MEDICAL MARIJUANA USED BY PATIENTS NOT HELPED BY PILLS

The Maui News printed a "Viewpoint" from ex-police captain and
unsuccessful political candidate George Fontaine (Opinion, Nov. 30). I
would like to address some of the misinformation contained in his screed.

Mr. Fontaine mentions that, "When the idea of medical marijuana was
presented, many citizens heard the case . . . that a controlled,
legalized method of distributing marijuana to medical patients . . .
was a sane choice and a compassionate alternative."

What he fails to mention is that the law does not clearly specify any
"controlled, legalized method of distributing" this medicine that they
sanction. As written, the Hawaii state law permits patients to grow
their own medicine. There are many challenges, and very few succeed.

The 90 to 95 percent of licensed patients who cannot sustain a medical
garden are left without safe access to their medicine. Imagine a law
that required diabetics to manufacture their own insulin and forbade
anyone from assisting those who cannot.

Suggesting that all medical marijuana patients use Marinol, the pill
form of THC, exposes an old myth. Marinol contains a synthesized form
of only one of the over 60 cannabinoids found in marijuana.

Research has shown that marijuana's ability to treat such a wide
variety of ailments is due to the many strains that contain different
combinations of cannabinoids. While Marinol does provide relief for
some people, most patients cannot use it.

Mr. Fontaine claims, "The reality is that medical marijuana has become
nothing more than a ruse for drug dealing," and he asks, "while some
may argue that 'real' patients have benefited, what has been the
cost?" Mr. Fontaine's reality is not the truth.

The truth is that medical marijuana provides relief for a wide cross
section of Maui's people suffering from cancer, AIDS, PTSD and
countless other debilitating conditions. Of the patients who use
cannabis, most do so after suffering side effects from pharmaceutical
drugs. We are not talking about a bunch of stoner punks here; these
patients include parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who
cannot endure pharmaceutical alternatives. Check out the MCCFDIA
channel on YouTube to hear their stories firsthand.

"What has been the cost?" How much does this county spend to
investigate, arrest and incarcerate licensed patients? How much do
patients have to spend on black market rip-offs when legitimate
outlets are closed? How do you quantify the human cost in pain and
suffering when people are denied safe access to a medicine they are
licensed to use?

I would like to ask Mr. Fontaine where he got the information
described in his California horror story. While many will find his
"Reefer Madness" hysteria more amusing than frightening, there is
little doubt that he does believe such atrocities, imagined or not,
threaten his Maui lifestyle.

Unlike California, Hawaii has seen only one organization take steps to
assist licensed medical marijuana patients. Unlike the California
stores that exist as retail outlets, Patients Without Time, in
partnership with Maui County Citizens For Democracy In Action, has
concentrated on legislative efforts. Rather than try to "exploit"
existing laws, PWT and MCCFDIA have worked tirelessly to help clarify
and improve those laws.

Those legislative efforts, if successful, would eliminate certain
federal funds from the Maui Police Department coffers. Be honest, Mr.
Fontaine, isn't that your real problem with Rep. Joe Bertram III? You
might have a problem with Rep. Bertram taking a stand on a
controversial issue, but there are many Americans who would have loved
such support. Think of the Salem witch hunt suspects, the Scottsboro
Boys and the McCarthy red scare victims.

What would you have done back then, Mr. Fontaine?

* Brian J. Murphy is the director of Patients Without Time, a medical
marijuana advocacy group in Paia.