A Medical Marijuana Success Story

I wanted to share this story in hopes that it will encourage some people who might benefit from the use of medical cannabis but currently hold biases against cannabis as a legitimate medicine.

A close relative of mine, who shall remain nameless out of respect for patient privacy, is suffering from metastasized prostate cancer. He is currently undergoing Chemo to treat it--though they have had success treating this very slow developing cancer so far, they are positive that they will not be able to fully cure it--they can however, take steps to lengthen his life significantly. The problem is, that same treatment is taking it's tole on him.

Suffice to say, this family member is on A LOT of medications right now. From blood thinners, to morphine, hydrocodon, and a whole host of other drugs that I cannot even pronounce and have never heard of before, he's practically a walking pharmacy.

He's also a 73 year old man. An old fashioned oil man, a chemical engineer, as it were. A man who once designed a very prolific piece of oil refining equipment for J. Paul Getty on a cocktail napkin over dinner. A highly intelligent man. He's also a man with a lifetime of pre-conceived notions about marijuana. He's never smoked anything in his life, and has long considered marijuana to be one of society's many evils. The thought of him smoking pot is so far beyond my conception that I can only say it would be impossible.

Throughout the first part of his cancer, I had a very hard time talking with him about the possibility of using cannabis as a medicine to treat pain, sleeplessness, and nausea--he was completely closed to the idea, not even willing to consider it. He practically scoffed at it in fact.

But as time has passed, the cancer has begun to aggravate a nerve in his back. The pain from this nerve is the reason he's on morphine and other pain killers. The pain became so much that he absolutely could not sleep some nights because of the throbbing nerve. Both he and his wife sat through some tearful, heartbreaking nights while he writhed in pain. The very idea of it nearly brought me to tears when they told me. He lost weight, his health seemed to be coming unglued. Their doctor decided to put him on Elavil, an antidepressant and sleep aid, so he could sleep. I want to point out here that he was in no way depressed, in fact despite the cancer he's probably happier than you are--he's just that kind of man, kind, giving, and selfless.

But at this point he was becoming nervous about adding one more drug into the coctail that his body was quickly becoming. The Elavil also had the side effect of making him a zombie the next day, which he and his wife hated. It also put him at risk to a number of odd side effects such as panic attacks and heart irregularities. Dangerous side effects in light of the morphine and other drugs he was on.

When his wife told me about the Elavil, I approached them again about cannabis, explaining that he wouldn't have to smoke, that we have glycerine-based tinctures that work amazingly well. To my surprise, his exhausted wife said they were ready to try just about anything now. My wife and I convinced them to get off the Elavil after only a week of it, and that night they tried out the bottle of cannabis tincture I supplied them instead.

They were a little nervous at first about dosage, since it didn't list an exact dosage on the bottle. I explained to them that unlike other drugs, the Cannabis had no known toxicity level for overdose, and that it would not interfere with heart rhythm or negatively interact with any of the other drugs. They were skeptical, but decided to trust me in the end.

And guess what? That night, after taking about two eye dropper's full of tincture, they slept. A full 9 hours of sleep, to be exact. The sound of relief in my relative's voice on the phone the next morning truly filled me with a joy I cannot describe. The tincture had worked where everything else they had tried had failed. His wife said he looked the most rested she'd seen him in over a year. It was the best phone call I've received in quite some time.



I will keep you posted on how all this works out for them in the longer term. I'm not sitting here as I write this thinking that cannabis has solved my relative's problem for good. I'm not trying to make it out to be a wonder drug or the greatest thing since sliced bread (though personally I think it is among the greatest gifts God has given to humans). But I do believe it has unquestionably helped build my relative's quality of life, as well as my own. I have been using it as medication since my teenage years and have never experienced any negative side effects in my life.

For my relative, more sleep means a better healing body, means a calmer mind, a sense of well being, and a happier life. If this man who truly believed cannabis was a negative influence on the world and society can come to understand both it's mild nature and its amazing effect as medicine, I truly believe that anyone can.

