Medicinal cannabis bill update

We now have a confirmed date, time, and location for our meeting in Olympia with the senators to develop 2 bills for cannabis patients (patient protections and distribution). The following people have RSVP’ed as of now….

Senator Delvin (Repub Richland WA)
Senator Kol-Wells (Dem)
Rep Goodman
A lawyer from the house health and safety committee
Dr Gregory T Carter (my doc and leading cannabis doctor in WA State)
Douglas Haitt (leading lawyer/activist in WA State)
Chet R Biggerstaff (Founder Three Rivers Collective Tri-Cities WA)
Steve Sarich (Founder Cannacare and CBR medical Seattle area)

The following have been invited but have yet to RSVP

Dale Rodgers Founder Compassion in action
Senator Patty Murray
The Governor
And a number of other patients, activists, and involved persons.

This meeting will be the initial meet n greet for all parties to get on the same page and to develop a basic draft of what we think will work and a path which to pursue. You can get involved as well by joining the discussion at http://www.meetup.com/TRC-Medical-Cannabis-bill/. Peace

My Story

Way back in the mid-1990s I was working for Boss Internet group out of Pasco WA as a systems administrator and network admin. My boss and I had to drive to Seattle to the Westin building to repair a server that had a hard drive that was going bad. My boss, who was 21 at the time, decided that because he had studded snow tires he could do over 75 miles an hour through Snoqualmie Pass in the middle of February during an ice storm. Needless to say he wrecked the car, I was seriously injured (“sprained back” that turned out to be a rupture), and he was perfectly fine. I ended up having back surgery at L4-L5-S1. The doctors fused the entire area was splinters from my pelvis and installed two 10 inch long 3/8 inch thick titanium rods that were held in place with six titanium swivel bolt's. On top of this the doctors implanted in intrathecal pump to deliver a morphine /Bubivicaine (an anesthetic ) mix directly into my spinal sac. They have also implanted in electronic stimulus device that sent electrical pulses, working on the gate theory, to my lower back. On top of all this I was on a combination of Fentanil (300mgs), morphine IR (both liquid and pills) (200mgs), and medicine to wake up, medicine to go to sleep, for depression, neuropathic pain, inflammation, and all the side effects caused by the above medications (about 14 medications if I remember correctly). After the first surgery I was getting better and had been released by my doctor to be able to drive. I had dropped my (ex)wife off at the Bon Marche (her job ) and was pulling through the parking lot when two teenage girls that were parked on the far side of the suburban decided they could stomp on the gas pedal to back out of their spot without being able to see. They ended up tagging the right front corner of my car, put the car up onto two wheels, and broke two of the six titanium swivel bolts in my lower back. This necessitated three (more) lower back surgeries and is also the point at which the serious neuropathic pain down both legs began. I had to have three more back surgeries, one of which went through the front and the other two through the rear to enclose my lower spine in titanium cages and to replace the two broken bolts. Then about seven months later I had been released to drive again and ended up getting T-boned on my motorcycle (76 year old man pulled right out in front of me). This required several more back surgeries and 17 surgeries on my left leg including many skin grafts. It was about this point that the doctors said they had done everything they could and that I would be on high doses of opioid painkillers for the rest of my life which was going to be severely shortened due to my injuries and the medications required to treat them. About the time 1999 rolled around I could no longer tolerate the constant pain, nerve pain (yes they are two very different types of pain), constipation, depression, nausea and vomiting and no appetite at all (I had lost about 80LBS at this point) not to mention all of the side effects of the “medications” (I have kidney and liver damage from my “medicines”). I wrote letters to all my friends and family members and updated my will and purchased a gun to quickly dispatch myself once I was finished. It was at this time, when I was finishing up my letters, that I received an e-mail from an anonymous sender about cannabis and pain (To this date I do not know who sent this e-mail to me but it truly saved my life so thank you if your reading this). I decided I had nothing to lose and went out and procured a small amount of cannabis to see if it would help my medical issues. Within the first 30 seconds the nausea and spasms stopped and within two minutes the neuropathic pain down both legs, which nothing the doctors tried helped, dissipated into the ether. I became a legitimate cannabis patient in the state at that time and had a heckuva time trying to find safe, affordable access to my medicine. I was unable to do so. My only option at this point was to start growing my own (I could not afford to purchase it) which I did, six plants in my closet. I ended up having a battery for a remote control plane burn up inside my apartment which caused a whole bunch of smoke and I had to call the fire department. They came out and took care of the job and reported to the police officers that I had cannabis growing in my closet (they are required to do so and they apologized for having to do it). I gave the officers a copy of my recommendation along with the phone number for my doctor so they could verify that I was a legitimate patient. At this time WA State had no limits on the amount of cannabis a patient could have and I only had six plants that were about 3 foot tall growing in a very small space (my st grow and it was an