MEDICAL MARIJUANA CONNECTION GROWING IN CURRY COUNTY

When Bob Walker decided two-and-a-half years ago to organize a support
network for members of Oregon's medical marijuana program, he found doctors
he spoke to were unwilling to cooperate.

"I talked to absolutely every doctor in Curry County, including mine," said
Walker, who is popularly known as Brother Bob. "They all had the same
right-wing attitude, that marijuana didn't have any medicinal value."

That made it difficult to get patient records released so Walker could
verify they were eligible for the program, launched after voters approved
the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act in 1998.

But as a growing number of patients with debilitating illnesses asked their
doctors to let them try medicinal marijuana, physicians have become more
accepting and less skeptical.

"They just had to figure out that I was totally legal," said Walker, whose
Southern Oregon Medical Marijuana Network (SOMM-NET) is a registered
non-profit group.

Walker says he has just added 29 more patients to the network, which has
grown to about 230 permitted cardholders with illnesses ranging from
multiple sclerosis to juvenile arthritis.

"When a program like this first starts, you've got to get the numbers,"
said Walker. "People have been lied to for so long, they don't know what to
expect.

"Now they figure, Brother Bob's not going to go away."

The retired commercial fisherman regularly introduces patients to viewers
of his weekly half-hour cable TV program, which airs on Wednesdays at 8
p.m. on KBSC-TV (Charter Cable's channel 9).

A cardholder himself, the 62-year-old Walker is permitted to grow plants
for treatment of his heart disease - specifically, the paralysis and
seizures that come with it.

Walker's network is designed to guide a patient through the entire process
of getting a permit to grow medical marijuana, then helping them put it to use.

An applicant is faxed a form to authorize release of their medical records
to Walker, who checks them to see if the person has a qualifying
debilitating disease.

"Over two-and-a-half years I've gotten as good at reading records as any
doctor," said Walker. "It's common sense, anyone could do it."

After Walker has confirmed the nature of the person's illness, they are
referred to a clinic where a nurse practitioner gives them a physical
examination.

The results of the exam and other paperwork are recorded in triplicate -
copies are sent to the state, the person's doctor and one is kept by the
clinic - with the approved application and a $150 money order, the state's
fee for the permit.

Oregon's Department of Health, which operates the medical marijuana
program, doesn't refer applicants to medical doctors or osteopaths, the
only people who can legally approve a permit.

Thus SOMM-NET's applicants get their permits approved by Dr. Phillip
Leveque, the retired osteopath who has authorized most of the medical
marijuana applications in Oregon since 1998.

Dr. Leveque visited Curry County for a clinic last weekend. Walker, who
says he has had no problems with law enforcement, says the location of the
clinic's is nonetheless kept on a need-to-know basis to avoid harassment of
Leveque and others.

Once they are given a permit, the patient or their caregiver become
responsible for getting seeds and growing the plants - the state doesn't
offer any help with that.

Patients are allowed to grow up to seven plants, but only three can be
budding. They aren't allowed to have more than an ounce of smokeable
marijuana in their possession.

That's where the network again comes in handy, as patients give each other
advice on how to grow and harvest their own plants, or share extra
marijuana when they find themselves with more than allowed.

Nancie MacEachern, a cardholder who got her permit before Walker had
SOMM-NET organized, said she was on her own when she got her permit in 1999.

"I was just kind of lucky," said MacEachern, who uses marijuana to keep the
symptoms of her multiple sclerosis in check. "I put out the word I had a
permit, and I found two plants on my porch one morning."

MacEachern said her condition improved dramatically after she stopped
taking a myriad of prescription pills and followed her husband's advice to
look into medical marijuana.

"He's the one who clipped an ad out of a newspaper and said 'you should
really think about this,'" recalled MacEachern, whose doctor told her
recently he couldn't continue authorizing her permit for fear of losing his
Medicare eligibility.

"At 59 years old, I had never taken an illegal drug," said MacEachern.

"If I have to do it illegally now, I think that would be my right to live."