Medical marijuana patients endure, face more delays

For Deb McPherson, marijuana is medicine. But purchasing the drug is nothing like buying pain pills or picking up a blood pressure prescription at a local pharmacy.

"It's extremely difficult," said McPherson, 47, of New Castle. "You're asking around everyone you used to know in high school. You're hitting people up on social media."

McPherson is one of 200 Delawareans certified by the state under a 2011 law to use pot to treat a variety of conditions – including symptoms of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, HIV and ailments that cause severe pain and nausea.

Another 170 applications are being processed by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. But patients are still forced to buy marijuana illegally on the street, with delays continuing to undermine Delaware's program – even after Congress blocked federal funding for medical marijuana prosecutions.

McPherson uses the drug to help with pain and inflammation caused by herniated disks in her back and fibromyalgia. She has had mixed success in securing marijuana – her medicine. One regular contact she used to buy the drug was arrested. In other cases, McPherson suspects she was charged too much, or delivered too little for what she paid.

"I've had some really bad situations where I really needed the medicine and what I got was junk," McPherson said.

Construction delays will push the opening of Delaware's only medical marijuana dispensary, First State Compassion Center near Wilmington, from this month into at least June.

Dispensaries are not even planned in Kent or Sussex counties, despite language in the May 2011 law requiring the Health Department to issue registration certificates to applicants "in each county by January 1, 2013."

A spokesman for Delaware Gov. Jack Markell said, "Modifications were made to the state's medical marijuana program to address federal concerns about the authorization of multiple large-scale centers in a single state."

Markell delayed implementation of the medical marijuana program for years under the perceived threat of prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, even for medical applications.

Zoe Patchell, of the Cannabis Bureau of Delaware, an advocacy group, said Markell "maintains that he is minimizing the federal threat, when that threat no longer exists."

In December, Congress approved and President Barack Obama signed a 1,600-page spending measure that blocked funding for U.S. government efforts to prevent states from "implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana."​

Delaware was specifically mentioned in the federal legislation. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have comprehensive medical marijuana laws, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a national advocacy group.

Robert Capecchi, deputy director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, called Delaware's concerns "dated," pointing to updated guidance from the U.S. Justice Department. A memo from Deputy Attorney General James Cole to U.S. Attorneys on Aug. 29, 2013, said effective regulation "may allay the threat" posed by the size of marijuana operations in states.

Joe Scarborough, a medical marijuana advocate who lobbied legislators to pass the 2011 legislation, said he's confounded by the caution displayed by Markell, who has delayed Delaware's medical program even as other states, including Colorado and Washington, have legalized the drug for recreational use.

"I believe that the governor is out of compliance with the law that he signed," Scarborough said, noting that the law calls for medical dispensaries in all three counties.

"Why did he sign the bill if he had no intentions of enacting it?"

Applications from potential patients to the medical marijuana program soared in recent months, with the impending opening of the first dispensary. The number of cardholders and applications under review by the Health Department are up 76 percent from mid-December.

Canna Care Docs, a medical practice located near the dispensary in an industrial park west of Wilmington, has certified about 80 patients since its opening in January, said Kevin Kafka, director of Canna Care's operations.

Kafka said the dispensary's delay is hurting his business, which doesn't take insurance but relies on annual fees from patients. "People don't have that big incentive to come in until the dispensary is open," Kafka said.

Meanwhile, patients remain short-changed. David Turner, 39, of Pike Creek, said he was "rip-roaring mad" when he heard of the delay in opening the First State Compassion Center.

Turner uses marijuana to treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, fibromyalgia and pain from a traumatic head injury. Being forced by the state to purchase the drug illegally adds anxiety that counters some of the drug's benefits, Turner said.

"It's just one delay after another," Turner said. "It seems as though they are finding red tape to tie it up."

Jane, a 52-year-old Pike Creek cardholder, is one of many who swear by the medicinal benefits of the drug. Jane, who suffers from a disability caused by nerve damage in her legs, did not want her full name used for fear she could be targeted because of her use of marijuana.

She smokes daily before bed to calm her nerves, and help her sleep. The drug offers additional relief not provided by a a fentanyl patch, she said.

"As soon as I close my eyes and try to go to sleep, my legs start jumping," Jane said. "It's a neurological misfiring of nerves. I smoke a little bit of pot to calm my legs down. Nothing works great. But yes, it helps quite a bit."

McPherson, the New Castle cardholder, uses marijuana privately, at home to treat her pain and inflammation. She is not interested in smoking the drug socially, but believes in its medicinal qualities.

But McPherson remains concerned about quality when buying marijuana on the street, not in a tightly-regulated dispensary.

"They're just handing you whatever," McPherson said of her transactions. "You get it handed to you. You hand over the money, and the that's a real problem. You're dealing with people who don't have any policies and procedures manual."

Contact Jonathan Starkey at (302) 983-6756, on Twitter @jwstarkey or at jstarkey@delawareonline.com.

DELAWARE MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULES

• Delaware is one of 23 other states and the District of Columbia to legalize a comprehensive medical marijuana program.

• Law lets certified patients who have a serious medical condition possess up to 6 ounces of pot.

• Centers licensed by the state are allowed to grow and dispense marijuana.

• 200 Delawareans are certified by the state to use pot to treat a variety of conditions.

• Opening of first medical marijuana dispensary has been delayed until June.