If you have health problems but are tired of medications with extreme side effects, and want to see if cannabis is a good option for you, contact us at hc3meds@gmail.com and we will help you through the process of finding a doctor you can trust to explore all options with.

Clarifying HB 1284 and SB 109 for Colorado Medical Marijuana Reform

Here's a little more info on SB 109 and HB 1284 from Matt Brown of Coloradans for Medical Marijuana Regulation. Believe what you want, I'm not yet convinced that CMMR represents the rights of smaller dispensaries, but time will tell. My comments are inserted in brackets where I felt they were necessary-- Shorty Smallz

Quoted from Matt Brown:

"Sen. Romer's SB109:

FICTION: SB109 would "destroy the confidentiality of the (medical marijuana) registry."

FACT: SB109 does nothing to impact the absolute confidentiality for patients and providers enshrined in Amendment 20. Opponents of SB109 attempt to connect the medical oversight provided by the Board of Medical Examiners in SB109 to a loss a patient privacy, despite no such link in the actual text of the bill. The section of SB109 dealing with referring a physician to the Board of Medical Examiners (SB109, pg 4, lines 6-16) specifically reiterates that the CDPHE medical marijuana registry is confidential. If the CDPHE suspects that a physician may be inappropriately writing MMJ recommendations, the CDPHE may use aggregate data contained in the registry to refer that doctor to the BME. This is a similar process to how physicians practicing other specialties would be referred to the BME for suspected inappropriate behavior.

Source: Senate Bill 10-109, page 4, lines 6-16

FICTION: SB109 would require all patients 18-23 to receive two independent opinions before being added to the MMJ registry.

FACT: Last Friday the House voted overwhelmingly to reject the conference committee report on SB109 and sent the bill back to conference committee to be reworked, specifically because of this new restriction. Amendment 20 is very clear on providing special rules for applicants under 18, in line with their legal status as a minor. Amendment 20 also draws a bright line for patients 18 and over and does not offer the ability for new rules to unconstitutionally restrict the rights of these adults aged 18-23. The General Assembly simply doesn't have the power to mandate more restrictive rules for a group of adults already covered by Amendment 20. The rejection by the House of this new restriction on 18-23 year olds shows that the legislature is not willing to pass such blatently disallowed restrictions on patient rights under Amendment 20.

[ This is a good step forward!]

Source: http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2010a/csl.nsf/billsummary/A5490499B1C4F72087257655006BA657

Rep. Massey's HB1284 - Dispensary Regulations:

FICTION: This bill requires a $50,000 annual licensing fee.

FACT: Nowhere in this bill is anything close to a $50,000 fee mentioned, much less required. In the official Fiscal Note for HB1284 (attached), the official estimate is that a dispensary license would cost $1,800/yr and Department of Revenue expects to issue 1,100 of these permits in 2011. State fees must be based on actual expenses incurred in the process of administering these licenses, and there is no evidence to support anything close to a $50,000 fee per license. Sen. Romer did make comments at a number of recent events saying he wanted to ADD such a fee to the bill, but no language supporting a $50,000 fee appears anywhere in HB1284.

Source: Fiscal Note on HB10-1284, dated April 5, 2010, Table 1 on page 3.

[again, this is more reasonable, and less cause for concern, it may be that Chris Romer has been running his mouth simply to aggravate people--I suggest we vote out Chris Romer in November no matter what happens with these bills, he's an irresponsible leader who likes to create hysteria, and he must go!!!]

FICTION: HB1284 seeks to eliminate 95% of dispensaries.

FACT: The current fiscal note estimates 1,100 licenses to be issued for the "Medical Marijuana Center" dispensary license. Unless there are close to 21,000 dispensaries operating statewide, nowhere near 95% would be closed down. More intuitively, it seems hard to believe that a $5/day fee is prohibitive enough to cause widespread closures of legitimate dispensaries. ($1,800 divided by 365 = $4.93/day)

Source: Fiscal Note on HB10-1284, dated April 5, 2010, Table 1 on page 3.

