MEDICAL MARIJUANA 'BELIEVER' HELPS OTHERS

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- "Brother Bob" Walker wanted to spare others the
frustrations he says he endured in obtaining a license to use
marijuana to soothe his back pain.

Soon after medical marijuana became legal in Oregon, Walker started
looking for a doctor who would help him use cannabis to relieve pain
from a 1983 fall that broke his spine. None of the local doctors would
help him.

"I spent five months and $700 trying to get a card," he said. The
hassle prompted him to found a nonprofit organization to help others
get state licenses that allow people with certain medical conditions
to legally grow and smoke marijuana.

Southern Oregon Medical Marijuana Network hosts seminars on cannabis
and has launched a Web site to promote medicinal uses for the drug.

"I totally believe in what I do," he said, noting that he's helped
more than 250 people obtain cannabis cards.

Recently, he rented a meeting room at a motel and brought in Dr.
Phillip Leveque, the Molalla osteopath who approved nearly 1,700 of
Oregon's first 3,500 medical-marijuana cards.

Oregon's experiment with medical marijuana will mark its fourth
birthday this month. Currently, about 4,700 people hold state cards
that allow them to grow cannabis plants and keep small quantities of
marijuana to treat conditions such as cancer, glaucoma and multiple
sclerosis or to relieve chronic pain, nausea or seizures.

With a state population of about 3.5 million, that works out to one
card for every 750 people.

But the experiment is up for changes: Last week, the Oregon House
approved restrictions on the medical-marijuana program. The bill,
which moved on to the Senate, would require patients to inform the
state program about their growing sites -- information that can be
furnished to authorized police agencies.

At the recent clinic in Grants Pass, men and women came from as far as
Bend, Brookings and Klamath Falls to fill out their paperwork and be
examined by Leveque, who was censured by the state Board of Medical
Examiners last year for signing applications for patients he never
saw. Leveque now travels the state to see patients seeking
medical-marijuana cards.

Tony Honeycutt of Brookings said he had used marijuana for years to
manage his pain before obtaining a card last year. The 55-year-old
Vietnam veteran said he decided to get a card because he wanted to
stop feeling like he was breaking the law.

"I don't feel so guilty about what I'm doing now," said Honeycutt, who
uses cannabis for relief from stomach problems, an overactive bowel
and a gastrointestinal reflux condition.

Others said they were tired of the side effects of prescription
painkillers and over-the-counter drugs and wanted to try something
different.

"I do ibuprofens by the dozens," said a 42-year-old Klamath Falls
contractor who asked to be identified only as Dan. "I have wires and
screws all over me," from motorcycle accidents, he said, "an
artificial hip and arthritis in every joint in my body."

Dan said he uses marijuana mostly to relax at the end of a day and get
a good night's sleep.

On the Web

Southern Oregon Medical Marijuana Network:
www.somm-net.org