CAN I GET A (MEDICINAL) HIT?

Last year, seriously ill Canadians gained their independence from
oppressive marijuana policy when Canada became the first nation to legalize
marijuana for medicinal purposes.

This year, seriously ill Marylanders are fighting for the same freedoms
already granted to Canadians and Americans in the eight states with medical
marijuana legislation (Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada,
Oregon and Washington). The first battle took place Feb. 7, when the
Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act was introduced in the Annapolis
legislature with 53 co-sponsors.

Scientific evidence makes a compelling argument for medical marijuana's
safety and efficacy.

The National Academy of Sciences recognizes marijuana as an appropriate
treatment for the side effects of chemotherapy, AIDS, operations, chronic
pain and spinal cord injuries.

The Physicians' Desk Reference: For Herbal Medicines (medicine's drug
bible), states, "No health hazard or side effects are known in conjunction
with the proper administration of designated therapeutic dosages."

But sometimes scientific journals and medical books don't tell the whole
story. I have personally been waging a lifelong battle with Crohn's
disease, a battle in which medical marijuana has proven to be a great ally.
Crohn's disease causes inflammation affecting the entire gastrointestinal
tract. During flare-ups, the symptoms can be paralyzing; over the past ten
years my life has been brought to a stop by sharp, debilitating stomach
pain, constant diarrhea (at its worst I spent entire days on the toilet
screaming in pain), blood in the stool and severe weight loss. Medicine has
made little progress in the search for a cure and doesn't even fully
understand the cause of the illness (it is believed to be an auto-immune
disease, so the body's own defenses may be to blame). The most popular way
to control Crohn's is with Prednisone, a multi-purpose steroid drug that,
along with reducing inflammation, can cause psychosis, stunted growth, high
blood pressure, weak bones and glaucoma.

The manufacturer of Prednisone recommends it be used in short spurts to
minimize side effects, but during my adolescence I was kept on high doses
of the drug for prolonged periods of time. Prednisone couldn't control my
illness, and even worse it went to work on my body and mind, stunting my
growth, causing mood shifts and water retention, and putting me at risk for
osteoporosis. I tried all the treatments available, even attempting an
"elemental diet:" breakfast, lunch and dinner served through a tube that
ran up my nose and down to my stomach.

This failed too, and I had to be home-schooled through high school,
spending my days lying in bed clutching my stomach in agony, hoping the
constant diarrhea would stop.

A writing career led me to California, where I discovered a medical
marijuana regimen of smoking before and after meals made the symptoms of my
Crohn's disease disappear.

Under California's Proposition 215, I had the legal right to use a medicine
that proved far more effective than anything my doctors had tried.

But here in Maryland I cannot use my medicine without fear of arrest and
jail. The alternative is Marinol, a legal prescription medicine that
contains a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active
ingredient in natural marijuana.

Marinol has several disadvantages: 1) It takes much longer to work,
especially after meals when I need relief the most; 2) It is difficult to
have the right amount.

I either end up being too stoned to function or not medicated enough; and
3) THC is not the only active compound in marijuana, and research shows the
anti-inflammatory effect of marijuana is likely a result not of THC, but of
cannabidiol, a separate chemical not contained in Marinol.

So what is it about Marinol that makes it a safe drug, while smoked
marijuana remains a dangerous substance of no medical use? Nothing, and
that is why it is crucial that the Darrell Putman Compassionate Act become
law. Marylanders such as myself who battle chronic health problems should
be able to use the medicine that works best, has relatively few side
effects and provides the best quality of life.