People are dying in America as a result of their marijuana use, but it has nothing to do with the plant itself. You see, medical cannabis patients all across the country are being denied life-saving organ transplants as a result of their choice in therapy.
Even though more than half of the United States has legal access to medical marijuana, only seven of those states have protections in place for cannabis patients on organ transplant lists.
Many transplant centers around the country, even in states with medical marijuana laws on the books, still remove patients from the transplant waiting list if they are found to be using cannabis — regardless of a medical doctor’s recommendation. The transplant centers practicing this type of discrimination against therapeutic cannabis users have cited risk factors related to mold.
Many transplant surgeons believe cannabis users are at a higher risk of succumbing to Aspergillosis, a toxic infection caused by inhaling plants that contain spores of a fungus called Aspergillus. There is currently one recorded case of Aspergillosis being linked to the death of a transplant patient in published medical journals.
The belief that cannabis users who receive transplants are at higher risk of mold infections exists because recipients of transplants must take anti-rejection medication called immunosuppressants that weaken the immune system’s ability to fight these types of fungal infections.
We spoke with Garry Godfrey, a 32-year-old medical marijuana patient whose life has been turned upside down because of Maine’s polarizing decision to deny organ transplants to cannabis users. Garry is telling his story in hopes that it spurns some change, specifically in the passing of LD764, a bill initiative that would prohibit “the medical use of marijuana from being the sole disqualifying factor in determining a person’s suitability for receiving an anatomical gift.”
Garry Godfrey: I was born with Alport Syndrome, which is a hereditary kidney disease that runs in my family. Ultimately, Alport Syndrome causes end-stage renal failure, meaning you either have to go on dialysis or get a kidney transplant. Shortly after I graduated from high school, I found out that my kidneys were failing.
In 2003, I went down to the Maine Transplant Center in Portland and went through all the processes to get on the list for a kidney. I told the doctors at that point that I was a medical marijuana user and they were okay with that. The transplant team and I were in agreement that marijuana was going to benefit me before my transplant, but that I wasn’t going to use it after my transplant.
From 2003 to 2009, I traveled to Portland every six months for checkups, and everything was great; nothing marijuana-related ever came up. In 2009, I was still eligible for a new kidney when mine completely failed, so that’s when I began dialysis treatments. In 2010, Maine Medical Center changed their marijuana policy after a transplant patient had contracted black mold and died. They said he contracted it from a construction site, but he was a marijuana user so they’re not ruling out that marijuana was a possible cause.
Nobody notified me from 2010 all the way until 2012 that there had been a policy change and that you could no longer use marijuana while awaiting a transplant.
At a regular six-month checkup in 2012, my coordinator notified me that I had been removed from the transplant list because I was a medical marijuana patient. She informed me that if I could give her one year’s worth of clean urine showing that I wasn’t using marijuana, that I could get back on the list, but I would lose my accrued time and waste the nine years I had already waited.
It changed my life forever. I went into a deep depression, got addicted to pharmaceutical pills, and even tried to kill myself. It’s been a long road since then. Basically, I’ve been trying to tell my story for the past five years and it really never caught on. I testified last Monday in favor of the LD764 bill. If it passes, the bill will ensure that medical marijuana will no longer be the sole reason for someone’s transplant denial.
How did the hospital find out you were using marijuana?
Garry: I was upfront with them in 2003 when I was originally placed on the list. I told them I was a marijuana user when the question came up again in 2012. I’ve always believed that a doctor can’t help me unless he knows what is actually going on with me, so I was honest. Without notifying me of the policy change, they asked me at my checkup if I was still a medical marijuana patient, and I didn’t think anything of it. We had discussed this many times over nine years.
What reasoning did the transplant team give you for why legally prescribed marijuana use was banned even leading up to your transplant?
Garry: During your recovery from the transplant, and after, marijuana can interfere with the immunosuppressants a transplant recipient must take, which kill your immune system. In 2003, we laid down all the guidelines; marijuana was great for me pre-transplant and not good for me post-transplant. I had agreed to stop using marijuana after my transplant because I knew the risk — it could kill me. But I need the marijuana to get me to the transplant.
Why would they care if you use it before your transplant if it wouldn’t negatively impact the process until after the surgery was complete?
Garry: I’m really not sure, that is exactly what I want to know. Everything that they say they are worried about is post-transplant. This is 2017, I don’t need to smoke marijuana to get relief from it. There are topicals, there are edibles, there are so many ways to take it. In 2012, when I asked my doctor if using marijuana in other ways besides smoking would be alright, they told me ‘absolutely not.’ It all has to do with marijuana possibly giving me an infection after my transplant. It was heartbreaking. I’m hoping this bill passes, not just for me, but for thousands of others. As it stands now in Maine, medical marijuana patients cannot get an organ — not just kidneys, but any organ.
Are there transplant restrictions in place for marijuana users in other states?
Garry: I have explored getting my transplant in Massachusetts, but traveling is going to be hard. That’s why we haven’t gone through with anything yet because financially it’s very difficult. I’m 100% disabled and I go to dialysis three days a week. My wife does work, but we’re still struggling to pay the bills, so I can’t afford to travel out of state for months at a time to get a kidney transplant. I know there are seven states in the country with laws protecting medical marijuana patients that say they cannot be disqualified from transplant consideration. That’s what we’re trying to pass here in Maine with LG764, so we can be the eighth state to protect medical marijuana patients.
Hypothetically, had the Maine Transplant Center come to you and given you 30 days to stop consuming marijuana, instead of telling you they had removed you from the list, would you have cut out cannabis completely to maintain your standing?
Garry: It’s something I’m willing to try. I attempted to go the whole year without using marijuana after being removed from the list, but I couldn’t go more than 30 days. I honestly tried.
How does medical marijuana help you currently?
Garry: It alleviates my pain, plus helps me eat and sleep. I have no appetite, so I would not eat without marijuana. I feel nauseous all of the time, it’s horrible without it. New York Sour Diesel works the best for me, but I do mix it up if I’ve been using one strain for a while so it doesn’t stop working. I have pain in lower back, my knees, and a lot of pain in my arm that they do the dialysis in because they’ve stuck me with 15 gauge needles, three days a week, for nine years.
Does medical marijuana help with your dialysis?
Garry: It makes a major difference. Even pre-dialysis, my anxiety is so bad when I go to that place. When I get up in the morning, as long as I medicate, my anxiety is on a level I can handle. Normally, I’m sick when I get off dialysis treatment, so if I medicate when I get home with a lollipop or whatever, I feel so much better. It helps with my pain and leg cramps.
What does the dialysis treatment facility say about your marijuana use?
Garry: They don’t have a problem with it and they were just as shocked as you were that I couldn’t get a new kidney because of it. I’ve been going there for nine years, they know what a happy-go-lucky person I am and how I stay on top of all my health stuff. They take care of me, they listen to me, they’re great. Besides being on dialysis from the time I was 23, I’m a healthy 32-year-old. I’m a perfect candidate for transplant, except for the fact that I use medical marijuana.
Is the Transplant Center’s issue with marijuana as a whole or just THC? Would they allow you to just use CBD?
Garry: As far as I know, their issue is with the whole plant — everything. It still goes back to prohibition. I’ve asked if I can use other forms of marijuana, like edibles, and they tell me strictly no.
It’s a shame they’re punishing you for being forthright about your medical marijuana use because one would have to think if you didn’t mention it you’d still be on the transplant list today.
Garry: Unfortunately, you’re right. But I have to be careful with that because I can’t keep something from my doctors if I expect to get the best treatment. I’m left with two options: to quit using marijuana and be severely ill for another decade or however long it takes, or to use marijuana and be on dialysis until the day I die. I have two little children and a wife, so to me, being severely ill and unable to function isn’t an option.
Contaminated cannabis has become a hot topic recently, as more states add language requiring lab testing to their marijuana legislature. While mold and other toxins can create a significant health hazard if inhaled or ingested, there are plenty of brands and retail outlets that test their products to the highest degree. Ensuring you are consuming quality cannabis that’s grown and processed properly is as least as important as paying attention to the food you eat.
credit:marijuana.com
