just out T may 10. 1005 ▼ 10
The Dope on Cannabis
Continued from page 17
Bainbridge Island in Washington, agrees: “Of the 70 members
we’ve served so far, between 85 and 95 percent are people with
AIDS. I’ve had people say to me, ‘I can’t eat. I’ve lost 40 pounds
in two weeks, please help me.’ And I do.”
The 52-year-old McKee, who uses cannabis to treat a spinal-
cord injury she sustained several years ago, says she started her club
after watching a television program about CBCs. “The program
said there was a buyers’ club in Seattle, so I went looking for it, to
no avail. I left my name and number at a few places in the city, and
people began calling me."
For two years McKee provided cannabis to her members who
lived in Beaverton, Ore., Vancouver, B.C., and points in between.
Two weeks ago, she got busted. "The West Sound Narcotics
Enforcement Team—which is funded by the federal government
and oversees three counties on the peninsula—came after me after
they found documents and cannabis at another grower’s home.” A
legal defense fund has been set up to assist McKee, who faces felony
drug charges.
For his part, Brown says, "We may be breaking the laws, but
we’re also trying to change them.”
o each week Brown hops into his 1987 Toyota truck to make
home deliveries to his members. “We only do home deliveries
right now. I’m looking for a central location, preferably a space
in downtown Portland, where our club’s members can meet on a
regular basis.” He journeys across Portland and sometimes out to
Hillsboro. Members may receive up to 4.5 grams twice a week,
though some only use that amount every six weeks or so. He never
S
“There are
a substantial
num ber
of
people who
grow cannabis
in the Portland
area,” says
T.D. M iller,
who last year
founded the
Portland chap-
terofNORML.
Miller met
Brown a few
m onths ago,
when the two
went to Salem
to
te s tify
against the re
criminalization
»
bills. “We to
tally support
what Marc is doing. It’s unconscionable that people have to suffer the
way they do. At least 80 percent of the public thinks that cannabis
should legally be available for medicinal purposes.”
“I have learned there is a very active hemp movement in
Oregon,” says Brown, who recently spoke about the Portland
buyer’s club at a PDX NORML meeting. “A lot of people care
deeply about this issue and have agreed to supply
cannabis at cost, or even donate it. That’s so important
for people who need medicinal cannabis, because many
times they’re living on their measly fSocial Security]
checks from month to month.”
Miller estimates one ounce of commercial-grade
high-quality marijuana costs between $250 and $350,
and Brown says he’s often able to purchase that amount
for $150 or less. "This is a relationship built totally on
trust,” Brown says. "Totally."
Brown describes how the CBC conducts its work:
We have a supplier. He cuts a plant, and I pick it up,
clean it, and separate the buds from the leaf. 1 weigh the
bud, for which we’re typically
charged about $ 150 per ounce. I
may get 2 or 3 ounces of bud
from the plant. I then sterilize the
cannabis—this is really impor
tant when you’re talking about
using cannabis for people with
suppressed immune systems. The
cannabis can mold, so I bake it
[275 degrees for 15 minutes] or
boil it in a bag for 15 minutes.
Then I package it up in 4.5-gram
amounts. I have a set schedule
with members, and I take just
five packets with me on my
rounds, because if you’re caught
delivering more, it’s a felony. If
it’s a new member, we’ll meet
som ew here, usually at the
person’s home. I spend about an
hour—it really is like client intake -and talk about their
illness and their symptoms and why they think cannabis
may be good for them. Then we’ll smoke some can
nabis.
He says, “One of our members has multiple sclero
sis, which makes him twitch terribly. Within two hits
you can see how he relaxes and the twitches stop.”
cannabis, he harbors concerns about the drug’s potential harmful
ness: “Many people with AIDS suffer from pneumonia. Taking hot
smoke into your lungs further weakens the lungs. Many people with
AIDS also suffer with bouts of dementia, and we know that
marijuana can adversely affect memory.”
Some critics of medicinal cannabis say people can also use
Marinol, a synthetic form of THC—the most active ingredient in
marijuana— which has been approved by the federal Food and Drug
Administration as a treatment for nausea and wasting syndrome.
But Brown and many other people with HJV/AIDS say if simply
does not work as well as marijuana.
“From a consumer standpoint, there is a real interest in medici
nal marijuana among people with HI V and AIDS,” says 56-year-old
Jack Cox, editor of a newsletter called ‘The Metro HIV Advocacy
Council.” According to Cox, the forum is essentially a consumer
tool, one where services and products designed for people with
HIV/AIDS are discussed (other matters are also addressed in the
one-year-old newsletter, which has a statewide circulation of about
120). He says, “I think there is a relief among many that the CBC
is now up and running.”
“Sure, we’ve heard about the club,” says
Susan Stoltenberg, executive director of Cas
cade AIDS Project, Oregon’s largest non-
medical service organization for people with
HIV/AIDS. “We don’t refer our clients to the
club for obvious legal reasons, but we’re cer
tainly supportive of people exploring their
options.”
Brown says he suspects the Portland buy
ers’ club will continue to grow as more people
find out about it, and he says his immediate
goal is to find a central location where the club
can meet. Brown also intends to lobby
policymakers in all levels of government for
legalization of medicinal cannabis.
Forty-six-year-old Laird Funk of Williams,
Ore., has unsuccessfully pushed for such a
measure (via the initiative process and by
lobbying the Legislature) for a decade. Never
theless, he says he will keep trying. “We tried to get a bill through
this year, but this Legislature in particular doesn’t want to deal with
it because they want to be viewed as totally anti-drug. It doesn’t
seem to matter to the leadership that the public overwhelmingly
supports medical marijuana.”
Brown says he plans to ask the Portland City Council, perhaps
as early as next month, to take action on this issue, and another
campaign is underway to put a medicinal marijuana legalization
initiative on the November 1996 general election ballot.
“As much as some politicians would like this issue to go away,
it’s simply not going to— because lives are at stake,” says Brown.
Brown says
he suspects the
Portland buyers’ club
will continue to grow
as more people
find out about it,
and he says his
immediate goal is
to find a central
location where the
club can meet.
Marc Brown's own arsenal o f medications and supplements
carries more than an ounce (equal to about 28 grams) with him, and
he doesn’t technically sell cannabis to his members.
“If people can make a donation, that’s great: a donation of $30 or
$40 per 4.5 grams. If people want to donate more, that’s wonderful.
If they have no money, we give it to them for free. This isn’t about
money. This is about relieving people’s pain,” Brown says.
I
know there are a lot of people out there who are
in pain, but they do have options when it comes to
alternative treatments,” says David Eisen, direc
tor of Portland’s Addiction Acupuncture Center, a li
censed alcohol and drug rehabilitation facility and HIV clinic
offering alternative health care. “We can use nutritional supple
ments, massage and acupuncture to help AIDS patients. Many of
these treatments are free for people who come to this clinic, thanks
to the Ryan White CARE Act.”
Though Eisen admits some people may benefit from medicinal
6 4
For more information about the Portland Cannabis Buyers ’
Club, call 281-4602; or write to CBC Portland, 2600 NE Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd., Suite 119, Portland, OR 97212. I f you would
like to contribute to Joanna McKee's defense fund, write to The
Green Cross Legal Fund, 30th Floor, Smith Tower, 509 Second
Ave., Seattle, WA 98104.