PLANTS EASE PAIN, GROWER SAYS

Caregiver, User Brings Marijuana To Her Patients

DENVER - The two soaring groves of marijuana plants look more like leafy
bamboo shoots to the untrained eye. Doreen Bishop, whose front garden is
filled with flowers and shrubs and trees, irrigates her backyard marijuana
crop carefully from pond water at the base of a splashing waterfall.

"No drop of insecticide," said Bishop, who blames illegal insecticide-laced
pot for the loss of her thyroid. "I only feed them twice. 'Miracle Grow' in
early summer and a bloom booster later on."

She added, "I love growing things and feeding animals and caring for
people. I have people dying who aren't dying suffering" because she is
growing and bringing marijuana for them.

Bishop, 55, is a certified user and caregiver for six medical marijuana
patients and, as often as necessary, brings potted plants of blooming
garden flowers and a bit of marijuana to her patients. She has been growing
medical marijuana on and off for 18 years.

It's a job that isn't always easy. Before Colorado voters amended the state
constitution nearly three years ago to permit the transportation,
possession and production of limited amounts of medicinal marijuana by
state-certified patients, she once served three days in the county jail for
growing the leafy plant.

And since the state legalized medical marijuana use in 2000, Denver police
have responded to several backyard break-ins at Bishop's home and advised
her on security fencing, sensors, lights and cameras.

A cancer survivor who is in regular pain and recently suffered a stroke,
the diminutive Bishop has long brown hair and dark eyes. She says her
reading of the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who won independence for his
native India through passive resistance, taught her "that you get further
with honey than vinegar."

"It is so wonderful to have law enforcement on my side now. For the first
time I don't feel like a criminal," said Bishop.

Among those in her care are Jerry Ives, 47, who suffered a brain injury
while serving with the U.S. Army 27 years ago, and Eric Guilford, 38, who
is an engineer with the Colorado Department of Transportation.

"My dilemma was that I am being treated at the VA (Veterans Affairs)
Hospital and the docs there can't sign for a permit" because they work for
the federal government, which won't approve medical marijuana, Ives explained.

This summer he found a doctor who gave him a double certification
recommendation for seizures and pain. "My docs at the VA know I've been
smoking pot," and they understand, Ives said.

Guilford's brother Adam, 41, said, "I've seen marijuana help his condition
and ease his tremors. Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night
shaking like a leaf and a puff or two calms him."

Eric Guilford, who has symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease and other
medical problems, said if he could use the drug at work, he'd be a better
worker because he would have better control of involuntary spasms. "I don't
get high," he said, "and don't use it recreationally."