As communications director of the Marijuana Policy Project ( MPP ) , Bruce Mirken has traveled the country advocating medical marijuana as an agent to help those who deal with certain serious illnesses, including hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS. Windy City Times spoke briefly with the openly gay Mirken last week when he was in Springfield, Ill., last week—just before the Illinois Senate Public Health Committee passed a medical marijuana bill and sent it to the full Senate.
Windy City Times: What do you anticipate hearing at this meeting?
Bruce Mirken: This is a committee that passed the bill last year, and the membership is pretty much the same, so we're optimistic. A couple of patients—a woman with MS [ multiple sclerosis ] and a women with osteoarthritis—are expected to speak. A couple of HIV patients have spoken out about [ the benefits of medical marijuana ] but they're not available today to speak.
WCT: What does the legislation state?
BM: It's very much like the medical marijuana laws that are on the books. It says that if you have one of a specific list of eligible conditions and your doctor has recommended marijuana—and if you follow certain procedures—you are legally allowed to possess up to two and a half ounces for your medical use and to grow a limited amount for medical use. And, to be fully protected, you need to file your doctor's recommendation with the state department of public health, which will then issue you an ID card that will certify that you're a legal patient. Also, you will need to renew that card every year.
WCT: California [ one state that has a medical marijuana statute ] seems to be a bit more liberal overall than Illinois. Do you see a lot of doctors in this state recommending marijuana to their patients?
BM: There's a growing understanding in the medical community in general that marijuana can benefit those with some conditions, particularly where there's neuropathic pain or nausea as a side effect. Last year, we sent a mailing to physicians and over a thousand Illinois doctors signed a letter in support of this type of legislation. The American College of Physicians has taken a strong position in support of medical marijuana.
Marijuana has a 5,000-year history as medicine. It's only been illegal for 70 years, and the medical community is becoming increasingly aware of that history.
WCT: I'm going to play devil's advocate and throw a couple of arguments at you. One is that marijuana damages users physically by doing things such as causing mucosal damage, impairing memory and weakening the immune system. What's your response?
BM: In fact, none of that stuff is really true. The studies claiming immune system damage is from animal and test-tube studies—mostly from the '70s—that involved using enormous doses. Since then, there have been studies with people with AIDS that have shown no harm to the immune system at all. As far as other potential side effects, every major independent body that has looked at the data, including the Institute of Medicine and the American College of Physicians, has concluded that the toxicity of marijuana is well within the range tolerated for other medications. Obviously, no drug is completely harmless and any medication choice has a risk-benefit analysis, but those risks are clearly within an acceptable range for the vast majority of patients.
WCT: Another argument is that reliance on marijuana could lead to becoming involved with stronger drugs.
BM: The evidence about the so-called 'gateway theory'—none of it has to do with medical use under a doctor's care. We're not talking about teenagers using it as a toy; we're talking about people with HIV, cancer or whatever under a doctor's direction. There's no evidence that marijuana causes people to start using other drugs. There are people who are inclined to try recreational substances and they tend to start with what's most readily available, and marijuana is very common.
The other thing is that every day people are prescribed drugs that are much more toxic and addictive than marijuana. One of the women speaking today will talk about having to stop the heavy-duty narcotics that had been prescribed to her, but that left her pretty drugged out; then, she started using medical marijuana. So what we're seeing here is a reverse gateway.
WCT: Also, what's to stop people who aren't legally allowed to use medical marijuana from procuring it?
BM: The honest answer is that there has never any system devised by human beings that somebody won't manage to cheat; [ take ] Rush Limbaugh and his prescription painkiller habit. The bill has a great deal of controls and safeguards, including enhanced penalties for those who do just what you're talking about. But we don't deprive seriously ill people who need medication because some idiot might abuse it.
WCT: How confident are you that this legislation will pass [ the Illinois General Assembly ] ?
BM: I'm always cautious about making predictions, particularly when dealing with the behavior of politicians. We have a Republican House sponsor [ Rep. Angelo Saviano of River Grove ] and statements from the American College of Physicians, so there's reason to think there's greater hope this year. Nothing is ever certain, but what I predict is that, by the end of the year, there will be at least one more medical marijuana year. It's going to be on the ballot in Michigan and polling there shows that it's very likely to pass—and that puts us closer to bringing the federal government kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
WCT: How did you get involved with MPP?
BM: I was actually a theater major in college, wandered into journalism and somehow, at MPP, [ became ] not just the press guy but the resident science guy.
In a previous life, I was a freelance journalist and an occasional AIDS activist. I first wrote about medical marijuana in the '90s when it got on the ballot in California. AIDS Treatment News asked me to do an article on what the resident said. I went to the San Francisco Medical Library, and came away really impressed with the evidence of potential medical benefits and safety.
A few weeks after that the initiative passed, and the Clinton administration went into panic mode. They had a press conference with the drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, and Janet Reno and Donna Shalala, the secretary of Health and Human Services. Donna Shalala looked at the TV cameras and said, 'All of the medical evidence tells us that marijuana is harmful to our health.' And that was the moment where it hit me: These people are not confused, they don't misunderstand—they're lying. So when MPP were looking for a communications person I said, 'I can do that.'
And it also comes from knowing friends with HIV. Nausea keeps you from keeping the pills down, and marijuana helps with that. This isn't just a job for me—it's about my friends. The fact that people I care about are subject to potential arrest just for trying to stay alive makes me really angry.
WCT: By the way, I'm assuming that Hugh Hefner is a proponent, considering the MPP has a June fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion.
BM: The last couple years we've been at the Playboy Mansion. We have to keep the heterosexuals entertained, you know.
See www.mpp.org for more info.
