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48 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, January 27, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 20, 2003 Erik, a user of medical marijuana, trims leaves from a plant he grew in his back yard. Erik asked that his real name not be used to protect his confidentiality. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Controversial crop A local cancer patient who grows his own medicinal marijuana juggles worries about law-enforcement scrutiny and fear of thefts from his backyard garden By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Diagnosed with bladder cancer, Erik has discovered that growing marijuana in his back yard for medicinal reasons isn’t as easy as growing tomato plants. This 35-year-old Jackson County man has asked that his real name and location not be revealed because his pot was stolen last year, but agreed to discuss his recent harvest and the importance of it as medicine. "People on the program aren’t just druggies out to get high," he said "I’d rather not grow pot. I’d rather not be sick." Advertisement Erik is one of the first 500 people in Oregon to get a medical marijuana card and one of 486 in Jackson County who are legally authorized to grow the plant or to have someone else grow it for them. Since September, the number of people with marijuana cards has increased from 335, a 45 percent increase that is partially attributable to a backlog of applications cleared by the state. For the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, the number of backyard plots and the backlog of applications has become a nuisance. "It has been confusing, said Lt. Dewey Patten, commander of the Jackson County Narcotics Enforcement Team. Sometimes a grower is cultivating enough plants for more than one person, but the applications haven’t cleared the state yet. "We give them the benefit of the doubt that their (additional) application would be approved," he said Although no arrests have been made this year for the 2,000 illegal plants confiscated in mostly forested areas, Patten said the laws regarding legal cultivation are often being abused. "It’s a scam," he said. "The vast majority are doing it to make money." Erik is dismayed by what he perceives as the continued callousness of law enforcement officials regarding the suffering that people like him endure. "I think the cops are more understanding than they used to be, but they’re still complaining about it," he said. Every three months he goes in for a checkup, which sometimes involves removing a tumor from his bladder. "I go into the doctor’s office feeling fine and come out feeling like I got kicked in the groin three times," he said. His doctor has prescribed other drugs such as oxycontin or hydrocodone, but they haven’t relieved the symptoms the way marijuana has — and they are also highly addictive. "I don’t want to end up getting addicted like Rush Limbaugh," he said. When trimming his pot, Erik wears surgeon’s gloves because he doesn’t want to smell like marijuana. He also airs out his house after trimming so his wife doesn’t have to put up with a smell that she doesn’t like. His backyard garden, surrounded by a 6-foot-high chain-link fence, is about 6 feet square, making it typical of the kinds of gardens law enforcement agencies have spotted from the air. He worries about theft, saying he slept outside for the past month to protect his plants. While it might look like a lot of pot, said Erik, he probably will only have enough to last about a half a year. This will likely force him to order the drug illegally online at $300 an ounce. He also has to order seeds online from a source in Europe. He’s also worried that smoking of marijuana could cause long-term health damage, so he has ordered a unit that vaporizes the dried buds at a temperature of 260-280 degrees, producing less harmful smoke. "I don’t want to take in any more carcinogens than I have to," he said. While Patten agreed that there are medical benefits for some people who smoke pot, the issue of backyard gardens has been frustrating and confusing to proper law enforcement. In years past, helicopter flyovers typically found marijuana growing in forested areas. Now, deputies are seeing less in the forest and more large patches clearly visible in back yards. His office checks with state officials to determine whether the patch belongs to someone with a medical marijuana card, or to a caregiver — someone authorized to grow pot for someone who uses it as medicine. "A few of them have been way out of compliance and we got search warrants," he said. The pot growers have generally been compliant with law enforcement officials and have removed the extra plants. The law entitles them to grow three mature plants and four immature plants. However, in some cases growers, who had slightly more than their limit of plants, have threatened deputies over the phone "A couple of them, we didn’t go to, because it would be a big confrontation," said Patten, noting the properties were fenced and gated. Aaron Cossel, office specialist for the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, said it has been difficult to process all the applications submitted to his office. "We have a backlog," he said. "We’re six weeks behind in reviewing files." Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Doctors say high court ruling gives backing to medicinal marijuana users Doctors welcome a recent decision by the Supreme Court to make it easier for patients to use marijuana to relieve symptoms from their diseases. "That would seem a step in the right direction," said Dr. Holly Easton, who practices family medicine in Jackson County. "That would respect an individual state’s rights." Oregon, like other states, passed a medical marijuana initiative in 1998 that has created an uneasy relationship with the federal government, which still deems pot as an illegal drug in the same classification as heroin. The federal Drug Enforcement Agency still confiscates marijuana in states that have passed marijuana laws. In Oregon 1,093 doctors of the 10,028 physicians signed a statement with the state that is needed before a medical marijuana card is issued. While Easton hasn’t been contacted by authorities about the handful of statements she’s signed in the past two years, she said it will help take the onus off giving marijuana to patients who need it. "It is a really good medical therapy," she said. "I’ve been very impressed with their ability to function and function well, and it relieves their symptoms." Patients who have taken the drug range from a student finishing a college degree to a manager of a business, she said. In Colorado, she prescribed marijuana to a diabetes patient who suffered from nausea and vomiting. Easton doesn’t believe any of the people she saw had been previous abusers of marijuana. "I didn’t have the impression that any of the patients were regular pot smokers," she said. With the recent court ruling, Easton said she hopes marijuana can be given to patients who need it. "I hope the acceptance will increase," she said. Medicinal marijuana facts People can grow three mature and four immature marijuana plants if they qualify with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act program for the following reasons: Cancer. Glaucoma. HIV or AIDS. Agitation from Alzheimer’s Disease. Wasting Disease. Severe pain. Severe nausea. Seizures. Persistent muscle spasms. Number of people with medical marijuana cards in Oregon: 6,085 (last year: 4,517). Of these, 3,819 have designated another person as their caregiver to grow their marijuana. Number of people with medical marijuana cards in Southern Oregon: 2,064 (last year 2,064). Number of people with cards in Jackson County: 486. Josephine County: 330. Multnomah County: 1,050 (the most of any county in Oregon). Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers