``About five years ago, I started to get pretty sick,'' he recalled.After exhaustive tests and treatments, his doctor suggested he try marijuana -- smoking it to control nausea, eating it to regulate his bowels, and applying a marijuana tincture to the lesions on his face.``I said, `Bud, do you have any idea of the fight I've had to be sober and straight? That stuff is what I've been trying to get away from,' '' Brown said.He resisted. But he continued to get sick. When he was 37, a doctor told him he probably wouldn't live to see 40.``I got terrified. I got absolutely terrified, and I started smoking pot,'' he said. Brown saved what he could from his disability pension and bought a hydroponic set to grow his own.He smokes as many as 40 joints a day and eats marijuana cookies, pancakes and nanaimo bars. The treatment helps control the symptoms, he says.Last December, police raided his home and seized his marijuana and growing equipment.The Browns have yet to enter pleas to the charges, and expect to be back in court in late August.In the meantime, Brown continues to grow and smoke marijuana. Ottawa recently announced clinical trials for medicinal benefits of pot.But until the results of those tests are in, Canadians who apply to Health Canada for exemptions from criminal prosecution for growing and using marijuana are being assessed on a case-by-case basis.Brown has applied for an exemption. Prosecution, he says, would be a waste of government money.``Can they put me in jail without endangering my life? If I'm incarcerated, will they give me the treatment I need?''Published Sunday, July 25, 1999, in the Miami Herald Copyright 1999 Miami Herald 
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