exercise in futility). The police actually did what they were supposed to, they took a sample and left me with my medicine. This all happened on a Saturday and by Sunday morning I had the entire narcotics squad breaking down my door. They took my six plants, copies of my recommendation and left me with nothing. I spoke with the lead officer and explain to him that they were taking the only medicine that helped me deal with the pain and be able to eat and that I could not afford to buy it which is why I had to grow it which was allowed under Washington state law at that time. Of course, as you can imagine, I received all the same BS from the police officers saying that there's no such thing as medical cannabis and that I would have to fight it in court. Once all the officers had cleared out and left my place in a complete disaster I noticed that one of the containers that had some medicine in it that had been confiscated was sitting on my chair on my front porch. In other words one of the officers took it upon himself (or herself) to ensure that I at least had some medication which truly was a blessing. One of the side effects of this whole situation was I lost my apartment as it was federally subsidized. I was still in a back brace having a very difficult time moving around and the management of McMurray Park Apartments gave me three days to move out. I had no family here and no friends as I rarely ever got out of the house. My lawyer knew the owner of the building and was able to convince him to give me enough time, a whole seven days, to be able to move out. These are the circumstances that turned me from a patient just struggling to stay alive into a patient struggling to stay alive and a medical cannabis activist. I immediately started the three Rivers collective and started helping other patients in the same circumstances as myself so that they would not have to make the same mistakes I made and would be able to get access to their medication much sooner than they would have been able to without the help. We approached the Benton County prosecutor, Andy Miller, as well as the Richland Mayor, police chief Corsi and the city Council to develop some sort of system that would work within the rules we currently had at that time so that patients would be able to access their medicine safely and locally. The day after the city Council meeting was when the harassment from the city of Richland police started. I could not go anywhere without an escort, sometimes a standard Richland police car but others were unmarked police cars. They pulled me over a number of times in my own driveway of my own home to tell me my license tabs had expired and it took six police cars and almost 10 officers to do this. The Department of licensing promptly scheduled me for a series of three or four driving tests when I had just two months prior renewed my license and passed my test. I was informed that I had to come under the influence to take my test to prove that my driving was not going to be effected (all unofficially of course). I spent six months from the day I was busted calling the Benton County prosecutor, Andy Miller, every day telling him they were being inhumane criminals for stealing my medication and destroying my apartment and getting me kicked out. After six months of pestering the prosecutor every single day I received a call from the Richland Police Department asking me to come down and pick up my property. I promptly drove down to the Richland Police Department and went in the front door to announce myself. After about 20 or 30 minutes several officers rolled out a cart that was loaded with bags of cannabis, growing supplies, light's, fans, etc. and was told that I could take it. I told them that that was not possible because I couldn't load this as I was disabled with severe back pain and that since they took it they were going to have to loaded it into my vehicle. It sure was a good day watching the Richland Police Department officers loading cannabis and cannabis growing supplies into my car from the front of the police department along George Washington Way. Since this time we have tried working with the city we have tried to get a meeting with the Benton County prosecutor Andy Miller (its his interpretation that is subverting patient access locally) and they have all blatantly lied to us, misled us, and downright refused to even talk with us or return our phone calls. So I went from a productive member of society to one of the most severely injured and then became a criminal because our local officials don't agree with cannabis being medication regardless of what the voters of Washington state decided back in 1998. This is a short version of my last 15 years or so as I don’t think I could accurately write down in detail what’s happened as so much has happened. If you would like to see what we have done since this time and where we are headed please feel free to stop by at www.4-20.org or http://www.meetup.com/TRC-Medical-Cannabis-bill/.

Case for a cannabis collective

The people of WA state decided back in 1998 that certain patients should be able to use and access cannabis without the fear of arrest and persecution. We passed an initiative that gave patients a legal defense in court only as anything more at the time would not have passed. What this was supposed to have done was stop the arrests of very ill patients and to allow them to use cannabis as their medicine as well as to have access to it. It further allowed the patient to grow their own medicine or have a caregiver grow it for them. The spirit of the law was to make sure patients could use, access, and grow (or have grown by a caregiver) their medicine without fear of arrest or discrimination but that is not what we have achieved. What we have now are patients that can’t get their medicine, and patients that are scared of their local police and officials.

