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virtually free and will benefit even one person's
life. This plant isn't the problem. If you think
about it, the human body rejects any poison,
anything bad, tries to get rid of it like alcohol,
pharmaceuticals. They're all out of your system in
72 hours. Why do you think pot, the only plant
that does stay in your system 30 days? Because
it's a natural part of your body. It is part of
your -- what's the word I'm looking for?
That's another thing. Because I can't
smoke pot, they got me on these darn pills that are
morphine, 30 milligrams, and I keep forgetting
things at times. I never had that problem when I
was smoking pot. The immune system is what I was
trying to say. Marijuana is part of your natural
immune -- and they had it in our past. In the
1800s, most all the medicines that were for pain
was made out of marijuana. And it's been helping
people for years.
That's about all I got to say. It's
foolish to keep this plant the way it is when it
helps people, and it's virtually free.
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RAY LAKERS: Hello, ladies.
Thanks
for holding these sessions today and giving us all
a chance to have a rational discussion and people
present their cases very -- very tearfully for me.
I just wanted to let anybody know --
RAY LAKERS: Oh, my name is Ray.
I
thought you guys knew me from my last testimony.
RAY LAKERS: No? Okay.
I'm Ray
Lakers. I smoke medical marijuana. I have
multiple sclerosis. I was diagnosed in 2004.
Just to let anybody know, if they're
looking for marijuana, I found some today. It was
right there on the walk to the crash site. It's
growing right there on fields right on the walk to
the Buddy Holly crash site. It's grown right here
in Iowa.
Now, much of the medical marijuana
discussion is focused on safety of marijuana
compared to the safety of FDA-approved drugs. On
January 24, 2005, Freedom of Information Act was
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sent to the U.S. FDA to find the number of deaths
caused by marijuana compared to the number of
deaths caused by 17 FDA-approved drugs. Twelve of
these FDA-approved drugs were chosen because they
were commonly prescribed in place of medical
marijuana while the remaining five FDA-arproved
drugs were randomly selected because they are
widely used and recognized by the general public.
Starting on January 1 of '97, the
beginning of the first year of November 1996 was
the approval of the first state medical marijuana
law, California Proposition 215. The FDA reports
we read from September 13 to 2005 included drug
deaths to present which was the date each report
was compiled for our request. We cut off counting
as of June 30, 2005, to provide uniform and to date
of various reports.
Now, a review of the FDA adverse
effects reports also revealed some deaths where
marijuana was at least a concomitant drug, a drug
also used at the time of death in some cases.
Now, we also requested a copy of the
adverse events reported deaths from marijuana,
cannabis, and received those reports, and these
three findings stated that in the FDA-approved
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drugs in place of medical marijuana, also known as
antiemetics, No. 1 was Compazine. It contributed
in 15 primary deaths. And these are FDA-approved
drugs in place of medical marijuana.
Next on the list is a drug that Jeff
was prescribed by his doctor known as Reglan. And
that resulted in 37 deaths as a result of drug use.
Also listed is Zofran, Anzemet, Kytril, Tigan, and
zero for marijuana for patients who were not using
FDA-approved drugs, and they were strictly using
medical marijuana. Of course, there was no death
reported.
Now, I wanted to thank the gentleman
that was here earlier, the war veteran from 'Nam.
He's right on target and the person that suffers
from some type of post-traumatic stress disorder
that there are countries in the world that are
recognizing medical marijuana to treat PTSD
disorders. We got thousands of boys and girls
coming home from these wars, and they're going to
need help, and you know, a lot of them combat it
with alcohol and pills, you know. What's the end
result of that? Death. You know, either a slow
death or immediate.
So you know, we need to really look at
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this science and know that it truly benefits people
and not just the people that showed up today, and
as this person -- this lady brought out earlier,
the social issues prevent, you know, any forward
researsh into our rlght to choose this medicine,
and I would just like to say that medical marijuana
or botanical cannabis is not a drug. It's a
natural plant, and I saw it with my own two eyes,
grown right here in Iowa, a half hour ago.
BARRY: Please. Hello. My
name is
Barry. I have MS which I've had since -- diagnosed
in '97. And I don't know where to start here, but
you know, I can go to my neurologist and ask him
for any -- any kind of drug to help with pain, but
I'm so tired of being a zombie and don't know where
the hell I'm going.
What Mother Nature put on this earth
is the best drug I have ever used as far as
causing -- taking care of my pain. I can function
in life instead of sitting in a chair drooling on
yourself because you don't know what the hell
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you're doing. I just -- it's just something that
should be medically used.
