Medical marijuana user dies for lack of liver transplant

[G_j]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004387224_apmedicalmarijuanadeath1stldwritethru.html
Friday, May 2, 2008 - Page updated at 05:0

Medical marijuana user dies for lack of liver transplant

A musician who was denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana with medical approval under Washington state law to ease the symptoms of advanced hepatitis C died Thursday.

The death of Timothy Garon, 56, at Bailey-Boushay House, an intensive care nursing center was confirmed to The Associated Press by his lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, and Alisha Mark, a spokeswoman for Virginia Mason Medical Center, which operates Bailey-Boushay.

Dr. Brad Roter, the physician who authorized Garon to smoke pot to alleviate for nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite, said he did not know it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant.

The case has highlighted a new ethical consideration for those allocating organs for transplant, especially in the dozen states that have medical marijuana laws: When dying patients need a transplant, should it be held against them if they've used pot with a doctor's blessing?

Garon died a week after his doctor told him a University of Washington Medical Center committee had again denied him a spot on the liver transplant list because of his use of marijuana, although it was authorized under Washington state law.

"He said I'm going to die with such conviction," Garon told an AP reporter at the time. "I'm not angry, I'm not mad, I'm just confused."

Garon believes he contracted hepatitis C by sharing needles with "speed freaks" as a teenager. In recent years, he said, pot has been the only drug he's used. In December, he was arrested for growing marijuana.

..more..

[Dorian Gray]

1. I know alcohol affects the liver

as do a number of other drugs. But does Marijuana affect the liver negatively at all?

[leftofcool]

3. Probably not

at least not on a medicinal scale.

[Dorian Gray]

9. That's what I thought....

that's why I asked! I thought someone with more medical know-how than I would know why this could possibly keep the poor man from getting a liver transplant.

[Fumesucker]

7. They've been looking for something bad about pot

For many decades now..

In order to justify it being illegal.

If they had found anything serious you can rest assured it would have been trumpeted to the skies.

[Echo In Light]

2. Sad

I caught you knockin'
at my cellar door
I love you, baby,
can I have some more
Ooh, ooh, the damage done.

I hit the city and
I lost my band
I watched the needle
take another man
Gone, gone, the damage done.

I sing the song
because I love the man
I know that some
of you don't understand
Milk-blood
to keep from running out.

I've seen the needle
and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie's
like a settin' sun.

~ Neil Young, Needle And The Damage Done

[midnight]

4. Descrimination knows no boundries. The need is not

enough.

[DaveJ]

5. Others would have lied about their past... He's a martyr.

Our system is designed to benefit liars and cheaters, and to kill those who are good and honest. He died from his sickness but his soul is not nearly as sick as the system in which we live.

[HeeBGBz]

6. Crap. I'm dealing with hep c

I don't have a doctor other than a family practioner. I self-medicate with marijuana because it's the only thing that make me feel halfway normal. Yes, there are reports that marijuana increases fibrosis of the liver, but considering the lack of options I have, a half of a reefer in the evening seems like a marginal risk.

[Wizard777]

8. When your doctor prescribes heroin for you. Your pharmacist gives you Oxycontin.

It's basically pharm. Heroin. Heroin is just a tad bit stronger than morphine. But the problem with Medical Marijuana is the lack of controls. The patient has to buy off the streets or produce their own. That prohibits uniformity of dosage. A doctor can't write a prescription for weed that's 24% THC 60% CBD (some kickin' kind bud.) But when you tell a doctor you're taking marijuana. That's an unknown variable to him. The weed can be anywhere from 8% THC to 26% THC. They have to test to find out exactly what your levels are. It's not like telling a doctor your taking Oxycontin. Because of the uniformity of dosage in pharm. products. The doctor knows exactly what you are taking and what he's dealing with. You don't have that with marijuana. That's more in line with field medicine. Which is some what of a dying art here in America.