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US MI: Medical Talk of Pot Not Allowed
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1068/a10.html
Newshawk: Melody
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Mon, 26 Jul 2004
Source: Traverse City Record-Eagle (MI)
Copyright: 2004 The Traverse City Record-Eagle
Contact: letters@record-eagle.com
Website: http://www.record-eagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1336
Author: Ian Storey
Cited: Michigan NORML http://www.minorml.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Matthew+Barber
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
MEDICAL TALK OF POT NOT ALLOWED
M.S. Patient Would Have to Produce Records
TRAVERSE CITY - Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Dennis LaBelle filed a
motion to suppress any talk of medical marijuana in future criminal
proceedings of Matthew Barber.
Barber, diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001, was arrested in June
after officers found two ounces of marijuana - equivalent to a month's
supply for his symptoms, he said - in the vehicle his wife, Laura, was
driving during a traffic stop.
Barber, 30, says he has exhausted all legal, and expensive, forms of
treatment for the disease that affects the central nervous system and turned
to marijuana for relief after it was suggested to him by a neurologist.
LaBelle said an alternative move to the motion filed last week in district
court would be for Barber to produce medical records that specifically
outline his need to use the drug.
Barber, an Army veteran who served in the first Gulf War, said without the
marijuana he has pain and spasms, imbalance, dizziness, the loss of leg
function and sometimes even blindness.
Attorney Clarence Gomery, who is defending Barber, said as a former
prosecuting attorney in Leelanau County he understands LaBelle's motion and
its legal correctness.
Gomery said he will review the motion with Barber and discuss the options in
the case.
"Mr. LaBelle has said that this is a case for the legislature and I have to
agree with him," Gomery said. "The laws would have to be changed at the
governmental level. Mr. LaBelle has no choice but to follow and enforce
the law as written."
But George Sherfield, president of the Michigan chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ( NORML ), who joined a
handful of protesters during Barber's pretrial hearing July 6, said his
group would rally behind Barber.
"If he doesn't continue to use it, he will die sooner than he should, and
they are not going to give it to him in jail," said Sherfield. "I think
that anybody that keeps medicine away from a person should go to jail."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
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Mark
"Marijuana clearly has medicinal value.
Thousands of seriously ill Americans have
been able to determine that for themselves,
albeit illegally. Like my own family, these
individuals did not wish to break the law but
they had no choice."
--Lyn Nofziger, former deputy chairman of
the Republican National Committee
From the book, Marijuana Rx,
by Robert C. Randall, the founder of
the medical marijuana movement.
Marijuana Rx is published by
Thunder's Mouth Press.)
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