Pubdate: Thu, 17 Jul 2014
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2014 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: Mari Herreras

Reefer Research Madness

22 American veterans with PTSD are killing themselves every day. Why 
are Andy Biggs and Ann Weaver-Hart unwilling to find out if marijuana 
would help?

When UA President Ann Weaver Hart unveiled a new strategic plan last 
year to the Arizona Board of Regents, she and other administrators 
made it clear this was about transforming Tucson's land-grant 
university into a grant-producing super-research center of higher 
learning ready to grow economies and minds.

The strategic plan-titled "Never Settle"-was first communicated 
through a video that announced the plan's manifesto with images of 
desert, scientists and dreamers: "... We're a land-grant university 
that's transforming science fiction into scientific fact, rising from 
the sands of the Sonoran Desert ... For those who demand an 
unrelenting approach to teaching, research, and service, we say: NEVER SETTLE."

At the ABOR presentation, Hart reportedly explained, "We mean it when 
we say 'Never Settle.' It captures the spirit of the future that we 
believe is strong. ... Those who demand an unrelenting approach to 
teaching, research and service will love Never Settle, and that's our future."

However, to the only academic in the United States to receive federal 
approval to do cannabis research, as well as veterans who support her 
work, those words Never Settle ring hollow right now. Early this 
month, UA assistant professor Sue Sisley was terminated and told her 
contract, which expires September 26, would not be renewed.

The frenzy of media attention that followed hasn't exactly 
dissipated-making it difficult for the university to prove that 
everything in Never Settle land is fine.

Although Sisley's research on the use of marijuana to treat 
post-traumatic stress disorder on veterans hasn't begun, it's been 
declared groundbreaking, yet its been years for the Phoenix-based 
psychiatrist to get the necessary approvals and win needed support, 
including that at the UA. However, with most obstacles cleared and 
the April federal approval to test marijuana on veterans, it seemed 
like the doctor was getting closer to the work she intended to do.

Some media reports have declared that Sisley's latest challenge-her 
termination-surely must mean defeat. Talking from Atlanta, where 
she's taping several interviews at CNN, in particular with medical 
correspondent Sanjay Gupta, Sisley told the Tucson Weekly there's not 
sitting back, hand ringing or tears right now.

Instead, the doctors is focused on talking to as many people as she 
can about what's taken place, particularly the national media, such 
as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vice, The Daily Beast and 
others. No, she said, this is a fight for scientific freedom and 
veterans-a group of patients she's treated in her telemedicine 
practice for years.

"I'm talking because this is a giant blow to scientific freedom and 
every story and report helps us shine a national spotlight to this 
injustice," she said. "I've been fighting this battle for four years 
and suddenly something like this happens."

Sisley said the tragedy is that her dismissal isn't based on job 
performance, but political pressure from the state's conservative 
Senate President Andy Biggs. In early April, Sisley said she received 
a call from Skip Garcia, senior vice president for health sciences at 
the UA Arizona Health Sciences Center, who told her Biggs called Hart 
and demanded the doctor provide all records of her texts, emails and 
communications, accusing her of being engaged in what he considered 
inappropriate political activity.

Perhaps what put Sisley in front of Biggs' purview, prompting the 
state senator to call Hart's office with his demands, was when she 
and others worked to get the state Department of Health Services to 
place PTSD on the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana 
patients. It was approved by an administrative law judge last month, 
it was approved by an administrative law judge last month, and on 
Wednesday, July 9 Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will 
Humble authorized the use of marijuana for PTSD as long as patients 
are currently undergoing conventional treatment for a PTSD diagnosis.

Although Sisley's research wouldn't have used state general fund 
monies, early in the year Biggs did introduce an amendment to a 
budget bill that would have prohibited universities from using those 
general funds from going toward marijuana research. The amendment was 
a small footnote in the budget proposal, but once word got out, Biggs 
pulled it, saying he just didn't think state general funds should go 
toward marijuana.

Then there's GOP darling and state Senator Kimberly Yee, who blocked 
a bill Sisley supported that would have allowed the state Department 
of Health Services to allocate money to research from the medical 
marijuana patient processing fee fund surplus now at more than $9 
million. In response to Yee blocking the bill, a recall effort was 
started against the legislator.

What's obvious to Sisley and others is that the budget for all state 
universities is controlled by the state legislature and in Arizona, 
that's a right-wing legislature that hasn't exactly been friendly 
when it comes to medical marijuana or public education.

