If bill passes would I be eligible?

It sounds like your condition affects your everday life greatly, I don't know what their bill looks like but that sounds legit.. sorry to hear you have to go through that with the grafts

 

I live in WI too. I would say too, it will depend on what is in the bill. I would think this sort of daily pain issue would be covered. I also deal with several pain issues and they are documented by many doctors. At least you have a medical history, which I think will be key for any mmj patient to be able to get this if the bill passes.
I too am sorry you have to deal with this sort of pain; a very dear friend of mine was burned (almost entire body) and he has dealt with MANY skin grafts himself over last 17yrs.
Have you heard any more about the WI bill? I have not heard anything more since Dec 15th 2009. Gov Doyle said he would sign it if it gets passed.

 

I check Normls site daily. Hope we can keep in touch here on boards to stay informed too--just in case one of us Wisco people miss the big news. FINGERS CROSSED that it passes.

 

I wouldn't mind either. I live south of Milwaukee, so I am sure that this area will have plenty.

 

I also live in WI and I would like to know if I would be eligible. A few years ago I got a pinched nerve in my leg. Ever since then I haven't been able to do some things that I could do before such as run, work out, and it even effects me when I try and sleep. Lately I've been getting only about 5 hours of sleep a night. It's not a constant pain but it does flare up multiple times a day especially if I am sitting in an uncomfortable position I'll feel it for hours then.

 

Also in Wisconsin and i'm with you guys i havn't heard anything about the bill in a while. Would like to know whats going on with that even though the only condition i can try to plead is insomnia...

 

Hey I was wondering if I would be eligible when/if it goes through also, and figured I'd ask here instead of starting a new thread.

I was diagnosed with Arnold Chiari Malformation of the Brain when I was small, which is a condition where there isn't enough room in your skull for your brain to grow properly. When I was like 8-9 they performed surgery and removed some skull out of the back of my head. I since have frequent headaches (though not nearly as frequent as before the surgery), that while maybe not "debilitating" (I can still function when they come on and such) are still painful and make my day a helluva lot worse. Also, every once and a while I get very sharp spasms, lightning bolt style, at random places in my head. these are painful enough to make me stop whatever I'm doing until they pass, usually.

When I was younger, i used to take ibuprofen frequently to take away the regular headaches. When I was in 7th/8th grade I started to develop bouts of pretty bad heartburn, that would assail me for like a week or two and then go away for a while. We thought it was pretty strange, but largely ignored it, because it didn't happen very often. Within the last year It came back with a vengeance, not going away anymore, along with a symptom that the doctors didn't even have a name for, which is an aversion to eating. At random intervals throughout my day, sometimes skipping a couple days, sometimes happening more than once in a day, I just get this crazy inability to choke down food. I'm not sick to my stomach, and it doesn't hurt, I just can't make myself eat for a few hours, which forces me sometimes not to end up eating at all or to resort to junk/fast food, because I couldn't eat when real food was readily available. I was diagnosed with Gastritis, or inflammation of the lining of my stomach, which I blame entirely on the Ibuprofen.

I now take Ranitidine to stop the heartburn, and the episodes of food-aversion come less frequently, but they still happen several times a week, and with marijuana I can eat as though nothing were wrong with me. I still get the headaches and the spasms, but I now either power through them, take very small doses of tylenol to ease the pain a bit, or medicate with marijuana. I refuse to start taking Tylenol as often or in as large of doses as I was taking Ibuprofen, for fear of what THAT might do to me, so it's not really a very practical medication for me. I don't want to be prescribed pills to deal with the pain, even if they aren't opiates, because my brother was once badly addicted to Oxycontin, and also because of what I believe the ibuprofen did to me, so I'm sort of afraid of pills. I would greatly enjoy it if Ranitidine were the only pill I ever had to take. (and if I didn't have to take that, it'd be swell.) Marijuana cures the headaches, and I've never gotten a spasm while high. All of these symptoms and Diagnoses and such are Documented in my medical records.

Sorry for the long post, but I'm quite afraid that the Wisconsin Bill won't cover me because my conditions may not be considered Debilitating, although they do make my life pretty terrible, often. I was hoping someone could tell me whether or not my concerns are well founded.

