Medical marijuana? Not on your life
07/05/06
Twenty-five-year-old David Ranzoni, wheelchair-bound with a rare degenerative neurological disease, called it his “special spot.” He was referring to the area just to the right and under the portico of the entrance to Laurel Lake Health and Rehabilitation Center in Lee, Massachusetts, where, in between nurses’ evening shifts, he liked to savor a hit or two of marijuana.
Officials at Laurel Lake, however, called it unacceptable self-medication, and called the cops. Lee police called it illegal, and cited Ranzoni for possession. Lawyers who witnessed Ranzoni’s appearance in Southern Berkshire District Court in Great Barrington — he was wheeled in to face the charges — deemed it a travesty of justice.
“Spending court time, attorneys’ time, judge’s time, not to mention prosecutor’s time for a simple possession case like this one seems like a giant waste when there are far great issues facing us,” complained Great Barrington Attorney Ira Kaplan, a former assistant district attorney under David F. Capeless, the controversial district attorney whose inflexible prosecution of even first-time drug offenders has prompted Great Barrington Attorney Judy Knight to run against him in the fall primary election.
The case against Ranzoni was continued in order for him to consult with his court-appointed lawyer, Ray Jacoub of Great Barrington.
“I can’t comment directly on this case,” explained Jacoub who served six years as an assistant district attorney and argued 200 cases, “but as far as the drug laws themselves are concerned, I think people ought to target them. I don’t think there is any political will at this time to change the laws, but many of these laws ought to change.”
This was the second time this year Ranzoni had been cited for pot possession at Laurel Lake. In a court appearance in March, he represented himself and his case was continued without a finding. But now, the district attorney’s office appears determined to punish, with fines, probation and drug testing.
“Pot helps the pain more than the pain killers I have to take,” Ranzoni explained, while sitting slumped in his wheel chair in the Laurel Lake library, a posture indicative of the gradual deterioration of his musculature. He was wearing a black shirt with long sleeves, loose black pants and a New York Giants cap. With his long black hair, sharp wit and twinkling bright eyes he bears a striking resemblance to a youthful Arlo Guthrie. His speech was slightly slurred — another symptom of his disease — and though slow, it was precise.
“Pot helps me keep my mind off the fact of being depressed,” he added.
At native of Dalton, Massachusetts, David Ranzoni is suffering from Friedreich’s ataxia, a degenerative disease of the nervous system and muscles caused by a genetic defect whose symptoms generally begin to appear between the ages of five and 15. Victims gradually lose control of their lower and upper limbs, and become nonambulatory. They may also suffer from scoliosis, a curvature of the spine.
When he was in his final semester as a senior at Wahconah Regional High School in 1999, his scoliosis became so severe that he had to be operated on at Albany Medical Center.
“I had real bad scoliosis. I had two curves in my spine, and they put two rods next to the spine so that it won’t bend,” he recalled.
Still, he managed to graduate, taking his courses at home.
“I was a C student, just like President Bush,” he quipped.
But the surgery also brought with it a lot of pain. And that’s when he started using marijuana.
“Ever since the surgery, it was so painful, oh yeah,” he said. “And since doctors didn’t know much about the disease, they didn’t know how much pain I was in. At first, they thought I was just a kid trying to get high off pills. So I used grass quite a bit. I was quite the user. But this disease is not fatal, as far as I know. I’m sure they would have told me.”
As if his circumstances, requiring constant care, were not difficult enough to bear,
his mother and father broke up the summer after his operation. And then his younger brother got in trouble.
“My brother Derrick is three years younger, and he got into my pain killers when I wasn’t around,” he said. “Then he got addicted to heroin. That’s how heroin addiction begins, you know. Not with grass but with prescription drugs. To support his habit, he tried to rob a bank. It was in November 2003, the Bank North branch in the Merrill Road Plaza in Pittsfield. He’s in jail.”
