Maybe a little background on me will help you understand my problem. I am a 54-year-old woman with end-stage cirrhosis of the liver from having had Hepatitis C. I haven’t smoked marijuana in 20 years, not since I was young, but now I take a lot of medication and I have many stomach problems and sleeping issues, all a part of the Hep C. Everything the doctors gave me for the nausea and dizziness I experience didn’t work, so I started smoking small amounts of marijuana. The difference in my quality of life was amazing. I felt much better. I had lost 60 pounds, but after smoking marijuana, I gained about half of it back. I started sleeping regularly and stopped missing so much work. Most of the nausea was gone. I felt as though I found a miracle. In November 2004 my doctor referred me to a major medical school for consideration to enter their liver-transplant program. It required four days of testing, and I was honest with them about my pot use. I asked a social worker if this would keep me out of the program, and she told me it would only be a problem if I continued to use marijuana. I asked her why I shouldn’t smoke, since it helped so much, and she told me that there are spores that can get on my lungs and do something to my liver. When I asked about alternative methods such as eating or vaporizing, her whole attitude changed and she said it really made no difference because marijuana is illegal. I finished all the testing, and we were told it would be a few weeks until we knew if I’d been accepted. Then I heard nothing from them, so after four weeks I called to speak to the Nurse Transplant Coordinator. She told me that I had been denied a place on the transplant list due to the fact that I used marijuana. Was there a way to fix the problem? They required that I stop using marijuana, that I go to three Narcotics Anonymous meetings a week for six months with a sponsor and that I take a random drug test within six hours from whenever I am notified. I have quit smoking now as it is now a death sentence for me. I can’t get on the organ-donor list without being in a drug-rehabilitation program. I’m not addicted to anything, and Narcotics Anonymous meetings are not going to benefit me in any way. I’ve raised two children and have been a hard-working member of society for the last 20 years. I had a great job that I can no longer perform due to my illness. I could get a hundred people to tell you what kind of person I am, and I’d bet you a million dollars the word addict would not be used. I just want to have some kind of quality of life, but what’s the point if I’m going to be sick all of the time? I guess I’m just looking for some advice. Sincerely, Sophie Green Words fail and there is no advice to give. All I could think to do was extend my sympathies and offer to print the story. I sent her an e-mail and told her I could run her story under her real name or under a pseudonym (understandable, under the circumstances). I waited for a reply but none came. I re-sent the message and there was still no reply, so I changed the details and now you’re reading her story. Perhaps Sophie had second thoughts—though it’s more likely she’s wrapped up in her own survival. I don’t want to think about the third option. I just keep checking my e-mail, hoping for a break in a deathly silence. READ THIS ARTICLE IN THE MAY 2005 ISSUE OF HIGH TIMES
At first you dont succeed keep trying, there are hundreds of donor programs besides the one she tried to get on. Not all are bound by such strict rules and guidlines. Especially if she can get a medical use permit.