I don't see Mother Nature getting sued
because of all the ill side effects. I don't know
what else to say except it is definitely something
that should be looked on. It's proven that it
helps. If it helps one person or a thousand, what
is the difference? I mean because nobody is making
money off of It? That is why it is not happening?
That's the only thing I can see.
That's all I've got to say. Please,
please do this because it does really, really help.
JIM KLEVEN: Hello. I'm Jim
Kleven
from Mason City, Iowa. I've been using marijuana
on and off for 20-plus years. I'm a combat
veteran. I came home with PTSD and recently found
out that I was ADHD. They prescribed Ritalin,
which I have been using marijuana medicinally for
20 years, on and off.
I found the Ritalin to keep me
focused, as did the marijuana, focused and brought
my thinking -- I was erratic prior to the use of
marijuana. It's helped me.
I came home from the service an
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alcoholic and an adrenaline junkie and kind of out
of control. But if I just stuck to my marijuana,
the general public is safe around me. You know, if
I got loaded, whole north Iowa was in trouble, you
know, drinking and driving, bar fights. Marijuana
has basically kept me in order, in line. Now
they're trying to treat it pharmaceutical,
pharmaceutically or whatever.
And this is totally off the -- I just
feel when they declared the war on drugs, they
declared war on their own people, and what is war
all about? Profiting and freedom most of the time.
Well, who's profiting now is the pharmaceutical
industry and the oil barons.
I just feel there's a strong need in
the nation. There's already 13 states in the union
that have it pharmaceutically approved, and I
personally have tried the pharmaceutical-grade
marijuana from California pharmacy, and I felt
weightless. I felt great, to be quite honest. And
I'm all for it.
And I think the social stigma is a
hurdle that we've tried to beat. I mean I feel
like an outlaw. I was a 20-year smoker of Marlboro
reds. I've tried to cut back. I've quit pretty
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much. Socially I'll have a cigarette when I'm
designated driver. I've quit the alcohol. I've
beat the alcohol. I'm in the process of beating
the nicotine.
I feel like an outlaw outside of the
bar, thanks to Chet Culver, smoking a damn
cigarette. I feel worse having a cigarette than if
I were to have marijuana, one hitter, or a
marijuana cigarette out in front of that bar
because actually there, I'm treating myself where
I'm not just poisoning myself with the damn
tobacco.
That's my opinion, and that's all I
got to say about that.
TERRY WITKOWSKI: Do we have
a
Speaker 16? Is there anyone else that would like
to speak at this time? If so, please just check in
with Roger to get a number.
JIM KLEVEN: On a side note it's
helped me with my extreme pain other than the
narcotics they tried to prescribe.
(Short recess.)
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Speaker 16. Is Speaker 16 ready to talk now? We
ask you to come up to the podium, the microphone,
and state at least your first name.
JESSE: Can you bring the mic out to
me, please?
JESSE: Hi, everybody. My name is
Jesse. I'm here today to voice my opinion on
medical marijuana, and I think it should be
considered by the Board of Pharmaceuticals for
Iowa.
Many a drug addict has taken
prescribed Celebrex all the way through. Well,
what started my problem, injectable steroids from
an anesthesiologist that guaranteed me there was
never anything ever harmful about injections. They
were going to be perfectly safe.
Well, eight years ago this shot out
from my hips. I would like the opportunity to
discuss with my doctor and my medical treatment on
the possibilities for medication. I've been
through the wringer in Iowa City. I listened to
people out here talk about being zombies. You're
lucky. I've been down every wall every night every
pill. I was on morphine up the wazoo.
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The pain through a bunch of bad
surgeons, bad medicine, you know, which I'm not
here to dog them today on that, but because of
that, that has led me to my beliefs and my
experience that -- Well, let me take you back.
My last -- my last appointment with
the pain management center in Iowa City, University
Hospitals, they wanted to take me off the morphine
and put me on methadone. My exact statement to
that doctor was "Why don't you just give me the
heroin?" Then I got up and walked out and been on
my own now for over three years.
I would like the opportunity to be --
you know, through my doctor, reasons to control
pain. Even when I was on the morphine, I only took
it as needed it. You can go back through tons of
records for prescriptions, and they can tell that
the time -- time lapsed from the time was
prescribed to the time I refilled was way past what
the prescription should have been.
