Every night before bed, Norma Winkler, 82, opens a small jar of cannabis oil and measures out a quarter-teaspoon to mix with homemade applesauce. Soon after she eats it, she drifts off to sleep.
Ms. Winkler, who lives in Rhode Island, where medical marijuana is legal, has endured chronic back pain since a car accident fractured her skull and spine at age 15. Operations haven’t helped, and other medicines don’t touch the pain that can keep her up through the night.
“It’s really been a lifesaver for me,” Ms. Winkler said of her cannabis oil. “I used to walk into the walls sometimes. I was so tired because I didn’t sleep.”
Today, she’s healthy enough to remain independent in her home and to operate the jewelry factory she owns. But she worries about what will happen if she needs institutional care. Would a long-term care facility allow her to use this particular medicine?
“I wouldn’t go if they didn’t allow me to take it,” Ms. Winkler said.
When states began embracing medical marijuana, few anticipated this inevitable scenario: patients using it would grow older, and many would need to enter assisted living and nursing homes. The prospect has just begun to raise difficult questions for administrators and state regulators.
Any patient using medical marijuana breaks federal law. Marijuana is listed as a Schedule 1 drug, which means the federal government considers it to have no medicinal value. Despite this, physicians in 14 states and the District of Columbia are allowed to recommend it. Legalization of medical marijuana is under consideration in eight additional states this year.
Though firm numbers are difficult to come by, experts say elderly patients like Ms. Winkler increasingly use medical marijuana to ease their pain. But many care facilities in which they reside, or will reside, receive federal funding through Medicare and indirectly through Medicaid.
Many facility administrators wonder how they can comply with federal law and preserve their reimbursements and at the same time permit residents to medicate with marijuana. At an American Health Care Association conference in early October, Fred Miles, a Colorado lawyer who represents health care providers, gave a presentation called “Medical Marijuana — Are Nursing Homes Going to Pot?”
The issue is badly in need of federal clarification, he said.
“What do these health care facilities do? Adopt a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy? Somebody is using medical marijuana in the residence and you just close your eyes to it? I don’t think that’s going to work very well,” Mr. Miles said in an interview.
Said Maribeth Bersani, senior vice president of public policy for the Assisted Living Federation of America: “Where do they store [marijuana]? Who assists the residents with it? Do they even want to get involved because it still is not legal federally? It’s one of those challenges that we are beginning to confront in the communities.”
Such questions prompted the American Medical Directors Association to consider a resolution last spring proposing a discussion with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about how to relax federal regulations with regard to medical marijuana in long-term care facilities. (The resolution did not pass.)
In most states that allow medical marijuana, laws don’t explicitly address the possibility that elderly patients in care facilities will want to use it. Alaska’s medical marijuana law explicitly states that it does not require accommodation for users of marijuana medical in any facility monitored by the state’s Department of Administration, which includes assisted-living facilities.
But Michigan, Oregon and Rhode Island do include “agitation of Alzheimer’s” as a qualifying condition for legal use of marijuana. And when Maine’s medical marijuana law changed last November to allow for the establishment of dispensaries, the state expressly permitted nursing homes and inpatient hospice workers to act as registered medical marijuana caregivers for patients.
Catherine Cobb, director of the state’s division of licensing and regulatory services, invited representatives from Maine’s nursing homes to a conference where she explained the program.
In order for a nursing home or inpatient hospice to act as a registered medical marijuana caregiver, the facility must obtain medical marijuana from a dispensary. Ms. Cobb is encouraging the state’s new dispensaries to measure and package doses to make it easier for care facilities to inventory and administer the medicine.
Dosage, in addition to federal law, is among the most common questions in care facilities wrestling with the prospect of medical marijuana.
In New Mexico, which legalized medical marijuana in 2007, the transition to allowing facility residents to use it has gone fairly smoothly, said the state’s long-term care ombudsman, Sondra Everhart. But the lack of dosing direction has caused problems.
“If the marijuana is kept at the nurses’ station, it tends to disappear,” Ms. Everhart said. “Pills in nursing homes are in what they call vacuum packs: you have to pop a pill out one at a time. They don’t do that with marijuana. It’s an amount of marijuana in a small plastic bag, so there is no way to track if someone took one or two pinches.”
