Pubdate: Mon, 21 Jun 2010
Source: Vail Daily (CO)
Copyright: 2010 Vail Daily
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wo3Ts7AI
Website: http://www.vaildaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3233
Author: Lauren Glendenning

EAGLE COUNTY PATIENTS DEFEND MEDICAL MARIJUANA

But Skeptics Question Regulation Of Medical Pot

EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado -- Kim Barbieri has multiple  sclerosis and
said the debilitating disease wore her  down for about a year until
she used marijuana as  medicine to help ease the pain.

She used to have prescriptions for all kinds of  pharmaceuticals that
brought on side effects and made  her feel like she had a hangover
after using them. She  felt like the pills were debilitating her
mentally and  physically, more so than the multiple sclerosis itself.

"I was getting sicker and sicker," Barbieri said. "I  didn't know what
to do or what to try."

Barbieri, who owns the New Hope Wellness Center in  Edwards, a medical
marijuana dispensary, said medical  marijuana changed her life. She's
trying to help others  who are sick, and she wants the skeptics out
there to  understand how the drug can and does help people, she  said.

"It's crazy what these pharmaceutical drugs are doing  to people," she
said. "(Medical marijuana) is so much  less debilitating to people
than anything. You can't  get addicted to it, and you don't go off
into some  other world."

Medicinal or recreational? There are local skeptics  like Edwards
resident Buddy Sims who disagree with  Barbieri, citing the drug as
nothing more than an  illegal recreational drug with no medicinal value.

Sims calls marijuana "a poisoned product that will  destroy our
community."

"Recreational marijuana is the same product as medical  marijuana,"
Sims said. "Both are poison and need to be  taken off the streets."

Dr. Larry Brooks, a Vail Valley Medical Center  Emergency Room doctor,
said marijuana should be treated  like alcohol.

"If they're going to have it, they need to regulate it,  tax it and
control it," Brooks said. "What you have now  are people giving out an
unregulated drug that has lots  of consequences."

Brooks isn't convinced that marijuana has medicinal  values, but he
said he's open-minded enough to try new  things in medicine. He's
skeptical of a medicine that  people have to smoke -- doctors warn
their patients  that cigarettes cause cancer, so why encourage a
so-called medicine that can also cause cancer.

Barbieri and many medicinal marijuana users choose to  eat the drug,
though. Many of the local marijuana  dispensaries sell baked goods
like cookies and candies  that have the marijuana baked inside.

Brooks said if medical professionals want to give  medical marijuana a
test run, then regulation over how  it's grown, sold and used is the
only way to deal with  it.

"I don't think any of us should close our eyes to the  potential of
things," Brooks said. "But if you just  open the doors and let
anything happen, then you're  going to have problems."

Dr. Jack Eck, president of the Vail Valley Medical  Center Foundation,
said he thinks there are some  legitimate uses for medical marijuana
with cancer  patients, but he's skeptical about the number of
prescriptions being written for the drug.

"I'm concerned about the validity of some folks who set  up shop and
write prescriptions in five minutes," Eck  said. "It ought to be
prescribed through pharmacies  just like any other controlled substance."

The state of Colorado is trying to get more control  over the
dispensaries that have been opening for  business all over the state
in the last year. Gov. Bill  Ritter recently signed House Bill 1284,
which creates a  dual licensing system at the state and local level.

An owner of a dispensary now has to be licensed by both  the state and
local jurisdiction. If a local  jurisdiction decides to ban the
businesses from  operating all together, the new law gives them that
authority.

The town of Vail has already indicated they will place  a ban on
dispensaries, while the town of Avon and Eagle  County have not yet
discussed the matter since Ritter  signed the new law earlier this
month. Both governments  are expected to bring it up soon.

Trying to stay in business Scott Ziegler, the Holistic  Health Care
Dispensary in Edwards, has Parkinson's  Disease and also eats
marijuana. It helps him sleep and  deal with the pain caused by his
disease, he said.

He's hoping the county will choose to allow  dispensaries to remain
open because he said the  businesses are helping people.

He said one woman with terrible migraines just got a  bonus at work
for her performance -- the bonus came  after she began using medical
marijuana, he said.

Another patient with arm and shoulder pain from a  snowboarding
accident was sick from prescription pills  he was taking. He switched
to medical marijuana and  Ziegler said he is doing so much better now.

Ziegler said marijuana has done wonders for his battle  against
Parkinson's Disease. He used to take three  pharmaceutical medications
for it, and is now down to  one.

"When you can use something that came from mother earth  compared to a
product made by chemists in a laboratory  with 30 disclaimers about
the product, why wouldn't you  use what's natural?" Ziegler said.

Marijuana's effects allow Barbieri to get some sleep at  night because
it's the only drug that controls her  muscle spasms, she said.

"It's like a Godsend to me," Barbieri said. "To me,  this is what has
made my life worth living again."

Barbieri said she's a business-owner, so she's  obviously trying to
make a living at selling medical  marijuana, but her motivation to go
into the business  was to help people.

"I know what these pills do to people," Barbieri said.  "This is
something that can actually help people --  this isn't just a get-high
drug."

Barbieri said she's seen evidence of marijuana helping  people with
everything from anxiety to migraines to  after-surgery pain to acid
reflux. She wants the  skeptics in the medical field to give it a shot.

"We're trying to do something different," Barbieri
said.

Brooks said the regulations out there are just not  enough to be able
to take the drug's alleged medicinal  use seriously. He thinks doctors
who have been freely  writing prescriptions for marijuana should have
their  medical licenses pulled.

"I don't mind trying some things, but let's not make a  joke out of
medicine," Brooks said. "I've worked hard  to have a good career and
to try to keep drugs out of  our county, and I think that's where we
ought to be  with this," Brooks said.

Eck agrees that there seem to be a few doctors writing  the majority
of prescriptions for marijuana, and there  needs to be some control
over that.

"I think there can be a medical use for (marijuana),  but I think it's
being abused," Eck said.

The new state law only addresses how dispensary owners  are licensed
and regulated, though -- regulations don't  address doctors or
prescriptions. 
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