[420 Girl]

Marijuana is keeping Clayton Holton alive. Holton, 23, has a rapidly worsening form of muscular dystrophy that has kept him wheelchair-bound for 16 years.

There is no treatment for his condition and he lives in "a great deal of pain," he said.

Doctors have tried all manner of legal painkillers to help him get through the day: OxyContin, Norco, Vicodin, Percocet. All had the side effects of vomiting, passing out, falling over and basically "making it more difficult to live my life independently."

With marijuana use, Holton said, after taking a dose, "I get hungry and eat a couple pounds of food." He also feels better than when using prescription pain relief.

"I'm in complete control, of my thoughts and actions," he said. "With prescriptions, it's a constant state of being drugged, out of control and feeling like you just want to lean against a wall all day."

He was first introduced to marijuana as a teen in high school. When Holton lived in a nursing home, "they had a big problem keeping my weight up" from his inability to keep food down while on OxyContin. After living in California and growing his own cannabis, he had gained 8 pounds in two months – a lifesaving amount for a man who, at 6 feet tall, had wasted away to 79 pounds from the disease.

Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy are not usually expected to live past age 16. Turning 24 in March, Holton says "my doctors are extremely confused" as to what is keeping him alive.

Holton is not. He is currently up 15 pounds.

"I think it's ridiculous that I'm labeled a criminal by my government for using something that's keeping me alive," Holton stated.

Ellen McClung, age 53, of Gilford, used the exact same phrase. "If I hadn't discovered medical marijuana when I was 18, 19 years old," she said, "I would be dead. It saved my life."

McClung has multiple sclerosis, a painful muscular disease that wasn't even diagnosed until she was in her 30s. She uses medical marijuana to control spasticity in her legs and for pain. She tried Sativex, a pharmaceutical-alternative drug she obtained in Canada, but it did not control her pain.

Before her diagnosis was confirmed, McClung "thought (she) was going crazy" and wondered what, if anything, was wrong with her. Being introduced to marijuana in her late teens allowed her to relax and calm down, greatly improving her mental state.

Marijuana as medicine

New Hampshire is bordered by two states – Vermont and Maine – that have allowances for medical-marijuana usage. Some are working hard to make sure New Hampshire is next.

Matt Simon, of the NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy, is heavily involved in getting a bill before the state legislature this year to have New Hampshire join the ranks of states that allow medical marijuana use.

The proposed bill, HB 648, "simply acknowledges the obvious fact that some seriously ill New Hampshire patients benefit from their medicinal use of marijuana," Simon observed. "There is no moral justification for continuing a policy that criminalizes patients for trying to relieve their suffering. (The law) would allow for the individual or an assigned caregiver to grow a specific amount of marijuana for personal medical use," he states. Speaking in January at a screening of the medical-marijuana documentary "Waiting to Inhale," Simon is to quick to mention that this would be "a tightly-crafted law," and would not allow for large-amount growing fields.

A similar bill, HB 774, was narrowly rejected (186-177) by the House in 2007, but Simon said he believes support will be much stronger this year.

"In the past two years, the consensus for allowing medical marijuana has grown. Michigan and New Mexico enacted medical marijuana laws, and now 25 percent of Americans live in medical marijuana states," Simon said in a press release about the bill. "In addition, the prestigious American College of Physicians issued a paper supporting marijuana's medical value. And, the new U.S. president has pledged to end the federal raids on medical marijuana providers, which had been a concern for many legislators."


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