Montana’s long-term care ombudsman, Kelly Moorse, said in an e-mail that in one state facility, workers took medical marijuana from a resident’s lockbox. She also said there were claims of staff members approaching a resident, seeking to “share” the patient’s marijuana.
Another problem perplexing officials: Other residents may object to the use of marijuana at a care facility. A roommate, for instance, might see a medical marijuana patient as a criminal, raising additional questions about patients’ rights.
“They have an affirmative right to complain and ask for redress and so forth if there’s smoke in the air and it’s aggravating their lungs, or they don’t like the smell of marijuana,” said Joe Greenman, legal counsel with the Oregon Health Care Association. “And there are cultural complaints, because medical marijuana has stigma attached to it.”
Valerie Corral, director and co-founder of Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, Calif., said that one local long-term care facility tries to accommodate patients on both sides by designating a garden patio as a marijuana-smoking area.
“In that courtyard, people are allowed to use their medicine with one of the aides that works at the facility,” Ms. Corral said. (Smoke-free options do exist for marijuana. Some facilities report patients using vaporizers or consuming cannabis baked into desserts, according to Ms. Moorse.)
Oregon’s long-term care ombudsman, Mary Jaeger, believes the emerging controversy highlights the rights of patients to use medical marijuana, whatever the setting.
“Wouldn’t any one of us, in our own homes, feel that we have the right to live our lives by our own values and choices, to preserve our own dignity and, frankly, to live pain-free?” Ms. Jaeger asked. “Because typically, that’s why a patient gets prescribed medical marijuana.”
In January, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or Norml, plans to introduce the Norml Senior Alliance, which will offer to elderly Americans information about the medical uses of marijuana, according to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the organization.
Next week, voters in California will vote on whether to support the recreational use of marijuana. Ms. Corral said passage of the measure and the changes it would bring would be positive for those living in long-term care facilities by providing wider access to medical marijuana.
“What keeps many elders from using marijuana in the first place, medically, and relieving their suffering, is the stigma that’s attached to marijuana,” Ms. Corral said.
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/medical-marijuana-raises-tough-questions-in-nursing-homes/?src=mv
Month: October 2010
Book Says Pot Laws Are Unconstitutional; Soon Available Online
Photo: Shady House Publishing Company |
It doesn’t take a psychic to know that marijuana legalization is on the way. A new book showing that it never should have been outlawed in the first place will be soon be available online, according to its publisher.
Photo: Hoam Rogh |
Author Hoam Rogh: “Cannabis law is nbot honest. It’s lies for no good reason and people suffer and die.” |
N.J. Doctors Forced To Tell Patients Marijuana Is Addictive
Photo: BakedLife.com |
New Requirement Called Openly Hostile, “Blatantly Political”
Photo: Gest Alta |
Ken Wolski, CMMNJ: “This is a blatantly political statement, at odds with the law itself, and shows open hostility to the use of marijuana as medicine” |
Graphic: Narco Polo |
Marijuana is less addictive than caffeine. |
San Fran Pot Shop, Free Joints for Giants’ Homers, Other Goodies
When the San Francisco Giants’ Juan Uribe hit a homer in game one of the team’s World Series 11-7 win over the Texas Rangers, patients at ReLeaf Herbal Center were the winners. The medical marijuana dispensary is giving one free joint to all existing patients on the premises, for every home run hit by a Giants player.
ReLeaf Herbal Center has decided to drum up business for itself by being a place to hang out during the World Series. In addition to a free doobie, they are encouraging patients to sample its special punch drink.
Here is their Facebook page posting: “Ready for game 2??? ReLeaf is ready…with our medicated Giants Punch which we will again be sampling to our patients during the game and a a good stack of joints ready to hand out to patients present at our collective during each home run!! Go Giants!!!”
TMZ.com did a whole piece on the medical marijuana dispensary’s free market concepts. The Giants Punch, according to them is a cool Giants’ orange in color as well as laced with the medical stuff. With Prop. 19 on the ballot in California that would decriminalize one ounce or less of the loose leaf, the licensed pot dispensaries are realizing that they won’t be the only way to get pot on a legal basis, if and when the vote goes in the proposition’s favor.
ReLeaf Herbal Center treats patients to free punch and joints after Giants home runs
The Giants hope to oblige fans who favor the demon weed, not specifically of course, but if that happens to be a collateral benefit of them hitting dingers into McCovey Cove, so be it.
Other offerings of ReLeaf include something called “Pot Pockets”. They are pizza pocket-sandwiches with that very special ingredient. Also on the menu are lollipops in flavors such as coconut, lemon, orange, cheesecake, chocolate mousse cakes and of course, ReLeaf branded clothing, including tee shirts.
If MLB and fans wouldn’t object, Tim Lincecum could get himself a nice sponsorship from ReLeaf. Picked up a year ago on a pot possession charge, Lincecum has been pure as the driven snow this season, without any failed drug tests that we are aware of. At only 165 lbs. Lincecum could use to put on a few pounds and as comedians like to point out, smoking marijuana doesn’t lead to using harder drugs, it leads to eating Doritos.
Landlord Seeks Marijuana Patients To Rent His Place
A BAY AREA LANDLORD IS ACTUALLY SEEKING OUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS TO RENT HIS PLACE.
HE’S NOT SECRETIVE ABOUT IT.
IN FACT, HE PUT AN AD ON CRAIGSLIST.
HE SHOWED ROBERT LYLES THE ONE ROOM IN THE HOUSE THAT’S THE BIG SELLING POINT.
IT HAS 3 BEDROOMS…THAT ARE WORKS IN PROGRESS.
“Would this be considered the master? Yes, it would (laugh)…”
THERE’S ONE BATHROOM… AND EVEN DIRT ON THE WALLS..
“< you literally made this from the soil in the backyard?> yeah.”
STILL ITS RENTING FOR 13 HUNDRED DOLLARS A MONTH.
AND THE CALLS TO DAVID PETERSON HAVE BEEN NON-STOP.
“There’s somebody else coming to see the house at 5-30…so the sooner the better.”
SO WHY ARE RENTERS RACING TO A NORTH RICHMOND NEIGHBORHOOD TO SHELL-OUT 13 HUNDRED CLAMS A MONTH?
“So this is the grow room… this used to be a walk in closet.”
THAT’S RIGHT… INSTEAD OF SKELETONS IN PETERSON’S CLOSET…
THERE’S A 32 SQUARE FOOT GROW TABLE… CAPABLE OF HOLDING 6 MATURE AND 12 IMMATURE POT PLANTS…
IN FACT, PETERSON HAS MADE INDOOR GROWING EFFORTLESS.
“These are thousand watt lights… thousand watt grow lights.”
“This is a carbon filter…so all the air in the room get’s pulled this way…and reduces the smell basically.”
AND IT’S ALL INCLUDED IN THE RENT.
SPELLED OUT… IN BLACK AND WHITE ON CRAIGSLIST…
THAT’S WHAT BROUGHT LYDIA DAVIDSON RACING IN FROM SHASTA COUNTY.
LYDIA DAVIDSON, PERSPECTIVE RENTER
“…Its not very easy to find a landlord that first allows a 215 patient…but encourages the rental of one… so it was kinda’ neat.”
“And she’s not alone. When our camera’s arrived here tonight…there were 3 perspective renters waiting curbside…for a tour of that grow room inside. But none wanted to appear on camera. So just what do the neighbors think?.”
PEDRO TORO, NORTH RICHMOND NEIGHBOR
“You’re not surprised to see it in the neighborhood? No.”
PEDRO TORO SAYS IN THIS PART OF RICHMOND…POT IS FOUND…
“Many places in the neighborhood… No uh-uh. No.”
SO NEITHER LANDLORD NOR RENTERS SEEM WORRIED ABOUT RUNNING AFOUL OF THE LAW.
“It seems like its getting safer and safer as far as law enforcement goes.”
http://wdef.com/news/landlord_seeks_marijuana_patients_to_rent_his_place/10/2010
Gross Racial Disparities In California Pot Arrests
He might have some trouble with fair implementation: Studies show minorities are much more likely to be arrested for pot possession in California than whites, even though minorities are less likely to smoke pot.
A recent report by the Drug Policy Alliance found that from 2006 to 2008 “police in 25 of California’s major cities arrested blacks at four, five, six, seven, and even 12 times the rate of whites.” The City of Los Angeles, for instance, “arrested blacks for marijuana possession at seven times the rate of whites,” even though young white people consistently report higher marijuana use than blacks or Hispanics, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
In the last 20 years, California authorities made 850,000 arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana. There’s no reason to believe the disparity in arrests is confined to the state.
