RALEIGH Perry Parks, a 68-year-old former Vietnam helicopter pilot, is relentless in his campaign to convince the N.C. legislature to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

He doesn’t just walk the halls of the legislature, often attired in his old National Guard uniform. To publicize his cause, he agreed to be photographed smoking a bong – a picture seen on national television and in newspapers as far as way as Japan.

“I call it the hit heard around the world,” Parks quips. Parks has a habit of turning up at the side of notable political leaders, whether it be Gov. Bev Perdue, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis or President Barack Obama.

He has twice convinced the N.C. Democratic Party’s executive committee to pass a resolution supporting legalizing marijuana for medical reasons, although party leaders seem skittish about the issue.

But it will be far harder to convince the legislature to do so. A bill legalizing medical marijuana did not get very far last session when the Democrats were in control. The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Kelly Alexander, a Charlotte Democrat, likely faces an even more difficult road now that Republicans are in power.

But that has not deterred Parks, who believes that if he just has a chance to sit down and explain his position, people will come around to his point of view.

He is doing this, Parks says, for his fellow veterans, many of whom are dealing with chronic pain, and have found that marijuana provides relief.

“I have veterans that call me every day who are being arrested or being kicked out of VA clinics because we don’t have a state law,” Parks says.

Inhaling marijuana provides Parks with relief from his pain from severe degenerative disc disorder and arthritis.

But while veterans are his primary motivation, the bill that has been introduced would make medical marijuana available to anyone who meets the medical guidelines. In December, Parks was elected president of the N.C. Cannabis Patients Network, a group that counts 1,000 members.

Second attempt
This is the second session that a bill legalizing marijuana for medical purposes – but not legalizing it generally – has been introduced in the state legislature. Last session, the bill got a hearing in the House Health Committee, but this time it has not gotten that far, and is stuck in the House Rules Committee, a burial ground for bills.

Rep. Stephen LaRoque of Kinston, co-chairman of the Rules Committee, said he would hold a hearing if the N.C. Medical Society expressed an interest in it. But the group, which represents doctors, has not endorsed the bill.

Alexander said much of the political and medical establishment is wary of endorsing the legislation, although privately many will say they know people who have been helped by the medical use of marijuana.

“Everyone in the world of officials is afraid of it,” Alexander said. “That is why open discussion and open dialogue is important.

“Some people have what I call a Cheech and Chong view of the issue,” Alexander said. “Frankly, if you look at it through that lens it makes it more difficult to take it seriously and makes it more difficult to listen to the evidence out there about its medical efficacy.”

Alexander said there are 20 ailments on which medical marijuana has been proven to have some positive effect, including helping those undergoing chemotherapy treatment. And he cited a recent article published by the National Institute of Health that suggested that cannabis can play some role in slowing the growth of cancer tumors.

The bill would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for a number of prescribed ailments and conditions such as cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, hypertension, severe nausea and epilepsy. The state Department of Agriculture would oversee a licensing system for growing marijuana.

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes. But no state in the more socially conservative South allows it.

Parks says he gets it. He is career military, a resident of small-town North Carolina, and a Christian. “This stuff totally removed my pain,” Parks says of the marijuana. “I couldn’t believe it. I prayed about it. My preacher told me I was still wrong.”

Parks spent 28 years in the military, as a chief warrant officer 4, flying helicopters in Vietnam and later with the National Guard.

During his 30 months in Vietnam, Parks said he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars and was awarded the Air Medal 31 times.

He went through a difficult period after Vietnam with drugs, but got his life back together, married and raised a family, eventually settling in Rockingham. He became a corporate pilot for Murphy Farms and worked as a pilot examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration.

He has also had a bit of fame. He was one of five American soldiers who served in World War II, Vietnam or the Middle East featured in the film, “The Good Soldier,” which won an Emmy last year. Parks irritates some veterans in the legislature. Rep. Grier Martin, a Democrat from Raleigh, who is a lieutenant colonel in the Army reserves, has told him it is inappropriate for him to wear his National Guard uniform while lobbying. And to some, his aggressive advocacy at times crosses the line.

Earlier this session, he crashed a news conference held by former Gov. Jim Hunt on the subject of saving Smart Start, the early childhood advocacy program. As puzzled reporters looked on, Parks said legalizing medical marijuana would help bring extra revenue to the state to help save programs like Smart Start.

Parks says he is driven by the stories of his fellow vets, who are facing discrimination as they seek relief from their pain.

“I’m just persistent because it’s such a disgrace that it’s considered criminal in this state,” Parks said, “and in other states everything is fine.” Source.

November 9, 2010 – Marijuana helps Robert Jones deal with nausea and anxiety that come with chemotherapy.

He has been dealing with a lot of stress ever since he was told that his rent subsidy would end because marijuana is illegal under federal law. The drug, which was recommended by his doctor, is legal in New Mexico.

“My eyes are fogging up as they do when I’m stressed,” says Jones, 70. “I’m getting anxiety. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

CLASH: State, federal laws collide
MORE: Medical pot use, job rules can conflict

Jones is among patients with cancer, chronic pain and other maladies who say smoking marijuana helps their condition. Many, though, are trapped between state laws that allow medical pot smoking and federal laws that do not. Sixteen states have approved medical marijuana.

Attorney General Eric Holder told U.S. attorneys in 2009 to refrain from prosecuting “individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.” That applies only to the Justice Department.

“There still are people in the Obama administration who take a much more hostile approach,” says Keith Stroup, legal counsel for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, chairman of the banking committee, and 14 other Democratic and Republican members of Congress have asked Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to adopt a policy for federally insured national banks similar to the Justice Department’s.

Like Treasury, other federal departments enforce the law against marijuana. Travelers with medical pot are arrested. People who lose their jobs after testing positive for marijuana can be denied unemployment benefits. People who live where the Border Patrol operates have their marijuana confiscated.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has largely resolved the conflict at its hospitals and pain clinics.

Until last summer, the VA would not give pain medication to patients seeking treatment at its pain clinics who tested positive for marijuana. Now, veterans in states where marijuana is approved for medical use can submit documentation showing they have legal access to pot, which means a patient who tests positive will not be denied treatment.

Some patients with chronic pain use marijuana to magnify the effect of painkillers, which allows them to use less of those drugs and reduce the risks of addiction and digestive problems, says Michael Krawitz, executive director of Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access.

Pot also helps vets with nerve pain and phantom limb pain after amputation, conditions that are hard to treat with traditional drugs, he says.

Jones, an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana who rents a house for $400 a month, was told by public housing officials last month that they planned to take away his $156 monthly subsidy because he is engaged in criminal activity by smoking marijuana.

Jones, who has anal cancer, says a doctor recommended in 2007 that he use marijuana for the nausea caused by chemotherapy, “which was quite severe.”

Now, “whenever I have to eat, I have to smoke a bit,” he says. “I’m trying to eat it and not smoke it because I have lung problems.” He also takes it for depression, and it has helped him stop taking other pain and anxiety medications, he says.

Mandy Griego, New Mexico administrator for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, cites national policy saying all users of illegal drugs must be treated the same.

Jones is abiding by New Mexico’s medical-use law, Stroup says.

“What’s he to do, live out in the street?” By Oren Dorell. Source.

Further Reading:
CLASH: State, federal laws collide
JOBS: Medical pot use, job rules can conflict