NURSE CLAIMS HE WAS FIRED FOR POT ADVOCACY

A longtime Samaritan Health Services nurse is contesting his
dismissal, claiming he was fired not because of his job performance
but because he has been an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana.

An executive of the health care network disputes that claim.

Ed Glick was terminated April 18 from his job as a nurse at Samaritan
Regional Mental Health Center in Corvallis after he refused to take a
drug test.

According to Glick, the demand that he submit to urinalysis came
during a meeting to discuss omissions in the paperwork he did on
several patients. He said the gaps were minor and occurred when he was
working an exceptionally busy weekend shift that required him to rush
through the numerous admission forms to attend to the patients'
immediate needs.

When a supervisor insisted he take a drug test, Glick said, he refused
and walked out of the meeting. He was then fired.

"I was ambushed in a meeting with the supervisors," Glick said. "The
real reason I was fired is I've been doing medical cannabis nursing
for 10 years."

Oregon is one of about a dozen states that allow marijuana use for
medicinal purposes, but the practice remains highly
controversial.

Glick, however, has never been shy about his belief that pot has
therapeutic value, calling it a "miracle medicine."

At work, he has made a point of making notes in patients' medical
charts about their use of marijuana to treat their health problems,
which can be a preliminary step to getting a state marijuana card.

On his own time, he has written letters to the Gazette-Times, produced
an informational CD about the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act and
petitioned a judge to expand the law. He hands out business cards
identifying him as a medical cannabis nurse. On April 8, a little over
a week before he was fired, Glick gave a presentation to the National
Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics in Santa Barbara, Calif.

He also volunteers at the Compassion Center, a nonprofit clinic in
Eugene that provides counseling and educational services related to
medical marijuana.

According to Glick, he has seen patients from Corvallis at the
Compassion Center who claim their Samaritan Health Services doctors
have refused to help them get a prescription for marijuana, even
though state law allows its use to treat pain, muscle spasms, loss of
appetite and other symptoms due to cancer, HIV and a wide range of
other conditions.

"I'm being squeezed between my patients and a medical system that
doesn't care about their needs," Glick said.

A Samaritan official denied that the health care network discourages
its doctors from prescribing marijuana.

"There is no formal policy that Samaritan has ... which dictates
either one way or another regarding prescriptions of marijuana," said
Steve Jasperson, chief executive officer of Good Samaritan Regional
Medical Center. "That's up to the individual physician and his or her
relationship with the patient."

Jasperson also denied that Glick was fired for advocating prescription
pot.

"He was terminated for good cause," Jasperson said.

While he declined to go into detail about Glick's job performance,
Jasperson said Samaritan's employment policies clearly state that a
drug test can be required if there is "reasonable suspicion" to
believe an employee is impaired.

"An employee who chooses not to take a drug test has potential
consequences of that of termination," Jasperson said.

In a statement he sent to the newspaper, Glick denied ever having come
to work under the influence of drugs or alcohol, either at Samaritan
or any other job.

Glick said he does not have a medical marijuana card and does not
smoke the drug recreationally, although he did say, "I use it
infrequently."

On Monday afternoon, Glick took his cause to the streets, standing
near the eastern entrance to the Good Samaritan campus with a sign
that read "Fired for putting patients first." He was joined by about
15 supporters, many of them connected with the Compassion Center.

Bill and Erin Hildebrandt came down from Lafayette with their five
children to demonstrate on Glick's behalf. Erin Hildebrandt smokes
marijuana to control symptoms of Crohn's disease, and her husband said
the family moved to Oregon from Maryland so she could use the drug
legally.

"It was a lot easier for us, with five small kids, to move out here
and not have to worry about the cops kicking our door in and pointing
guns at our kids' heads," he said.

Glick has filed a wrongful termination grievance against Samaritan
through his union, the Oregon Nurses Association, and hopes to be
vindicated through that process. But even though he loved his 15 years
of working for Samaritan, he said, he doesn't want his job back.

"I'm not expecting them to (rehire me), but I am expecting them to
recognize the situation," Glick said.

"I want Samaritan Health Services to begin recognizing that cannabis
is a legitimate medicine."