I'm not going to sit here and say that
I don't trust the FDA, but I really don't. God put
a natural plant on the planet, and it goes all the
way back through thousands of cultures, and it's in
a lot of them. I treat my pain right now with home
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herbs and topical oils and take a lot of Omega 3s
just so I can walk.
The funny part is, going through the
University of Iowa that day for physical therapy,
not once did I get any physical therapy. I spent
two years of that time in a wheelchair. I pulled
my own ass up, and I made my own ass walk to get
back to what can conceive is a semi-normal life
because it's far from what it used to be. And I
would like that opportunity to try marijuana to see
if it would help with my condition.
Growing up also before this even
happened, I was in the medical field. And I
watched people die, brain cancer. I watched them
go through chemotherapy. And there were some of my
patients that actually used marijuana, and
especially I noticed in the people with the cancer,
the chemotherapy, they had appetites where if
anybody has been around chemotherapy, that's one of
biggest killers. People stop eating. They're
sick. It helps with the nausea to control what
they eat so they can hold it down so they can
actually get better.
There's cases of glaucoma, you know.
The list goes on and on. Pain, all the way down
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from the simplest form to the major form, and I
went through years. I walked on this implant. The
only place it was attached is up in this corner.
University of Iowa told me for two years there was
nothing wrong with this.
My first surgery from them, actually,
I woke up screaming out of -- out of surgery and
pain and walked on a leg and let them do range of
motion on me for two weeks with them telling me
there was nothing wrong. The pain is in my head.
Two weeks later, I was back down going
through a whole battery of X rays. Low and behold,
something showed up, and it was just just
medicine that got me in at that time just ahead
of -- my thighbone had to be replaced, and so it
was metal grinding cement into my pelvic bones, but
nothing was ever wrong. So got that taken care of,
and every time I complained, there was always,
always a reason for that pain.
Now, I didn't want to get on the
pills. I didn't want to get hooked. And some
people do, unfortunately. And they're prescribed.
You know, I just don't see if you're -- if you're
truly in pain and stuff how you can fall that far,
but some do because sometimes they get the relief.
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Others don't, but you know, this was one option,
and I talked to the doctors who did my last surgery
right, which is coming up on three years this
September, and I asked them about the possibility.
I didn't get a no. They didn't say
they could help me with furthering any studies or
helping me get it, but they said it was an option,
and they didn't slam that option. They didn't slam
the door in my face, and they din't treat me like
I was a piece of dirt or a junkie. I was treated
by the university like a junkie for quite a while.
But here's the evidence, two years. That's a good
junkie, you know. The pain is not in your head.
And I think that the board should open
up its possibilities that this has been around as
long as it's been around, and other cultures have
used it for pain management and for ceremonies,
whatever else, but if there was an inkling that it
helps people, then I say go for it. I haven't seen
any negative effects on any of the research I've
done online. So everyplace on the Web is false
information, apparently, because it's just not
there.
But yet all these prescribed drugs I
was on, people younger than me died of heart
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attacks. There's been tons of them here recently
You know, and I could. I could doctor swap. I
could go to any doctor I want and probably get any
pill I want. I don' t want that. I just want to
control the pain so I can function.
If I have to be here and I have to go
through this, then I want something that can help
me without the harmful side effects because the
money doesn't push it through, you know.
I just wanted to let everybody know
that I think the board should consider it. It has
other possibilities than just people being
druggies. And yes, I'm sorry, but there probably
will be a few that abuse it for the wrong reasons.
They did with alcohol. I grew up with one, you
know.
So just open up the possibilities to
the consideration for future treatments for pain
management and alleviating pain and symptoms for
other people. Thank you,
JAY: Hello. Hello. My name
is Jay.
I'm approximately 20 years old. And I have a good
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story about being in a serious spinal injury.
About three years ago I was in a
serious drinking and driving accident which
exploded my lower spine. I was literally that far
from being paralyzed (indicating). They had to put
a new piece of bone in my back and put all sorts of
metal and screws inside of it. They cut me through
my front and took out all of my intestines and
sewed me back up and fixed my spine.
Luckily, I was able to walk again
after so many days of physical treatment and other
things.
After the surgery I really couldn't
take down any solid foods. It was mostly soups and
Jellos and stuff like that. That would actually go
through my system and not make me in pain. If I
had any type of solid food, I'd be in pain, and I'd
actually feel the digestion going on.
