Pompo

Michiganders go to clinic seeking pot to dull pain Southfield
Doctors there to give OK
12/5/08|Detroit Free Press| by Tammy Stables Battaglia - Free Press Staff Writer



Getting high was the furthest thing from their minds as some of Michigan's first legal medical marijuana users lined a Southfield waiting room Thursday.

But they all shared one thing: pain.

"I pray it helps the pain like they say," said diabetic cancer patient Renee Collinsworth, 48, of Croswell. She is hoping to dull the pain from a 1986 motorcycle accident in Ferndale. "It's not all about smoking it, either."

Michigan became the 13th state to allow the use of medical marijuana to treat debilitating illnesses after voters approved it in November. A licensed physician must grant approval before patients can use the otherwise illegal drug.

The patients waiting in the Southfield office either wouldn't or couldn't get approval from their regular doctor. So they were at the opening of the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation Medical Clinics' new location in Southfield. THCF Medical Clinics, a nonprofit headquartered in Oregon, employs seven doctors in eight states solely to sign off on medical marijuana use.

"If a patient's personal care physician is unwilling to sign off on their registration application packet, we have one that will," Brian Schreckinger, a spokesman for the group, said Thursday. Schreckinger, 28, said he became involved in the cause after excruciating pain from breaking his ankle skateboarding kept him up at night.

"Sometimes I'd be complaining I'd just want my foot chopped off," he said.

John Smith, 33, of Monroe was trying to find relief from back pain stemming from a 1998 car accident. And he doesn't want to use painkillers anymore.

"I've seen so many people dying on pills," he said. "And that's all the doctors push on you is the pills.

"Sometimes I think it's in my head, and they're just keeping me doped up on pills."

Charles Synder III, 31, of Flint suffers from Nail Patella Syndrome, a hereditary condition that causes kidney issues and painful bone defects.

"When I use cannabis, it doesn't take it 100% away," said Snyder, who collected signatures to help put a measure legalizing medical use of marijuana on the November ballot. "It doesn't put me in a zombie-like state like OxyContin."

Eric Eisenbud, a licensed ophthalmologist, examined each of the patients Thursday. He interviewed them, reviewed their medical records, checked their blood pressure and listened to their heart before handing out authorizations.

Eisenbud said he joined the practice looking for more fulfillment than he was finding in practicing ophthalmology. At the clinic, "I see those patients every day that make me feel that I'm doing a worthwhile endeavor," Eisenbud said.