Anything to Avoid the Pain

NUCLEAR-BLAST SURVIVOR HEADS VETERANS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACCESS

KALAMAZOO -- The atomic explosions off remote islands in the South
Pacific seemed to turn night into day.

They also turned Martin Chilcutt into a marijuana user.

Chilcutt said the drug has helped him to ease the pain he says dates
back to his exposure to radiation during a 1956 U.S. government
pro-ject testing nuclear and thermonuclear weapons.

A state ballot proposal could allow voters in November to decide
whether Chilcutt's measures to self-medicate should be legal in Michigan.

The 74-year-old former intelligence officer with the U.S. Naval Air
Force has used other medications to help him with his physical and
psychological problems, but marijuana helps "so much better," he said.

"Sometimes I just want to die," Chilcutt said. "You can only take
intense pain for so long before you'll do anything to escape it."

He never intended to put his health at risk.

While part of the testing project, Chilcutt remembers, he donned
large goggles and turned his back to protect his eyes as the bombs
exploded in the early-morning darkness.

There was no protection, though, from the heavy doses of radiation
that spewed from the explosions and reached Chilcutt.

He has battled skin cancer three times, including basal cell
carcinoma, the most common form of cancer, with about a million new
cases reported in the United States each year. He has been in
remission for the past 10 years.

Making Life Easier

Chilcutt's four years in the military -- he served from the middle to
late 1950s -- also took a psychological toll, he said.

For 30 years, he said, he has suffered chronic post-traumatic stress
disorder, including bouts of anxiety, depression and anger,
nightmares, arthritis and debilitating migraine headaches.

Marijuana helps them all, he said.

Although there are different ways to use the drug, such as ingesting
or inhaling it, there is no difference in the drug's effect based on
consumption, according to the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate
Care, which is spearheading the state marijuana initiative.

"It just makes life so much easier," he said. "It allows you to be
comfortable."

Chilcutt, a retired psychotherapist, said he first learned of
marijuana's medical benefits in the late 1970s while counseling
Vietnam War veterans in California. They told him the drug could help
allay his pain, he said.

He said he takes eight other medications for ailments the marijuana
doesn't help, including a thyroid condition.

Advocates for the medical use of marijuana say it's also effective in
easing symptoms from other serious illnesses such as HIV/AIDS,
glaucoma and multiple sclerosis.

Critics cite a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report in 2006 that
said "no sound scientific studies" support the medical use of the drug.

If the marijuana-use proposal is approved by state voters, Michigan
would become the 15th state -- and the first in the Midwest -- with a
law that permits marijuana use for seriously ill people. Michigan law
currently prohibits marijuana use for any reason.

It's estimated between 40,000 and 50,000 people -- about one-half of
1 percent of Michigan residents -- would be eligible to use marijuana
for medical purposes. In states where the law is now in place, it's
estimated the same percentage of residents would qualify to use the
drug, according to the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care.

Under federal law, marijuana use is illegal in all states. That means
that even if Michigan voters approve the initiative, users under the
law could still be prosecuted. But such prosecution under federal law
has been virtually nonexistent, according to the Marijuana Policy
Project, a national group that provided nearly all of the $1.1
million used to organize the Michigan campaign to get the proposal approved.

Taking Risks

Chilcutt moved to Kalamazoo from Colorado four years ago. He serves
as executive director of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access, a
Kalamazoo-based group he founded in 2007. It advocates for safe and
legal access to marijuana for appropriate therapeutic uses and
encourages research on the drug as an alternative treatment.

"This is my life now -- to help patients," he said.

His support of marijuana use for medical purposes has prompted him to
take chances to help those with serious medical issues get access to the drug.

In Colorado, where he lived for 15 years, Chilcutt joined the
movement to legalize marijuana for medical use.

While campaigning for the initiative, which became law in 2000, a
marijuana grower contacted him and asked if he could donate marijuana
to Chilcutt to distribute to those in need. Chilcutt, who then was
leading group-therapy sessions for those close to death, including
people with advanced cancers and AIDS, agreed.

"I took a lot of risks in the past," he said. "But I believed so much
in how marijuana could help sick people. I didn't care how it helped
the person, just as long as it did."