Wednesday, march 14, 1979
daily nebraskan
paga9
Cancer victim seeks law permitting legal pot usage
By Val Swinton
Alva Emry has never smoked a cigarette
in her life. Her husband says that during
their 30 years of marriage he has never seen
her touch a cigarette. But now Emry wants
to start smoking. Not tobacco, but mari
juana. The Allen, Neb. resident has cancer of
the liver, intestines and lungs and she hopes
marijuana will save her life.
Emry says she does not want to smoke
marijuana to combat her disease, but to
combat the treatment for her disease. After
each chemotherapy treatment, she suffers
prolonged spells of nausea and vomiting.
Once, during one of the spells, which lasted
about 18 hours, her vomiting was so
violent she burst blood vessels in her eyes.
The Nebraska chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws is hoping that Emry's case will help
legalize marijuana for medical purposes in
the state.
NORML claims that researchers have
learned marijuana prevents nausea in can
cer victims receiving chemotherapy treat
ments. Not enough people
Some Nebraska legislators have said
there may not be enough victims in the
state to warrant legalizing marijuana for
medical purposes. But with Emery,
NORML believes it has a cancer victim who
needs it, and its coordinator, Donald
Fiedler, hopes that by publicizing the prob
lems she faces, other cancer victims will
come forward.
According to Fiedler, however, there
isn't much time. He said he still hopes to
get a bill introduced in the legislature
through committee this sesson and this is
the last week committees meet.
Emry needs marijuana to make her able
to withstand the chemotherapy treatments,
she said in an Omaha press conference
Monday.
Chemotherapy breaks down the cells in
her blood, and before she can receive her
next treatment, she must build those cells
back up. To do that, she must eat a lot of
food, but because of her nausea attacks,
she doesn't feel like eating anything, she
said.
She is supposed to receive the treat
ments every three weeks, but often she is
still too weak, and must wait as long as five
weeks before receiving her next treatment.
Every delay, she said, gives the cancer a
chance to gain on her.
Lukewarm response
She has written to several state legislat
ors urging passage of a bill in Nebraska,
but, she said, the response was only luke
warm. "The legislators said it would be diffi
cult to go through the Food and Drug Ad
ministration, but that was about the only
response I got.
The F.D;A. would have to approve
Emry's use of marijuana if she were to re
ceive the drug through the federal govern
ment. This is the normal channel through
which cancer victims receive marijuana in
states where its use is legal.
However, Feidler was optimistic there
was support in the legislature, especially on
the Miscellaneous Subjects committee, to
sponsor a bill. Such a bill normally would
go through the Public Health Committee,
but the committee quit meeting last week,
and Fiedler said its chairman, Sen. Sam
Cullan, of Hemingford has refused to call
it back into session.
Ill do anything"
So far, Emry has not resorted to buying
marijuana from a street dealer. She said she
would rather use it legally, under the
direction of a doctor. But her husband left
little doubt that if the Legislature doesn't juana would help?"
act, ne wui.
"She must build her blood back up. If
you can't eat, you can't have chemo
therapy treatments. If you can't have
chemotherapy youU die, and 111 do any
thing to get it (marijuana) for her."
Mr. Emry was asked if that meant he
would try to obtain it illegally.
"If you stood by a hospital bed and saw
a loved one vomiting time and time again,
what would you do if you throught mari-
Fiedler hinted that NORML may go to
court to legalize the drug for medical pur
poses, but he admitted a long, drawn-out .
court battle would not help Emry.
The Emrys live 20 miles from Sioux
City, Iowa, and the Iowa legislature is also
considering a bill to legalize marijuana for
medical use. But because they are not resi
dents of Iowa, Mrs. Emry could not cross
state lines to get marijuana legally.
Cullan said yesterday he refused to re- noon.
convene his committee because the Legis
lature is 45 days into the 90-day session.
"I don't like to introduce a bill that
isn't absolutely necessary," he said.
"There's no emergency, there's no compel
ling reason to introduce this bill 45 days
Into the session."
Cullen said that because of the late date,
he doubted that such a bill would be
debated by the Legislature this year.
Dave Newell, the chairman of the Mis
cellaneous Subjects Committee, was not
available for comment yesterday after-
Victims eye therapeutic marijuana smoking
By Val Swinton
Robert Randall's story could make
many UNL students turn green with envy.
Not only is the marijuana he smokes gener
ally twice as potent asx that purchased on
the street, but he doesn't buy his
marijuana. The federal government does.
He smokes 70 joints a week and doesn't
spend a cent for it.
But Randall hasn't discovered the goose
that laid the golden egg. He spent many
months in court to win the right to smoke
marijuana, because if he doesn't smoke it,
hell go blind.
He has glaucoma and says marijuana is
more efficient than more conventional
medication in treating the disease.
Randall, 31, a college speech professor
from Washington D.C., was in Lincoln
Sunday night for a press conference as part
of a promotional effort to legalize mari
juana in Nebraska for medical use.
Randall was first diagnosed as having
glaucoma in 1972. He said the disease is
not painful, but one of the symptoms is
the victim's tendency to see tri-colored
halo rings around lights. It was by looking
at those tri-colored halo rings that Randall
said he discovered the therapeutic value of
marijuana.
Rings gone
He said as a social smoker he smoked
two joints one night and the rings vanished.
At first, Randall said, he was afraid to tell
his doctor of his discovery.
"I quietly self-medicated for about a
year," he said. "The symptoms reversed
themselves and my area of vision
expanded."
Randall said it got to the point where he
was smoking about Ave joints a day , which
became expensive, and he decided to grow
his own. He grew four plants on the sun
deck of his Washington D.C. home, where
they grew to about five feet.
Police discovered the plants when he
was on vacation. When he returned home
he was arrested.
"If they can use a weed as an excuse to
arrest me, a very pretty weed, then they
can use any excuse they want to arrest
me," he said. 'That's not my view of
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Following a lengthy court battle, a
federal judge ruled that Randall had a right
to smoke marijuana because of "medical
necessity."
Not the first
Randall said what amazes him is the
fact that he was not the first person to
discover the benefits of marijuana for use
by cancer and glaucoma victims. He said
the government had evidence as early as
1970 that in some cases the drug was bene
ficial. Randall blamed the bureaucratic system
for not publicizing the benefits of
marijuana.
Because government agencies are
.designed to discourage the use of mari
juana, "the government decided it was not
in their best interest to recognize reality,
but to recognize the law."
Randall is the only glaucoma patient
who is able to obtain marijuana legally for
medical use, even though six states have
legalized the drug for medical reasons.
Some chemotherapy patients, however, are
now receiving marijuana legally.
Randall cited several cases of persons
who went blind or died of cancer because
the drug was not made available in states
where it is legal. He said it is the state's
responsibility to ensure that persons who
need the drug for medical reasons will get
it.
Despite the fact that he smokes 10
joints a day, and the potency is about twice
that of street marijuana, Randall said he
does not get high. He said his body has
built an immunity to the dosage, and he
takes it as medicine.
He said because the government does
not know how to process marijuana, it
tastes awful.
Randall said he does not expect mari
juana to cure his condition.
"If I quit smoking marijuana, I could
quickly go blind," he said. "I've gotten at
least four years of sight I might not have
had. If it's not a cure, it's the next best
thing."
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