Mainstream media is ever present on Capitol Hill covering current legislative information, but they often leave out the people these laws affect. Here at Salt Baked City, patients come first, and their stories matter most.
Proposition 2 is still in its infancy, and although medical cannabis is available for the first time in Utah, patients are still falling through the cracks.
Current policies are evolving, and legislators are scrambling to fix the program, but revisions and additions to an already warped proposition are making it hard for law makers to help the people this program was designed to protect.
Earlier this month, Salt Baked City sat down with Ogden resident and Utah medical cannabis patient, Nicole McGarry, and discussed how finally having access to cannabis in Utah has changed her life – forever.
Utah medical cannabis patient Nicole McGarry is seen by her RN, Lindee Orr, at her home on Monday, May 18, in Ogden. Orr has been visiting McGarry at least once a week for two years now. Photo Credit – Matt Herp
McGarry suffers from 27 different illnesses. The worst of them is gastroparesis. An illness that slows down the process of food and cannot dispose of it properly.
This illness causes extreme pain, and on top of that, McGarry also deals with neuropathy in 75-percent of her body. There are times where the neuropathy in her feet and legs was so bad, she could not stand or walk.
Feeling overwhelmed by the number of potentially dangerous medications she was being prescribed by doctors, McGarry finally decided to risk everything, freedom and health, and travel across state lines to get access to medical cannabis.
Before replacing her prescribed medications with THC and CBD, McGarry was down to only 88 pounds and bedridden.
From her home in Ogden, McGarry explained using medical cannabis has boosted her quality of life significantly, and the best part is not having pharmaceuticals weighing her down.
“I was literally bed-bound for two years and slated to die by my doctors,” McGarry said. “Now that the prescription drug fog has been lifted, I can function on cannabis. If you would have tried to talk to me a year ago on my opiates, I might not have been able to form a complete sentence.”
Now that Perfect Earth and Modern Apothecary is open in South Ogden, she doesn’t need to drive across state lines to get her medicine.
Last year at this time, McGarry was on her last leg. She was in hospice care and doctors had estimated that she had only a few weeks to live.
In a last-ditch effort to help her, her family loaded her into a car and headed for Colorado and legal cannabis.
Once in Colorado, she spent a week trying different forms of cannabis to see which had the best effect on her ailing stomach. Gelatinous cubes, the same that are now offered in Utah pharmacies, were the trick. They allowed her stomach to calm, and begin to digest food; with that, the healing began.
“I was taking every opiate you can think of,” said McGarry. “Every four hours I was taking codeine, morphine, valium – you name it. Being off those drugs has been amazing for me. I mean truly amazing.”
Although medical cannabis pharmacies are open in her hometown, it’s still unsafe for McGarry to travel there because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The numerous conditions that qualify her for medical cannabis use in Utah, also make her immune system vulnerable.
“I went to the pharmacy for the first-time last week and I couldn’t believe how much traffic was out and how many people were going in and out of stores, even elderly people, and nobody was wearing masks,” said McGarry. “If I were to catch COVID-19, it would likely kill me. So, if I need to go to the dispensary and people aren’t wearing masks, they’re endangering me. Every person should be wearing a mask.”
This month, Rich Oborn, Director of the Center for Medical Cannabis at the Utah Department of Health, acknowledged the need for home delivery and drive thru, during an interview with Salt Baked City, and explained that the department is working hard on making it available to patients like McGarry.
“At the earliest we’re going to see home delivery in July, and I emphasis ‘at the earliest,’” said Oborn. “Right now we’re working through some of the details on how we want it to operate, and there are some connections between software that need to happen, because the tracking is all electronic.”
There are many situations in which patients cannot drive or walk to get prescriptions. Originally, Proposition 2 included home grow options for these patients, but during negotiation last year this option was replaced with home delivery stipulations.
Patients like McGarry have been left out of the closed-door negotiations, and she feels that if the state is going to get rid of much easier options like home grow, which patients can do themselves, they should have the replacement programs, e.g. home delivery, ready to go.
McGarry continues to advocate for patient’s rights. Although Proposition 2 has passed, she is still working hard to make sure the laws continue to mature well for benefit of all.
She hopes that critical aspects of the program, such as home delivery, come to fruition soon. McGarry serves as a reminder in voice and example that we must voice our opinions to Capitol Hill. It is up to us as a community to ensure that this program truly serves those who need it.
You can reach your legislators here: https://www.utah.gov/government/contactgov.html or call (801) 538.1408.
[foogallery id=”645″]