But my friend turned me onto
marijuana, that he said it would help me with my
eating and also my back pain. And before that,
didn't even try marijuana. I didn't even think
about it. Just too much trouble, you know, too
much social crap going down against kids my age
smoking it and getting in trouble and blah, blah,
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blah, blah, blah.
But when I smoked marijuana, I could
actually -- right after that I got the munchies
like normal, you know, and went out, and I ate a
full burger and ate a full plate of fries and ate a
whole thing of food, and I could not even feel the
pain that was going on in my stomach.
And then I did it again because I
could barely even get out of bed in the morning
with my back pain. I'd have to literally roll off
the bed onto my knees and then get up, but the
night before I smoked marijuana, and then I woke up
perfectly fine. My back wasn't tense. I had a
wonderful day and a wonderful morning.
But just for the purpose of medical
reasons alone, I mean, it might help the economy
too. Who knows? But just for the medical purpose,
I mean if we regulate it right and take care of
people, and you know, there's plenty of stories out
there besides my own that it's been helping.
So I mean why not give it a shot. If
it fails and it fails, then we were sitting there
looking stupid, but if we achieve it, then we
looked like geniuses, and it can go anywhere from
there. Thank you.
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TERRY WITKOWSKI: Is there anyone
else
that wants to speak at this time? We're going to
take about a l5-minute break, let our shorthand
reporter rest her fingers. Thank you.
(Short recess.)
FRANK: So I can stand right here.
Hey, how you doing?
FRANK: Okay. Frank. Anyway,
I'm not
a weed user. I've never -- I'm 58 years old, and
I've never smoked pot in my life, but I've seen a
lot of pot, and I know everybody that smokes pot
from bottom to top, and I just saw the blurb in the
newspaper. I'm not on the Internet. I don't know
the big controversy. I didn't even realize you
guys were representing the Board of Pharmacists or
whatever.
I can tell you this. I just got put
on Zocor. Jesus. Side effects of that is crazy.
You know what I mean? I felt great two months ago,
and now they think it's kicked in now. You know
what I mean? The paper, you read about what can
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happen. Plus my appetite is nuts. Can you tell
I've gained some weight? You know what I mean?
Because it says one of the side effects is eating
more. Well, I am. I'm hungry all the time. I
don't get it.
So I understand drugs all have a side
effect, even baby aspirin. You know what mean?
But no. Here's where I'm at. I just saw what was
in the newspaper because I kind of try to keep on
top of what's happening in Mason City and what's
going on in my town. Well, it's an opportunity to
say something here, and I just want to say that I
support the use for medical marijuana.
If there's something out there that
helps people get through a day that are generally
in pain and that's that and it works, I'd just as
soon see them have the opportunity. Now, what
mechanism that takes, I have no idea. I'm not
involved. I don't belong to NORML. I'm not a --
you can vouch for me. I don't even drink. Most
people think I should smoke and drink, but I don't,
and I'm very involved in my community.
But I'm just here throwing support
toward the medical marijuana thing that I think
Iowa -- you know what? We did the gay marriage
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thing. We had the courage to do the gay marriage
thing, and who gives a crap about that? If you
find someone to love, go love them. But now we're
on to this other controversial issue evidently.
And it's marijuana, you know.
Whether it's a gateway drug or not, I
don't know. But I can tell you this. Some of the
pharmaceuticals that I'm on, the couple things that
I'm on, they're gateway drugs too because I got to
take something else. I'm taking four Motrin a day
to counterbalance the Zocor that makes my joints
ache.
So I mean I don't know where it all
stops, and I'm not a Ph.D., and I'm not a research
scientist, but I'm just saying that I think that
medical marijuana should be utilized in the state
of Iowa, and that's what I'm here for, is because I
understand you're going to give a report or
something back to the legislators that there's some
cat in Iowa City, a legislator that had the courage
last year to bring it up to the legislators in
Des Moines to at least talk about it. He's going
to do the same thing this year.
Whether it gets out of committee or
not, I don't know, but I feel that this is probably
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the process that takes place to create a law. And
that's what I'm doing here. That's my right.
That's why live in America.
FRANK: Okay. So we get to voice
where we're
at without being scared or freaked out. And I
don't expect you guys to understand everything
because you're knee deep in your pharmacy work and
stuff, and you have a whole 'nother take on drugs
and what they do and how, you know -- and a lot of
laws, and I respect that.
But I just want to lend the support --
I'm surprised there's -- I'm No. 18. I'm proud of
people. There's 18 people in the area here that
felt --
FRANK: Okay. Outstanding.
