A couple of years ago, Charles Homan was driving by some apartments that he and his wife owned. He spotted a tenant they were trying to evict walking down the stairs outside.
Homan pulled over and started screaming at her. She retreated into the apartment.
He stood out on the lawn for a long time, screaming, cursing and waving his arms as his outpouring of anger became ever more hysterical. Then he returned to his home in Manheim Township, where he continued the tantrum in front of his wife.
As he paced back and forth in their living room, he threatened violence. He would drive back out to the apartment and smash the tenant's car repeatedly with his truck.
His wife knew better than to try reasoning with him. As always, the episode passed, his anger replaced with a despondent depression that left him feeling sick and unable to get out of bed for days. In the clarity that came afterward, he thought back on it all with regret.
"I beat myself up," Homan said. "Why did I react like that? What is wrong with me?"
In fact, he knows what's wrong with him. It's bipolar disorder, a diagnosis he received 12 years ago.
And at the age of 58, after a lifetime of suffering with its effects, Homan said he knows what he needs by way of treatment -- marijuana.
Homan has begun a personal campaign for the legalization of marijuana. The driveway to his home is lined with signs proclaiming his need for his "medicine." He's printed out flyers to distribute.
On Monday, he will hold a rally on the steps of the Capitol in Harrisburg. He said that many people have e-mailed him to express their support. But he doesn't know if anyone will join him, because he said virtually everyone who has contacted him is afraid to come forward.
Homan doesn't care. As far as he's concerned, he has nothing to lose. He's already been arrested for growing marijuana on his property, yet he said he simply can't function without it.
He's undertaking his campaign at a time when the move toward legalizing medical marijuana is "gaining significant traction," according to Derek Rosenzweig, co-chairman for the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Rosenzweig said that 13 states have already approved the use of marijuana for medical treatment. His organization has been trying for years to get similar legislation passed in Pennsylvania.
In other states, much of the opposition to legalizing marijuana has come from law enforcement groups arguing that the policy would make it easier for people to get hold of marijuana for recreational use.
While he applauds Homan's efforts in principle, Rosenzweig recommends that he coordinate them with similar efforts taking place throughout Pennsylvania.
Before the bipolar diagnosis, Homan said, a lack of appetite and chronic insomnia plagued him throughout his life. He runs his own business restoring slate roofs, and said he's seriously injured himself on more than one occasion after many days without sleep.
Over the decades, doctors prescribed him just about every prescription sleeping pill on the market. He doesn't respond well to pharmaceuticals, he said, and he struggled with side effects including a perpetual haze of exhaustion, addiction and outright mania.
After the diagnosis, he went through much the same ordeal with prescription antidepressants, he said.
Some prescriptions made him scratch compulsively until he tore his skin. Others only intensified the all-too-familiar cycle of uncontrollable rage followed by crashing depression. He can point to patched-over holes in his living room walls that he made during those episodes.
He had tried marijuana while visiting a friend's college in the early 1970s, he said, and experienced what he described as the only natural sleep of his life. With that in mind, he tried it again a few years ago. For the first time in decades, he said, his symptoms went away without debilitating side effects to replace them.
The problem was getting hold of it. He began growing marijuana on his property. In July, he said, state troopers entered his property and his home while he was away, and confiscated 21 plants.
He maintains that they entered without proper search warrants. A spokeswoman for state police declined comment. At a hearing this week, he will attempt to get the charges dismissed on the grounds that the evidence was obtained illegally.
In the meantime, Homan has been carrying on his campaign. He said he's met with state Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus, and state Sen. Mike Waugh, R-Shrewsbury Township, and neither was particularly supportive.
So on Monday, he will be at the state Capitol -- alone, if necessary.
"I'm not a 17-year-old at the mall wanting marijuana on a Friday night," he said. "I'm wanting to not hurt myself and take care of my family. There's a difference."
PA. MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL
State Rep. Mark Cohen, D-Philadelphia, said that before the end of the month, he intends to introduce a bill that would legalize the use of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania.
Cohen said he believes he can get bipartisan support for the measure if his fellow lawmakers are properly educated about the surrounding issues. He wants to do everything possible to ensure that it doesn't allow marijuana to be redirected for recreational use.
"I think there's more caution than opposition," Cohen said. "I think many members of the legislature understand that marijuana has legitimate medical purposes, but members don't want a system that's just a series of loopholes."
The bill he's crafting could theoretically be used to treat mental illness as long as a legitimate medical doctor has prescribed it, Cohen said.
According to Leon Czikowsky, a House of Representatives research specialist who has been working on the bill, marijuana is most commonly prescribed to ease pain and nausea for people with conditions such as cancer; promote appetite for patients of wasting diseases such as AIDS; and relieve the symptoms of glaucoma.
While other medications exist to treat those conditions, Czikowsky said, many patients and physicians find marijuana preferable because of the lack of side effects.
State Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus, said that he would be opposed to any such measure. He said the information he's received from medical consultants indicates that anything medically beneficial in marijuana could be extracted in pill form.
Miller also said he believes that legalizing something the federal government classifies as illegal creates a kind of legal gray area that he's not comfortable with.
"Now we're saying we have laws on the books that we won't enforce," Miller said.
LEGAL MARIJUANA
States that have legalized medical marijuana:
--- Michigan
--- New Mexico
--- Rhode Island
--- Montana
--- Vermont
--- Hawaii
--- Colorado
--- Nevada
--- Maine
--- Oregon
--- Alaska
--- Washington
--- California
A bill that would legalize medical marijuana has also been introduced in the New Jersey legislature.
Source: Pennsylvania House of Representatives
THE RALLY
--- Charles Homan will be at the steps of the State Capitol in Harrisburg from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday.
For more information, visit Welcome to Medical Movement
Charles Homan has posted signs in the driveway of his Manheim Township home touting his cause. (Daily Record/Sunday News -- Paul Kuehnel)
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The York Daily Record
Author: TOM JOYCE
Contact: The York Daily Record
Copyright: 2009 York Daily Record/Sunday News
Website: Manheim Twp. Man Lobbies For Medical Marijuana
Homan pulled over and started screaming at her. She retreated into the apartment.
He stood out on the lawn for a long time, screaming, cursing and waving his arms as his outpouring of anger became ever more hysterical. Then he returned to his home in Manheim Township, where he continued the tantrum in front of his wife.
As he paced back and forth in their living room, he threatened violence. He would drive back out to the apartment and smash the tenant's car repeatedly with his truck.
His wife knew better than to try reasoning with him. As always, the episode passed, his anger replaced with a despondent depression that left him feeling sick and unable to get out of bed for days. In the clarity that came afterward, he thought back on it all with regret.
"I beat myself up," Homan said. "Why did I react like that? What is wrong with me?"
In fact, he knows what's wrong with him. It's bipolar disorder, a diagnosis he received 12 years ago.
And at the age of 58, after a lifetime of suffering with its effects, Homan said he knows what he needs by way of treatment -- marijuana.
Homan has begun a personal campaign for the legalization of marijuana. The driveway to his home is lined with signs proclaiming his need for his "medicine." He's printed out flyers to distribute.
On Monday, he will hold a rally on the steps of the Capitol in Harrisburg. He said that many people have e-mailed him to express their support. But he doesn't know if anyone will join him, because he said virtually everyone who has contacted him is afraid to come forward.
Homan doesn't care. As far as he's concerned, he has nothing to lose. He's already been arrested for growing marijuana on his property, yet he said he simply can't function without it.
He's undertaking his campaign at a time when the move toward legalizing medical marijuana is "gaining significant traction," according to Derek Rosenzweig, co-chairman for the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Rosenzweig said that 13 states have already approved the use of marijuana for medical treatment. His organization has been trying for years to get similar legislation passed in Pennsylvania.
In other states, much of the opposition to legalizing marijuana has come from law enforcement groups arguing that the policy would make it easier for people to get hold of marijuana for recreational use.
While he applauds Homan's efforts in principle, Rosenzweig recommends that he coordinate them with similar efforts taking place throughout Pennsylvania.
Before the bipolar diagnosis, Homan said, a lack of appetite and chronic insomnia plagued him throughout his life. He runs his own business restoring slate roofs, and said he's seriously injured himself on more than one occasion after many days without sleep.
Over the decades, doctors prescribed him just about every prescription sleeping pill on the market. He doesn't respond well to pharmaceuticals, he said, and he struggled with side effects including a perpetual haze of exhaustion, addiction and outright mania.
After the diagnosis, he went through much the same ordeal with prescription antidepressants, he said.
Some prescriptions made him scratch compulsively until he tore his skin. Others only intensified the all-too-familiar cycle of uncontrollable rage followed by crashing depression. He can point to patched-over holes in his living room walls that he made during those episodes.
He had tried marijuana while visiting a friend's college in the early 1970s, he said, and experienced what he described as the only natural sleep of his life. With that in mind, he tried it again a few years ago. For the first time in decades, he said, his symptoms went away without debilitating side effects to replace them.
The problem was getting hold of it. He began growing marijuana on his property. In July, he said, state troopers entered his property and his home while he was away, and confiscated 21 plants.
He maintains that they entered without proper search warrants. A spokeswoman for state police declined comment. At a hearing this week, he will attempt to get the charges dismissed on the grounds that the evidence was obtained illegally.
In the meantime, Homan has been carrying on his campaign. He said he's met with state Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus, and state Sen. Mike Waugh, R-Shrewsbury Township, and neither was particularly supportive.
So on Monday, he will be at the state Capitol -- alone, if necessary.
"I'm not a 17-year-old at the mall wanting marijuana on a Friday night," he said. "I'm wanting to not hurt myself and take care of my family. There's a difference."
PA. MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL
State Rep. Mark Cohen, D-Philadelphia, said that before the end of the month, he intends to introduce a bill that would legalize the use of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania.
Cohen said he believes he can get bipartisan support for the measure if his fellow lawmakers are properly educated about the surrounding issues. He wants to do everything possible to ensure that it doesn't allow marijuana to be redirected for recreational use.
"I think there's more caution than opposition," Cohen said. "I think many members of the legislature understand that marijuana has legitimate medical purposes, but members don't want a system that's just a series of loopholes."
The bill he's crafting could theoretically be used to treat mental illness as long as a legitimate medical doctor has prescribed it, Cohen said.
According to Leon Czikowsky, a House of Representatives research specialist who has been working on the bill, marijuana is most commonly prescribed to ease pain and nausea for people with conditions such as cancer; promote appetite for patients of wasting diseases such as AIDS; and relieve the symptoms of glaucoma.
While other medications exist to treat those conditions, Czikowsky said, many patients and physicians find marijuana preferable because of the lack of side effects.
State Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus, said that he would be opposed to any such measure. He said the information he's received from medical consultants indicates that anything medically beneficial in marijuana could be extracted in pill form.
Miller also said he believes that legalizing something the federal government classifies as illegal creates a kind of legal gray area that he's not comfortable with.
"Now we're saying we have laws on the books that we won't enforce," Miller said.
LEGAL MARIJUANA
States that have legalized medical marijuana:
--- Michigan
--- New Mexico
--- Rhode Island
--- Montana
--- Vermont
--- Hawaii
--- Colorado
--- Nevada
--- Maine
--- Oregon
--- Alaska
--- Washington
--- California
A bill that would legalize medical marijuana has also been introduced in the New Jersey legislature.
Source: Pennsylvania House of Representatives
THE RALLY
--- Charles Homan will be at the steps of the State Capitol in Harrisburg from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday.
For more information, visit Welcome to Medical Movement
Charles Homan has posted signs in the driveway of his Manheim Township home touting his cause. (Daily Record/Sunday News -- Paul Kuehnel)
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The York Daily Record
Author: TOM JOYCE
Contact: The York Daily Record
Copyright: 2009 York Daily Record/Sunday News
Website: Manheim Twp. Man Lobbies For Medical Marijuana