Patients are supposed to grow their own or have a caregiver grow it for them. This was a good idea initially but has had some “unexpected” issues. Most patients can’t grow their own for a number of reasons like a place to do so, or are too sick to do so. So the powers that be say you can have someone grow it for you. Well, this sounds good on paper but it does not work in practice in the current environment. What is happening to the patients that need a caregiver is either they can’t find anyone to do so for them without taking advantage or they are being ripped off by said caregivers. The vast majority of people I’ve come across that want to be caregivers are not doing so for the patients but for their pocketbooks. They say they will grow for the patient but then turn around and charge the patient either street prices or very close to street prices for something they should only be paying cost for (power, nutrients, etc) and then turn around and either use the “excess” themselves or sell it on the black market.

A true story, we had a gentleman come in to a public meeting that wanted to become a patient. This person had no documented injury or illness and I explained that he did not qualify under WA state law. He then asked for contact information on patients that needed a caregiver. He said that if he could not be a patient that he would be a caregiver for someone and that way get his “medicine” (recreational use) for himself and to make money on the side. I explained to him that as he had stated he wanted medicine for himself and didn’t qualify as a patient and that he had gone as far to say that he wanted to take advantage of the law to further his own ends (not in so many words) that I could not now or ever connect him with a patient as it was people like him that were causing so many problems for the actual patients of WA state. Needless to say he then decided to wait till after the meeting to try to dissuade other patients from working with us because we would not help him. This is actually a quite common story and is repeated day in and day out all over the state. There is a sever lack of legitimate caregivers in WA state that are out to actually help the patients rather than take advantage of them.

The law that was passed back in 1998 was meant to provide access to medicine as well as protect patients from arrest and prosecution. What we have is local governments saying “sure go ahead and go out of town (in the same state) to get your medicine…that’s ok. You can even use it here locally in your home out of sight of the public. But, don’t even think about getting it locally or using it where you need to as we will arrest you. The guidelines say a patient can have up to 15 plants and up to 24 oz of useable medicine in their possession unless your doctor says you can have more. Our local (and many other areas of the state) authorities say that if your doctor says you can have more and you do have more, they will arrest you. They also say that we cannot put our plants together in a collective grow to help each other and that each patient needs to do so on their own. Nowhere in the law does it say patients can’t put their plants together to help each other. It also doesn’t say we can. What our local officials are doing here is creating their own interpitation based on personal views/agendas rather than what the law actually says. It has always been my understanding that if something is not specifically illegal then it is legal until made illegal by developing a bill/law to do so. Neither Law enforcement nor our political leaders have done so but continue to set a totally different standard for cannabis contrary to how laws are made in the USA. Why is it the powers that be can make a whole set of “special” rules for cannabis when no other law is based on this way of thinking?

Our laws intent was to say it is ok for qualifying patients to use and access cannabis without the fear of arrest and prosecution. This also means that if we are allowed to use cannabis as medicine then the acquisition of said medicine has to be legal as well. You can’t have one without the other. But what our local officials say is that we can grow it only. You can’t buy the seeds or clones to get started (it’s against the law) but you can grow it. You can use it as medicine but you can’t acquire it. How does this work? All this interpretation does is further law enforcements view that cannabis has no medical value and effectively bans growing by default. You cannot allow access without allowing the process of procurement.

Further, our local officials (and many others from around the state) are trying to ban access to our medicine as they don’t agree with its use as medicine. Last time I checked our local politicians were not doctors. They say you can use it but you can’t buy, sell, or trade the seed or clone to get started so patients must break the law to grow their own if even they can. How is this compassionate? How does this help patients get and use their life saving medicine? How can our local officials even think they are being true to the spirit of the law? The fact is they have not and have no intention of allowing its use or procurement. They are correct that the law is silent on how a patient is supposed to obtain their medicine, clones, and seeds. The fact still remains that it IS medicine and the patients need it. It does not matter how law enforcement or our political leaders feel personally about this. They are supposed to listen to the will of the people and then work with the interested parties to develop something that will work in the current environment and to make changes as needed to conform to changes in the evolving laws. They are NOT supposed to make their own way of interpreting JUST this law nor are they supposed to try to undermine it because they don’t personally agree. This is exactly what is happening.

The patients, unfortunately, are the ones that have to do the hard work. They have to form groups to help each other despite threats from law enforcement. They have to purchase off the black/grey market to get their medicine as the powers that be will not allow us to take control of the supply. They feel much better about leaving the supply issue in the black market and to have patients forced to break the laws just to obtain their medicine. If we cannot put our plants together and grow our own for our groups (collectives) then we have no chance of getting the price down. Right now we are forced to pay anywhere from $3000-4500 per pound of medicine that we have no way of knowing anything about. How it was grown, what was used on it, is it clean or not etc.

Then there is the safety issue. Our local officials think is far safer for each patient to have a grow at home with the possibility of robbery and violence. They think that it is easier to control this way but it makes absolutely no sense. How can securing hundreds or even thousands of locations be safer and easier than a few larger locations? Quite simply its not.

It is too bad that our officials cannot see through their reefer madness to see what they are actually doing to our state’s most vulnerable people. It is the patients and the general public that will have to move on this as our officials have made it quite clear that they will fight us around every bend. All patients need to stand up and be counted. They need to form groups and become active in this fight. Yes, I know that we are in terrible pain and sickness but no one else is going to do it for us. If we want to have true legal access to our medicine we will have to do it ourselves.

You cannot allow access to medicine but not allow its procurement.

Chet R Biggerstaff

Three Rivers Collective

Founder

Tri-Cities WA

509-591-4457

chet@4-20.org

And it begins....

Circus time

Starting about a week ago this year's round of attempted break-ins have started. On August 9 at 2:15 AM my dog started barking like crazy in my backyard. Now I didn't have to think very hard about why as I have to grow my medicine in my backyard each year. I had a group of people try to scale my sense to get to my medicine but they were greeted by my pack of dogs and myself and ran off. About an hour and a half later I had a nether visit with the same results. Two days later I had another group of people try to break into my backyard to get access to my medicine and they were scared off as well. This was the first break-in attempt I have ever reported to police for the plain and simple fact that I don't trust them after last year's restaurant. In fact I think you would find very few patients in Washington state that trust our prosecutors law-enforcement or city officials. Then this last Friday, 13 August around 2:30 AM I had another visit of a group of people trying to scale my fence and again they were greeted by my three dogs and myself which again scared them away. About an hour and a half later my dog started going crazy again and this time it was because of the police. My neighbor behind my house called the police because he saw a group of people carrying a 7 foot folding ladder to the back of my fence right where my garden is. They were again greeted by my dogs and by the time I had gotten out there the only people they are worked to officers and their squad car. I have contacted chief Corsi of the Richmond Police Department and told him what was going on and that the reason I was reporting it this year was to develop a data trail showing the danger that patients actually face. I explained to him that last year I had well over 12 attempts at my crop in my backyard and I did not report a single one because I felt that if I did I would become the focus of the investigation rather than the criminals trying to steal my medicine (like what happened to SteveSarich recently). I also sent an e-mail to Mayor John Fox of Richland explaining that there is a good chance that I may end up getting hurt or even killed because of my medicine and being forced to have to grow it myself. I told him that even if nothing happens to me something will happen to a patient that isn't quite as lucky as I've been and that the blood will be on their hands.

The city of Richland, their city attorney Tom Lampson, and both Benton and Franklin County prosecutors(Andy Miller and Steve Lowe) all feel it is far safer to force patients to grow their own medication and to not allow collectives, dispensaries or group grows. This year alone so far I have had seven breakin attempts myself and several other patients I know have had several as well. As we are all now reporting these to the police they will have a nice bit of data to show how absurd their position is. Our local officials do not consider the patient's and have absolutely no compassion when it comes to the topic of cannabis and it is unknown whether they are just ignorant or being totally dishonest. Either way they refuse to follow the spirit of the law and continue to try and make things impossible for patients to access their medicine in a safe local reasonably priced way. Now how many of us have to be hurt killed and robbed before they will reconsider their absurd position?

Lawmakers own special haze

I read an article this morning and I was again disgusted with our "leaders" (article here....http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_f66363f0-a5c5-11df-9d2c-001cc4c002e0.html). What is happeneing here Is that these (and many others) lawmakers are NOT seeing cannabis as a medication but as an illegal drug that they have lost control of. They are trying to keep this “illegal” drug in some semblance of control. Unfortunately, when our leaders refuse to accept cannabis’s medicinal properties and uses that have abundant proof but to try to re-illegalize it or to ensure some groups of people do not have access, they are being in humane and fools of the 1st order. They are too far stuck in their own madness the cant see the tree through their own special haze.