Pubdate: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 Source: Albany Democrat-Herald (OR) Page: A10 Copyright: 2009 Lee Enterprises Contact: http://www.democratherald.com/forms/contact/letters_editor/ Website: http://www.democratherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/7 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n368/a08.html Author: Elvy Musikka Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Elvy+Musikka Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal) MY LIFE AND MEDICAL POT As one of the four remaining patients enrolled in the U.S. Government's Compassionate Investigational New Drug program (CIND) I am compelled to respond to the snide and fallacious letter from Larry Crompton (Can't Pot Cure Everything?), published in the Democrat-Herald Monday, March 30. I was born with congenital cataracts and as a child I had several eye surgeries. By the time I reached my thirties I had developed glaucoma. In 1975 my doctor recommended that I try cannabis, because if I didn't I would completely lose my eyesight. My doctor made that recommendation as my friend and not as a doctor because that recommendation could have cost him the loss of his license to practice medicine. But I was shocked, I was very anti-drug and I viewed cannabis as very much a drug to stay away from. But my stance was based on ignorance and not knowledge. Cannabis did save my vision. Over 30 years later and I still live independently in spite of my visual impairment. I have lost vision completely in my right eye (because of too may surgeries) but the vision in my left eye is better than it has ever been - because of cannabis! All those surgeries have cost U.S. taxpayers more money than I will ever earn in my lifetime. I received care at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami School of Medicine. Paul F. Palmberg, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Ophthalmology, is my eye doctor. Dr. Palmberg's work is internationally recognized and he is an award winning researcher for his work on glaucoma. He is a respected elder in his Episcopal church. Where Mr. Crompton is correct is in his noting that I was arrested for cannabis in Florida. What Larry doesn't say is that I was acquitted and that my case set the precedent for medical necessity as a defense in medical cannabis cases in Florida. In fact Circuit Judge Mark Polan, who presided over my trial, concluded after reviewing ten years of my medical records that I "would have to be crazy NOT to smoke cannabis." Ironically that arrest was one of the best things ever to happen to me in my life. It was that arrest that prompted me to apply as a patient in CIND. Robert Randall, the first CIND enrollee and the man whose lawsuit prompted the program's creation also suffers from glaucoma and he too was arrested for cannabis possession. Cannabis saved my eyesight. It should be an accepted medicine but the federal government continues to block research and has acted in a manner that has cost too many citizens too much by not acknowledging this wonderful plant's efficacy as medicine. Criminalizing people who use pot is an egregious wrong and the laws need to be changed. In the 1980s DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young did an exhausting study of cannabis and concluded that it is "is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." I travel extensively presenting testimony to legislators and giving presentations. I have crossed the continent many times, speaking in all 50 states and I have traveled to many countries in Europe presenting my case and speaking on behalf of patients and cannabis. In an absurd statement Mr. Crompton says that there "is not one single record of anyone with a medical marijuana card who did not smoke dope before they found a problem that marijuana would fix." Absurd and false! In my travels I have had conversations with thousands of patients and my estimate is that at least half did not even know pot was medicine and had never tried it in their lifetimes. But it is truly saddening that people like Mr. Crompton, speaking from ignorance instead of knowledge, have been the roadblock to discovering more about cannabis as medicine. The Larry Cromptons of our country perpetuate a cruel and expensive hoax upon society. In his report's conclusion Judge Young states, "It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record."