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At a public hearing Monday morning, the official in charge of getting Connecticut's medical marijuana program going will begin to see the faces and hear the stories of patients who say the drug has restored peace, comfort and quality to lives wracked by cancer and other diseases.
Tracey Gamer Shimer, 42, who has already outlived her bleak brain-cancer prognosis, plans to be one of those lining up to testify before Consumer Protection Commissioner William Rubenstein. He's gathering feedback from patients like Gamer Shimer, as well as from potential growers and concerned neighbors, as he refines what is shaping up to be among the most tightly regulated of the medical marijuana programs now operating or forming in 17 states. Proposed rules are due at the legislature by July 1.
That Gamer Shimer is alive to tell her story is compelling enough. But she said she wants to blast away any remaining stigma and fear attached to medical marijuana.
"I want the politicians to see my face, the face of a mother from West Hartford who is just grateful to be at the dinner table in the evening instead of in bed, of someone who is so thankful to be part of her children's lives, of someone who lost an advertising career but gained a life mission."
Doctors found a malignant tumor in Gamer Shimer's brain when she was 36. Her life expectancy was five years, maximum. Six and a half years later, the former broadcaster and advertising sales executive is running the Connecticut Brain Cancer Alliance. She said her husband left her when she was diagnosed and her parents had to step in and care for her children as she tried one medicine after another to control her paralyzing headaches and other symptoms. Nothing helped.
"My doctor said, 'I shouldn't be telling you this but ... smoke this,''' Gamer Shimer said. "The relief was immediate.''
She said she got her pot "the way patients have done it for years: through people who want to help people who are sick. There was embarrassment, there was a stigma, but it gave me back a lot of the life I'd had before."
Twenty-five percent of the tumor remains. Every three months, she goes for an MRI to see if it has grown.
"I live my life in 90-day increments,'' she said.
On Saturday, she got married to Greg Shimer, a friend who came back into Gamer Shimer's life – bearing a white rose and a vow of commitment – when Gamer Shimer was diagnosed.
She recently joined the board of Vintage Foods Ltd., a company that expects to put in a bid to be one of the handful of medical marijuana producers. The venture will likely require an initial investment of about $2 million.
Gamer Shimer said she draws no salary from Vintage Foods and is on the board to be the voice of the medical marijuana patient.
Rubenstein said he and his staff have not gauged the potential market for medical marijuana in Connecticut.
"There's been lots of speculation, but whether it is 1,000 or 10,000 or 50,000 patients, we haven't been able to assess yet.''
He said about 450 patients have been certified by their doctors to receive medical marijuana and about 300 of them have registered with the state Department of Consumer Protection.
Currently, patients with one of 11 debilitating disease can qualify. If the state eventually makes more conditions eligible, the potential patient population would grow accordingly.
Cultivation and possession of marijuana are still illegal under federal law, "but we think we can co-exist with the federal government, with the way our statute is written,'' Rubenstein said.
"The feds have told us they have no interest in enforcing the law against patients who use marijuana strictly for medicinal purposes, nor are they interested in wasting resources pursuing growers or dispensers operating under a well-regulated state system, where there is no evidence of diversion,'' Rubenstein said.
The commissioner said he has already been contacted by several companies interested in growing or dispensing medical marijuana, as well as "private equity groups who feel they can assemble the finances and skill set required to do business."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: courant.com
Author: Josh Kovner
Contact: Contact Us - Courant.com
Website: Medical Marijuana: Public hearing Monday is chance to make comments, suggestions about state's coming medical marijuana program - Courant.com
Tracey Gamer Shimer, 42, who has already outlived her bleak brain-cancer prognosis, plans to be one of those lining up to testify before Consumer Protection Commissioner William Rubenstein. He's gathering feedback from patients like Gamer Shimer, as well as from potential growers and concerned neighbors, as he refines what is shaping up to be among the most tightly regulated of the medical marijuana programs now operating or forming in 17 states. Proposed rules are due at the legislature by July 1.
That Gamer Shimer is alive to tell her story is compelling enough. But she said she wants to blast away any remaining stigma and fear attached to medical marijuana.
"I want the politicians to see my face, the face of a mother from West Hartford who is just grateful to be at the dinner table in the evening instead of in bed, of someone who is so thankful to be part of her children's lives, of someone who lost an advertising career but gained a life mission."
Doctors found a malignant tumor in Gamer Shimer's brain when she was 36. Her life expectancy was five years, maximum. Six and a half years later, the former broadcaster and advertising sales executive is running the Connecticut Brain Cancer Alliance. She said her husband left her when she was diagnosed and her parents had to step in and care for her children as she tried one medicine after another to control her paralyzing headaches and other symptoms. Nothing helped.
"My doctor said, 'I shouldn't be telling you this but ... smoke this,''' Gamer Shimer said. "The relief was immediate.''
She said she got her pot "the way patients have done it for years: through people who want to help people who are sick. There was embarrassment, there was a stigma, but it gave me back a lot of the life I'd had before."
Twenty-five percent of the tumor remains. Every three months, she goes for an MRI to see if it has grown.
"I live my life in 90-day increments,'' she said.
On Saturday, she got married to Greg Shimer, a friend who came back into Gamer Shimer's life – bearing a white rose and a vow of commitment – when Gamer Shimer was diagnosed.
She recently joined the board of Vintage Foods Ltd., a company that expects to put in a bid to be one of the handful of medical marijuana producers. The venture will likely require an initial investment of about $2 million.
Gamer Shimer said she draws no salary from Vintage Foods and is on the board to be the voice of the medical marijuana patient.
Rubenstein said he and his staff have not gauged the potential market for medical marijuana in Connecticut.
"There's been lots of speculation, but whether it is 1,000 or 10,000 or 50,000 patients, we haven't been able to assess yet.''
He said about 450 patients have been certified by their doctors to receive medical marijuana and about 300 of them have registered with the state Department of Consumer Protection.
Currently, patients with one of 11 debilitating disease can qualify. If the state eventually makes more conditions eligible, the potential patient population would grow accordingly.
Cultivation and possession of marijuana are still illegal under federal law, "but we think we can co-exist with the federal government, with the way our statute is written,'' Rubenstein said.
"The feds have told us they have no interest in enforcing the law against patients who use marijuana strictly for medicinal purposes, nor are they interested in wasting resources pursuing growers or dispensers operating under a well-regulated state system, where there is no evidence of diversion,'' Rubenstein said.
The commissioner said he has already been contacted by several companies interested in growing or dispensing medical marijuana, as well as "private equity groups who feel they can assemble the finances and skill set required to do business."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: courant.com
Author: Josh Kovner
Contact: Contact Us - Courant.com
Website: Medical Marijuana: Public hearing Monday is chance to make comments, suggestions about state's coming medical marijuana program - Courant.com
