Pubdate: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 Source: Burlington Times-News (NC) Copyright: 2009 Freedom Communications, Inc. Contact: http://www.thetimesnews.com/sections/contactus/letter.php Website: http://www.thetimesnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1822 WAITING TO INHALE Local Lawmakers Have Mixed Views About Medical Marijuana Prescription painkillers made her retch. Muscle relaxants ravaged her liver. So Jean Marlowe put down her pills and rolled a joint. "I tried marijuana, and in five minutes, my stomach stopped shaking for the first time in five years," said Marlowe, who has used marijuana as medicine since a doctor recommended the drug in 1990. "It really does work." The founder and executive director of the North Carolina Cannabis Patients' Network, Marlowe is asking state lawmakers to pass a bill legalizing medical marijuana use. The bill is currently in the House of Representatives' Health Committee, and two of Gaston County's three House delegates who serve on the committee have indicated they would likely vote against it. House Bill 1380, the N.C. Medical Marijuana Act, would allow patients access to medical-grade cannabis with a signed statement from a physician. Growers and dispensaries would be licensed and regulated by the state Department of Health and Human Services. "All of these people who have been kindly, caringly, lovingly sticking their necks out to grow a little bit of high-quality medication for patients could actually come forward and get a license and be legal," Marlowe said. North Carolina would become the 15th state to legalize medical marijuana and would see estimated annual tax revenues of $60 million within four years of the bill's passage. Local support? While newly appointed state Republican state Rep. Dan Ingle is against the proposal, his two Democratic colleagues would like more information on the issue. "I would like to see considerable more discussion in our county first. I'm a strong advocate for good quality pain management," said Rep. Alice Bordsen. State Sen. Tony Foriest said he would try and view the issue objectively. "I'm for looking at the possible benefits of whether we should proceed or not," Foriest said. "Quite frankly, I don't know. I don't have a closed mind to things I don't understand." Ingle, a former county commissioner with a career in law enforcement, is strongly opposed. "I'm going to vote no. I've always felt like marijuana was a gateway drug," he said "It's a strong weed. It contains THC. I don't think it should be used for medical purposes." Bordsen added that while it's not "our priority issue at this time" ultimately "if we can have truely a restricted and legitimate access for those who need it, I would support it." For some lawmakers a vote yes would depend upon whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves marijuana for medical use. That appears unlikely. Marijuana faces a political minefield in the fight for federal recognition. The FDA discounted its potential medical application in a 2006 review, contradicting a 1999 study from the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine that found it "moderately well suited" for treating certain conditions. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration calls marijuana the nation's most abused illicit drug and classifies it as a Schedule I Marijuana as medicine Marijuana is "moderately well-suited for particular conditions" including nausea and vomiting from cancer patients' chemotherapy and the rapid loss of body weight known as "wasting" in AIDS patients, according to the 1999 Institute of Medicine study, "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base." Long lists of side effects accompany many prescription drugs, and overdosing can be fatal. Advocates say by comparison, cannabis offers a safe alternative to pharmaceuticals. "There are no side effects that are harmful," Marlowe said. "There has been over 5,000 years of documented medical use of cannabis, and not a single death has ever occurred." Marlowe said a user would have to smoke 1,500 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes a physical impossibility to ingest a toxic dose. "There is no such thing as a lethal dose," she said. Muscle relaxants can weaken patients by gnawing away at their muscle tissue, Marlowe said, but cannabis allows them to maintain their strength. "Almost every one of the muscle relaxers helps with muscle spasms, but they also atrophy the muscle over a period of time," she said. "One unique property of cannabis is it can stop smooth muscle spasms while maintaining the muscle mass." Marijuana increases users' heart rates and may decrease blood pressure, according to a 2001 American Medical Association report. It can impair short-term memory, motor skills, reaction time and information processing skills. Chronic users can experience withdrawal symptoms, but doctors conclude that cannabis is less addictive than alcohol and tobacco products. "Although some marijuana users develop dependence, they appear to be less likely to do so than users of alcohol and nicotine, and the abstinence syndrome is less severe," the AMA states in Report Six of the Council on Scientific Affairs. In the 2001 report, AMA doctors encouraged researchers to develop a smoke-free inhaled delivery system for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary psychoactive substance in marijuana. "Like tobacco, chronic marijuana smoking is associated with lung damage, increased symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and possibly increased risk of lung cancer," the report states. Marlowe refutes the belief that marijuana is a gateway drug that leads users to try more harmful substances. She points to members of the N.C. Cannabis Patients' Network who were formerly prescribed heavy-duty painkillers. "Not only have none of them gone to hard drugs, they've all come off of narcotics," she said. "Marijuana is not a gateway drug. The most recognizable, easiest gateway drug that most people run into is tobacco." A continuing crusade An institute in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park processes and distributes medical marijuana to select participants in a nationwide federal study, according to the text of HB 1380. Meanwhile, the 386 patients of the N.C. Cannabis Patients' Network cannot legally obtain the drug themselves. "Our oldest patient is an 86-year-old World War II veteran who suffered nerve damage to his feet from the heavy packs he carried during the war," Marlowe said. "Now he's suffering, and he has to be considered a criminal." Marlowe, too, has been considered a criminal for her medical use of marijuana. The Mill Spring resident said she uses the drug to treat her numerous medical conditions, including muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis and degenerative disc disease. She was arrested in 1998 when U.S. Customs agents intercepted a package of cannabis she ordered from a farm in Switzerland. A judge sentenced her to six months on house arrest and two years of probation, but Marlowe was soon convicted of a probation violation because of her continued marijuana use. She spent 10 months in a federal prison camp in West Virginia. "It's been a battle," she said. "I've been doing this for 17 years." HB 1380's future is uncertain. Health Committee members did not vote on the bill after a June 18 hearing, which included testimony from Marlowe and other NCCPN patients. The bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Earl Jones (D-Guilford), said he will seek a vote to move the bill out of committee without prejudice. The Health Committee would not vote on the bill's merits, but majority approval would allow it to proceed to the House Finance Committee. "It's just one step closer to a full debate on the floor, and that's what I really desire more than anything," Jones said. "Every time the public hears more about this, many myths are dispelled, and we see an increase in support." Jones also filed a companion bill, HB 1383, which proposes a referendum on medical marijuana. The mechanism for licensing growers and dispensaries is identical to the one proposed in HB 1380. "There are those who continue to feel some trepidation about it because it's a political liability," he said. "One option would be to allow the citizens of the state of North Carolina to vote on it." - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart