[420 Girl]

Lori Burnam wakes up hurting every day.

“All of your muscles and tendons are just twisted,” Burnam, 64, said Thursday.

Doctors diagnosed her with lung cancer nearly three years ago. The disease has since spread to her bones.

But she found the pharmaceuticals doctors were prescribing inevitably caused side effects, especially the steroids, which gave her nightmares, she said.

So she has opted to forego traditional cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, keep her pill intake to a minimum and instead use marijuana to help with the pain.

“I opted not to do the conventional treatment and enjoy the time that I have (left),” she said. “At the very end, I don’t want to spend it that way.”

The vaporized marijuana Burnam inhales helps her unwind and brings back her appetite, she said.

And for the 5-foot-3-inch, grey-haired woman who weighs 74 pounds, that’s a big deal.

“You get high and you’re relaxed,” she said.

Montana voters legalized medicinal marijuana use for people who suffer chronic pain and illness in 2004.

“It is legal,” said Jason Christ, of the Montana Caregivers Network.

But use of the drug has been slow to catch on, largely because there was no coherent network in place until last month, Christ said.

“Montana seriously lacked any coverage,” Christ said.

Those who qualify under Montana law to use medical marijuana — people with cancer, glaucoma, HIV or chronic pain n must get a doctor’s OK and register with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. Growers, too, must register with DPHHS.

If approved, and after paying $50, patients are allowed to possess six cannabis plants and one ounce of usable marijuana. A patient’s registered caregiver may grow as many as six additional plants.

The law is pretty clear, Christ said, but until the network launched its Web sites last month, many people had a tough time finding the drug through the appropriate channels.

Although she was registered with the state, Burnam, who lives in Hamilton, had no consistent way to access the drug safely until she found the caregivers network, she said.

“It’s a little tricky at my age,” she said.

Now she and other registered patients can turn to the network for help finding doctors and caregivers able to recommend and grow marijuana.

And folks with chronic illnesses seem to be catching on. In July 2007, 358 people were registered with the state to use medical marijuana. In the past two years that’s jumped to about 2,200, said Roy Kemp, deputy administrator for DPHHS’ quality assurance division.

“There’s been substantial growth,” he said.

And since it went live at the end of March, the caregivers’ Web site has had more than 20,000 hits, he said.

But as it stands, Christ said, there aren’t that many doctors across the state willing to sign off.

“It’s tough to walk into a clinic and get medical marijuana,” Christ said. “There’s a huge lack in doctor understanding.”

Medical professionals often shy away from the stigma of advocating what the federal government still considers an illegal drug.

But with education and growing demand, he said, that’s changing.

Under Montana law, a physician cannot be arrested or prosecuted for discussing marijuana with a patient. Doctors cannot prescribe the drug, but they must provide written certification before a patient registers with the state.

And although the federal government clashed in the past with state-sanctioned medicinal marijuana suppliers, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have pledged to ease off federal prosecution.

Medicinal use of the drug is legal in 13 states.

Representatives from the Montana Caregivers Network will be at the Bodhi Tree Wellness Center in Bozeman May 27 and 28 to discuss medical marijuana use. Doctors will be available for those who make arrangements in advance, Christ said.

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