Mich. - My search for medical marijuana led me to a sandwich shop on 28th Street SE, where a man I met on the Internet was waiting for me.
Not long ago -- before state voters approved medical marijuana -- he would have been known as a pot dealer.
Now, Scott is a "caregiver," who legally can provide marijuana for pain -- but that doesn't mean he is comfortable.
In an attempt to test the system, I don't tell him I'm a reporter, and he doesn't know I'm recording him with a Flip camera hidden in a manila folder.
"It's totally legal, but, for me, I don't want anyone knowing where or if I'm growing it," he said. "If I am ... you're subject to robbery."
For me, it started with abdominal pain last spring -- two months after turning 50. Doctors discovered a tumor the size of a golf ball blocking my colon, which was ready to burst.
Doctors removed a foot of my colon (leaving me with a semi-colon), then treated me with six months of chemotherapy. That led to nausea, fatigue and nerve damage to my feet and hands.
And, it was a perfect opportunity to test -- firsthand -- the state's medical marijuana law.
Dave Overholt is a caregiver who grows 36 pot plants legally in his Montcalm County basement for two patients and for his own pain. He is a founder of Mid-Michigan Compassion Club , based in Stanton.
I met him after my search.
Marijuana, he said, would relieve my pain.
"It'll take your mind away from those thoughts, and it's almost the greatest gift God's given man, and it's just a weed," Overholt said.
But Overholt said the state and some cities are making it difficult.
Since voters overwhelmingly approved a medical pot law in November 2008, supporters say lawmakers have been picking away at it.
"They're trying to make people feel dirty," Overholt says. "They're trying to discourage and make it as hard as possible."
Some cities, including Grand Rapids, Rockford and Kentwood, have issued moratoriums so they can come up with plans to regulate it.
The state Senate proposed banning registered private citizens from growing marijuana and, instead, setting up state dispensaries, with pot distributed only by pharmacists.
"It's going to take marijuana out of the mix," Overholt said of the Senate proposal. "They're going to end-around what the people voted for. They'll make it illegal."
Patients need state approval to legally smoke medical marijuana, but they are waiting months to get their permits -- or taking their chances.
More than 16,000 patients have signed up for it, but nearly half are waiting for permits from the state Department of Community Health in Lansing.
In Part 2 on Friday, the state will respond to the issues addressed in this report.
My search began in late November with my oncologist, who said he has reluctantly written medical marijuana endorsements for only a handful of patients.
He wrote one for me -- you have to get a doctor's approval -- but he has no idea where to find marijuana.
Some patients tell him pot helps, but he's against smoking -- tobacco or weed.
Patients across the state say doctors are hesitant to write referrals.
In fact, it's so controversial, my oncologist's office doesn't want to be identified in this report. Neither does my doctor, and neither does my chemotherapy nurse.
I begin my search with the Internet. What else? It led me to the Michigan Department of Community Health, which oversees the state's medical marijuana program.
The health department's Web site talks about caregivers, who can provide marijuana, but doesn't say where to find one.
A Google search led me to Ottawa Compassionate Care , one of about three-dozen groups promoting medical marijuana in Michigan.
The next day, the group responds to my e-mail : "One of our caregivers is available in Kent County. Would you like to schedule a meet?"
In an e-mail exchange, a man named Scott, who doesn't want his last name used, sets up a meeting.
"How about 2 p.m. at the (sandwich shop) on the corner of Eastern and 28th Street?," he wrote in an e-mail. "If that doesn't work, let me know what does. I will have a brown shirt and blue jeans on. Also, I will have my glasses on."
A state-approved caregiver can provide marijuana to up to five patients, growing up to 12 plants for each, and another 12 to treat his own pain.
Or, I could grow it myself, but that would take lots of time, hundreds of dollars in growing equipment -- and seeds.
Scott is from the Grand Rapids area, said he has worked in the medical field, and that he and a Detroit man are starting a medical marijuana business -- Green Leaf Caregivers.
Over a Coke at the sandwich shop, we exchanged paperwork -- and discuss delivery methods.
"You're talking brown paper bag, and I meet you," Scott said. "It's ridiculous."
"It's an illegal feel," I tell him.
"It's ridiculous," he said. "But you have to do it."
The contract he provides quotes a price: $200 an ounce, though you're technically -- and legally -- just paying for his service.
That's about double the street price, but caregivers say street pot is low-quality.
The law says Scott can give me up to 2.5 ounces at a time.
"I'll never go over that amount, because I don't want to get in trouble and I don't want you to get in trouble. Two-and-a-half ounces is the most. Now, that I can give you every day, if you want."
First, though, I need to apply for a permit through the state Department of Community Health in Lansing.
I mailed my application Dec. 16, along with the required $100 check and my doctor's permission. The law requires the state to approve a permit in 15 days and issue it five days later, but it's taking much longer than that.
I called the state this week for an update.
"We are unable to provide the status of any application," a recorded message says. "We are currently working on processing applications received in mid-November."
Even without a permit, patients can smoke marijuana legally 20 days after applying -- as long as they carry the filled-out forms and the doctor's permission.
But state health officials call that a gray area, and say police in some areas are arresting patients who don't have their cards, even if they have the paperwork.
Some police agencies, such as KVET in Kalamazoo County, recently have written policies to keep that from happening.
So, back to my search. It's been more than two months since I mailed my application.
I'm done with chemo, and a CT scan recently found I am cancer-free, though the pain in my hands and feet won't go away.
And, I'm still waiting for my permit, even though I'm technically legal under the law.
Either way, WOOD TV8 attorneys won't let me smoke marijuana -- even take possession of it -- for this story. The federal government licenses television stations, they explain, and the feds list marijuana as an illegal drug with no medical purpose.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: WOOD TV8
Author: Ken Kolker
Copyright: 2010 WOOD Television, Inc
Not long ago -- before state voters approved medical marijuana -- he would have been known as a pot dealer.