In a sense, David Ranzoni is in a kind of prison, too. Because of his debilitating physical condition and because he’s poor, he’s been shipped from assisted living home to assisted living home, up and down the county. Before coming to Laurel Lake in October, he was in Side by Side in Pittsfield, and Williamstown Commons before that.
And wherever he’s been, he’s brought along a little supply of grass. At Laurel Lake, he had about a quarter of an ounce. He claims, though, that at one of his previous residences he had been caught with it but the director, a former law enforcement officer, never turned him in.
At Laurel Lake, however, the staff was less tolerant, and more vigilant. Ranzoni’s routine, he said, was to wait until about 10:30 at night, when shifts changed, and slowly roll himself out the front door. He’d prop the door open with a washcloth so that he could get back in. Under the portico in the dark he’d get out his glass one-hitter, and take a couple of tokes. But every so often, the door would close if someone came in or out, and he’d have to ask for assistance. That’s when he aroused suspicion, as he did one December night.
“I went back to my room, and was watching TV, when the nursing supervisor came in,” he recounted. “She tried to say I was smoking in the vestibule. But nobody could smoke there. With the heater going, it was like a wind tunnel. Then she said, give me the pipe and I won’t call the police. I did, and a half hour later the police came. They were looking around my room, and took a baggie with cookie crumbs in it. But they had my pipe, and could test it for residue.”
A second incident occurred when a nurse spotted a baggie containing the remains of a broken cigar he’d been smoking, he claimed. A subsequent search of his room turned up what grass he had left.
“The closest place for medical use of marijuana is Vermont,” he said ruefully. “I’d really like to give up pain meds for grass – at least some. But I’ve been on them so long I’m sure my body probably needs some of them.”
He cocks his head to one side, and looks down. “I have nothing to do — ever,” he says quietly. “I missed out on being young. It’s really hard to go out or go out on a date. I have to have two guys help me into a car, and it’s really hard if I have to go to the bathroom.
“I hear about all the things my friends do. I’ve never gotten to drive a car; and I can’t do a simple thing like go for a walk in the woods. And I never get to be alone with my thoughts.”
He’s looking forward to leaving Laurel Lake, and regaining at least little more independence. His father, a contractor, has obtained an apartment in Pittsfield which can be retrofitted to be handicapped accessible. And through Ad Lib he’s picked out a personal care attendant who will be able to work 30 hours a week with him at his father’s place.
“I can’t wait to live with him,” he said, and glancing over his shoulder at the carpeted hallway where an elderly patient was being wheeled, “I hate this place.”
On his right forearm, Ranzoni has a tattoo of the ace of spades. He has a gift, it seems, for poker, especially blackjack. Last time he went to Foxwoods Casino, he won $3,500. He’s talented at beating the odds.
“It’s the ace up my sleeve,” he says.
He had one other high card, too, a lucky draw he hadn’t counted on. When he got to Barrington District Court the second time, the judge, James McElroy, continued the case without a finding. In this situation, the judge could exercise discretion. His hands were not tied by Draconian mandatory sentencing requirements, nor did he have to contend with a prosecutor bent on imposing a maximum punishment for a minor, victimless offense.
Please send in your ideas, comments, and queries for this column: bibblings@scribbyworld.com.
9/2/2006
My sister-in-law, is going through chemo and smokes a little every night to help w/nausea. I think you'd find many many people with different chronic conditions that self medicate with grass.
When I was in High School in the 80's it was relatively easy for us to go get a couple of cases of beer and go out in the woods and drink it. Pot was easy to get and pretty Cheap. Now beer is virtually impossible for kids to get and Pot is hard to find and expensive. The easiest drugs to get are methe, crack, and herion. Is their a cause and effect relationship?
5/24/2007
7/14/2007
I agree that medical marijuana is a good thing and people should advocate for it to be legal in MA. Someone like Dave is a prime example of someone who can benefit from it.
