Pubdate: Sun, 31 May 2009
Source: News Tribune, The (Tacoma, WA)
Copyright: 2009 Tacoma News Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenewstribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/442
Author: Laura Kate Zaichkin
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA A CLOUDY ISSUE IN MID-COLUMBIA

After almost five years of constant pain and countless medications, 
Chet Biggerstaff was ready to give up.

Narcotics, muscle relaxants, a morphine pump and every other 
treatment the Richland man tried failed to blunt the extreme chronic 
pain he suffered from because of several car wrecks.

But in 2000, Biggerstaff stumbled upon an alternative treatment that 
was exactly what he'd been looking for -- medical marijuana.

"I rolled up a joint, first hit -- within the first 15 seconds -- the 
nausea, the spasms disappeared," said the 38-year-old. "None of the 
medicines they had me on touched it."

Now a medical marijuana advocate, he has a vision to make the drug 
more accessible to other Mid-Columbia patients. He wants to establish 
a collective to grow and distribute the drug, but the state's 
ambiguous medical marijuana law is clouding that vision.

Washington allows residents who suffer from a terminal or 
debilitating illness and have a written recommendation from their 
doctor to legally possess a 60-day supply of marijuana.

But advocates and patients say the law does nothing to remove 
barriers to getting safe, legal and consistent supplies of medical marijuana.

"Patients and caregivers are still caught in a Catch-22 situation 
which needs to change," state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, 
wrote in an e-mail to the Herald. Kohl-Welles sponsored the 2007 law 
that defined how much marijuana patients can possess and expanded the 
list of medical conditions that can be treated by medical marijuana.

But, as a state Department of Health report released last year found, 
Washington's lack of a clearly legal source for medical marijuana is 
a problem both for patients and law enforcement.

Police frustrated too

"We run into it more and more and more," said Richland Police Chief 
Tony Corsi. "It's very frustrating. The laws that we've passed now 
are very, very vague."

Though patients are allowed to have 15 marijuana plants and 24 ounces 
of pot, there's no legal way for them to get seeds, plants or 
ready-to-use marijuana.

"The only legally protected source is production, a term not defined 
in law but commonly understood to mean cultivating plants," said the 
July 2008 Department of Health report.

It added: "There is no legal source for seeds or seedlings, however, 
making it unclear just how patients are supposed to begin a garden. 
This means patients must break the law to participate."

Kennewick police Sgt. Trevor White, supervisor of the Metro Drug Task 
Force, said problems surrounding medical marijuana don't come across 
his desk often. But he said many challenges officers used to face 
were remedied when the state outlined a legal definition of a 60-day supply.

"They're either in compliance or they're not," he said. "A legitimate 
user of medical marijuana is not going to have any problems."

Biggerstaff said a big barrier for medical marijuana patients is that 
many are too sick to grow their own -- although state law addresses 
this by allowing a caregiver to grow marijuana for the patient. But 
many patients can't wait the months it takes to grow their own 
medication, which Biggerstaff said creates a need for an immediate 
source like a dispensary.

Patients who can get a doctor's recommendation for medical marijuana 
include those with chronic pain; cancer; epilepsy; acute or chronic 
glaucoma; hepatitis C with debilitating nausea or pain; diseases, 
including anorexia, which result in nausea, vomiting, wasting, 
appetite loss, cramping, seizures, muscle spasms or spasticity; 
Crohn's disease; HIV and multiple sclerosis.

Medical marijuana has been known to slow or stop the progression of 
some conditions, such as MS.

"Not allowing MS patients access is a form of manslaughter to me," 
said Paul Stanford, executive director of Portland-based The Hemp and 
Cannabis Foundation. The group organizes clinics to receive doctor 
recommendations for medical marijuana in 28 cities, including Kennewick.

Tri-City pot clinics

Stanford said up to 40 new patients each month attend the clinics at 
Kennewick's Wingate Inn to receive a doctor's recommendation. 
Patients must provide documentation of their condition to receive a 
recommendation.

"Most of the patients that we see have tried a wide variety of 
traditional treatments," Stanford said.

The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation clinic began in Kennewick a few 
years ago after the nonprofit saw patients were having difficulty 
getting recommendations from doctors, Stanford said. Few Mid-Columbia 
doctors treat medical marijuana patients, so some patients, like 
Biggerstaff, travel to the west side of the state to find treatment.

