AFTER RELYING ON MARIJUANA FOR PAIN, CANCER PATIENT IS HEADED TO COURT

Jerry Peterson is dying.

It is a fact the lifelong Fox Valley resident has come to accept over the
last two years, after the melanoma cancer he thought he had beaten 12 years
ago came raging back.

It now courses throughout his body.

"They're surprised I'm still around," he said, his glaucoma-riddled eyes
squinting as he smiles. "But I've been living with it for so long, I've
always thought I'd die of it."

It has been a bad two years for Peterson, 45, who now lives in St. Charles.

During that time, the cancer has not only continued to spread while the
pain worsened, but he lost his job, and he and his wife split.

Then, last May, he was arrested for possession of marijuana during a
traffic stop in Batavia.

He pleaded guilty, but Kane County Judge Robert Janes on Jan. 17 waived any
fine or court costs after Peterson's physician wrote a letter explaining
Peterson's condition. The letter included the fact that Peterson uses the
marijuana to "cope" with his cancer.

"I don't have any appetite without it," he said. "Nothing else has ever
helped."

Peterson continued to smoke marijuana in private, and he thought he had the
minor arrest issue - relatively minor, he says, compared to the physical
battle he endures - behind him.

But then, just six days after the judge dismissed the first charge, he was
arrested again for possession of marijuana during a traffic stop in St.
Charles.

Peterson couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm on 400 milligrams of morphine patches all the time, but I get arrested
for this," he said in a perpetually gravely voice.

He was arrested even though this time he had a note his physician had given
him to show to police in just such a situation.

The handwritten note, on the letterhead, reads: "Has malignant melanoma
that is metastatic causing uncontrollable pain. Is using marijuana (pot) to
try to cope. Condition is ultimately terminal."

Through his office, the physician refused to comment on the matter, though
others familiar with the case confirm that Peterson is under the doctor's care.

Though the St. Charles officer was sympathetic - "He didn't even handcuff
me after I told him I had cracked ribs from coughing so much" - he also
told Peterson he had to arrest him.

Now Peterson is supposed to show up in court Thursday to face the charge.

Peterson cracked another slight smile when he said: "They didn't think I'd
be around for the last court date."

Peterson's arrest comes in the midst of a national debate on the medical
use of marijuana that has raged mostly in western states.

Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, California
and Maine all have state laws that allow for the medicinal use of
marijuana, and several other states have proposed legislation that would
allow it.

Illinois is not one of those states.

Though the state recently has allowed for the study of the production of
hemp, a relative of the marijuana plant that is used to make fabrics and
has other uses, Illinois is not considering any medical use of marijuana.

Despite that, Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Foundation, said that cases
like Peterson's are typical across the country in states that do not have
medical exceptions for marijuana use.

"This gentleman has been caught in the gray area of the law," St. Pierre said.

Although local police still feel the need to arrest people who clearly are
using the drug for medical purposes, those same people regularly are let
off with little or no punishment, St. Pierre said. That is, in part,
because the courts and prosecutors don't want to waste taxpayer dollars
prosecuting someone like Peterson.

"We have these cases happen all the time," St. Pierre said.

Another issue in Peterson's case is the role his doctor played.

Signing a note explaining that a patient is using marijuana to cope with an
illness is not explicitly unethical, according to other local physicians
and the Chicago-based American Medical Association.

While the AMA does not support doctors advocating the use of illegal drugs,
it does oppose prosecuting doctors who discuss any and all options for
treatment with their patients, according to AMA guidelines.

Several local doctors said they would never feel comfortable endorsing the
smoking of marijuana.

"I've never advocated people smoking it," said Dr. Rodney Nelson, an
oncologist in Geneva for the past 20 years. "I don't know how you know what
you're getting, or how much you're getting to use it medicinally."

Nelson recognized the "noble sentiment" that Peterson's physician was
pursuing by writing a note for Peterson but said, "It does raise some
questions."

Nelson said he has recommended that some of his patients use the
FDA-approved Marinol pill, which contains THC, one of the active
ingredients in marijuana.

But many people report that Marinol does not work for them, said Dr.
Chilakamarri Yeshwant, a cancer specialist in Elgin. He said the verdict
still is out on whether smoking marijuana greatly benefits cancer patients.

That may be, said Dr. Toby Kramer, an oncologist in private practice in
Geneva since 1982, but a doctor's highest duty is to his patient.

"From a medical ethical point of view I don't think there's anything wrong"
with what Peterson's physician did for Peterson, Kramer said. "I believe
this physician is acting compassionately to address whatever weight or
authority he has as a physician that his client is not a pothead."

Peterson said it does bother him that in order to help him deal with his
painful illness he has to regularly break the law to buy the drug that
helps him the most.

He said he gets his marijuana from a regular, reputable source but
occasionally has had to go looking for it from other, less savory dealers.

He remains hopeful that someday Illinois will pass a law similar to
Oregon's or Washington's.

"I wish Illinois would. I have a friend who would probably benefit from
using marijuana but he's afraid to buy or use it" because it's illegal, he
said.

Being labeled "terminally ill" has driven away many of the loves of
Peterson's life, he laments, not the least of which is many of his friends.

"Not too many of them come around much anymore," he said.

He doesn't get to regularly play guitar in the pop band that had once been
his career and resulted in two CDs, one from each of his bands Abnorman and
Fishy Motion.

And he doesn't get to take to the hockey rink where he could throw his
6-foot-2 body around the ice with abandon.

Perhaps worst of all for Peterson, he watched in grief as the strain of his
illness and the breakup of his marriage took its toll on his teenage son.

He regularly sees his son, and it appears he is starting to understand his
father's situation, Peterson said.

Beyond his son, Peterson relies mostly on a tight group of friends and his
exuberant dog, Ding-Ding, and two house cats, who always seem to know when
he needs to sleep and cuddle up next to him.

Though Peterson now spends much of his days secluded in the home he shares
with a friend who took him in after he and his wife split, he has managed
to pursue some of his life's loves despite the cancer.

He still plays and writes music. He is even planning what he calls "one
last show" at a local club.

And he regularly goes to Kane County Cougars, Cubs and White Sox games. In
fact, a friend last year told some Sox officials about his condition and
managed to get a 50-foot image of him shown on the Jumbotron at Comiskey
Park during a game.

Other friends have gotten him similar perks at his favorite local sport,
Chicago Wolves hockey games at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

He has met the Wolves players several times. He's got a vast collection of
Wolves memorabilia, including several signed jerseys, as well as other
sport collectibles that fill the walls of his bedroom and another full room
in his home.

"The Wolves have been great to me," he said.

But they are all just distractions, he confesses, to the only issue he
deals with every day.

The cancer, and the drugs he takes, and the regular checkups with a hospice
nurse, and visits with his physician all have made his life revolve around
the very disease he hates.

Now, one of his last hopes, after this most recent arrest, is that by
talking about his situation, future cancer patients won't have to be made
out as criminals while trying to cope with their disease.