"Sometimes we've been lucky enough to have a president with the 
courage to defend research that is known to be adverse to certain 
legislators," she said. But not this time. This time, in a climate of 
recovery from the state's disastrous cuts to public education 
spending, it's easier to terminate someone rather than fight.

In the latest state budget rounds, the UA asked for more than $30 
million in additional funding-$11.8 million for performance funding, 
$8 million for a new veterinary school and $15 million for discovery 
and innovation. But only $5.5 million was allocated to the UA-$2 
million for research infrastructure and $3.5 million for the UA's 
Cooperative Extension. Attempts by the UA to recover from the 
economic recession that began six years ago and the deep state cuts 
to education that followed has failed, with state funding down close 
to 8 percent for the general education fund. Two-thirds of the 
university's general education funding came from the state and now 
it's less than one-third.

Funding and ideology may be responsible for Sisley's termination, but 
she said the fight now is about science and veterans. This isn't a 
strategy to promote marijuana legalization as conservative lawmakers 
want the public to believe, but about showing that this plant can 
offer valuable medicine-especially to our veterans suffering from 
PTSD who desperately need relief from the symptoms they experience 
once home-insomnia, anger, frustration, depression, difficulty being 
out in public, among others.

"The eyes of the world are on us now-not just Arizona. It's unreal. 
My inbox is so full of thousands of messages from scientists and 
veterans," she said.

"It is sad, but I have not lost my devotion to the UA. I'm an alum. I 
graduated from the med school there. But what's obvious is that the 
administration has created a culture of fear. This firing has had a 
chilling effect on research in general. No one is going to embark on 
highly controversial work. It could be a career-ending decision. But 
isn't that part of the reason we paid taxes-we always thought of a 
university as sanctuary for what is sometimes perceived as controversial work."

If Sisley broke any advocacy rules that led to her termination, no 
one is talking. We called Biggs for comment, but did not here from 
him or anyone from his office by press time. In response to a message 
and email we sent to the UA's Skip Garcia, George Humphrey, assistant 
vice president of the Arizona Health Sciences Center's office of 
public affairs, confirmed in an email that Garcia's office is unable 
to comment on why Sisley was terminated as it is a personnel matter.

"However, in regard to marijuana-related research, the University of 
Arizona is committed to ensuring the medical marijuana research gets 
done. We've been in contact with the Multidisciplinary Association 
for Psychedelic Studies, the organization that is sponsoring the 
study, and we are working with them to bring the clinical trial to 
fruition," Humphrey wrote.

"In regard to marijuana research in general: In 2013, the UA 
championed state legislation to ensure that Arizona universities 
could perform medical marijuana research on campus. (For your 
reference that was SB1443: Marijuana; postsecondary education; 
medical research. It was signed by the Governor on 5/07/13.)."

Humphrey added that to his knowledge the UA has not received 
political pressure to terminate any employee, or any research "we do, 
or who does it, as it has been suggested in some reports." Humphrey 
included a link to a Tucson Citizen story that included Paul Consroe, 
a now retired UA pharmacology professor, who was studying the effect 
of marijuana on muscle spasticity back in the 1990s.

Sisley said that's not true. She doesn't agree with how the UA is now 
trying to frame her termination. Every turn with the UA has been 
difficult at times. What Humphrey is referring to is when the UA told 
Sisley her research wasn't allowed on campus because of a state law 
that prohibited marijuana on university campuses passed in response 
to medical marijuana. She found herself in the position of explaining 
that because her research had federal approval it trumped state law. 
Nonetheless, in 2013 the school lobbied for legislation that made 
exceptions to the law for research purposes-the legislation was 
approved without much fanfare or controversy.

"Not much of a fight there," she said.

Perhaps Biggs thought Sisley was behind the recall effort against 
Yee. "Not me. Veterans were rampaging. They blamed her because she 
pretty much single handedly killed the bill. ... I was definitely not 
shy about calling her out, but I never lobbied and I wasn't involved 
in the recall."

Sisley was stripped of three positions she held at the UA, including 
her work at the Arizona Telemedicine Program at the UA medical school 
in Phoenix. She said she wasn't given a reason for the nonrenewal of 
her contract. "I was told that neither of my bosses wanted to fire 
me, that this came from up on high, which proves that this is pure 
political retaliation for daring to be front and center of the most 
controversial research at the UA and fearless in trying to overcome 
every barrier."

Sisley has 15 days to appeal, in which she is allowed to write an 
appeal to the same people who terminated her. "We are going to 
exhaust every administrative appeal that is available. They've taken 
all my work away and refused to give me a fair hearing. No due 
process," she said. "The legal team I have is planning to file an 
injunction against violation of my due process rights. They are 
examining breach of contract."

