ARTICLE: Delaware Markell U-turn on medical marijuana disappoints patients

Markell U-turn on medical marijuana disappoints patients
Governor stops implementing law that legalizes, regulates use
1:13 AM, Feb. 14, 2012

Cancer patient uses marijuana to help with chemo s...: Cervical cancer patient Diane Jump illegally obtains marijuana to help with the side-effects of chemo. She says she is an advocate for its medical use, but does not like having to obtain it illegally. (2/13/12)
Written by
CHAD LIVENGOOD
and DOUG DENISON

FILED UNDER
Local
Government & Politics
Jack Markell

Cancer patient Diane Jump smokes marijuana daily to help her with side effects of chemo treatments. What she does remains illegal, after a decision by Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. / THE NEWS JOURNAL/GINGER WALL

Diane Jump's daily regimen of cervical cancer medication includes packing a small pipe with marijuana, flicking her lighter and inhaling the smoke.

The 50-year-old Pike Creek woman gets relief from the nausea and nerve pain caused by her chemotherapy treatments and other medicines.

"I don't smoke because I want to get high," Jump said. "I smoke because it works. It's the only thing that works. ... It's my medication."

Jump's elation from Delaware's legalization of medical marijuana faded Sunday after The News Journal first reported that Gov. Jack Markell has halted implementation of the nine-month-old law. The governor cited concerns that state workers could face federal prosecution for inspecting and collecting licensing fees from nonprofit medical-marijuana distribution centers.

Terminally ill Delawareans who lobbied hard for passage of the law reacted with anger and disappointment Monday to Markell's decision to abandon the regulation-writing and dispensary licensing. Delaware's law does not allow for home-growing of marijuana so possession by people like Jump remains illegal.

Some believe Markell too quickly caved under veiled threats of potential prosecution by U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III.

"Delaware has the strictest law in the country for medical marijuana and that's one reason why Governor Markell shouldn't bat an eye," said Chris McNeely, 48, of Dagsboro. "For him to even bat his eyes and not try to implement it is ridiculous. He should be fighting for us. Not stopping us."

McNeely was hoping to obtain legal marijuana to give him an appetite to treat his failing digestive system, which has degraded after years of taking opium-based painkillers for a broken neck and back injury.

"I can't take those for pain anymore because of my stomach," McNeely said.

A change in approach toward large-scale medical-marijuana growing operations by the U.S. Department of Justice caused the Democratic governor to halt the program, Markell spokesman Brian Selander said.

"The governor is not going to put state employees actively in the way of legal jeopardy," Selander said

Contact Chad Livengood at 324-2832, on Twitter @ChadLivengood or clivengood@delawareonline.com.
Contact Doug Denison at 678-4271, on Twitter @DoverDelDenison on at ddenison@delawareonline.com.