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MARIJUANA: A PLANT OR MEDICATION FOR THE MASSES?

It's been thousands of years since people have been using marijuana around the world.  And cultivating marijuana goes back to 2700 B.C.  when China and India were used as a treatment for rheumatism, malaria and other things.

Then the Spanish brought marijuana to America in 1545, following the English in 1611 when it became a major commercial crop.  They grew marijuana mainly for use as hemp rope but were aware of its hallucinogenic properties.  Today, medical cannabis treatments are well known.

Now we have electronic cigarettes, as explained in a recent Standard-Speaker article.  Will that make smoking safer? And will the health officials over regulate--like producing too much nicotine or vapor? But mainly, will marijuana still be king?

Since 2012, only Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational purposes, and Alaska and Oregon will become legal in 2015.  Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia now have laws legalizing marijuana in some form.  State Representative Mark Cohen has co-sponsored a bill in the Pennsylvania House that would legalize marijuana for medical use.

Although most people say marijuana is harmful, there are legal ways to help others medically.

For example, the Oakland Health Center in California serves more than 94,000 patients, most using cannabis ( hemp ) medically.

Dr.  Sanjay Gupta, medical correspondent at CNN, produced "Weed," a documentary about medical marijuana in March 2014.  It highlights five-year-old Charlotte Figi who suffered severe epilepsy.  Although the Drug Enforcement Agency said there is no medicinal value for marijuana, Dr.  Gupta believes medical marijuana is reducing seizures in epilepsy.

Soon after I came to Arkansas in the '70s, I met an active hiking group.  We hiked almost every week.  We'd eat lunch near a stream, then view the area before walking on.

That day, I picked some interesting plants to take home and but them in my backpack.  No sooner than turning my head, Tom said laughing, "Do you know you took marijuana in your pack?"

That was the first time I saw marijuana ...  a beautiful plant.  Through the years as a photojournalist, I learned a lot about marijuana, going with the sheriffs when busting marijuana situations.  And I learned how to find gardens full of marijuana plants.

Then the time came.  My friend Lian was suffering with pancreas cancer.  And one night I saw a magazine story about a man who was using marijuana to treat a serious sickness.  Why can't Lian get help with marijuana, I thought?

It was easy to get the pot.  A woman at our newspaper had two sons in college.  The next day, Annie opened her sweater and gave me three marijuana cigarettes.  That afternoon I went to Lian's home.

Following the directions in the magazine, Lian took a cigarette and sucked a little marijuana, holding it a few seconds.  That was easy since Lian was a smoker for years.  After another suck, Lian sat quietly, "I feel SO good.  No pain at all!" Both of us were laughing with thanks.  Lian saved the rest of the cigarettes for later.

Although marijuana was not legal in Arkansas, Lian's few minutes of marijuana was worth it.

Almost a year later, fighting pancreas cancer, Lian died.

That story has ended.  But there are many other stories like that.

There's no doubt that drugs, including marijuana, are hurting people.  But medical marijuana has helped people like Dr.  Gupta's patients-so they'll be around for many years.

That's what Americans said when we repealed prohibition 81 years ago.

Gardening gems

I got an interesting call from Betty Fisher in Drums, saying she saw a large tree with many huge balls.  It was near the United Methodist Church.  She was curious because she never saw such a tree like that.

After seeing my column about hazelnuts recently, Betty was wondering what this tree was.  So I went to Visintainer Nursery in Drums and got the answer.  They were not nuts.  What we saw was Osage-Orange.

Mr.  Visintainer showed several photos and information about the Osage-Orange, and he knows about the tree by the church.  There's usually two trees nearby, a male or a female, and only the female will produce the balls, he said.

I brought home three of the balls and asked others what they knew about the Osage-Orange.  They never saw anything like that.  So I cut open one of the balls.  I was shocked.  Inside was a white milky, stringy and sticky sap.  There were lots of seeds around the slimy husk.

Then I called Betty, telling what I learned from the nursery and the ball.  Since then, I checked the tree, wondering what happened with the balls.  After two big snows, the balls were smashed.

Later in the spring, we'll discuss other interesting uses of the Osage-Orange.  In the meantime, I'll be looking for the second Osage-Orange tree in the area.

Make sense

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King, Jr.