cannabisnews.com: Supervisor Finds New Crusade Supervisor Finds New Crusade Posted by FoM on May 22, 2001 at 11:00:01 PT By Suzanne Herel, Chronicle Staff Writer Source: San Francisco Chronicle In his 27 years as a cop, Michael Nevin learned how easily illegal drugs can ruin lives. "Parents from all over the country would call the San Francisco police and ask us to look for their kids," he recalls. "We'd find them dead in the Haight. " Now, as a San Mateo County supervisor, Nevin believes that one of those drugs, marijuana, can be a lifesaver. His dedication has pushed San Mateo County to the forefront of the medicinal marijuana debate. The county is set to start the nation's first government study of the substance's medicinal effects -- despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week quashing California's attempts to distribute marijuana to the seriously ill. "The Supreme Court ruling makes what we're trying to do in San Mateo even more important," Nevin says. With luck, he says, the study's results will lead to loosening federal law, which in 1970 criminalized marijuana in all uses. "Sometimes it takes a local government to move the federal government," he says. Nevin's memorabilia-packed window office in the Hall of Justice in Redwood City pays homage to his days on the San Francisco police force, in Daly City's mayoral chair and on the county Board of Supervisors, where he has served eight years. Nevin, 58, grew up as one of seven children, the son of a San Francisco police officer. As a rookie himself, Nevin was a bodyguard for former San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto. He also has protected Mother Teresa, whom he calls "a true hero." Throughout his career, Nevin has embraced what he terms "quality-of-life" issues such as transportation and affordable housing. "I keep my feet on the ground and I'm very practical," he says. It is from this man-of-the-people perspective that he came to the cannabis cause. Or rather, it came to him, in the form of an unassuming health services employee named Joni Commons, who would often stop in Nevin's office to chat. She would drop in wearing a scarf around her head -- cancer treatments had caused all her hair to fall out. "She would say, 'Mike, you're a cop, you don't like drugs,' " Nevin says. "She would say that she wanted me to know this: that the only thing that gave her any relief whatsoever from the pain was marijuana. I didn't even talk to her about where she got it." Commons died in 1997. But Nevin's dedication was born. "She challenged me to say, 'This marijuana works.' " he says. He began to consider ways in which the county government could provide marijuana to the seriously ill. He contemplated using marijuana confiscated by the police, which would then be sorted by doctors. But for several reasons -- including the varying grades of street-sold marijuana -- Nevin decided the plan wasn't feasible. Three years ago, he started pushing for the county to host the current study. Last November, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration agreed to provide government-grown marijuana for the project. Despite his crusade to make marijuana available to the sick and dying, Nevin fervently opposes decriminalizing any drug for recreational use. Nevin, who says he never smoked marijuana, nevertheless knows the demons of addiction. He's a recovering alcoholic. "I'm proud in my own life that I quit drinking 12 years ago," he says. He finds no contradiction between his stance against illegal drugs and his support of medicinal marijuana. "They say that drugs are habit-forming," he says. "What are we talking about here? These are people who are going to die." Nevin thinks his mix of personal experiences validates his cause. "I concluded that I could make a big contribution if I were outspoken on an issue where you wouldn't expect a policeman to come out, while having credibility at the same time," he says. Nevin is finally seeing the fruits of his labor. Any day now, a carton of marijuana cigarettes will be arriving at San Mateo County General Hospital. There, Dr. Dennis Israelski is signing up AIDS patients for the $500,000 outpatient study, which is being paid for by taxpayers. There will be 60 subjects in the study, expected to take about 1 1/2 years, but they will be recruited gradually, says Israelski, medical director of the San Mateo County AIDS Program. Among other requisites, these patients will have at least a six-month prognosis for survival and will have smoked marijuana before. The study is too small to yield authoritative results regarding the efficacy of medicinal marijuana use, says Israelski, although it will monitor how the drug affects appetite, nausea, pain and lucidity. More likely, the effort will prove that larger studies are practical, Israelski says, that it is possible to acquire uniform-grade marijuana from the federal government and distribute it on an outpatient basis to subjects who will use it as directed and not allow it to fall into the hands of friends or family. The cigarettes contain marijuana grown on the government's 5 1/2-acre farm at the University of Mississippi as part of that school's Marijuana Project. The marijuana is rolled by machine into cigarettes. The study may be a small step on a long road, but it is, at least, the first step, says Nevin. "We want to do our share to get this substance to the pharmaceutical position it deserves," he says. "We will take the lead." Newsmaker Profile: Mike NevinNote: Ex-cop hopes San Mateo County study helps legalize medical pot.E-mail Suzanne Herel at: sherel sfchronicle.comSource: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Suzanne Herel, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished: May 22, 2001Copyright: 2001 San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 15 Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/Related Articles:The Role of Cannabis - Politics Ahead of Sciencehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9802.shtmlMedical Marijuana Experiment Begins In San Mateohttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9291.shtmlNew Pot Research Leaves Clinic http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9264.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by m segesta on May 23, 2001 at 09:16:07 PT: Imprint is RIGHT ON...... One can read this article in two ways: (1) as a postive article showing that even former jack booted thugs can be compassionate when it comes to the moribund, or (2) as a signal that even 100% victory on the med-pot issue for us could would be failure for us. Why?Please see comments numbered 4,6 and 7 appended to this C-News article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread9827.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Imprint on May 23, 2001 at 02:10:10 PT Still wants to imprison you for your pot use! “Nevin fervently opposes decriminalizing any drug for recreational use.““Nevin, who says he never smoked marijuana, nevertheless knows the demons of addiction. He's a recovering alcoholic. “The two above quotes says it all about this guy. Since he watched a friend die it’s ok to give the sick marijuana but since he is an alcoholic marijuana is just as additive. We need community leaders that have a sense of logic and deductive reasoning that goes a lot deeper than this fellow is capable of. Let’s face it, since he had spent much of his life (27 years) capturing and imprisoning people for drug use he is unable to swallow his pride and admit he has wasted a big part of his career on the wrong things. We all know that these dead kids he found in the “Haight” died from hard drug overdoses or violence, not marijuana use. And we all know that many of these deaths would be preventable if our approach to drug use and addition was different. But, as I have already mentioned he is not capable of mental logic to figure it out. Don’t get me wrong, availability of marijuana to the sick is very important and is very needed and I hope he is successful in getting them their pot. But the issue of drugs and marijuana is a lot bigger than this one subject. He represents many more bad things than good things. He still wants to imprison you for your pot use! [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by michael on May 22, 2001 at 15:30:37 PT: Not quite there. Although I respect Mr. Nevin for what he has accepted about marajuana, if he knows the terminaly ill will not rape and pillage and jump out of windows, why does he think your average Joe Blow will? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Rev. Jonatahn Adler on May 22, 2001 at 14:11:37 PT: Medical Marijuana Research Exemption. Aloha, Isn't it strange that the approved study in San Mateo has to take delivery of Sub-standard cannabis grown by the Feds to give to their study group!? If they sincerely wanted to show the effects of pharmacuetical high-grade "volcanic organic " medijuana (TM) instead they would arrange to gets supplies from us here in Hawaii! The Hawii Medical MarijuanaInstitute is still willing and legally able to do that job with our EXISTING religious exemption applicable. The research exemption and religious exemption both are federal laws concurrently and must be obeyed by all law enforcement officials or they are crossing the line of authority.Peace Rev. Jonathan Adler/ Religion of Jesus Church- East Hawaii Branch Hawaii Medical Marijuana Institute [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Kevin Hebert on May 22, 2001 at 13:24:07 PT: Something important to remember I liked this article because it shows that cops can certainly be compassionate people too. Sometimes it's hard, when we see the worst things cops do, and we forget that some of them are as against the drug war as we are. Not many, due to the obvious financial bias, but there are a few reasonable police officers out there who realize we aren't against them per se; we are against the laws they are beholden to enforce. One of the most rewarding things about ending the drug war is that police and ordinary people will be able to coexist without all this fear and hate. 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