What helps Sisley through these next steps is also the continued 
backing of her research sponsor, the Multidisciplinary Association 
for Psychedelic Studies. The California nonprofit has even had to 
make that clear to the UA more than once since Sisley's termination 
went public.

According to Sisley, MAPS communicated to the UA that if the PTSD 
research was to stay at the UA the principal investigator needed to 
remain Sisley or the research would go elsewhere. However, that 
didn't stop the UA from trying to reframe what was taking place, at 
least according to emails shared with the Weekly.

On Friday, July 11, by email, MAPS executive director Rick Doblin 
responded to an email from Caroline M. Garcia, UA associate vice 
president for research, who thanked Doblin for his response, "I have 
shared your response with our senior leadership. We will move forward 
as we discussed yesterday to propose a new University of Arizona 
Principal Investigator for this research study."

Doblin wrote back: "I thought my prior response was clear, perhaps 
not. Dr. Sisley would make an ideal Principal Investigator. If Dr. 
Sisley's appeal to the University of Arizona to be reinstated is not 
successful, MAPS will not replace her as the PI but will move the 
study elsewhere. Your replacing Dr. Sisley may constitute a breach of 
our contract and we will be seeking advice of counsel regarding that issue."

MAPS and Sisley are will to wait the appeal and legal process 
out-after all she has until September and right now the last part of 
her research waiting game is really up to the National Institute on 
Drug Abuse-the federal organization responsible for the production of 
marijuana used for federal studies and research. Despite all those 
greenhouses out there supplying medical marijuana and legal marijuana 
for states like Colorado, it can't be used for Sisley's research. The 
marijuana has to be grown and provided by NIDA according to federal 
regulations. NIDA communicated to MAPS and Sisley that marijuana may 
not be available until after January 2015.

"Frustratingly, NIDA is by law required to have an adequate and 
uninterrupted supply of marijuana for research, which it has failed 
to do. As a result, we can't start for another half year until NIDA 
can provide the marijuana that it claimed in writing over three years 
ago (January 14, 2011) that it could make available for an approved 
protocol. While we are waiting on NIDA, there is time for Dr. 
Sisley's appeal process to run its course without delaying the start 
of our study," Doblin wrote to Garcia.

"We hope Dr. Sisley's appeal process resolves successfully with the 
reversal of her termination. Dr. Sisley has devoted a great deal of 
her time over many years to bring this project to this point of FDA, 
IRB and PHS/NIDA approval. If there is anything I can do to assist in 
the review of Dr. Sisley's appeal, please let me know."

Veterans-including those she worked with previously who inspired her 
when they came out of the shadows to explain how marijuana eased 
their PTSD symptoms-remain in her corner, too They helped organized 
her current legal team. "They are standing by me like the true 
warriors they are and they are going to make sure the UA does right thing."

According to her New Mexico-based attorney Jason Flores-Williams, the 
support is there because Sisley has been a tireless advocate for 
veterans and the research. "But for the efforts of my client, this 
grant and research would not even exist."

The support and backing feels great, but unlike other research 
academics at the UA who work in fear or worry about speaking out, 
Sisley said she's in a good place. She's not beholden to the UA for 
her living and maintains a private practice. And she hopes another 
Arizona university is willing to take in her research project-if 
that's what it comes down to.

"I have received numerous inquiries around the country ... but this 
is where my heart is and the veterans. There are 530,000 veterans 
living in Arizona and many have participated with me day by day in 
the work to help stop stone-walling this study. I won't turn my back 
on them if the UA refuses to do the right thing," she said.

But Sisley said she wonders if the UA realizes the problem at 
hand-veterans will not forget what's taken place. They won't forget 
that the UA was willing to sacrifice them to the state's right wing 
legislature. Those who return to the states and plan to attend school 
using their GI bill cash may consider going elsewhere now. "Veterans 
may vote with their feet."

Ricardo Pereyda, a Tucson native, veteran and steadfast Wildcat, said 
he grew up in the shadow of the UA on the south side of Tucson. He 
never thought a college education would be part of his future, which 
is why he joined the U.S. Army and served from 2003-2009 in the 
military police corp. He received an honorable discharge in 2009 and 
has used his GI bill to help pay for school at the UA where he first 
became aware of Sisley and her research.

"I was president of the Student Veterans of America chapter, and I 
was approached by some media about her proposed research," he said. 
"At that time I didn't feel comfortable coming out and saying 'Yes, I 
use cannabis,' because of my position at the university acting as the 
head of a chartered organization. I could only profess my support 
without the details."

