Only medical marijuana brought her relief, so she looked to local law enforcement authorities for permission to grow her own marijuana to keep a steady supply of medication without having to fear being arrested or prosecuted, but Police Chief Bob Weaver stated that Prosser would “be busted if she grows pot and we learn about it.”

According to this article from the MPP, Prosser emailed her therapist explaining that she was going to commit suicide because she was not able to deal with the constant pain anymore. When the police showed up at her house, they found her nearly unconscious after having taken prescription sleeping pills ordered off the Internet. They also found a little marijuana and two pipes.

She was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia because, according to Police Captain Marty Ludemann, “the reason we charged her is Montana does not allow the medical use of marijuana.” He also stated that “if it happened tomorrow under the same circumstances, we would arrest her again.”

The charges were dropped, so long as Prosser stayed out of trouble for nine months, and six months later, Montana passed a medical marijuana initiative. It seemed as though Prosser’s troubles were over until federal law enforcement officers intercepted the medicinal marijuana her licensed caregiver had sent her through the mail.

After this incident, Prosser had a lot of trouble finding the type and quality of medical marijuana she needed to help with her symptoms. She experienced excruciating pain in the following months until on Oct. 18, 2007, she took her own life.

This isn’t the first time the government sentences innocent people to death because they smoke marijuana, and I’m sure, unfortunately, it won’t be the last. This was an extremely intelligent woman who used to make beautiful music, but because our government denied her the only medication she could take, she’ll never strike a piano key again.

All I can hope is that she’s at peace and pain-free, making beautiful music in another life.

According to this article, “Scientists are gaining a clearer understanding of the mechanics of memory deterioration and discovering some promising approaches to prevention.”

Gary Wenk, a psychologist from the University of Ohio, found that a synthetic drug much like THC lowers inflammation in the part of the brain associated with short-term memory and stimulates the growth of new brain cells. When tested on elderly rats, those who had been given the THC treatment performed better at memory tests than the control group, who had not been given the THC-like drug.

Similarly, polyphenols, a natural component of red wine are responsible for blocking the formation of the toxic plaque long-associated with the destruction of brain cells and the reduction of pre-existing deterioration.

David Teplow, a neurologist from UCLA, extracted polyphenols from grape seeds and gave them to rats exposed to Alzheimer’s disease. He concluded that the polyphenols block the formation of toxic aggregates in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Gary Wenk noted that to be completely effective, treatment must start before memory loss is obvious.

According to the study, “because CBD occurs in only very small quantities in the cannabis plant, the researchers do not recommend smoking marijuana as a cancer treatment. To be effective, CBD will either have to be artificially synthesized or extracted and concentrated.”

Cannabidiol is non-toxic, which could make it a great possible alternative to other treatments like Chemotherapy, which is effective but very toxic and painful for patients.

According to this article, “the researchers also expressed hope that CBD will also prove effective against other cancers that rely on [the gene], including brain, colon and prostate cancer.”

A recent study by Dr. Jean Lud Cadet of the National Institute on Drug Abuse showed that heavy marijuana use boosts the levels of a protein called apolipoprotein C-III in the blood by up to 30%, which increases the levels of triglycerides in the blood. Triglycerides contribute to the hardening and thickening of arteries and raise the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The study measured the protein levels in 18 long-term marijuana users who smoked an average of 78 to 350 joints a week — 11 to 50 joints per day — which, according to the NORML blog, is equivalent to 2 to 9 ounces per week. The study did not research whether or not the subjects actually had heart disease.

Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the The Marijuana Policy Project disputed the results:

We’re talking about people who are stoned all the time. We’re talking about the marijuana equivalent of the guy in the alley clutching a bottle of cheap wine. If you do anything to that level of excess, it might well have some untoward effects, whether it’s marijuana or wine or broccoli [...] Even if you take this finding at face value, it’s not at all clear that it has any relevance to the real world because there is still no data showing higher rates of mortality among marijuana smokers. If this was a significant cause of cardiovascular disease, where are the bodies?

In other words – If you’re not smoking upwards of two ounces of weed every week, you shouldn’t really have anything to worry about.

UWMC said it would reconsider its denial if Garon enrolled in a 60-day drug treatment program; when Garon tried again to change their minds, UWMC upheld it’s prior decision. The problem is, he didn’t make it that long.

Garon used marijuana to treat his Hepatitis C-related nausea, abdominal pain, and lack of appetite. According to Dr. Robert Sade, director of the Institute of Human Values in Health Care at the Medical University of South Carolina, “Marijuana, unlike alcohol, has no direct effect on the liver,” and Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, “There are no pharmacological or physiological reasons why Tim Garon, or any medical marijuana patient, should logically be denied access to life-saving or life-enhancing organ transplants.” So why was this man denied?

Individual hospitals have the authority to create their own criteria for transplant eligibility; there is no national or statewide standard.

After hearing of the committee’s decision, Garon said, “I’m not angry, I’m not mad, I’m just confused.” Well, me too. If it is legal for him to smoke medicinal marijuana in the state of Washington, then the hospital should not have the authority to deny him surgery that could save his life based solely on that fact, especially with scientific evidence saying that it’s okay!

Lennon Garon, Timothy’s son, is also concerned about the future. “He’s not the first person that this happened to. He’s not going to be the last person until these policies are changed.”

I think it’s absolutely disgusting that they’d sacrifice Timothy Garon on the ‘altar of pot prohibition’ rather than treating him like they would any other suffering person! He’s a human being first and a pot smoker last (AND. ITS. LEGAL!) – People need to think about these things before they make such rash decisions!

You can read more about this case here, here, and here, and contact NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre at (202) 483-5500.