Herb Ninja

State halts medical marijuana program

6-07-2005 | Kayley Mendenhall | The Bend Bulletin

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Monday that patients who use medical marijuana can be prosecuted at the federal level, Bend resident Martin Halsey has no intentions of giving up his use of the drug.

"Being a quadriplegic, I have very bad spasms. Smoking a couple of hits stops them instantly," Halsey, 49, said. "I could take prescription drugs that do nothing for me."

Halsey was paralyzed in a skiing accident about 20 years ago, he said, and has found that smoking marijuana about every six hours helps him function better than any prescription drugs. He said he uses the drug responsibly, never driving while under the influence, and said marijuana allows him to maintain his independence.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the regulation of controlled substances, including marijuana, falls under federal jurisdiction. The ruling did not overturn state medical-marijuana laws, including a 1998 Oregon law, but it left states wondering what power those laws still have.

"Right now, we don't know what it will mean, if anything," said Dr. Grant Higginson, public-health officer with the Oregon Department of Human Services. "These are exactly the kind of questions we will be asking of our legal council in the Department of Justice."

Until the state attorney general can determine the ruling's legal implications in Oregon, Higginson said, DHS has stopped issuing new medical-marijuana cards to those who have applied to the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. He also doesn't yet know what the ruling means for the 10,000 Oregon residents who already have cards, including 242 in Deschutes County.

Participants in the medical-marijuana program have to reapply to the state each year to renew their cards and they need physician recommendations to be approved, said Jim Kronenberg of the Oregon Medical Association. His organization has maintained a neutral position on the medical-marijuana issue, he said, but the OMA encourages physicians to be careful when participating in the program.

Kronenberg said physicians can recommend patients for medical-marijuana cards by either:

• Filling out a form from the state.

• Writing "marijuana" on a prescription pad.

• Or by documenting they had a discussion with the patient and agreeing the patient has a condition that could be helped by the use of marijuana.

The last of those three options is recommended by the OMA.

"The reason we suggest that, as the Supreme Court has once again confirmed under federal law, is that medical marijuana is a substance that is illegal to possess," Kronenberg said. "If federal agents could arrest and prosecute someone in Oregon who had a medical-marijuana card and was in possession of marijuana, at least by implication, it is conceivable that the Drug Enforcement Agency could prosecute the physician that gave his or her permission to get the card."

It's that fear of physician prosecution, more than user prosecution, that has Halsey worried. If his doctor will no longer verify that he needs medical marijuana, Halsey said, he may not be able to renew his card with the state.

"I think the doctors will tighten up on signing. I have all the proper medical statements and everything," Halsey said. "What it looks like to me, it's going to make it harder for the physicians to sign without them being in trouble."


Medical community's response

Medical marijuana is basically a non-issue for most oncologists, said Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, an oncologist at Bend Memorial Clinic. When he heard about the court ruling Monday, Kornfeld said, the news did not mean much to him.

"We don't prescribe anything. I fill out a piece of paper that says, ‘Does this person have cancer?' and they leave with that piece of paper," he said. "It isn't like this whole physician-assisted-suicide thing where doctors who do it actually write the prescription. This has nothing to do with docs. This has to do with patients."

When it comes to cancer treatment in general, Kornfeld said, very few patients ask for medical marijuana. And, he said, many prescription drugs tend to work better to combat nausea and other side effects of chemotherapy.

Dr. Archie Blyer, a consultant for the St. Charles Medical Center-Bend Cancer Treatment Center, agreed saying that in clinical trials medical marijuana has proven to be less effective than other drugs for cancer patients.

"I regard today's ruling as not a major loss," Blyer said. "I don't think there is going to be that much conflict. Those individuals with cancer who have found a use for it are really rare and have many alternatives available to them. There really is no reason to have to worry about being arrested."

At the Hospice of Bend-La Pine, Executive Director Jim Elmslie said that medical marijuana is not a factor in their treatment of terminal patients.

"I don't really see it as too much of an impact in terms of end-of-life care," Elmslie said. "We have very good medications for managing pain and that's our main focus. There are quite a few different choices that have various applications, depending on the patient's tolerance."

But for Halsey, who said his spasms cause his legs to shake uncontrollably, medical marijuana makes his life more bearable.

"It allows me to continue on with my independence. My independence is the main thing in my life, being paralyzed," Halsey said. "If they want to prosecute me, I'll deal with it then. And in the meantime, I have to live."

__________________
"Truth is treason in an empire of lies." -Ron Paul