However, Pereyda said he's in a good position now to put those 
details out there, after all he's only shy a few classes to finish 
his public management and policy degree with an emphasis on criminal 
justice. He walked last year and took a sabbatical to complete two 
fellowships with the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership and the 
other with Mission Continues. He hopes to do a master's degree in 
public health.

As a fellow with the leadership academy, he found out through Daniel 
Hernandez that Sisley had completed the academy, and that's when he 
decided it was time to reach out to her and let her know he would do 
anything to help her further her research. She needed veterans to 
publicly state they in fact used cannabis and that it helped.

There are two worlds when deployed in Iraq-when you are running 
missions and when you are "in the rears with your unit," he said. 
When he'd return from running missions that's when he realized 
something was wrong and what he's realize later were the first 
symptoms of PTSD.

"The last couple of months I was there I was terrified," he recalled. 
When first deployed there is a period of time of going from being a 
naive soldier to getting used to your surroundings and the situation 
on the ground. But as he got closer to the end of his own 
deployments, he'd hear stories of people getting killed their last 
day, their last hours.

"When we started running hazardous missions towards the end of my 
deployment I kept thinking 'My number is going to come up soon." Back 
with the unit, he found himself in what he described as a different 
space that made it difficult for him to follow the rules or respect 
the chain of command. "I had trouble respecting people who hadn't 
been down range who had to teach me about being down range."

While he probably wasn't alone in what he was experiencing, Pereyda 
said he sure felt alone. "You don't talk about it. When I started 
realizing I was having these issues, I didn't know what to do with it."

When he returned home it was his then-wife who pointed out the change 
in Pereyda. He said he was unable to get a good night sleep and feel 
comfortable in crowds. He had to identify safe places.

"I didn't want chain of command in Iraq to know because I knew I'd 
get flagged and then be fully stigmatized as being a shit bag," he 
said. Once stateside he worked to get it addressed and what he 
worried would happen in Iraq, happened at home.

"I went to find answers-why is this happening? Why am I having 
difficulty showing up to work, difficulty controlling my emotions and 
shit and what can I do to address the situation so I can perform my 
job and continue being essential personal," he said.

"When I related this to the counselor, I didn't know about PTSD, all 
I knew I was going through some issues and needed help resolving 
those issues. I went and talked to a counselor and I was told I was 
suffering from PTSD and it was relayed back to my command. ... All of 
a sudden I was ostracized and (given a) no-weapons profile and 
shuffled to other positions that for lack of a better term is called 
bitch detail."

He said he was labeled damaged goods and he felt like a weight to his 
command which had to figure out what to do with him. He no longer had 
warrior status. He was put on narcotics and eventually received an 
honorable discharge, but at 23, he felt like he was kicked out of a 
career he had once hoped to make life-long.

When prescribed medications, Pereyda said he had placed faith in the 
U.S. Army and VA that they knew best, but after a couple of years on 
prescription narcotics, it dawned on him that he wasn't feeling 
better and he continued to "spiral down rather than rise above what I 
was facing." At the UA he met other veterans who used cannabis to 
relieve symptoms and urged him to try it. He slowly went off his 
medications in 2009 and on the black market that exists in Tucson, he 
bought $60 work of marijuana, which would last him a month or two and 
made a difference.

"I could be productive. In fact I was able to be more productive," he said.

"My record at the UA speaks to that. I went from being afraid to 
leave my house to conducting numerous service projects and events at 
the UA. The proof is in the pudding in my mind. Before, I had a very 
hard time even just interacting with my wife, parents, friends, siblings."

Sisley's research could potentially help relieve PTSD symptoms 
without subscription narcotics, but to Pereyda it's about saving 
lives-those 22 veterans a day who commit suicide because the PTSD is 
unbearable and the treatment some veterans receive just doesn't help.

"While her research has been delayed, veterans are dying. You need to 
analyze your action closely," Pereyda said, as if talking to Biggs 
and the UA administration. "She's advocating saving lives. Why would 
you rebuke her for that advocacy?"

Is it that big pharma is worried that Sisley's research will show 
that this plant is medicine that can't be effectively reproduced? Is 
it that the UA and right-wing legislators don't want to think about 
veterans using marijuana on campus as part of the research? Would 
they rather that veterans become addicted to oxycontins or Xanax?

"If I can grow 12 plants in my yard that would give me enough 
medicinal properties to relieve my symptoms," he said, "well that's a 
big hurt on the pharmaceutical companies and others who stand to lose 
a lot of money, I suppose."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom