REEFER MADNESS

Or A Tale Of Two Patients. Use Of Medical Marijuana Can Be Both A
Godsend And A Trial.

Two individuals, both suffering from debilitating, degenerative
diseases, both arriving at the legal use of medical marijuana for
pain management, could not have come to more dissimilar conclusions
regarding its use. Strike that--at least on this point: Both agree
the drug is an effective tool against pain. It's the social side
effects that split them on the issue.

If you don't mind, call me when you're outside. I'll come out."

Pat" is very concerned his 8-year-old child will overhear a
conversation about marijuana, so the plan is to have a half-hour
conversation in the car parked in front of the house--a conversation
more suited in style to the sale of illegal drugs than to a
completely above-board discussion of medicine.

The home has a well-manicured lawn in a neighborhood of
well-manicured lawns in Reno's medium-aged northwest. In the context
of the clandestine meeting, it's a bit reminiscent of the Showtime
suburban pot-dealing show Weeds.

A few weeks ago, Pat was at his wit's end. He was adamant that he was
going to give up the "card" that enabled him to grow a few marijuana
plants to treat his disease. Fed up with the social risks associated
with treating a disease with a drug more widely acknowledged as a
purely recreational gateway drug, he decided it was less risky to buy
the drug illegally than to continue growing his own, putting his
family at risk of discovery and social ramifications.

Then the Obama administration announced it did not plan to prosecute
medical marijuana users who comply with state laws. This at least
gave him hope that social and government views are changing.

Not to play stereotypes, but Pat is paranoid. He wants his identity,
number of family members, marital status, details of his disease,
maybe even his gender concealed if he's to talk about his issues with
legal, medical marijuana. Suffice it to say that Pat may very well be a woman.

I know a lot of people in this town, and I know if some of these
details get out, somebody's going to read this and go, 'Oh, I bet
that's " And I don't give a shit for myself, but it's my family.
That's the whole problem. And ironically, my partner has no problem
with me using marijuana--it controls my symptoms."

Pat's disease is not a killer, although a wheelchair may be in his
future. While he waves the thick sheaf of application papers, he's
talking about the whole of Nevada's medical marijuana program.
"There's no way the poor guy in a wheelchair can do this; he can't do
this program. There's an option for a caregiver, but what if you
can't get a caregiver? What if the caregiver doesn't want to be
fingerprinted and put in a database? It's so restrictive, it's almost
like the people who wrote this made it so complicated and restrictive
that they were trying to prevent people from using it."

The law was written by the Nevada Legislature in 2001 after voters
twice approved a mandate. And legislators were restrictive, limiting
it to cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, or any condition that causes severe
pain. Licensed Nevadans are allowed to grow as many as three mature
and four immature marijuana plants. The law states they may possess
no more than one ounce of usable marijuana at any one time.

Pat learned that marijuana worked for his disease before use of the
plant received its limited legal use. He's grown his own pot since
receiving his prescription, but the constant fear of having a child
stumble over the crop, or a neighbor or visitor smell the growing
plants and then treat his family members differently because of his
disease was more than he could take. He was going to turn to the black market.

I can't afford to buy it illegally, though, and I don't want to on
principle," he said. "I don't want to support organized crime. So I
joined this program. I had no idea how complicated it would turn out to be."

But the difficulty in finding a doctor--he found one from Hawaii who
advertised in this very paper--to prescribe the drug pales in
comparison to endangering the family from thieves who may break into
his home for growing plants. The scent of marijuana, particularly
when summer temperatures hit, made exposure almost certain. And that
was inside the house. Then there was the expense: $250-$300 for a
doctor's appointment, $150 a year to renew his license, plus growing
lights, temperature control, etc.

And all the while, he and his partner wait to hear the gossip: "'So
and so can't go to your house because you guys are criminals'--even
though we're not, there's that stigma."

Pat said the only answer is for the state of Nevada to adopt some
kind of a plan for the processed plant to be distributed in a way
that allows the state to monitor--and probably tax--its sale.
California, for example, has dispensaries for the distribution of
medical marijuana.

We need some way of dispensing it--a pharmacy or something," said
Pat. "Because a lot of people might be too sick to grow it, they
might have the social problems where they don't want to grow it. It
would open it up to more people. Yes, maybe there'd be more abuse,
but look at Vicodin. Isn't that the most abused prescription drug in
the U.S.? But nobody seems to care about that. But the side effects
from those kind of pain killers are intolerable, they're horrible.
They're addictive, and they're intolerable for my family.

If I continue to grow it, [my partner's] going to be nervous and on
edge, and maybe end up resenting me for that. If I stop growing it,
then I have to deal with my pain and maybe fall back into the
conventional painkillers, the socially acceptable painkillers, which
is going to lead to--seriously--divorce or suicide. It's a no-win
situation. If there were a distribution method, this would not be a
problem. Can you imagine them making you make your own insulin if
you were diabetic?" Grow your own

Not all those who take advantage of Nevada's medical marijuana laws
are dissatisfied with the way they work.

Tommy Whiteman, 55, for example, doesn't care who knows that he
legally grows marijuana. He doesn't care who knows that he suffers
from a cancer in his bones, which has deteriorated the vertebrates in
his spinal column. He's had many operations to help him cope with the disease.

He lives in a well-kept home off the Truckee River in Lockwood with a
wife, an 18-year-old cat and a nosy dog.

I work very hard at being healthy. I ride my bike every day except
the last three weeks. I've had my bike for the last 10 years, and
this is the longest I've ever been off my bike. It's really, right
now, very painful for me."

Even though he takes Oxycontin, Neurontin and marijuana for the pain,
he usually rides up to 70 miles a day. Now he's looking toward to
another surgery.

Whiteman points out that his openness with his legal marijuana
doesn't necessarily solve all the issues involved with Nevada's
methods of regulating medical marijuana.

I've been ripped off so many times, it's unreal."

Whiteman grows plants inside and outside his home. The inside plants
are small, producing only about an ounce of marijuana per plant.
They're also weaker in effect, and he uses them mainly in cooking. If
they're grown outdoors, "It's a lot of advertising," he said. "Kids
will pop you." At harvest time, about the end of September, he sleeps
outdoors near the plants to protect them. He says he grows three to
six plants outdoors because it's likely only one will make it to
maturity. But that one plant could produce half-pound to a pound.
Once dried, that pot goes into a large safe, where the harvest will
last him nearly a year.

He's reported the theft of his medicine to the police when it was
stolen, but to no avail. It's not the kind of thing that thieves keep
around for identification and return.

That's the problem," Whiteman said. "It's got to be treated like any
other prescription drug because that's what it is, a prescription.
They've got to write it for you. I'm sorry, but they had me on
morphine for a while where I was a full addict. I was taking almost
five grains a day. That's like a $500-a-day heroin addict. I'll never
go back to that. They wouldn't make you grow your own poppies. But
they'll sure supply it to you. That's the thing about doctors, their
job is to do that. Your job is to say no. Your job is to find
alternative ways that are going to be easier on your body."