Pubdate: Tue, 29 Apr 2003
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2003 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MAN FOUNDS MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROUP GRANTS PASS

"Brother Bob" Walker has organized a clinic 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 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 
launched a Web site to promote medicinal uses for the drug.

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

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

Oregon's experiment with medical marijuana will mark its fourth birthday in 
May. As of last week, about 4,700 people held 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 680 people.

Southern Oregon has more than its proportionate share of medical cannabis 
users. In Josephine County, 407 marijuana cards were valid in mid-April, 
said Mary Leverette, director of the medical marijuana program.

That's about one for every 185 people among the county's 75,000 residents.

At Sunday's clinic, men and women came from as far as Bend, Brookings and 
Klamath Falls to fill out their paperwork and be examined by Leveque.

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 pain 
killers and over-the-counter drugs and wanted to try something different.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager