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The Truth About Medical Marijuana
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TRUTH

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The Compassionate Investigational New Drug program, 1978, or Compassionate IND, is the Investigational New Drug program allowing a limited number of patients to use National Institute on Drug Abuse-provided medical marijuana grown at the University of Mississippi. Closed to new entrants, there are only seven surviving patients who were grandfathered into the program.


Compassionate IND today
The remaining patients in the Compassionate IND program were grandfathered in. There are only seven surviving patients in the program today (two remain anonymous). What follows is a table with details of the five surviving patients who are not anonymous, and details of the case as known relating to each patient.

Name of Patient Diagnosis Date Entered
IND Program Marijuana Dosage* Years in Program
(through 12/31/06) Status
(as of 3/20/06)
Douglass, Barbara Multiple sclerosis Aug. 30, 1991 Nine cured ounces (of MJ) per month 15 Still Receives Med MJ
McMahon, George Nail-patella syndrome March 16, 1990 Eight cured ounces (of MJ) per month 16 Still Receives Med MJ
Millet, Corrine Glaucoma Nov.16, 1990 Four cured ounces (of MJ) per month 17 Deceased
Musikka, Elvy Glaucoma Oct. 17, 1988 Eight cured ounces (of MJ) per month 18 Still Receives Med MJ
Rosenfeld, Irvin Rare bone disorder Nov. 20, 1982 Eleven cured ounces (of MJ) every 3 weeks 24 Still Receives Med MJ

* One cured ounce can equate to about 40 joints (marijuana cigarettes).




George McMahon
George McMahon wrote a book (with author/filmmaker Christopher Largen) called "Prescription Pot" in 2003. Since 1997 he has been on a national tour, speaking of his experience as a recipient of medical marijuana. McMahon uses marijuana to relieve pain, spasms and nausea related to repeated surgical and pharmaceutical maltreatment and Nail Patella Syndrome, a rare genetic condition that can cause minor to major skeletal deformities, kidney diseases, misshapen nails, and can make one more prone to glaucoma and scoliosis. He had been hospitalized several times due to side effects of other drugs he was prescribed and he found marijuana made him as comfortable as possible without the side effects of strong prescribed medications. Prior to being accepted to the federal cannabis program in 1990, McMahon had lived through 19 major surgeries, been declared clinically dead five times and was taking 17 different pharmaceutical substances daily, including 400 morphine tablets each month. For the past 18 years, McMahon has smoked 10 cannabis cigarettes daily. During this time he has had no surgeries or hospitalizations and he no longer uses any pharmaceutical drugs except cannabis.

Elvy Musikka
Elvy Musikka was born with congenital cataracts and developed glaucoma in her thirties. Surgery caused her to lose vision in her right eye. She takes marijuana to lessen the pressure on her left eye.

Irvin Rosenfeld
Irvin Rosenfeld, who joined the program in 1983, is the most public of the remaining patients and has been using legal federal marijuana for the longest amount of time. He has been featured in numerous print articles and on the Penn & Teller: Bullshit! cable television series. Rosenfeld has the disease Multiple Congenital Cartilaginous Exostoses, a painful disorder which causes bone tumors to form at the joints, stretching the surrounding tendons and veins, making movement almost impossible. Rosenfeld has had 30 tumors removed in six operations. He still has 200 tumors, some too small to remove, yet in the 30 years he has been smoking marijuana, he says, he has not had a new tumor. Irvin Rosenfeld is a successful stock broker working and living in South Florida.