 

Both of you seem like you should qualify for MMJ. You have legitimate illnesses that could be helped by MMJ. However, I don't know the exact wording of the bill so I don't really know. If it is written sensibly, you guys should be set though.

 

Alright, thanks, man. As long as it sounds like Ishould have a pretty good shot, that's all I needed to know..

Main thing is that the bill gets PASSED, because there are people who really need it alot worse than me, can't be left waiting for their meds. it's outrageously unethical, from my standpoint. If they would quit stalling and Vote on it, I'd be pretty psyched. I wish they would at least schedule a date, but that's legislators for you, sometimes.

 

The Badger Herald: News: Medical marijuana: beyond the smoke and mirrors
Medical marijuana: beyond the smoke and mirrors

\t\t\t\t Bobby Breitenbach/The Badger Herald
Bobby Breitenbach/The Badger Herald
Bobby Breitenbach/The Badger Herald
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\t
\t\t By Alicia Yager
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 1:40 a.m.
2 Vote 2 Votes


Amid Indian drumbeats and singing, protesters on the Capitol steps Tuesday sent a prayer to the heavens and to the Wisconsin Legislature, asking for the right to use their medicine - marijuana.
The Day of Prayer for Compassion ceremony, hosted by legalization advocacy groups Is My Medicine Legal YET and the Wisconsin branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, met to help convince members of the Senate and Assembly to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal reasons.
The bill, currently pending in the Wisconsin Legislature, is the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, which would allow for the use and growth of medicinal cannabis in the treatment of certain illnesses.
Among the speakers present were Gary Storck, president of Wisconsin NORML and spokesperson for IMMLY, veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, an Ojibwa Indian performer and others who have diseases for which they say medicinal cannabis is the best option.
“We are here today to raise prayers and awareness in the state Legislature,” Storck said. “We can't go another (legislative) session without having [medicinal cannabis] legally available to people who can benefit from it.”
What is medicinal cannabis?
James Cleary, associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Heath, said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald that cannabinoids - a group of hydrocarbon compounds present in cannabis and also in animals' nervous and immune systems - may have the potential to improve certain treatments, but more research is needed.
“Cannabinoids may be a useful addition to the treatment of pain,” Cleary said. “(However) I think we need to explore other ways of delivery other than the smoked version.”
Cleary also recently attended the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria, which monitors international dealings and situations concerning narcotics.
According to Cleary, there is a prominent medicine called Sativex under development and trials in the U.S. Sativex, which is already approved for use in Canada, is an oral spray that treats a range of ailments, including cancer-related pains, with its active cannabinoid ingredients tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol - THC and CBD.
“I have prescribed the oral cannabinoids for patients with advanced cancer,” Cleary said in an e-mail. “As an oncologist, I am against approving the smoked version. That is the advantage of the Sativex product at this stage, or a vaporized version (of cannabis).”
A vaporized version entails heating the plant material in a vacuum rather than burning it, thereby reducing the intake of irritants and toxins when inhaled.
One of the problems with the oral version, Cleary said, is that it is difficult to determine the concentration of the dose, and many patients experience adverse side effects.
June Dahl, a UW pharmacology professor who co-chairs the Wisconsin branch of the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives, agreed Sativex is an interesting drug, but added there has not been a lot of research done on medicinal cannabis in general in the U.S.
According to Dahl, one form of pain relief that studies have shown could possibly be helped by medicinal cannabis is neuropathic pain relief.
“Neuropathic pain is very difficult to treat,” Dahl said. “Even with the best of care, about half of people get about 50 percent relief of their pain. The role of [CBD] is interesting.”
Dahl said though it is not yet conclusive how effective medicinal cannabis is for pain relief of certain diseases, the treatment can have a “calming effect” for those who are suffering from ailments like terminal cancer or AIDS.
Like Cleary, Dahl said she is also against the act of smoking marijuana as a treatment, as it triples the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The advantage of the spray, she said, is that it is absorbed quickly into the body for a rapid response.
She added making medicinal cannabis in pill form is difficult because of its solubility but research is underway to resolve the issues.