I'm glad that
people are showing up. You know what I mean? That
makes me feel good that they're using their right
instead of worrying about being in a vat of pig
shit with razor blades stuck up their ass afraid to
say anything, so I really like that.
And I just want to say from a guy who
doesn't do drugs or my wife doesn't either, I don't
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want my kids to smoke marijuana. Don't take
offense to this. But I just don't. No more than I
want them to have ten beers a day. You know what I
mean? Who in the hell sets out to have a six-pack
of beer? You ever hear someone say "I'm going to
sit and drink six Pepsis"?
So I'm not into the addictive thing,
so I'm not -- Jimmy knows that I'm not -- or Sam.
What are you going by today?
FRANK: Anyway, by the way, a veteran
and a hero at that too. But anyway, so I'm just
here as a regular person, somebody out of the norm
that doesn't partake in any of that stuff. I've
seen the side effects.
I've heard guys talk about incense.
I've heard them talk about the fat chunks. I've
heard them talk about the paranoia, and I've heard
them talk about the gateway to cocaine or meth and
other stuff, and those things are terrible. They
really are.
And to me in my family, it's all about
personal choice. We try to teach that a lot, say
you know what? Everything has got a side effect.
You know what I mean? I'm a perfect example of
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someone who ate two candy bars a day and drank a
16-ounce bottle of pop. You know what I mean?
That's no good for you either, you know.
So I'm just here to lend my support in
the state of Iowa, the great state of Iowa, to say
you know what? Let's let this happen here. And in
no way am I advocating the legalization of
marijuana for drug runners or whatever, but if that
ever did come up, I probably would say, hey, you
know what? Let the government, let the board of
marijuana users, you know, that they create, the
gods of that, take it over, regulate it, or
whatever.
So I think if anything we can find to
make life easier for people throughout their days,
young or old, what's wrong with that? And that's
kind of where I'm at.
And you're hearing that from somebody
who doesn't use, who never has, and I don't plan on
it. Most people think I should smoke dope. Calm
down because my bright light is going to burn out
early because I have a fire in the belly, and I get
involved in a lot of stuff in over my head.
So I'm just here to lend that support,
and I hope you hear what we're saying. Just a
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regular guy down the street from you. I could be
your neighbor. Painting my house today, trying to
keep it up. And you know, and thought I'd come up
here and share my feelings with you. Okay?
FRANK: You guys have a good day.
Thank you.
(Short recess.)
TERRY WITKOWSKI: We have a
speaker.
Please just announce at least your first name.
Okay?
MATTHEW: My name is Matthew.
I'm
23 years old. I'm an eplleptic. I'm a former -- I'm
a former patient in the state of California,
medical marijuana. I am speaking on behalf of my
family as well.
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I'm not the typical person you would
consider to be a smoker. I'm not currently, which
is something that I would like to be changed. I
don't appear to be a criminal, and I know a lot of
other people that were terminally ill patlents
that, you know, did not fit the profile of somebody
who was a smoker as well.
I'm an honor roll student. I have a
job working with handicapped individuals, and I'd
just like to -- I'd like to find out if we can get
the law changed. It has to be done. Someone, you
know, who suffers with epileptic seizures, and
really would like to see this get to the
legislature and then have -- have the people of the
state of Iowa decide on this because it is a
democracy.
So thank you for your time.
(Short recess.
CHRIS YOUNG: Hello. Hi.
My name is
Chris Young. Excuse that. I have -- was
paralyzed 20 years ago as a result of a diving
accident, and my temperature gauge doesn't work
quite right. I don't sweat when it gets hot, and
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when -- on a day like today, I get a little breeze
by my ears, and I start chattering like a baby. So
this hat is something that keeps me on an even
keel.
As a result of my spinal cord injury
20 years ago, I was left with a condition called
chronic deaffernation pain, similar to the kind of
phantom pain that people that lose limbs feel.
It's very real and it's very intense sometimes. It
varies from day-to-day.
From time to time it feels literally
like there's a bus or something squeezing --
squeezing my leg to screws being -- I mean it's a
bit evil, the type of pain that I feel. It
manifests itself in ways that -- where it literally
feels like I have a pair of vice grips attaohed to
my right testicle, and as a result, you can imagine
the anxiety that goes along with it.
For the first two or three, four
years, they treated -- they tried to treat the pain
with anticonvulsants. The result of this was three
trips to the emergency room that eventually
resulted in my blood sodium being damaged for the
rest of my life. Ever since -- ever since then,
the sodium in my blood is low, and subsequently I
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have instead of getting sodium out of my diet, I
tend to put sodium into my diet.
