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Taking up the fight to protect medical marijuana |
Proposed ballot measure would undo existing law;
local woman stricken with a variety of maladies vows to fight the
legislation |
By David Sale, Newberg Graphic
reporter
E-mail David at
dsale@eaglenewspapers.com
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Newberg resident Pamela Sterling is not ashamed of her drug use.
Due to chronic illness, the 43-year-old former registered nurse
enrolled four years ago in Oregon’s medical marijuana program, one
of 231 current members in Yamhill County.
Approved by voters in 1998, participants are issued cards
identifying them as members on the recommendation of a qualified
doctor — a M.D. or osteopath (D.O.) — who has diagnosed them with a
qualifying condition such as glaucoma, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease
or chronic pain. Enrollment allows members to possess and use
marijuana, as well as to grow up to seven marijuana plants for
personal use.
“I used to work as a
labor and delivery (OB/GYN) nurse and I injured my neck and shoulder
(on a difficult birth),” Sterling said. “I have a lot of muscle
tremors and spasms and I used to be on a lot of pills, but medical
marijuana has taken the place of that.”
Sterling is not alone in her experience. A 2004 study at the
University of California in San Francisco has shown that medical
marijuana can lower, by up to half, a patient’s narcotics use.
“They had me on prescription painkillers like Dilaudid and Xanax,
and then anti-Parkinson’s medication to deal with the side effects
from those,” she said. “At one point they suggested putting me on
methadone. I said no. It had gone too far.”
But her desire to avoid using potentially addictive, opiate-based
medication was not the only reason Sterling turned to medical
marijuana. She was also diagnosed with coeliac disease.
Coeliac disease is an auto-immune disorder in which a patient’s
digestive system is unable to digest wheat or wheat gluten (found in
many foods), instead causing inflammation and damage to the
intestines.
Genetic in origin, coeliac disease can often be controlled through
a wheat-free diet (substituting rice, corn or potatoes). But
following a visit to Brazil for a medical conference, where she
caught intestinal parasites from drinking water, Sterling’s
digestive issues took a dramatic turn for the worse.
“I used to weigh well over 250 (pounds), I’m now down to 115 — for
a while, I was literally starving,” she said. “I was living in a
duplex at the time and my neighbor would hear me (vomiting) in the
bathroom through the wall. They brought some weed over and suggested
I try it. I’d grown up in southeast Missouri and never even smoked a
cigarette ‘til I was in my 30s — but it worked really well to reduce
my symptoms.”
So when Sterling heard that former state representative and
political activist Kevin Mannix (R-Salem) was preparing an
initiative that would replace Oregon’s medical marijuana program
with synthetic alternatives, she decided to speak out.
“I’m not lighting a joint and trying to stick it in someone else’s
mouth,” she said. “I only want the right to medicate myself the way
my physicians and I see fit.”
Mannix’ proposal, titled “The Oregon Crimefighting Act of 2008,”
addresses many more issues than medical marijuana. Among its
provisions are a program of tax credits to fund methamphetamine
investigation and treatment; stiffer sentences for repeat arrests
for drunk driving or sexual offenses; and increasing law
enforcement.
But the act would also require the use of Marinol or Cesamet —
pills containing a synthetic form of THC, the active ingredient in
marijuana — to be used in place of medical marijuana.
This change would “reduce abuse of the system currently in place,”
the act states, and the synthetic alternatives would be covered
under the Oregon Health Plan.
“I think that the legislature has failed to address these issues,”
Mannix said. “This is about a complete reform of Oregon’s criminal
justice system — along with the initiatives 40 and 41 that I’ve
already filed, which will establish mandatory minimum sentencing and
dedicate 15 percent of lottery proceeds to law enforcement.”
Although Mannix attempted to overturn the medical marijuana act as
a state legislator in 1999, “This initiative is clearly not about
just that,” he said.
“There needs to be an alternative for people suffering from
debilitating diseases, but it’s very clear that the issue (of
abusing the current program) needs to be addressed,” he said. “This
is very novel — no other state has offered to fully fund a
prescription program to take medical marijuana’s place.”
But data showing widespread abuse of the program is difficult to
come by. The Portland Police Bureau investigated 30 cases of illegal
sales or fraudulent enrollment by participants — among more than
2,000 enrolled members in Multnomah County.
“The state police have just started putting together data this
year,” said Polk County Sheriff Bob Wolfe, who serves on the Oregon
State Sheriff’s Association legislative committee. “We’ve had a few
cases in the county where cardholders are growing more than their
allotment. We’ve also had cases where people break in and steal
their plants. But the sheriff’s association doesn’t have a position
on the act as yet — if it gets on the ballot, we’ll weigh in.”
“Don’t put us in the same category as meth users,” Sterling said.
“I’ve heard of people having a card who get busted with 300 plants —
but people also sell Xanax and morphine on the street. As a nurse,
I’ve seen much more abuse of prescription medications than in this
program.”
Sterling is also concerned that the details of Mannix’s proposed
initiative are unworkable. Members of the medical marijuana program
must supply the plant themselves and Sterling said members often
trade seeds or cuttings — “there’s no money exchanged.” Using
synthetic alternatives, however, could prove expensive for Oregon.
“A Marinol prescription runs between $800 and $1,000 a month,
depending on the dosage,” she said. “There’s over 14,000 patients
enrolled in the medical marijuana program, according to the state’s
figures. If just half of the patients are low-income or even just
lacking health insurance, that’s $6 million per month that the state
would have to pay. Mannix wants to create a deficit to kill the
program.”
Moreover, Sterling added, being forced to use a synthetic pill
substitute would harm her personally.
“I can’t absorb the pill due to my digestive issues. That’s the
whole issue with Marinol — those prescription painkillers I still
take are in suppository or patch form,” she said. “A lot of people
(using medical marijuana) with Crohn’s disease or other intestinal
conditions have the same problem.”
While the medical marijuana program has been controversial since
its inception, Sterling said that open discussion is the solution.
“I have three kids, ages 19, 21, and 24, and they know I smoke
marijuana — they know I’m ill and they’ve seen the symptoms,” she
said. “The fear comes with lack of knowledge, lack of education.
That’s what I’m trying to correct.” |
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From
June 30, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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