[Manta.com estimates there are 1,624 liquor stores in Colorado (there are probably more than this), and there are no restrictions on new stores forming. That means there are over 500 more liquor stores than the projected amount of dispensary licenses to be issued state wide under HB 1284. If the capitalistic system is good enough to tell us when we have too many bars, liquor stores, grocery stores, restaurants, etc., then it will tell us when we have too many dispensaries, i.e. some will close their doors if they can't pay the bills. If all the shops in an area are making it, it would be hard to argue that there is not enough demand to support them all. ]

FICTION: Regulators will be in your dispensary every 5-7 days.

FACT: The official estimates contained in the Fiscal Note for HB1284 call for Department of Revenue to allocate 12 criminal investigators spread between 4 locations across the state. Additionally, DOR plans for 3 1/2 full-time auditors and just under 8 full-time administrative staff. Assuming 1,100 dispensary licenses, these 12 auditors would need to make 57,200 on-site inspections every year to visit each location about once a week. This would come to approximately 92 visits per inspector, per week. Assuming a 40 hour work week, each inspection would therefore have to take no more than 26 minutes including all travel time between locations. This analysis doesn't even include the estimated 800 total "optional premises" and "infused products" licenses. With those licensees included, weekly investigations of MMJ licenses could take no more than 16 minutes each, including all travel time.

Obviously, there is no way the Department could conduct weekly inspections like this. What is likely to happen is the exact same experience car dealers, tobacco licensees, lottery retailers, liquor licensees and casinos have with the Department of Revenue. Inspectors will be available to make random spot checks of licensees and more in-depth investigations will occur when suspicious behavior is detected.

Source: Fiscal Note on HB10-1284, dated April 5, 2010, chart on page 1; Table 1 on page 3; "Personal Services" on page 5;

[Even if the state will be unable to fill such a tall order (as Matt points out), the fact is that they shouldn't be talking about "inspectors with guns" in the first place, or trying to take on such lofty regulation that isnt applied to liquor stores etc. Dispensaries are not dangerous places, they are robbed less than banks OR liquor stores. Do you think the FDIC sends armed inspectors to dig through a banks' inventory? I doubt it. This amounts to treating MMJ businesses with a double standard-- WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THAT IN ANY FORM, OUR RIGHTS ARE CONSTITUTIONALLY MANDATED]

FICTION: Law Enforcement will track patient purchases of their medicine.

FACT: No such system exists, nor does the actual text of HB1284 in any way authorize this level of tracking. Section 12-43.3-202 of HB1284 makes clear that the Department of Revenue must "Maintain the confidentiality of reports obtained from a licensee showing the sales volume or quantity of medical marijuana sold or any other records that are exempt from public inspection pursuant to state law."

Source: HB1284 -- Preamended Version, page 9 lines 16-19; Section 12-43.3-202. Powers and Duties of State Licensing Authority, pages 8-13.

[I'm still very unclear here as to whether Law Enforcement will have access to the registry at all--this is barred by Amendment 20, and if they are trying to grant such access, this is a violation of patient privacy rights. Are any of these politicians ready to surrender their private medical records to us, or to Law Enforcement? Doubtful, so again that's a double standard we won't abide by!]

FICTION: Law Enforcement may conduct "Warrentless Searches" of dispensaries whenever they want.

FACT: HB1284 prohibits local law enforcement from having access to confidential disclosures to the Department of Revenue, and local law enforcement is not given any authority to search or seize anything at a dispensary without proper cause. If local law enforcement receives information that you are breaking other laws, they may investigate within the normal scope of their authority. Department of Revenue's authority only extends to their ability to spot check the books and records of a licensee to determine if illegal behavior, related to that license, are occuring. All other inspections and investigations must follow normal due process.

Source: HB1284 -- Preamended Version, page 9 lines 16-20; page 12 line 24 through page 13 line 5. "

[At the end of the day, some serious changes still need to be made before any law is put into effect. Attempts to threaten doctors or dispensers via legislation will be rewarded with votes against candidates who support them, period. Get involved, contact your senator and ask them questions about their stance, and why they support or do not support these bills!-- Shorty Smallz]