Now, Scott is a "caregiver," who legally can provide marijuana for pain -- but that doesn't mean he is comfortable.
In an attempt to test the system, I don't tell him I'm a reporter, and he doesn't know I'm recording him with a Flip camera hidden in a manila folder.
"It's totally legal, but, for me, I don't want anyone knowing where or if I'm growing it," he said. "If I am ... you're subject to robbery."
For me, it started with abdominal pain last spring -- two months after turning 50. Doctors discovered a tumor the size of a golf ball blocking my colon, which was ready to burst.
Doctors removed a foot of my colon (leaving me with a semi-colon), then treated me with six months of chemotherapy. That led to nausea, fatigue and nerve damage to my feet and hands.
And, it was a perfect opportunity to test -- firsthand -- the state's medical marijuana law.
Dave Overholt is a caregiver who grows 36 pot plants legally in his Montcalm County basement for two patients and for his own pain. He is a founder of Mid-Michigan Compassion Club , based in Stanton.
I met him after my search.
Marijuana, he said, would relieve my pain.
"It'll take your mind away from those thoughts, and it's almost the greatest gift God's given man, and it's just a weed," Overholt said.
But Overholt said the state and some cities are making it difficult.
Since voters overwhelmingly approved a medical pot law in November 2008, supporters say lawmakers have been picking away at it.
"They're trying to make people feel dirty," Overholt says. "They're trying to discourage and make it as hard as possible."
Some cities, including Grand Rapids, Rockford and Kentwood, have issued moratoriums so they can come up with plans to regulate it.
The state Senate proposed banning registered private citizens from growing marijuana and, instead, setting up state dispensaries, with pot distributed only by pharmacists.
"It's going to take marijuana out of the mix," Overholt said of the Senate proposal. "They're going to end-around what the people voted for. They'll make it illegal."
Patients need state approval to legally smoke medical marijuana, but they are waiting months to get their permits -- or taking their chances.
More than 16,000 patients have signed up for it, but nearly half are waiting for permits from the state Department of Community Health in Lansing.
In Part 2 on Friday, the state will respond to the issues addressed in this report.
My search began in late November with my oncologist, who said he has reluctantly written medical marijuana endorsements for only a handful of patients.
He wrote one for me -- you have to get a doctor's approval -- but he has no idea where to find marijuana.
Some patients tell him pot helps, but he's against smoking -- tobacco or weed.
Patients across the state say doctors are hesitant to write referrals.
In fact, it's so controversial, my oncologist's office doesn't want to be identified in this report. Neither does my doctor, and neither does my chemotherapy nurse.
I begin my search with the Internet. What else? It led me to the Michigan Department of Community Health, which oversees the state's medical marijuana program.
The health department's Web site talks about caregivers, who can provide marijuana, but doesn't say where to find one.
A Google search led me to Ottawa Compassionate Care , one of about three-dozen groups promoting medical marijuana in Michigan.
The next day, the group responds to my e-mail : "One of our caregivers is available in Kent County. Would you like to schedule a meet?"
In an e-mail exchange, a man named Scott, who doesn't want his last name used, sets up a meeting.
"How about 2 p.m. at the (sandwich shop) on the corner of Eastern and 28th Street?," he wrote in an e-mail. "If that doesn't work, let me know what does. I will have a brown shirt and blue jeans on. Also, I will have my glasses on."
A state-approved caregiver can provide marijuana to up to five patients, growing up to 12 plants for each, and another 12 to treat his own pain.
Or, I could grow it myself, but that would take lots of time, hundreds of dollars in growing equipment -- and seeds.
Scott is from the Grand Rapids area, said he has worked in the medical field, and that he and a Detroit man are starting a medical marijuana business -- Green Leaf Caregivers.
Over a Coke at the sandwich shop, we exchanged paperwork -- and discuss delivery methods.
"You're talking brown paper bag, and I meet you," Scott said. "It's ridiculous."
"It's an illegal feel," I tell him.
"It's ridiculous," he said. "But you have to do it."
The contract he provides quotes a price: $200 an ounce, though you're technically -- and legally -- just paying for his service.
That's about double the street price, but caregivers say street pot is low-quality.
The law says Scott can give me up to 2.5 ounces at a time.
"I'll never go over that amount, because I don't want to get in trouble and I don't want you to get in trouble. Two-and-a-half ounces is the most. Now, that I can give you every day, if you want."
First, though, I need to apply for a permit through the state Department of Community Health in Lansing.
I mailed my application Dec. 16, along with the required $100 check and my doctor's permission. The law requires the state to approve a permit in 15 days and issue it five days later, but it's taking much longer than that.
I called the state this week for an update.
"We are unable to provide the status of any application," a recorded message says. "We are currently working on processing applications received in mid-November."
Even without a permit, patients can smoke marijuana legally 20 days after applying -- as long as they carry the filled-out forms and the doctor's permission.
But state health officials call that a gray area, and say police in some areas are arresting patients who don't have their cards, even if they have the paperwork.
Some police agencies, such as KVET in Kalamazoo County, recently have written policies to keep that from happening.
So, back to my search. It's been more than two months since I mailed my application.
I'm done with chemo, and a CT scan recently found I am cancer-free, though the pain in my hands and feet won't go away.
And, I'm still waiting for my permit, even though I'm technically legal under the law.
Either way, WOOD TV8 attorneys won't let me smoke marijuana -- even take possession of it -- for this story. The federal government licenses television stations, they explain, and the feds list marijuana as an illegal drug with no medical purpose.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: WOOD TV8
Author: Ken Kolker
Copyright: 2010 WOOD Television, Inc