I was in the hospital last -- I was
having surgery last summer, and I had a go-around
with my doctors regarding my -- my blood sodium,
and after checking my records, you know, all the
way back to the early '90s, only then were they
able to say "Oh, well, he's like this normally. We
don't need to put him on -- keep him on fluid
restriction," which was a joy for me because being
on fluid restriction is not a fun thing.
Anyways, getting on -- getting on to
the marijuana issue, I later became aware of -- I
was offered marijuana, and it actually -- I found
the efficacy for the pain, I didn't expect it.
That wasn't my original intention, but I quickly
learned that -- that I had no desire to continue
the use of the convulsants -- or the
anticonvulsants that the doctor was giving me, and
I quit that, was sent to a spinal cord hospital
for -- that knew more about the pain issue. They
didn't seem to have a problem with it, with the
marijuana use as it was.
It wasn't an issue with my schoolwork.
At the time I was a full-time student with, you
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know, a three and a half point grade point average,
so it wasn't an issue with my studies.
I preferred to be able to ingest it
through food rather than smoking it. However, this
is a problem in obtaining plant material to bake
with. There's -- I bought a cookbook and learned
how to extract the active substance from the plant
into butter and then use the butter, you know, for
making brownies and things like that. I found the
efficacy of ingesting marijuana by eating it to
have a lot more efficacy than by smoking it.
However, it's a lot -- it takes it takes a lot
less to smoke with than it does to eat with, if
that makes sense.
In conclusion, I'd just like to say
that the side effects of marijuana are are far,
far fewer than the side effects of the medications
that I've been given. I haven't -- I haven't
had -- I haven't had any sort of you know, when
I haven't -- when I am not able to obtain
marijuana, I don't have -- I don't have, you know,
like, a physical withdrawal feeling or any sort of,
you know, cravings; for example, like with nicotine
withdrawal when I quit smoking cigarettes.
I think that -- I think it's safe and
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effective and that I would move that the pharmacy
board reclassify marijuana and make some
arrangements for people that legitimately have a
need for it are able to obtain it.
I'm trying to think if I left anything
out that I wanted to cover. I guess that's all I
got to say.
(Short recess.)
CHRIS YOUNG: There is one thing
I'd
like to add. It would just take a minute. Is that
okay?
CHRIS YOUNG: That's okay.
I would
like it entered into the official record, though,
is that the biggest -- the next biggest issue is
the feeling of being a criminal, and it's something
that I fight with and -- you know, in obtaining
marijuana that I'm using from my perspective
medicinally in my own home, to know that I can have
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somebody come into my home and take me off to jail
and incarcerate me for something that I think that
the -- I think that the penalties are way out of
whack with -- with the, quote, unquote, crime.
I think there oughe to be
provisions -- provisions made that I'm tired of
being a criminal, and I'm tired of -- and I'm tired
of endangering a house that if I didn't have, you
know, I'd be SOL. You know, I'd probably be in a
nursing home.
It's just a really difficult thing to
deal with to know that my freedom is attached. I'm
putting my freedom on the line just to get rid of
the pain. And it hurts. Thanks.
(Short recess.)
TERRY WITKOWSKI: If you'd like
to
speak, anytime that you're ready, just come on up
to the podium. Don't want to rush you, but if
you're ready to talk, you're welcome.
SUE: This is, like, a fly-by-night
thing.
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you'd to give more but --
SUE: Hi. I'm Sue. I have severe
RA
and osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia. I'm allergic
to 11 drugs, one of them being morphine, so when I
have surgery, we have a really hard time keeping
the pain down.
But on a day-to-day basis, I take
Darvocet, Darvon, oxycodone, Hydrocodone, and I
still can't sleep at night, and I'm in a lot of
pain. And I think that if medical marijuana would
work, I would be very, very willing to try it. I
mean I would just -- I'd love to have four or five
hours of sleep.
And I think it's not like all this
manufactured stuff. I think God put it on the
earth for a reason, and I think if it would help
people, I really think that they should give it the
okay. Thanks.
(Short recess.)
ROBERT BLUE: It'S great to see
everybody out here today, and you know, it just
means that we're getting the fight done, you know.
I want to talk about a couple of the medical uses,
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just go through a lot of the diseases that medical
marijuana actually helps.
ROBERT BLUE: Robert Blue.
