PORTLANDER BECOMES FIRST TO OBTAIN MARIJUANA CARD

Jeanelle Bluhm, Who Has Multiple Sclerosis, Will Use The Drug To Relieve
Painful Muscle Spasms Brought On By The Disease

Jeanelle Bluhm has a green thumb. She plans to home-can some tomatoes this
year.

"And I plan to put some marijuana up in Ziploc bags," she said.

On Friday, Bluhm became the first person in the United States to be
formally granted permission by a state to own and use marijuana for medical
purposes.

The 47-year-old Portland resident applied for Oregon's first medical
marijuana card because of her multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease of
the nerves.

A former hospice nurse who gets around on a battery-powered scooter, Bluhm
accepted her wallet-sized laminated card, No. 00001, bearing a light blue
State of Oregon seal, from Kelly Paige, manager of the Oregon Health
Division's medical marijuana program.

Oregon is the first state to take an active part in regulating marijuana
for medical use, issuing registration cards to those who qualify under the
state's new law. Although California law allows residents to use marijuana
as a medicine, that state has no registration process.

In November, Oregon voters approved a measure that allows anyone who has
cancer, HIV disease, glaucoma, severe pain, wasting, nausea, seizures or
muscle spasms, to use marijuana with a doctor's permission.

Bluhm said marijuana helps to stave off painful muscle spasms that wrack
her body.

"It relaxes me," she said. "I'm not interested in Valium . . . in Prozac.
Why should I be if I have a natural herb I can use?"

Bluhm will be the first of many Oregonians to receive the card. So far,
Paige said, she's mailed out 600 packets of information to interested
patients and has received 35 completed applications, along with the $150
annual fee. Another 135 people have returned application forms, and Paige
is inspecting them to see if they're complete. Paige said Bluhm was the
first person to complete the forms.

Bluhm was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1982 but was in remission
until 1995, when she began feeling ill.

"The unfortunate thing about MS is that it causes muscle spasms -- up and
down the back, sometimes it's the legs, sometimes it's the arms," she said.

Her background as a nurse made her apprehensive about her illness.

"As a nurse you see the worst side of the disease," she said. "You see an
MS patient in extreme conditions. I knew what was ahead of me."

Bluhm said she's used marijuana illegally since 1996, when she became
involved with The Alternative Health Center, a downtown Portland clinic
that supplied marijuana to people with debilitating illnesses. After seeing
how marijuana helped people with AIDS and cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy, she said, "I became a real believer."

In October 1997, Portland police closed down the clinic, and Bluhm was
forced to rely on friends and acquaintances for her supply of "herb," as
she calls it.

Now, she said, her card "gives me the right to comply with the law. I'm not
a lawbreaker."

The law allows Bluhm to own three mature and four immature marijuana plants
and one ounce of usable marijuana for each mature plant. She likes the idea
of raising her own plants.

"I'm not interested in pharmaceuticals," she said. "I'm more interested in
a natural approach."

"I do have a green thumb, thank God," she said. "But I'm not able to move
the pots and lamps by myself."

The law allows her to have a helper assist with the plants. The helper also
must be registered with the program.

Paige, the marijuana program manager, said many applicants can't find a
doctor who will approve use of the drug, which is required to get a card.

Dr. Richard Bayer, a chief petitioner for the medical marijuana measure,
said many physicians worry about running afoul of the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration, which licenses doctors to prescribe narcotics.
While medical marijuana is legal under state law, federal law still bans
the drug. Doctors worry that the agency might sanction them if they approve
marijuana for their patients.

But once doctors become familiar with guidelines published by the Oregon
Medical Association, Bayer said, they should have fewer reservations about
letting their patients use the drug.

[SIDEBAR]

Medical Marijuana

Who qualifies: Anyone who has cancer, glaucoma, HIV disease, severe
wasting, pain, nausea, seizures or muscle spasms and whose doctor agrees
that marijuana might alleviate symptoms.

How to apply: Call Kelly Paige, coordinator of the Oregon Health Division's
Medical Marijuana Registry, 503-731-4011, Ext. 640. She will send a packet
that includes a copy of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, the rules
governing the program, guidelines for registration, an application form and
a form for a physician to fill out.

Fee for the card: $150.