On Wednesday the DPA released a second report highlighting the disparities between white and Latino arrests. Findings showed that from 2006 to 2008 “major cities in California arrested and prosecuted Latinos for marijuana possession at double to nearly triple the rate of whites.” In San Jose, the third largest city in the state, police arrested Latinos at more than twice the rate of whites. Glendale, California — where Latinos make up only 17 percent of the population of almost 200,000, but 30 percent of those arrested for marijuana possession — had the highest Latino arrest rate of the 33 cities surveyed.
The report’s authors cautioned that the findings should not be attributed to racist cops.
“The disparities documented in the report are the result of routing police practices, not the result of racists cops here and there,” Stephen Gutwillig, state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. “This is a system-wide issue.”
Several weeks ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law, effective in January, which downgrades possession of an ounce or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction. But Gutwillig said the new legislation will not eliminate the problem.
“The recent downgrading by the governor which lowers the penalty from a misdemeanor to an infraction is absolutely a step in the right direction,” he said. “But targeting of Latinos will continue.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/28/gross-racial-disparities-_n_775590.html
Wilkinson’s Novel ‘Witchgrass’ Gets It Exactly Right
There is so much damage and devastation inflicted on American communities by our government’s senseless war on cannabis that the sheer magnitude of the tragedy can sometimes overwhelm us. Bust statistics and prison terms blur into a cacophony of numbers, a calculus of pain as they inexorably pile and snowball.
Dave Wilkinson |
Witchgrass author Dave Wilkinson |
Machine-Gun Toting Cops Raid Legal Pot Patient For Two Plants
Photo: Voice It Out |
Seattle Police officers knocked a legal patient’s door down, charged in brandishing machine guns, and forced him face down to the floor. He had two legal plants. |
Seattle Police officers brandishing submachine guns broke down the door of a 50-year-old medical marijuana patient Monday night and pushed him face down to the floor. His offense? He was legally growing two tiny cannabis plants.
Graphic: NORML/Missoula Independent |
Fill’er Up with Hemp Biodiesel
Hemp could be on the verge of joining the growing number of weeds that could power your car. Researchers at the University of Connecticut have found that industrial hemp seeds could make an ideal feedstock for biofuel production. Slight hitch: growing hemp, industrial or otherwise, is still illegal in the U.S. However, given that medical marijuana is rapidly approaching mainstream status and some states are relaxing marijuana-related laws, the chances for an industrial hemp comeback look a little brighter.
Biodiesel from Hemp
A couple of things about hemp make it ideal as a sustainable biofuel. First of all, industrial hemp is not a food crop. Second, it flourishes in sub-quality soil with a minimal amount of water or fertilizer. The UConn research team found that 97 percent of the virgin hemp seed oil they tested converted to biodiesel, and this high efficiency of conversion offers good potential for commercial production. The team also found that hemp seed biodiesel could be used at lower temperatures than other biodiesels currently in use.
Plenty of Room for Hemp Biodiesel
With hemp production barred here in the U.S., the researchers hope their findings will prove useful in other countries where hemp is grown, since in most cases the seeds are simply discarded. In any case, as mentioned above, chances are that the ban will eventually be lifted, not only because of relaxing cultural attitudes about hemp in general but also because the U.S. military is going heavily in for biofuels, with camelina biofuel for Air Force and Navy fighter planes leading the way.
Medical marijuana patients will be able to smoke openly at this year’s Cypress Hill Smokeout
Cypress Hill has made no bongs about where its allegiances lie. The venerable South Gate-raised rhymers have been teaching America how to get high and the right ways to do it, since Bush père owned the Oval Office. And since 1998, the group’s struck the match for the Cypress Hill Smokeout, along with Guerilla Union (the organization behind Paid Dues and Rock the Bells).
Following a hiatus, the festival returned last year with performances from a reunited Sublime (minus the late Bradley Nowell), Goodie Mob, the Geto Boys, Redman & Method Man, and Slipknot. This year’s event, slated for Oct. 16 at San Bernardino’s NOS Events Center, features headlining performances from Incubus, Manu Chao, Nas and Damian Marley, Erykah Badu and MGMT.