Sorry.
Through government studies, marijuana is the third
most popular recreational drug in America. That's
behind alcohol and tobacco. It's used by -- it has
been used by nearly 80 million Americans, and
20 million of those do so regularly.
In 2007, 872,721 marijuana-related
arrests happened in America. That's just an
astounding amount for when prisons are
overpopulated as they are.
The medical uses for marijuana, it
helps Alzheimer's, fibromyalgia, dystonia,
Hepatitis C, diabetes, osteoporosis, MRSA, multiple
sclerosis, ALS, chronic pain, Tourette's, HIV,
hypertension, sleep apnea, GI disorders,
incontinence, rheumatoid arthritis, nausea, and
that's just a small list of a lot more diseases
that I can't even pronounce, you know.
It is our testimonials that is the
precursor to change. We cannot only think about
ourselves in this matter with all our pain but must
consider the future generations, must consider our
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cbildren. We fight the good fight now so that the
world will be changed for the better. What we are
doing here is good. I want to win this -- I want
to win this now so that our children who may one
day feel the same pains as we do will not have to
fight.
Thomas Payne wrote in a book called
Common Sense in 1776, quote, we have it in our
power to begin the world over again, unquote.
Change starts now. And this change is good.
I beg the board to see all the
benefits of medical marijuana, to see past just
what is going on now. Look towards the future of
pain and disease therapy. Look at the people who
have yet to feel the anguish of chronic pain and
disease but who will one day need marijuana. Look
at all the goodness of the present and the
greatness of the future. Thank you.
JOHN WOLFTEN: : Hi. I want
to thank
you today for having this even considered and for
having it in an open meeting.
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JOHN WOLFTEN: I suffer from a
number
of chronic pain syndromes, and I'm here today
because my doctors are out of drugs. I have been
and am on drugs that are known to be misused or
abused or addictive. I've never had any of those
problems with these drugs, but right I now see a
pain management doctor, and that's just it.
They're out of drugs.
We've gone through over-the-counter
stuff, through COX inhibitors, antidepressants, all
the narcotics except one, and I won't take that
because if I need -- if I develop the same
intolerance to that one narcotic that I have
developed to all the other ones, then should I need
major surgery or be in an accident, then the
doctors would have absolutely nothing for pain
relief for me. So I won't take Fentanyl.
And when I go to the emergency room
for, like, headaches and stuff, I tell them "Don't
give me any narcotics, and don't give me Fentanyl."
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but when I go into surgery, I say "The only
narcotic you can use is Fentanyl."
I would just -- you know, I don't -- I
don't like feeling drugged. I don't want to -- I
don't want to be drugged in the first place. I
could get marijuana off the street if I wanted to.
I don't. I don't like it because it's -- there's
no consistency in the potency of the drug, and you
don't know what you're getting.
So I would like it to be a regulated
medicine. Also, because there's nothing left, and
I do take a lot of medications, I have to take a
lot of medications. I do drink alcohol when the
pain gets to be too much, and I know I'm not
supposed to. I don't tell my doctors. But -- and
I know I'm at high risk for alcoholism, but that's
my one choice right now. Otherwise, the pain
causes me to feel suicidal several times a week.
Also, I don't tell my doctors that. You know,
they'd just put me in the hospital, and there's
nothing they can do.
So I would like to see this as an
option, the sooner the better. I think one day it
will -- it will certainly happen, but some of us
need it right now. Thank you.
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Go ahead. State your name, please.
WES THORSON: Wes Thorson.
I found
that marijuana has been very beneficial to me and
regular people. I have a mental illness I've been
diagnosed with. They have given me many
medications for this. I don't like the medications
they give me. The medications have dangerous side
effects. I don't like them.
I took it upon my own will to try
without medications and just smoke marijuana. I
have found that just smoking the marijuana has been
more beneficial than these meds they have given me.
Marijuana has not -- has many
benefits -- benefits or whatever it's called, but
it does not kill brain cells, does not cause all
these side efEects that so-called government has
said in the past. There are many other people out
there that smoke this, use it, ingest it, however
they take it. It has not caused them any harmful
effects.
And I just wish to see that you guys
would take into effect to see that other people
need this. Lots of people do. And that it should
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be our right to be able to smoke this or have
dispensaries. The~e are many medical places for us
to have this drug. That's what I got to say.
BENJAMIN: Hello. My name is
Benjamin. I'm 26 years old. I've used marijuana
recreationally over -- on and off over the last ten
years.