The legislative issue state and nationwide
The bill JRMMA, authored by Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, would offer a medical necessity legal defense for those who are prescribed marijuana for treatment. This means patients holding or growing marijuana would be protected from arrest and prosecution.
JRMMA would also establish a licensing and registry system under the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. DHS would also be given the power to designate which diseases would qualify for the use of medicinal cannabis.
According to Storck, the bill's namesake, Rickert, started IMMLY after the federal government created the Compassionate Use Investigative New Drug Program in 1978. The program provides its participants a certain number of prescription marijuana cigarettes per month.
Storck said Rickert was approved for the program in 1990 after meeting all the requirements, but the government did not follow through on providing the medication and closed enrollment in the program. Since then, Rickert has been advocating the legalization of medicinal cannabis at a state and national level.
“Jacki was approved in 1990, but they never gave [the marijuana cigarettes] to her, then they closed it to new participants. There were eight participants in it at that time and only four left alive now,” Storck said. “It was basically symbolic.”
Storck said he has been personally involved in medical marijuana legalization bills since 1997. As someone who suffers from numerous afflictions including glaucoma and spasms, Storck said medicinal cannabis offers treatment options that do not come with damaging side effects and allows people to lead productive lives.
Along with pain treatments, Storck said medicinal cannabis also helps those who are suffering from mental afflictions like post-traumatic stress disorder, such as veterans returning from action.
Fourteen other states have legalized the use and growth of medicinal cannabis, including California and Michigan.
Erpenbach spokesperson Julie Laundrie said Erpenbach became involved in the issue after talking to many people around the state who said their lives could be better with the use of medicinal cannabis.
“According to our database, 179 constituents support medical marijuana and five constituents oppose,” Laundrie said. “We have gotten lots more contacts on the issue, but (we) only keep track of those from the Senator's district.”
Storck said Pocan has been involved in introducing medicinal cannabis legalization bills for many years, and U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., was also a sponsor when she was a Madison member of the state Assembly before Pocan.
The future of medicinal cannabis in Wisconsin
Laundrie said it is difficult to tell at this point whether the bill will make it out of the Senate and Assembly health committees and to the floor votes before the end of this legislative session in May.
“I think advocates are working with the committee to iron out concerns,” Laundrie said. “There's a possibility to move it to the floor, but it is a diverse committee that has concerns, and they need to be addressed before a (committee) vote.”
According to Laundrie, Erpenbach does not want to hold a vote until there is more confidence the bill will pass through the committee.
Senate health committee member Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, said a lot of what she has been hearing in committee is that medicinal cannabis is used more for relaxation and comfort than for pain relief.
Lazich also pointed to the fact that the medical community - in particular the Wisconsin Medical Society - does not think medicinal cannabis is more useful than current drugs on the market. She added she supports the idea of more research on the effects of medicinal cannabis.
“When the Food and Drug Administration reach a point that it should be legalized and go through a pharmacy with a prescription … then it will be acceptable, but until there's a legal prescription with legal pharmacy - same as other drugs - I don't support it,” Lazich said.
Lazich added the other states that have legalized medicinal cannabis for growth in “pot houses” have had a lot of crime associated with those facilities, and she did not want something similar in Wisconsin.
According to Laundrie, if the bill does not get voted out of committee, it will need to be reevaluated and reintroduced in the next session. She added she is not sure Erpenbach will be part of the reintroduction but emphasized Erpenbach has not changed his position on the issue.
Storck said the timing for legalizing medicinal cannabis is perfect right now, as the Democrats hold the majority in both the Assembly and the Senate, and Gov. Jim Doyle has vocalized support for medicinal cannabis.
He added he was concerned about what would happen if the bill has to be reintroduced next session, as the Republicans may reclaim the majority and there will be a new governor.
“No medical marijuana bill has progressed this far, and now we have a governor willing to sign it. The problem is that Republicans need to support it and we can't quite get them all,” Storck said. “We're waiting for them to understand this is not a partisan issue and affects everyone.”