But perhaps the most interesting story about the festival’s latest incarnation is that it boasts a dedicated consumption area for medical marijuana patients. The fruits of an arrangement brokered between Guerilla Union and local municipal and law enforcement officials, the safe haven is the first known pact of its kind in Southern California concert history. In advance of the festival, Pop & Hiss spoke with Guerilla Union’s Chang Weisberg about how the deal went down.
What was the process behind persuading the local authorities to permit this sort of safe haven for medical marijuana cardholders?
It was a long one. We had to get the OK from the police department and the city of San Bernardino. None of them will endorse what we’re doing, or even say that they’re behind this. However, they took a major step by saying, ‘We’ll work with you, we’ll give you this opportunity and privilege.’ It stems from having succesfully executed Paid Dues, Rock the Bells and the Smokeout for over a decade.
But this is about more than just a place where people with medical marijuana cards can smoke marijuana freely. We have a medical marijuana expo where we promote activism, compassion and education. We believe that medical marijuna is the gateway to responsible tax-regulated consumption. Obviously, big alcohol, big medicine and big tobacco fan a lot of negative stereoytypes regarding cannabis.
If you have a verified recomendation or card, you will be allowed to enter the venue and go to a specific area and smoke — provided that you’re over 18. We’re creating our own reality in allowing patients to exercise their rights. They’ll be able to smoke it and vaporize it, but I don’t think we’ll allow people to eat it. I don’t need the kind of press that the Electric Daisy received.
This sort of arrangement isn’t unprecedented. In Northern California, several concerts have done similar things and in the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum where the Oakland A’s play, you can smoke in a dedicated smoking area if you have your medical marijuana card. Eventually, we hope this is going to lead to people being able to walk into Wal-Mart or Rite-Aid and get their medicine, whether it will come in cigarette form, or salves, or lotions. Or better yet, to educate people to grow their personal amounts and save their money.
Have you faced opposition from anti-drug elements in the community?
Definitely. Every time we throw a show, there’s always going to be negative stereotypes that surround it. But we’ve worked with the authorities in a meaningful capacity for a long time. When you run an event for 40,000 people without riots or violence, you’re always dealing with narcotics and crash teams. Before our hiatus, there were local groups that called me the devil like they did to Ozzy Osbourne, but we weren’t exactly biting off bats’ heads or burning Bibles. From our perspective, we’re bringing in $4 to $5 million of revenues from the hotels that are booked to the traffic that businesses and gas stations receive.
The Inland Empire has the highest unemployment rate in Southern California. We’re trying to generate a positive commercial impact and bring positive energy. What we’re doing can have a positive effect, not just for medical marijuana advocates, but eventually for schools and colleges and the hotel bureau. We have a massive fiscal impact. I hate the cliche, but we put the heads in the beds.
Will you be giving any of the proceeds from the show to medical marijuana-related advocacy groups or to the forces in favor of passage of Prop. 19?
As we always do, we’re putting a $1 charity charge on the ticket. This time, it will be going to Americans for Safe Access, which is the largest medical marijuana group. As for Prop. 19, I believe that taxation is the way to go. However, if you talk to anyone well versed in medical marijuana, there are some flaws in the bill, so we haven’t officially taken a stance either way.
Do you think the Smokeout’s precedent will inspire other festivals to attempt to have medical marijuana consumption zones?
I definitely think it’s a step in the right direction. I’ve spoken to Paul Tollett at Goldenvoice about it. I’m not saying that next year, Coachella will have a consumption area, but I think that we’re going to tip the balance in that favor.
Will there be doctors on-site to make sure you’re covered in case of medical problems?
There will be doctors on-site so that nonpatients can potentially be authorized that day and for a nominal fee become patients. But we’ve always had that inside our medicial marijuana expo. However, not everyone will become a patient. We’re going to try to turn away as many people as we can, because the big man is watching us, as well they should. Narcotics officers will be in the building, but they won’t be threatening or rude. It’ll be done in the most positive manner possible.
Will it be perfect the first time? Probably not — but we have a stellar lineup and for the first time in their lives, thousands of people with medical marijuana cards will have to smoke without fear of hiding or going into the crowds. It’s going to be like the day you turned 21 and were able to buy a beer legally. It was only a big deal that day, but you certainly never forget it.
— Jeff Weiss
Photo: Cypress Hill performs at Lollapalooza 2010 in Chicago. Photo: Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/10/a-conversation-with-guerilla-union-founder-chang-weisberg-in-advance-of-the-cypress-hill-smokeout.html