

Court's pot ruling won't apply to patients in federal program By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY Irvin Rosenfeld, a 52-year-old stockbroker, says he reeks of the marijuana he has smoked for many years to treat rare bone tumors. He gets his pot for free from an unlikely source: the U.S. government. Irvin Rosenfeld shows off a marijuana cigarette while testifing to a House hearing committee considering a proposal to legalize medical marijuana in February. By Sally Mangiaracina, AP Every month, Rosenfeld and six other Americans receive about 300 cigarettes each to alleviate health problems under an old but little-known U.S. program funded by taxpayers. These seven have the federal government's written permission to use, even though the Supreme Court ruled Monday that the U.S. government may prosecute sick people who use marijuana. "I handle millions of dollars, and my clients know I smoke 10 to 12 joints a day, without euphoric effect," says Rosenfeld, who works for Newbridge Securities in Fort Lauderdale. In 1982, Rosenfeld became the second person eligible for the "compassionate use" program, which began four years earlier as a result of a lawsuit. Glaucoma sufferer Robert Randall had sued the U.S. government after he was arrested for using marijuana. A judge ruled Randall needed it for medical reasons. The government agreed to set up the program, run by the Food and Drug Administration. The marijuana is grown on a farm at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. The first President Bush discontinued the program in 1992 after Randall tried to help scores of AIDS patients become eligible, but he grandfathered in the 13 patients who were already enrolled. Several, including Randall, have since died. "The government has done everything to hide the program since 1992," says Keith Stroup, founder and legal counsel of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "For political reasons, the government doesn't want to find out marijuana is helpful for medical purposes." Tom Riley, spokesman of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, says the federal government is spending millions of dollars on research into marijuana's medicinal uses. "This program is just part of that effort." Riley says the government would be receptive to a non-addictive marijuana derivative with medical benefits, but it would be subject to FDA approval. He says proponents of medical marijuana want to circumvent that process. Rosenfeld urges the current Bush administration to reopen the program as a way to study marijuana's medical value. He says he and three other participants underwent complete evaluations a few years ago that showed no adverse health effects from their pot use. Rosenfeld considers it a miracle his health is good. Born with a disease in which tumors press into the muscles at the end of his long bones, he suffered paralysis and extreme pain. He's had 30 tumors removed in six operations. He still has 200 tumors, some too small to remove, but in the 30 years he has been smoking marijuana, he says, he has not had a new tumor. He says he doesn't take the marijuana for granted. "I'm always worried (about the shipments ending) because I don't trust the government, and the medicine means everything to me."