Pubdate: Sun, 8 Nov 2009
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
Page: A16
Copyright: 2009 Columbia Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.columbiatribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/91
Author: T. J. Greaney
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/NORML (NORML)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - United States)

NORML WARMS UP MEDICAL POT PROPOSAL

In a panel discussion yesterday in Ellis Auditorium, nine patients 
described a dizzying array of illnesses ranging from epilepsy to a 
rare joint disorder known as Larsen syndrome. Two sat in wheelchairs, 
and one young man told the audience he was there to speak on behalf 
of his father, who is bedridden with multiple sclerosis.

All panelists said they had found one drug that significantly calms 
the symptoms: marijuana.

The Missouri conference of the National Organization for the Reform 
of Marijuana Laws gathered yesterday at the University of Missouri, 
and advocates say they are gearing up for a renewed push to pass 
medical reform legislation in the state.

In a daylong roster of speakers, none was more powerful than the 
sufferers of chronic illnesses who say smoking marijuana calms their 
nerves, decreases nausea and eases pain. And, they say, they're tired 
of being treated like criminals for using it.

"It's a real human tragedy to find a safer alternative" to 
pharmaceuticals "and then to be hit so hard by a legal system that 
doesn't understand," said a Columbia resident and marijuana user who 
was charged with a felony in South Dakota for growing cannabis. The 
man, who asked not to be named, said he smokes to treat pain 
associated with a urological condition.

Brian Chitwood of Farmington said that when he was being treated for 
Hodgkin's lymphoma he was given chemotherapy drugs that left him with 
a nonstop feeling of nausea. He found that smoking a joint could 
restore his equilibrium.

There were other cancer patients that asked me, 'How come you go out 
back and you come back smiling?' " Chitwood said. "So I took two of 
them out back, and they came back smiling, too."

In 2004, Columbia became the first municipality in the state to allow 
patients with a doctor's written permission to possess less than 35 
grams of marijuana. At the conference, one patient proudly displayed 
her written doctor's recommendation, and others discussed creating a 
database for the public of sympathetic Columbia physicians.

But advocates said Columbia laws don't go far enough, that they put 
medical users in a bind by stipulating that they cannot legally grow 
their own crop and forcing them onto the streets to enter into a 
criminal transaction to make a purchase.

Over the past year, Columbia has had two murders associated with 
robberies during marijuana transactions.

"I can't buy it. I wish I could grow it on my porch, and then I would 
know exactly what I was getting," said Christy Welliver, an MS 
sufferer who has a medical recommendation from a Columbia physician 
to use marijuana to prevent muscle spasms. "But I can't do that, so I 
do have to rely on people giving it to me because I won't break the law."

A House bill introduced during the last legislative session in 
Jefferson City would have legalized medical marijuana for a long list 
of afflictions such as MS, cancer, fibromyalgia and AIDS. NORML 
advocates plan to urge the bill's sponsor, Rep. Kate Meiners of 
Kansas City, to file it again in the upcoming session.

But Paul Armentano, the deputy director of the national NORML 
organization, urged advocates to push for a bill that gives doctors 
the widest possible latitude in prescribing cannabis. As a cautionary 
example, he cited the medical marijuana law in Vermont, where strict 
qualifications have limited marijuana treatment to only 35 people.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake