Hillsborough woman suffering from multiple sclerosis touts merits of m

[grace]

Nancy Fedder, a 61-year-old Hillsborough resident, approaches the coffee grinder for what long has been a daily ritual.

 

But her use of the appliance likely differs from many Central Jerseyans. Instead of crushing coffee beans so she can brew a cup of joe, Fedder puts marijuana in the device to grind up the substance so she can smoke it in a pipe on her back porch.

 

Fedder, who lives with her daughter and two grandchildren, is a retired computer programmer who has coped with multiple sclerosis for 16 years. She also is one of the faces of the continuing debate over the potential legalization of medical marijuana in New Jersey.

 

"I know from my past experience that when you put a face on an issue and when they go to the TV and they see a 60-year-old grandmother in Hillsborough — I mean how rural can you get? — sitting there talking about medical marijuana, that makes people think," Fedder said during a recent interview at her home. "It makes them stop reading the bill and stop thinking about all the highfalutin politics."

 

But politics, of course, has enveloped the issue. Advocates of a bill called the "New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act" argue that legalizing marijuana for those struggling with debilitating medical conditions will give some patients an alternative to prescription medications that might be ineffective or cause serious side effects.

 

Fedder, for example, said some medications she takes are difficult to manage because one puts her to sleep and another, to treat spasticity, turns her legs into noodles or sticks if the dosage isn't just right.

 

Supporters also say the proposed law — which could come up for a full Senate vote later this month — establishes ways to safely distribute marijuana and prevents abuse by spelling out who can obtain it and how they can use it.

 

Critics, however, contend the bill is written too loosely to be effective, promotes experimentation with an unregulated drug and could lead to outright decriminalization of marijuana.

 

UNDERSTANDING THE BILL: The medical-marijuana act is designed to protect from arrest the patients who use medical marijuana, their primary caregivers, physicians who prescribe the drug and those who produce or distribute it for medical purposes.

 

To qualify to use the drug, patients would need to register with the state or have their primary caregiver agree to "provide marijuana only to the patient who has named him as caregiver."

 

Caregivers and patients approved to use the drug could not have more than six marijuana plants and one ounce of usable marijuana at one time. Those in charge of managing treatment centers that would be permitted to cultivate or distribute medical marijuana also would be limited to having the same amount for each patient who is registered with the facility.

 

The bill (S119) also states that patients eligible to use medical marijuana would be those with debilitating or chronic medical conditions — cancer and glaucoma, for example — or diseases that cause symptoms such as wasting syndrome, severe nausea or persistent muscle spasms.

 

Other medical conditions could be approved by the state Department of Health and Senior Services, which is the agency that would oversee registration and provide lawmakers with annual updates on the process.

 

The bill states that it in no way would require health insurers to reimburse patients for costs associated with medical marijuana nor mandate employers to accommodate the use of medical marijuana at work.

 

It also bans patients from using the drug while on public transportation or on school grounds, public parks, beaches and recreation centers. Similarly, medical marijuana users couldn't legally drive under the influence.

 

Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari, D-Linden, is a prime sponsor of the bill and said he has been crafting it since joining the Senate in 2004.

 

"I just absolutely think it's the right thing to do for society as a whole," he said.

 

Scutari, who is Linden's municipal prosecutor, said a friend of his moved to California to get access to medical marijuana to treat severe pain, and it "changed his life dramatically."

 

The senator, who declined to discuss his view on full legalization of the drug, said those stricken with disease can benefit from using a substance that is readily available and cheap to manufacture.

 

"This bill is very narrowly tailored and carefully drafted, and it's going to do exactly what we say it's going to do," Scutari said.

 

POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE?: But David Evans, executive director of the Flemington-based Drug Free Schools Coalition, said just the opposite.

 

"What I pointed out to the committee was that this bill, even if you're in favor of medical marijuana, this bill is not the way to achieve it," Evans said of his testimony before the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee, which passed the bill by a 6-1 vote with two abstentions on Dec. 15, 2008. Fedder testified in support.

 

"This bill would implement a very bad system very similar to the one in California that has been widely abused," Evans said of one of the more than a dozen states to have some type of medical-marijuana law.

 

Although New Jersey's bill states that qualifying patients must have a "bona fide physician-patient relationship" with the doctor who reviews their medical history and suggests treatment with medical marijuana, Evans said he foresees "people growing their own marijuana and using it for whatever they feel it's appropriate for" because pain and nausea claims can't be based on uniform medical tests.

 

Evans also said it's dangerous to use a drug that hasn't gone through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval process because there aren't defined dosage times or amounts or a clear explanation of side effects, as in the case of marijuana.

 

He also cited medical associations — such as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society — that have not supported the use of medical marijuana because of a lack of conclusive research.

 

"Studies completed thus far have not provided convincing evidence that marijuana or its derivatives provide substantiated benefits for symptoms of MS," according to a statement from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society available at www.nationalmssociety.org.

 

But Fedder, who started using medical marijuana in 1993 after discovering a patients' cooperative in New York City, said she has used the drug daily for the past 16 years to treat constant pain associated with multiple sclerosis.

 

Fedder said she still ventures into New York, which does not have a medical-marijuana law, to buy the drug from the same couple who ran the cooperative.

 

"And I found out, back then, that a puff or two, it knocks the pain down a couple of pegs, which when you're dealing with 24/7 pain, a couple of points on a scale of one to 10, is huge. It's huge," Fedder said. "So if I'm standing up and my pain is at a seven or so and I take two puffs and the pain drops below five, that's a big deal for me."

 

Fedder said pain relief from smoking marijuana is practically instantaneous because the drug enters the blood stream more quickly than pills, which she said can take from 15 minutes to a half hour to begin working.

 

Although Fedder never has had a run-in with the police, she said she hopes New Jersey's bill is signed into law so any fears of prosecution are alleviated. Hillsborough police could not be reached for comment Friday, Jan. 30.

 

NEXT STEP: If the bill is posted and passed by the full Senate — Scutari said a vote could come as soon as Feb. 23 — supporters would begin reaching out to their Assembly colleagues in hopes of getting it passed this legislative session so the process doesn't have to start over.

 

Derek Roseman, Assembly Democratic spokesman, said Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr., D-Camden, is open to considering the bill "as long as he can be convinced that it will be carefully regulated and available under medical supervision only to those with truly legitimate needs."

 

Gov. Jon S. Corzine would sign the measure into law if it passes the Legislature, spokesman Robert Corrales said.

 

And that's what Fedder and other supporters are hoping for.

 

"I think the response we get from everybody on this issue is if that was me, if that was my loved one, if that's what my doctor thought was the best option, I want to be able to have that option," said Roseanne Scotti, director of New Jersey's Drug Policy Alliance.

 

Author: Brandon Lausch

Date: 1 February 2009

Source: CentralJersey.com

Copyright: ©2007

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