VETERAN GROWS OWN MARIJUANA

After two tours in Iraq with the Army, a 30-year-old Montezuma County
man has his own reasons for obtaining a medical marijuana card. As he
attempts to re-acclimate to civilian life, he suffers pain in his
foot, ears, and joints and collapsed discs in his back as well as
post-traumatic stress disorder. He is officially classified as 140
percent disabled.

"I used to be on 16 different medications from the VA (Veterans
Affairs health care), and every one of them had bad side effects. Now
I'm off all of them except sometimes I take a Valium," said the veteran.

He uses medical marijuana instead to ease the pain, calm him and help
him sleep. He requested that his name and address not be used for
publication because he fears theft of his marijuana.

"I was in the infantry (in Iraq)," he said. "We kicked in a lot of
doors, snatch and grabs, raids, convoy security. You come home
desensitized. Anger and frustration and hate are the only emotions you
know. With PTSD, you're constantly on guard. You're constantly
vigilant, constantly scanning sectors, isolating threats for
self-preservation. It wears the body down because stress is bad. When
I hear a gunshot, I think about the first guy I killed (in Iraq). When
I hear an explosion, I think of a buddy who was blown up."

The veteran said medical marijuana allows him to slow down his thought
process.

"It calms me," he said. "It takes away the pain and makes me a happy
person out in public. Medical marijuana is a very good thing for
combat vets dealing with PTSD. When I smoke, I mellow out so I can
communicate and function in society."

The veteran said he went through PTSD counseling four
times.

"I had lots of problems because I drank," he said. "I don't drink any
more because if a guy attacks you from behind, you're likely to lay
him out. It (PTSD) doesn't go away, but you learn to cope."

The medical marijuana card allows the veteran to grow his own
marijuana at his home, some inside a closet and some outside. The law
allows six plants, three of them flowering at a time. His girlfriend,
suffering from Crohn's disease, also has a medical marijuana card, so
between the two of them, they have 12 plants.

He has made a science out of growing marijuana, mixing his own soil
and carefully monitoring the light cycle, fertilizer, amount of water,
ventilation, temperature, humidity and growth rate. Each new plant is
rooted from a branch off the largest, best plant from a previous crop.
Metal halide and fluorescent lights give off blue spectrum light that
is good for the vegetative cycle; red spectrum lights are used for the
flowering cycle.

The female plant provides the buds that will be smoked. He raises the
varieties of marijuana called White Rhino, Colorado Green, Sour Diesel
and Jack's Cleaner. Each affects the smoker in different ways, he
said. Plants usually are harvested when two-thirds of the trichomes,
small appendages that look like hairs, are amber. With this area's
short growing season, he will put a tarp over the outside plants to
induce fall conditions and beat the frost.

After harvest, the plant will be hung in a dark closet to cure for a
week because light breaks down the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the
psychoactive substance of marijuana.

Sounding just like any other plant enthusiast, the veteran said he
uses all organic products because he doesn't like synthetics.

"I use lady bugs to keep the aphids down, and I release lacewings
because they come out at night and clean the garden up," he said.

He estimates he spent about $1,200 getting the equipment and supplies
to start growing marijuana. He figures it would cost him $200 a month
to buy from a medical marijuana center.

He is allowed to possess 2 ounces of smokable marijuana at a time,
which is enough to last him four months, he said.

"Hemp is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world," he said.
"I have never smoked any weed that impairs my driving ability. I'd
rather see someone stoned and happy than some drunk guy with a gun.
There's less crime with marijuana than with alcohol."

Marijuana should be legalized, the veteran said.

"We should be able to have marijuana for general usage," he said.
"It's not right for the government to control it. It's not harmful to
society."