Pubdate: Tue, 27 Mar 2001
Source: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2001 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact:  http://www.sun-sentinel.com/services/letters_editor.htm
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Forum: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/interact1.htm
Author:Merle Augustin, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

BOCA POT-USE ACTIVIST TO ATTEND SUPREME COURT HEARING

A dozen times per day, Mizner Park stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld retrieves a 
clear, sealed plastic bag from his suit, pulls out a fat marijuana joint 
and openly lights up in his car or on the stair landing outside of his office.

No one has called the police yet and no one is going to.

That's because Rosenfeld, 48, is one of eight people in the country legally 
allowed to smoke pot -- supplied by the federal government under a program 
begun in 1982 -- for their medical conditions.

And now Rosenfeld, who has fought for the medical use of marijuana for 
decades, will be present Wednesday when the U.S. Supreme Court hears the 
petition of Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to supply the drug to 14 
other sick people in California.

A June verdict is expected.

Rosenfeld's hope is to give a face to a thorny issue that has sparked a 
nationwide debate, until the drug is legally distributed to patients who 
need it.

"I think it's important for me to be there," said Rosenfeld. "To put a face 
on the situation so that the people and government officials understand 
that this is an average individual getting spectacular results using this 
substance for 30 years that the people against us said shouldn't happen. It 
shouldn't be that way."

Rosenfeld suffers from Multiple Congenital Cartilogenous Exostosis, an 
illness causing the continuous growth of bone tumors and subsequent tears 
in the muscles. To dull the pain, his physicians have prescribed morphine 
since he was 10.

In 1971 as a freshman in college, Rosenfeld began smoking pot to fit in. 
Soon he realized smoking pot dulled his pain better than morphine.

Since then, Rosenfeld has battled for the legal use of the drug. But 
despite nine states passing laws allowing the medicinal use of marijuana, 
federal government agencies -- such as the Drug Enforcement Agency and the 
National Institute on Drug Abuse -- have balked at the idea.

In the crossfire is the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, which opened 
in 1996 to provide the medical distribution of marijuana. Although the 
cooperative had the support of local government officials, it struck out 
with the federal government.

For Jeff Jones, the executive director of the cooperative, having 
Rosenfeld's example is an asset.

"He proves our point that you can have medical necessity patients."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager