Pubdate: Thu, 08 May 2014
Source: Post-Tribune (Merrillville, IN)
Copyright: 2014 Post-Tribune
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/DenTBXGM
Website: http://posttrib.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3349
Author: Jerry Davich

INDIANA GOES TOO FAR - BACKWARD - IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEBATE

Judy Brown smokes pot on a regular basis and she's not afraid to say
so.

"I need it to help offset my chronic pain from injuries I sustained in
a car accident in 1986," the LaPorte woman told me while waiting to
see her pain management physician.

Along with her husband, Brown, 60, sat in the office lobby of Indiana
University Health in Michigan City and studied a word puzzle. The
elusive words she continues to search for in this state, however, are
"medical marijuana."

"Legalizing medical marijuana would certainly help my situation and
the situations of thousands of other Indiana residents with more
serious health issues than me," said Brown, who uses a cane to walk.

Last month, Brown was asked to take a costly drug-screen blood test
and also to sign a "controlled substance treatment agreement," with
her physician, Dr. David Miller, a pain management specialist. The
five-page agreement cites a lengthy list of criteria, including this
statement that Brown was asked to agree to: "I will not use
illegal/street drugs (including marijuana)."

She refused to sign the agreement, though she took the drug screen,
knowing full well that marijuana would be detected in her system. Her
doctor knew full well too, she said.

"I told him that I smoke marijuana," she said flatly.

Her test showed signs of pot, which raised red flags for the doctor's
office.

"I was told that my drug treatment medication would no longer be
issued or it would be reduced to maintenance level so I could avoid
withdrawal symptoms," she said.

Brown was livid about this treatment change and had concerns of having
to smoke pot more often to compensate for fewer pain meds. (Watch the
video at http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/davich/index.html.)

"I'm being treated as if I've done something wrong, and I know I
haven't," she said. "I am not a kid. I'm not a criminal, not even a
speeding ticket. This is a serious situation for me and they have no
right to question me or my lifestyle choices for better health."

"I think I was set up to fail this particular drug screening test,"
she added.

I contacted Indiana University Health to ask if it has a policy for
patients who use medicinal marijuana, including mandatory drug
screens, and if it conflicts with their care and pain meds.

"It appears we have no such a policy since medical marijuana is
illegal in Indiana," said IU Health spokesman Gene Ford.

Hmmmm. OK.

I also contacted the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which
reminded me of its class-action lawsuit filed earlier this year
against the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana. The suit challenges
the constitutionality of a new rule requiring some pain patients to
submit to mandatory drug testing.

In a nutshell, it seeks a court order to prohibit the Medical
Licensing Board of Indiana from requiring patients who receive certain
opioid pain meds to sign a treatment agreement, similar to what Brown
was asked to sign.

Other pain management centers and clinics across the country have
similar drug-testing policies, though the ACLU and other medical
marijuana advocates are against this.

"The Fourth Amendment protects all of us from government-mandated
searches unless there is cause or justification," said Kenneth Falk,
legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, in a statement. "The mandatory
drug testing simply goes too far."

Does it?

"Yes it does," Brown told me. "I understand what the state is trying
to do but it's doing it the wrong way. It should instead legalize
medical marijuana like all those other states."

To date, 21 states (including Illinois on Jan. 1 of this year) have
enacted laws to legalize medical marijuana. Approved conditions in
Illinois include debilitating medical conditions and 40 chronic
diseases, such as cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, Crohn's
disease and many more.

I'm not sure if it includes a rare genetic disorder called Aicardi
syndrome, which affects just a few children in this country, including
2-year-old Adalyn Hiles of Griffith. The adorable toddler was born
with the little-known disorder and suffers clusters of scary seizures
every day that last up to 10 minutes at a time.

"She is a trooper, but every day is a struggle," said her father,
Jason Hiles, who also advocates for legalizing medical marijuana.

"Indiana has laws about medical marijuana that if eased up on could be
potentially helpful to Addie's condition," he told me. "Many Aicardi
families, as we call them, are moving to states like Colorado to have
their (children) use medical marijuana to help control their seizures."

Little Addie is currently on four different seizure meds, and the
family faces a serious financial hardship June 1 when the state takes
away her Medicaid coverage through its spend-down program.

"We still have primary insurance, but Medicaid was picking up what the
insurance would not cover," Hiles said.

That's a whole other column for me, but Addie's parents also are upset
that she won't be legally allowed to curb her seizures with medical
marijuana. Addie has never used marijuana, yet, but the average
lifespan of "Aicardi kids" is just 18 years, her father said.

Legalizing medical marijuana will probably not happen anytime soon in
this slow-to-change, conservative state, which doesn't bode well for
Brown and many others in her "time is ticking" situation.

The question is, will it be legalized in time for younger generations
of Hoosiers, such as Addie, who may suffer literally thousands more
seizures while waiting on our lawmakers to ride their
horse-and-buggies into the 21st century?

I'm not very hopeful, how about you?
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt