GIVE ME MY HEALING WEED, PLEADS LIVER DISEASE SUFFERER, 55

A PEMBROKE man battling serious liver disease has waited more than six
weeks to learn whether his US doctor's recommendation, that he be
given marijuana to ease suffering caused by prescribed medications,
will be supported under Bermuda law.

The man was informed that his liver was pre-cirrhotic and then
diagnosed with Hepatitis C, around 18 months ago. The diagnosis should
have come nearly ten years earlier, the man declared yesterday.

He said that blood he donated because his sister was ill was discarded
by King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) as unfit for use. Instead
of following protocol and informing the man's doctor or the Health
Department, the hospital allegedly did nothing.

Today, however, the man's sole pursuit is his doctor's pain
prescription necessitated by a regular diet of powerful medications
=AD an injection once a week and six doses of the chemical Ribavirin
every day in pill form.

"The side effects of Hepatitis C are extremely bad =AD nausea, loss of
appetite, mood swings, homicidal tendencies, suicidal tendencies =AD
so we're talking about some pretty powerful medications," he explained.

"I have to rotate the injections over my entire body because it takes
almost two weeks for the inflammation to reduce; I was told by the
doctor that six doses of Ribavirin would kill most people. It has
caused anaemia in me, one of the expected symptoms, but I'm treating
that with Procarin.

"I was doing really well. Most of the other patients look like
scarecrows and my doctor in Boston couldn't figure out why I wasn't
losing weight, why I responded so well to the treatment, why I wasn't
sick all the time, why I have never, ever thrown up one of my
medications =AD all of which are unheard of.

"The reason was because I was smoking marijuana. I can't eat unless I
have a joint first. If I don't smoke, the most I can get down is the
new dark chocolate Bounty bar but it certainly won't help to maintain
my health.

"But, the doctor told me that because of international ramifications,
he couldn't possibly write me a marijuana prescription because I would
have to carry it internationally which would make him a supplier."

A request made for a prescription to his local physician, Dr. Janice
Hetzel, did not prove any more helpful to the 55 year old.

"She said she could understand how the marijuana would help me in my
situation because it does take away all of my symptoms, but she didn't
feel comfortable prescribing it for me. That blew my socks off. I
thought a doctor's first thought was their patient's comfort or
discomfort, not their own.

"And I found Dr. Hetzel to be a doctor of some stature, in my opinion.
She seems very, very good at what she does. But I found out the reason
that she was uncomfortable is that by prescribing marijuana she opens
herself up to potential arrest."

Not content to sit and suffer, the man solicited a lawyer's advice and
then contacted Government's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Cann. "Dr.
Cann could just write me a medical prescription for marijuana if he
wanted to. But he told me he was hesitant, that he would need to write
to the Attorney General (Larry Mussenden) for clarification. That was
about six weeks ago. I assume that Dr. Cann and the Attorney General
=AD if they have indeed been communicating =AD are hoping that I'll
just go away quietly or die."

Subsequent calls to Dr. Cann brought a stream of similar responses,
the man said: " 'He's not here' or 'He's unavailable' or 'We're still
waiting for an answer from the Attorney General'.

"Dr. Hetzel is upset that she's been put in this position. I think
she's one of those great doctors. Not just good. Great. And why should
I be put in a position of being a criminal? I have a letter from the
doctor in Boston asking Dr. Hetzel if she could give me a prescription
for marijuana because he's sure it's helping. I've got Dr. Hetzel
saying it would help.

"And I've got Dr. Cann sitting on his can in Bermuda who doesn't care
whether I get help or not. I don't have time to walk softly."

Doubt over his present condition or suffering or his doctor's
credentials was not the cause for the delay, the man said. He has had
his blood examined at a local laboratory, at KEMH and at labs
overseas. And Dr. Michael Curry is a respected physician =AD a
director of Hepatology at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Centre and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

"It's not like he's a quack."

When contacted yesterday, Dr. Cann said he was aware of the man's
plight and indeed "empathised" with it, but he could not break the
law. He said the man had been offered medicinal marijuana =AD a
man-made product which includes an ingredient found in the drug known
to bring relief =AD but had found it to be an inadequate remedy for
his pain.

"He had a clear answer from the Health Department that I have no
authority to authorise him to use natural marijuana. I do have the
authority to authorise him to use marijuana that comes in the medical
form.

"I did offer to explore, further, to be absolutely certain whether
there could be legal authority for him to use marijuana in a natural
form.

And that process has not been completed. I would be able to issue a
certificate for the medical form, but he's already tried that and
feels that does not work for him.

"While I might empathise with him I still cannot step outside of the
legal bounds. I can't break the law to help someone else."

The Bermudian said he contracted Hepatitis C some time during the
1970s but wasn't diagnosed until he changed his family physician of 30
years a year-and-a-half ago.

"I was in New York City hanging out with the hippies. And we
experimented with a lot of things =AD sex, drugs and rock and roll =AD
and we did a thorough experiment.

"Anyway, I changed doctors and (Dr. Hetzel) noticed I had elevated
enzyme levels in my blood. I would think that, for most Bermudian
doctors, elevated enzyme levels wouldn't even set off a register.

"Apparently, we're some of the heaviest drinking people on the planet.
A tough admission but . . . it came back that my liver was
pre-cirrhotic and they told me I had to stop drinking." A further
series of tests discovered he'd been living with Hepatitis C for
30-odd years. It was then the man was recommended to Dr. Curry in
Boston whom he continues to see every six to eight weeks.

"I'm extremely lucky to be alive. If I hadn't changed doctors, if I
hadn't switched . . . I was fortunate enough to find a North American
to whom our blood levels didn't make sense. So she pursued. It took
her two annual visits before she finally put it all together and sent
me to a specialist in Bermuda, Dr. Suraia Barclay, who found out I had
Hepatitis C."

A local precedent for prescribing marijuana as a medicinal aid has
already been set. According to the man, a family friend suffering from
glaucoma during the 1960s and '70s received a prescription and was
given the drug in the form of pre-rolled cigarettes.

"That is before my time. I have no basis to confirm or deny that,"
said Dr. Cann. "While I might empathise with him I still cannot step
outside of the legal bounds. I can't break the law to help someone
else.

"I really don't wish to go into the details, but the process has not
been completed and that has been explained to him. He's asking me to
authorise him to use a substance which is illegal in this country. So
I have to be absolutely certain that there is a legal basis for that
to happen. In my knowledge there is none."

The man, however, insisted that a woman, Ina Cook, received a
prescription for marijuana to combat the effects of her glaucoma.

"I don't know if the law has changed," he said. "I don't know if it's
just some Attorney General's ruling that my doctor can be interfered
with. But I take really great umbrage at having some pencil pusher
here telling my doctor how to treat her patient.

"My doctor's an expert. I have no respect at all for the Attorney
General and I don't feel he should be interfering in my life. And the
fact that Dr. Cann sits around on his can waiting for something to
happen, makes me not have a lot of faith in the Health Department.

"Especially when you consider that, I think it was eight years ago, I
went to the hospital for a blood test and they threw away my blood.

The Bermuda Hospitals Board didn't inform my doctor. They didn't
inform the Health Department. They didn't inform anybody. That's
against the law.

"And because they didn't do their job and let me know I had a problem
with my liver, I drank probably 50 cases of rum over the years (that I
would not have, had I known)."