I was really excited when I found out
about the pharmacy giving time -- their time to
listen to people's statements and considering the
medical uses of marijuana, although I can't blame
you because there's been a lot of up-and-coming
about it and everything. So thank you for your
time. Appreciate that.
So okay. So I looked on the website,
and I just read a couple of things that you all are
looking for, scientific evidence and whatever. I'm
just going to kind of speak to some of the points I
found on the Internet.
I finished high school. I took six
months of full-time massage therapy school, so I
have, like, a limited anatomical and physiological
background, but I have some basic understanding, I
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guess.
I'm into -- obviously into alternative
therapies, massage therapy being one of them. I'm
not really a big fan of pills. I quit smoking
tobacco, and I was prescribed a pill, and it was,
like, a six-month prescription, but I only did it
for a month because I just -- I'd rather not risk
that, if possible. So it's kind of a natural
thing. It's, I guess, a philosophy or whatever
so -- but I won't try and get too much into that.
So I guess the first question or first
point on your site was marijuana's actual or
relative potential for abuse. And I was not really
sure how to address that because a lot of it,
there's a lot of opinion, and I couldn't -- I
wasn't sure what type of numbers to look for. The
best I could find was based on the Monitoring the
Future survey. I don't know if you've all heard of
that. It's done in high schools. I remember
taking it when I was in high school that they had
to fill out a form. They also do it in college and
I guess some adult levels up to about age 47.
And the stats on that I'm looking at
are primarlly from the adult use to age 30 because
that's past most, you know, high schools or
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whatever, so it's adults, and that's, I think -- I
don't think it should be really given to children,
per se, like -- just because there are some side
effects that could affect learning possibly. I
mean there's not a lot known, like, scientifically
about it because there's not -- like, our
scientific understanding is kind of, like, immature
or whatever.
Just because, like, in -- okay. Like,
the receptors that receive the cannabinolds in your
brain weren't discovered until 1990 and 1993, the
CB and -- CB1 receptor -- CB1 receptor -- CB1 and
2. Sorry. And then I guess those were found in
the part of your brain that controls your
perception of senses and stuff llke that, so
whatever. So we actually learned something from
marijuana that we normally might not have, I guess,
to say.
Anyway, but the statistics I found, I
related the use of marijuana to alcohol as far as
potential for abuse, looking at there are
treatment -- there's treatments for alcohol, like,
there's A.A., and then there's treatments for
marijuana and other narcotics that are all kind of
grouped together, so they both have that going for
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them. And then alcohol might be legal, but they're
both commonly used, like, or tried, like, half --
like, 45 to 50 percent of, like, all high school
12th graders have tried it. I think 33 percent
reported using it in, like, the last either month
or week, and then there's a small percentage that
used it in the last, like -- or daily usage.
But in adult use, 80 percent of all
adults, 19 to 30 on the survey, had tried alcohol
and -- wait. No. I'm sorry. That was annual use.
Yeah. It was, like, 80 -- like, 90 percent was the
actual lifetime had tried, and then for the -- or
for marijuana it was about 55, 60 percent.
So fewer people have tried it,
primarily because of the perceived, like, negative,
like, of trying it. I can't remember the
percentages, but there's a greater -- like, the use
of it is perceived as, you know, illegal, bad, so
less people try it, you know.
Annually, 80 percent of people
surveyed reported using of alcohol, and then
]0 percent report using marijuana annually. In the
last 30 days, 68 percent tried or used alcohol for
any purpose. And then 15 percent tried marijuana.
5 percent report daily use of alcohol, and that
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could be, like, a glass, or it didn't really
specify too much, but it was basically did you use
it in the last day, either a glass, or it didn't
really specify the amount. So that was 5 percent
for alcohol and 5 percent of people for marijuana.
So the use, marijuana is used less, so
I would think there's a less potential for abuse
perhaps because even if everybody tried marijuana,
you just doubled the numbers, it would still be
60 percent of people using annually, 30 percent
using -- or a month and then 10 percent using a
day. That was kind of my logic. It's not perfect
but I tried.
So -- and through personal experience,
I can -- quitting cigarettes required a pill, and
then quitting marijuana any number of times, really
didn't require that. You just stop.
The other one to speak to marijuana
was pharmacological effect. I don't really
understand the physiology to go into the actual
chemistry of it all, to go into that, so I
apologize for that. I can speak to preparation and
usage.
One of the most common methods is
smoked. There's a lot of people that like that