When retired Army Maj. Ed Pulido met Mike Harryman, a fellow veteran injured in combat, one thing was obvious, he said: Doctors had given him too many pills.
“We got him on the medical marijuana — I will tell you his life has improved; he looks better,” Pulido said.
The two were given the chance to share their stories with lawmakers in an interim House study Tuesday requested by Rep. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow.
Pulido, an Edmond resident and founder of Warriors for Freedom Foundation in Oklahoma, said that initially he wasn’t an advocate of medical marijuana but saw firsthand the negative effects of the alternative.
“When I was on those (opioid and nerve) medications, I was blurry. I was not myself. My body chemistry was off,” he said. That made him seek out “other therapeutic processes.”
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Pulido said he has tried cannabis but is glad he doesn’t need to use medical marijuana daily.
Harryman spoke of his experience after the injury that resulted in his fourth Purple Heart.
He was coming off a counter-sniping mission in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, looking forward to having time off to go fishing with some new poles, when he was shot in the face with a 57 mm anti-armor rocket.
“I just thought we’d gotten hit with an IUD,” Harryman said, explaining his confusion when a buddy asked if he was OK.
He couldn’t talk, but while he tried, he reached for his mouth. “My fingers came out my nose,” Harryman said Tuesday.
He heard a medic tell a nearby soldier there was nothing to be done, that he was as good as dead.
They tried to carry him out, but Harryman, confused and bleeding out, said his focus was on showing the terrorist he could walk. From the point he tried to touch his foot to the ground, he said, “lightning hit,” and it became like watching a movie: his body being dragged away, medics performing a tracheotomy, being put in a body bag under a “beautiful sky.”
He woke up from a coma with post-traumatic stress weeks later in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland; he said he attacked a Middle Eastern nurse trying to render him aid because his first waking thought was that he had been captured by enemy forces.
“I had ungodly amounts of pain. The military sent me home with a bottle of morphine,” Harryman said.
He said he went along for eight years in a fog of pain, with a slew of opioid prescriptions as well as muscle relaxers, gabapentin for nerve pain and pills to counteract the negative side effects of all his other medication.
“I was taking 120 mg of Oxycontin three times per day plus two 60 mg morphine tablets three times a day, plus two Percoset every four hours, and I was allowed to take two 1 mg shots of Toradol for breakthrough pain,” Harryman said.
When Oklahoma allowed patients to treat their pain with medical marijuana on a doctor’s recommendation, Harryman’s life changed and he was able to function again, he said.
He said he tried smoking cannabis but, with his sinuses still affected by his injury, he was grateful that the state’s legal industry allows for the edibles and tinctures that work better for his medical needs.
“I had to find all of this stuff on my own. The military didn’t talk about it,” he said, pointing out that his traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress have been the biggest challenges of his life.
“The VA’s plan was to give us more meds. And it’s not working,” Harryman said.
Pulido says he wants everyone to know how empowered veterans can be by having cannabis as an alternate form of medicine. He advocates for education for veterans and doctors to understand that pills aren’t the only solution to help people in pain get through life.
“We have to study these issues, too,” he said, commending the House study for bringing Oklahomans together to “do the right thing.”
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Can’t get a prescription for marijuana
Marijuana is listed as a schedule 1 controlled substance in federal law, so it cannot be prescribed, only "recommended."
A Ninth Circuit Court ruling ensures protection for doctors who issue recommendations to patients who may benefit from cannabis-based treatments, but federal law precludes doctors from “aiding and abetting” patients obtaining marijuana. This means doctors and patients cannot discuss dosages, strains or specific cannabis products for treating a specific ailment. Doctors instead fill out a form indicating they have discussed the risks of marijuana use with the patient and feel the benefits are worth the treatment.
Some patients who see physicians for pain and are treated with opioids also may not be able to do so and use medical marijuana as a licensed patient.
Can’t use marijuana in the workplace or be impaired on the job
State Question 788 says only that an employer may not discriminate against an employee simply because of their status as a medical marijuana patient. This means that simply having a license cannot be grounds for termination or discipline. That employer can still, however, write and enforce rules that restrict the use of marijuana by employees just like any other controlled substance. No patients would be protected if they come to work high, use marijuana in the workplace or attempt to do their job while impaired.
Can’t transport marijuana across state lines
Patients who obtain medical marijuana cards in other states may purchase from dispensaries there, but the products may not be brought back to Oklahoma. Nor could a patient travel to a state with a recreational marijuana law and bring any legally obtained products back to Oklahoma. Those patients who plan to cultivate marijuana at their own homes would also not be permitted to obtain seeds from another state.
Can't get a doctor's recommendation inside a dispensary
A change to the law made it illegal to post a physician inside a medical marijuana dispensary, as this one did, for customers to sign up as patients inside the retail business operation.
Can't try the product while shopping
The use of any cannabis product is prohibited inside a licensed medical marijuana business, so patients should not expect samples like what some CBD shops have been able to offer.
Can’t smoke marijuana where tobacco also prohibited
The law makes cannabis like tobacco when it comes to public consumption by falling under the Smoking in Public Places and Indoor Workplaces Act.
Can't give marijuana away
Nothing in the law allows for patients to transfer ownership of marijuana. Patients cannot donate or sell marijuana, even to other patients. Licensed patients may cultivate marijuana on their own residential property or, with written permission, on rented property. They cannot grow outdoors unless the plants are surrounded by a locked 6-foot fence. If the yield of the plants at harvest surpasses the legal amount that may be in a patient’s possession, the marijuana must be either processed or destroyed. Patients may process their own marijuana for concentrates or edibles but would not be permitted to perform extractions using butane.
Can’t drive while impaired on marijuana
Although it is legal for patients to have a certain amount of marijuana on their person, if that patient is behind the wheel, a law enforcement officer will evaluate whether the person is at all impaired. Driving while under the influence remains illegal even for medical marijuana patients.
Can’t possess an excessive amount of marijuana
A patient remains within the legal guidelines if they possess no more than 3 ounces of marijuana on their person and 8 ounces at their residence, 1 ounce of concentrated marijuana, and 72 ounces of edible marijuana. If caught exceeding those limitations, a patient would lose their license and could face criminal charges including intent to distribute or trafficking.
Can't smoke where you're told not to
