Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jun 2005
Source: Burlington Free Press (VT)
Copyright: 2005 Burlington Free Press
Contact:  http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/632
Author: Terri Hallenbeck and Nancy Remsen, Free Press Staff Writers
Cited: Gonzales v. Raich ( www.angeljustice.org/ )
Cited: Vermont Marijuana Policy Project ( www.vmpp.org )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Raich (Angel Raich)

VERMONTERS NEVER EXPECTED THE STATE'S MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW WOULD GIVE THEM 
FEDERAL PROTECTION

MONTPELIER -- Katherine Perera is trying to grow marijuana in a locked
room of her Hancock home, hoping to harvest enough of the drug to calm
her nausea and bring back the appetite for food that her AIDS
medications have quashed.

A year-old Vermont law gives her permission to do that. When the U.S.
Supreme Court said Monday that state medical marijuana laws don't
protect users from federal prosecution, nothing changed for Perera --
she knew all along that if federal authorities wanted to arrest her
for her little pot-growing operation, they could.

"We know federal law supersedes state law," she said. "I'm in a way
gambling, but I think it's a calculated risk." She said she can't
imagine federal authorities wanting to take on the care of people with
very expensive illnesses.

She hopes, though, that Monday's decision provides a wakeup call to
Congress to act on the issue nationally. "Congress has over and over
been choosing not to hear what's going on," she said.

Perera is one of 14 Vermonters on the state's medical marijuana
registry. Each has a photo identification card offering them
protection from prosecution under Vermont criminal laws for using
marijuana and growing up to three plants indoors in a locked room for
their own use.

To register, Perera and the others needed their doctors to certify
they had one of the serious conditions listed in the law -- terminal
cancer, AIDS or debilitating symptoms from those diseases plus
multiple sclerosis, or significant side effects from the treatment of
those diseases. Doctors don't prescribe marijuana.

Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Kerry Sleeper noted the number of
people who have registered is small. "From the applications I've seen,
they are very, very seriously ill people."

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling won't change anything about the state's
medical marijuana registry or the way police and prosecutors view the
folks who sought protection under Vermont's law, Sleeper said. "I'm
not anticipating it is going to have any local impact."

Vermont's law would only be in jeopardy if the court said states can't
create exemptions from their own laws, Sleeper said.

Nancy Lynch, statewide coordinator for the Vermont Marijuana Policy
Project, said the registry is working well. The Department of Public
Safety has been cooperative and efficient in processing applications,
she said.

The process is costly -- $100 a year -- to those with expensive
medical conditions. Lynch's agency offers financial assistance and has
helped seven of those on the registry, she said. As word spreads about
the law, Lynch said, interest is picking up.

Perera, 40, contracted the AIDS virus 23 years ago from a blood
transfusion. Four years ago, her medications made her so nauseated she
was throwing up four or five times a day. She lost weight and couldn't
keep warm. Her current mixture of medication has less toxic side
effects, but she still depends on marijuana to give her the appetite
she needs to stay strong.

"For me it's a way of maintaining weight," she said. Other
prescriptions for nausea and vomiting left her too tired and dizzy to
leave the house.

Even with the state's permission to grow marijuana, there are
obstacles. Perera said she's discovered it's not easy to grow quality
marijuana, to know when to change the lighting or when the plants are
ready for harvesting. "I'm reading the books, but I imagine it's going
to be a year before I learn how to grow it."

[Sidebar:]

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Vermont's medical marijuana law passed in 2004. Individuals on a
Vermont Marijuana Registry are protected from state criminal penalties
for their use of marijuana to cope with debilitating disease.

ELIGIBILITY: To qualify for Vermont's limited protection, an
individual must have terminal cancer or AIDS, or debilitating and
intractable symptoms caused by AIDS, cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis
or the treatments for any of these diseases.

DOCTOR'S ROLE: An applicant's doctor is asked to certify only that the
individual has one of the debilitating conditions listed in the law
and that the applicant has been a patient for at least six months.

COST: Applicants pay a $100 annual application fee for a photo
identification card. The money isn't returned if an individual's
application is denied.

PLANT RESTRICTIONS: Registered users are allowed two ounces of
ready-to-smoke marijuana, one mature plant and two plants that have
yet to bud.

GROWING RULES: The plants must be grown indoors in locked rooms and
the harvested leaves must be kept in locked containers. 
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