TIP: Click on subject to list as thread! ANSI
echo: altmed
to: JANE KELLEY
from: ALEX VASAUSKAS
date: 1997-07-13 08:49:00
subject: Marijuana as medi [20/28

 >>> Part 20 of 28...
blurred and unfocused, improved.  Eventually he began smoking marijuana 
on a daily basis.  He ventured outdoors.  He was soon walking half a 
block.  His eyesight returned to normal.
                                 - 46 -
His central field blindness cleared up.  He could focus well enough to 
read again.  One evening he went out with his children and found he could 
kick a soccer ball again.
         25.  Paufler has smoked marijuana regularly since 1980.  Since 
that time his multiple sclerosis has been well controlled.  His doctor 
has been astonished at Paufler's recovery.  Paufler can now run.  He can 
stand on one foot with his eyes closed.  The contrast with his condition, 
several years ago, seems miraculous.  Smoking marijuana when Paufler 
feels an attack coming on shortens the attack.  Paufler's doctor has 
looked Paufler in the eye and told him to keep doing whatever it is he's 
doing because it works.  Paufler and his doctor are exploring the 
possibility of obtaining a compassionate IND to provide legal access to 
marijuana for Paufler.
         26.  Paufler learned in about 1980 of the success of one Sam 
Diana, a multiple sclerosis patient, in asserting the defense of "medical 
necessity" in court when charged with using or possessing marijuana.  He 
learned that doctors, researchers and other multiple sclerosis patients 
had supported Diana's position in the court proceeding.
         27.  Irwin Rosenfeld has been diagnosed as having Pseudo Pseudo 
Hypoparathyroidism.  This uncommon disease causes bone spurs to appear 
and grow all over the body.  Over the patient's lifetime hundreds of 
these spurs can grow, any one of which can become malignant at any time.  
The resulting cancer would spread quickly and the patient would die.
         28.  Even without development of a malignancy, the disease 
causes enormous pain.  The spurs press upon adjacent body tissue, nerves 
and organs.  In Rosenfeld's case, he could neither sit still nor lie 
down, nor could he walk,
                                 - 47 -
without experiencing pain.  Working in his furniture store in Portsmouth, 
Virginia, Mr. Rosenfeld was on his feet moving furniture all day long.  
The lifting and walking caused serious problems as muscles and tissues 
rubbed over the spurs of bone.  He tore muscles and hemorrhaged almost 
daily.
         29.  Rosenfeld's symptoms first appeared about the age of ten.  
Various drugs were prescribed for him for pain relief.  He was taking 
extremely powerful narcotics.  By the age of 19 his therapy included 300 
mg. of Sopor (a powerful sleeping agent) and very high doses of Dilaudid.  
He was found to be allergic to barbiturates.  Taking massive doses of 
pain control drugs, as prescribed, made it very difficult for Rosenfeld 
to function normally.  If he took enough of them to control the pain, he 
could barely concentrate on his schoolwork.  By the time he reached his 
early twenties Rosenfeld's monthly drug intake was between 120 to 140 
Dilaudid tablets, 30 or more Sopor sleeping pills and dozens of muscle 
relaxants.
         30.  At college in Florida Rosenfeld was introduced to marijuana 
by classmates.  He experimented with it recreationally.  He never 
experienced a "high" or "buzz" or "floating sensation" from it.  One day 
he smoked marijuana while playing chess with a friend.  It had been very 
difficult for him to sit for more than five or ten minutes at a time 
because of tumors in the backs of his legs.  Suddenly he realized that, 
absorbed in his chess game, and smoking marijuana, he had remained 
sitting for over an hour - with no pain.  He experimented further and 
found that his pain was reduced whenever he smoked marijuana.
         31.  Rosenfeld told his doctor of his discovery.  The doctor 
opined that it was possible that the marijuana was relieving the pain.  
Something
                                 - 48 -
certainly was - there was a drastic decrease in Rosenfeld's need for such 
drugs as Dilaudid and Demerol and for sleeping pills.  The quality of 
pain relief which followed his smoking of marijuana was superior to any 
he had experienced before.  As his dosages of powerful conventional drugs 
decreased, Rosenfeld became less withdrawn from the world, more able to 
interact and function.  So he has continued to the present time.
         32.  After some time Rosenfeld's doctor accepted the fact that 
the marijuana was therapeutically helpful to Rosenfeld and submitted an 
IND application to FDA to obtain supplies of it legally for Rosenfeld.  
The doctor has insisted, however, that he not be publicly identified.  
After some effort the IND application was granted.  Rosenfeld is 
receiving supplies of marijuana from NIDA.  Rosenfeld testified before a 
committee of the Virginia legislature in about 1979 in support of 
legislation to make marijuana available for therapeutic purposes in that 
State.
         33.  In 1969, at age 19, David Branstetter dove into the shallow 
end of a swimming pool and broke his neck.  He became a quadriplegic, 
losing control over the movement of his arms and legs.  After being 
hospitalized for 18 months he returned home.  Valium was prescribed for 
him to reduce the severe spasms associated with his condition.  He became 
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