Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2012
Source: Daily Athenaeum, The (U of WV Edu)
Copyright: 2012 The Daily Athenaeum
Contact:  http://www.thedaonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/763
Author: Kamala Gopalakrishnan

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA OFFERS 'MEDICAL ALTERNATIVE'

Sarah tied her honey-blonde hair into a disheveled bun. She caught the
blue and tan swirled glass pipe in her fragile hands and sharply, yet
smoothly inhaled the smoke, as if it were instinct. Her face slightly
ballooned; she held in the smoke for about five seconds and then let
it out with a soft hiss. She let out a sigh, and then loosened the
grip on the back of her neck  the pain was leaving.

Sarah is one of approximately 136,000 marijuana users in West
Virginia, according to a 2009 report by DrugScience.org. Of the
sampled population, 81,000 reported marijuana use in the past month.

However, Sarah's use of marijuana stands out for some reasons. She
uses it to reduce pain from the numerous spinal cord injuries on her
upper back and calcium deposits throughout her body. She also lights
up to counteract the harsh side effects of her traditional medication.
Her fiance and sister Rita are the only ones cognizant of her habit.

Meanwhile, citizens of three states  Colorado, Oregon and Washington are 
set to vote this November on one of the most controversial issues
currently in American politics: the legalization of marijuana.

If residents of the states voted in favor of the initiatives, they
could eventually purchase marijuana (if older than the age of 21)
without any medical stipulations. Marijuana would be treated as
another commodity, taxed and regulated much like tobacco.

"It's really important that the pending bills pass, because it would
demonstrate a big step in American progressive thinking," said
Berkeley Byers, President of West Virginia University's Students for a
Sensible Drug Policy organization. "It's not without problems, though."

Byers said he believes the biggest issue with the legalization
initiative is the initial outcry by more conservative and religious
groups who are opposed to marijuana legalization and the ambiguity of
how to effectively tax the herb.

Sarah and her fiance alternately passed the swirled pipe on the back
porch that over-looked a pond surrounded by maple, oak and poplar trees.

They bought the secluded tan-and-brown house in late July, and she
said she couldn't have been more proud.

Sarah, a 34-year-old senior professor at a local cosmetology school,
teaches courses based on the chemistry related to hair coloring,
business administration and customer service.

On occasion, she takes up an offer from a client for a haircut in her
home, but because the calcium deposit in her right hand has
increasingly limited the movement of her thumb, the job becomes more
difficult each time.

Rita is a sociology student at West Virginia University; she uses
marijuana recreationally, but also strongly advocates for its
legalization so medical patients could opt to "use a natural plant
instead of addictive painkillers."

Among the Sociology department in Knapp Hall lies Dr. James Nolan's
office, sandwiched between a classroom and a conference room, his door
plastered with various "End the Drug War Now" stickers and "Dilbert"
cartoon strips.

Nolan is a former police officer-turned-professor, regularly speaks at
Students for a Sensible Drug Policy meetings and is an active member
of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

"I don't even like using the phrase 'law enforcement' anymore," Nolan
said. "There are too many people, especially African Americans, who
are imprisoned simply for possessing marijuana, either in their homes
or outside."

According to the same DrugScience.org report, 2,992 arrests were made
for marijuana offenses in West Virginia in 2007, an arrest rate of 165
per 100,000, and ranks West Virginia at number 45 in the nation.

"I first realized that something was wrong with the drug war when I
was assigned to do a sting operation in the late '80s in my hometown
in Delaware," Nolan said.

"I pretended that I was a drug user in search of a
dealer.

I found one soon enough in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood he 
was an African American male, and we had become friends. He said
that he sold drugs because this was the only way he could reliably
have an income.

"After I 'bought' a few grams of cocaine several times, it was time
for the squad to bust the operation and arrest both of us so that the
dealer would have no suspicion of being involved in a sting. The plan
was to give them a sign so that they could come out, but they didn't
receive it.

Finally, I had to do one of the most painful things in my life  I
revealed myself as a police officer to this man and made an arrest.
Later, he told me he was extremely hurt that I betrayed him and that
he considered me one of his closest friends.

It makes you wonder who the bad guys really are in this situation,
huh?"

Sarah spends more than $50 on marijuana every month, compared to $250
dollars on generic medication for her conditions.

"If I got the medications I really wanted, the price would shoot up 10
times that," she said.

"Marijuana is so readily available and relatively cheap that sometimes
it's all I can afford."

Because of her marital status, she does not enjoy full health
insurance benefits and lived without health insurance for many years
because of its cost.

"In the end, it was either getting the house or getting myself
top-shelf medicine."

Sarah uses the word 'stretching' in place of marijuana because she did
not want her 10-year-old daughter, Zoe, to know she was referring to
the drug.

She said she wants to wait until her daughter is a teenager so she can
maturely discuss her marijuana usage with Zoe.

"She came home from school one day asking why I do drugs," the woman
said. "I tensed up and asked her what she meant, and turned out she
was only talking about alcohol and cigarettes. Since then, I've made
an effort never to drink or even smoke cigarettes around her. I don't
want her image of me as a mother to tear down because other people in
school have instilled that drugs are always bad, instead of showing
students that there are exceptions to the rule."

Byers said he agrees with the woman's stance on drug education. He
said students should be involved in an open, honest discussion about
drugs and their possible benefits rather than creating negative
stereotypes of marijuana users.

Sarah takes four prescription medications: Gabapentin, 300 mg;
Citalopram, 20 mg; Endocet, 10 mg; and Meloxicam, 7.5 mg.

Along with her current prescription, she takes numerous supplements
such as Vitamin B-12 and Vitamin E in order to further counteract the
negative side effects of modern medicine.

Sarah usually smokes marijuana in the family bathroom at approximately
6:30 a.m. before she wakes Zoe for school and again in the evening
before going to bed as a sleep aid, so she "doesn't feel like a zombie."

"In many ways Zoe is the reason I stayed away from pain management
therapy, as I knew that if I made that choice, I would become
dependent on the strong painkillers," she said. "It would take away my
ability to be a good mother to her, and my whole life is based on her.
She helped me through all the pain."

With that, she flicked the burnt remains of the marijuana leaves from
the glass pipe into the yard below, stood up in one strong motion, and
she smiled for the first time that day.

In the interest of full disclosure, some names have been changed to
protect privacy.
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