PAIN RELIEF

Two Durangoans Advocate Use Of Plant To Treat Physical Ailments

Durango prides itself on being a "green" city, but two local men think
it could be greener.

Aamann Degarth and Eric Gay are spearheading an effort to open a local
chapter of the Portland, Ore.-based The Hemp and Cannabis - or THC -
Foundation, which advocates the use of medicinal marijuana in the 13
states that have legalized the practice.

In November 2000, Colorado voters approved Amendment 20 to the state
constitution, legalizing the use of marijuana to treat certain medical
conditions, including AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, hepatitis, chronic pain
and spastic disorders. But nearly seven years later, Degarth believes
the controversial treatment remains a marginalized option in the
medical community.

"There's no support system if you want to get medical marijuana and
you go to a doctor," Degarth said. "It's a Catch-22 - they passed the
law but good luck getting a doctor to prescribe it for you."

Degarth, 53, said he has been diagnosed with arthritis and chronic
pain, but had to travel to Denver to find a physician who would
prescribe marijuana for his condition. He now holds a license to
possess marijuana from the Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment.

Degarth says that many physicians refuse to prescribe marijuana for a
number of reasons, but primarily because of what he calls an improper
and lucrative relationship between the Amer-ican Medical Association
and large pharmaceutical companies.

"It threatens their customer base, and money always talks, but it's
not in the best interest of their patients," Degarth said. "They're
not practicing the Hippocratic oath; they're practicing the
'hypocritic' oath."

Durango doctor doesn't prescribe

Durango ophthalmologist John Parkinson disputes Degarth's claim, and
said his reasons for not prescribing marijuana are purely medical in
nature. He treats hundreds of glaucoma patients, and said there are a
number of topical eye drops and other medications that relieve
pressure on the optic nerve, which is the cause of the eye disease.

"It is true that marijuana lowers intraocular pressure," Parkinson
said. "The problem is, the side effects of the drug - being stoned -
and the carcinogenic side effects make it unsuitable for long-term
treatment of glaucoma in people who are looking at a normal life
expectancy. Alcohol also lowers eye pressure, so it would be the same
as prescribing alcohol to treat glaucoma and developing
alcoholism."

Calls to several Durango oncologists, orthopedists and family
practitioners by the Herald were not returned for this article, but
Parkinson said he might feel differently about the issue if he treated
more than ocular complaints.

"It drives me nuts when people come in and they want me to prescribe
marijuana for glaucoma," Parkinson said, "but they ain't gonna get it
from me. Now, if I was a cancer doctor and these people were dying,
I'd figure, what have they got to lose, they're not going to get
cancer and die, they've already got it."

Colorado allows for medical use

Gay, 22, whose condition is not terminal, suffers from severe migraine
headaches and is allergic to many painkillers including ibuprofen,
acetaminophen and aspirin. Gay said he was denied a prescription for
medical marijuana by three different physicians at the now-defunct
Valley Wide Health Systems clinic in Durango and is filing lawsuits
against all three. Like Degarth, Gay had to obtain a prescription from
a Denver physician before the state would issue a permit to use or
grow marijuana.

"I have not found anything that relieves my pain as effectively as
cannabis," Gay said. "They (local doctors) gave me narcotics, which
made me sick, and I don't want narcotics anyway because they're
incredibly addictive. But this is about more than my case or any one
situation. My main thing is to educate as many Colorado patients as
possible so they know their rights."

Gay grows his marijuana in his Durango home and also supplies several
other patients. The state permit allows a grower to supply legal
patients with marijuana, but legality is a two-step process. A
prescription from a physician without the state permit isn't enough to
allow a grower such as Gay to provide marijuana to a patient or for
the patient to use it.

Amendment 20 allows diagnosed patients to grow their own supply of
marijuana or to designate a supplier who may only maintain enough
supply for legally registered patients. The state law does not punish
a patient for purchasing marijuana illegally on the black market, but
the seller is criminally liable as he or she would be in any other
drug distribution case.

The Wheat Ridge clinic

The THC Foundation operates clinics in Oregon, Hawaii, Washington and
the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge. Each clinic is typically open for
only a few days each month.

Executive Director Paul Stanford said patients must have a physician's
documentation of a pre-existing and valid condition, fill out an
extensive questionnaire, watch a video and receive a physical
examination from an on-site doctor and nurse before the prescription
recommendation is forwarded to the state authorities, who then issue
the legal permit to grow or purchase marijuana.

Stanford said the Wheat Ridge clinic opened last June serving about
700 patients and now serves double that amount, and he expects the
number to top 3,000 patients by year's end. He said between 60 percent
and 70 percent of all patients who apply suffer from some form of
chronic pain, and most are seeking the same alternative as Gay.

"They want off of the stuff like Oxycontin, morphine and those heavy
drugs," Stanford said. "Cannabis is less debilitating, and it allows
for a better quality of life."

State vs. federal law

District Attorney Craig Westberg said the efforts of Degarth and Gay
will not draw the attention of local law enforcement in Durango or La
Plata County, but cautioned the pair to proceed with care.

"As long as they adhere to the state laws, we have no reason to get
involved at all. What the federal authorities do is another matter,
but that's their matter," Westberg said.

The district attorney's words may prove prophetic, because regardless
of what Colorado voters and legislators approved in 2000, the federal
government does not recognize a state law that conflicts with federal
law.

"The DEA's view on marijuana is, federally speaking, there is no such
thing as medical marijuana, so if one opens a clinic like this
anywhere in America, that clinic would be in violation of federal law,
and anyone involved would be subject to federal prosecution," said
Special Agent Mike Turner, the public-information officer for the Drug
Enforcement Agency in the four-state Rocky Mountain Region.

Turner said the DEA's job is to seize contraband when its agents see
it, although it is rare for federal agencies to be involved in cases
of personal possession.

Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver,
confirmed that federal prosecutors' chief concern is with large-scale
drug distribution organizations, but that doesn't mean his office
would turn a blind eye to any illegal possession, regardless of
documentation.

"Since the law passed, a handful of times during the course of an
investigation we've come into contact with someone who had a medical
marijuana card," Dorschner said. "Without exception, the marijuana is
seized and destroyed as contraband, but whether we take it the next
step and prosecute is on a case-by-case basis. We don't have the
resources to put every case through the court system, but at the same
time that doesn't mean we won't ever do it either."

Stanford said the THC Foundation has advocated on behalf of a handful
of marijuana growers in California who have been charged by federal
authorities for distribution of a controlled substance, and that the
U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled decisively on the issue.

He said Colorado is the only state that included the provision in its
constitution, which he said strengthens the case for those charged in
Colorado. Stanford said he will visit Durango in the coming weeks to
meet with Degarth and Gay and hopes to have a local clinic up and
running by August or September.