The clinics also provide patients resources to learn how to bake, 
vaporize or otherwise prepare the medication, as well as access to a 
password-protected forum.

Though Stanford said one of the main problems is actually getting 
access to marijuana, the nonprofit group has to avoid actually 
providing medical marijuana, seeds or plants for patients to produce their own.

The July 2008 state report said many patients told the Department of 
Health they get marijuana from drug dealers or underground 
dispensaries. Patients also sometimes share their supply with others in need.

"There are legitimate people who are in pain. So where do they go? 
They go to a street dealer," said Chief Corsi. "You're forcing them 
to do something illegal when that's not their intention."

The state report said group growing, dispensaries and government 
supply could increase patient access.

But it also said safety and diversion -- the potential for marijuana 
getting into the hands of those who aren't medical marijuana patients 
- -- could be a challenge for group operations. It said security 
procedures and government regulation could reduce the safety and 
diversion risks.

Sen. Kohl-Welles said access to safe, reliable sources of medical 
marijuana is critical. She said more needs to be done to provide 
that, and she plans to work with advocates and the Department of 
Health to come up with legislation next year that addresses these issues.

Kohl-Welles said some in the Legislature have discussed increasing 
government regulation by adopting a state registry as long as there 
is absolute assurance of privacy.

Dispensary envisioned

Locally, Biggerstaff wants to improve access for the hundreds of 
medical marijuana patients in the Tri-Cities by setting up a 
group-growing operation and a storefront dispensary in Richland.

But he said the keys to having a successful collective include 
transparency, public education and city support -- which he says so 
far hasn't come.

"There's absolutely no reason that the city shouldn't help with 
this," Biggerstaff said. "We're not going to open a storefront before 
we have the city on our side."

But Richland City Attorney Tom Lampson said Washington's law doesn't 
touch on the legality of group grows and dispensaries, so Richland 
cannot support Biggerstaff's vision unless the law is amended.

"I haven't seen anything that allows it," Lampson said. "If the law 
changed, certainly we would look at it again."

Stanford, of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, said, "It also doesn't 
prohibit it, so it's up to local authorities."

He said getting local government support "dramatically" helps medical 
marijuana patients. "I think it's needed. Patients need a safe, 
reliable source."

"I think it's the community's responsibility to regulate that and not 
force it underground," Stanford added.

Corsi said he hopes the Legislature better defines the law, but until 
then his department will continue to uphold the law as his department 
and the Benton County prosecutor interpret it.

"The laws need to be defined on these group things," Corsi said. "I 
really think if they're serious about it, they really need to go back 
to the Legislature."

Safety a big concern

Biggerstaff said safety is one of the main reasons he wants the city 
on board. Medical marijuana patients who grow their own high-quality 
plants are at risk for violence and burglary. Group grows and 
dispensaries also are at risk for crime, the state report said.

"I have some major concerns with everything," Corsi said. "You've got 
safety and security of the grow -- who's going to protect that? Who's 
going to rip them off?" He added he also worries about patients 
getting high and then driving.

If the collective could work with the city to get strong security 
measures in place, Biggerstaff said, the group grow could be secure, 
and city police would know it was a grow specifically for legal 
medical marijuana patient use.

"You've got hundreds of small grows going on and that doesn't make 
any sense," he said. "It makes perfect sense to put our plants together."

The state report also said large gardens could draw federal attention 
- -- marijuana use of any kind is not allowed by federal law -- 
although the current administration and recent Supreme Court rulings 
have backed state laws.

Biggerstaff said the Three Rivers Collective -- which he envisions as 
someday being a nonprofit run by a board of patients, law enforcement 
and health care providers -- has strict regulations, including a 
screening process to become a member.

"There really isn't any leeway on the rules. There is no bending 
them," he said.

There are about three dozen members or people in the process of 
becoming members of the collective, he said.

Biggerstaff said the collective provides medical marijuana patients 
with support and education. That includes helping set up grows, 
finding caregivers or donating excess medication to those too sick to 
produce it themselves.

The Three Rivers Collective meets at 2 p.m. Saturdays at Richland 
Community Center. More information can be found at 
www.meetup.com/Three- Rivers-Collective.

"It's all underground, it's just the top layer has been scraped off 
so you can see the top of it," Biggerstaff said. "The most important 
(goal) right now is access and education for our local area."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom