|
US CO: Ailing Man To Feds: Give Back My Pot
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1101/a04.html
Newshawk: Richard Lake
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Tue, 03 Aug 2004
Source: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
Copyright: 2004, Denver Publishing Co.
Contact: letters@rockymountainnews.com
Website: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Author: Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News
Cited: Drug Enforcement Administration www.dea.gov
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
AILING MAN TO FEDS: GIVE BACK MY POT
Aurora Resident Lost Marijuana To Agents, Despite Colorado Law
AURORA - Dana May is an imposing figure, but a severe nerve ailment and
federal authorities are bringing him to his knees.
The only remedy that works for his chronic pain, he said, is the medical
marijuana those authorities seized from his home in late May.
Standing 6-feet-8 and weighing 300 pounds, May said he can't walk, stand or
sit without excruciating pain in his back, lower legs and feet. He says the
depression that the pain causes him literally could kill him.
May, 45, has taken morphine, methadone, Demerol and an assortment of
painkillers since 1996. He tried acupuncture, but neither it nor the drugs
brought any significant relief.
Nearly two years ago May learned of Colorado's new medical marijuana law
that voters approved in 2000. He met with his neurologist, Lynn Parry, to
discuss trying marijuana to relieve the pain caused by his condition, reflex
sympathetic dystrophy. May's doctor gave him her blessings, signing the
legal forms that allowed May to grow and smoke marijuana.
"Mr. May had tried every known medication for his condition, and he tried
medical marijuana as a last resort and only upon my recommendation," Parry
wrote in an affidavit.
May said that when he smokes marijuana, it doesn't leave him pain-free, but
it does make him feel much more comfortable than he's felt during the last
eight years. He said his condition was caused by injuries he suffered in a
1995 accident when he was truck driver.
"The marijuana is so much better, and I don't know why that is," said May,
who often walks gingerly around in his home in his shorts and bare feet. He
said that when he wears socks and pants, they cause an additional burning
sensation in his legs and feet.
"It kind of dulls ( the pain ) because nothing takes the pain away. It
knocks it down enough for me to function, to see the kids play sports," he
said.
When he smoked his marijuana, May said he did it in the basement of his home
where he grew his plants and where his three children, ages 15 and
9-year-old twins, can't gain access.
But someone told federal and local authorities about the marijuana plants
inside May's Aurora home.
While May was preparing to pick up his children from school May 27, he
noticed a couple of Aurora police cars speeding to his home, which is at the
end of a cul-de-sac.
Then he saw more patrol and unmarked cars, and police officers and Drug
Enforcement Administration agents with their guns drawn.
When they asked May where his marijuana was, he told them his plants were in
the basement and displayed his medical marijuana "patient" and "caregiver"
documents. Nonetheless, the agents took away his 109.1 grams of dried and
usable marijuana and 31 pieces of equipment, including transformers, water
pumps, cloning machines and exhaust fans that he used to grow his supply.
But May got a break when the Arapahoe County district attorney's office
informed his lawyer, Robert J. Corry Jr., last month that it was not going
to prosecute May for possession and cultivation of marijuana.
Prosecutors said the case would have been difficult to prove because May
tried to comply with Colorado's medical marijuana law. They also said they
had no evidence May was distributing the drug.
Following the district attorney's decision, May's lawyer wrote to the DEA's
asset forfeiture section last Wednesday demanding that the agency return his
client's marijuana and his growing equipment, which is valued at about
$3,000.
Jeffrey Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said federal
authorities definitely will not return May's marijuana.
"Any marijuana in custody of the DEA is considered contraband and prohibited
under federal law," Dorschner said.
May's case is the latest that pits federal anti-drug laws against state laws
approved by voters that legally permit seriously ill people to smoke
marijuana on the theory that it reduces their pain and suffering.
"The case is really about respect for the voters of Colorado, and the
federal government needs to respect our voters," Corry said. "Dana is
guilty of no crime except for suffering from an extremely debilitating
disease."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin
***********************
Mark
Sign on my front door
___________________________
Notice posted.
This is not a peanut free zone!
The use of adult beverages, tobacco products, sugar,
salt, caffeine, high fat foods and firearms (when necessary)
is encouraged on these premises.
Jack-booted government thugs without warrants
will be shot upon entry.
Have a nice day :-)
____________________________
|
| |
| |
|
