'I just want to feel better.' Patients look for relief, hope as medical pot sets to boom in Michigan

By Mary Beth Spalding

NILES — The nerve pain shoots through all of Chari Pearson’s right side — her face, neck and shoulder. She can only describe it as “weird.”

It can tingle and have a sharp sting. It can also make her numb, with sometimes zero sensation.

Shower water beating on the skin can be intolerable. Yet the lack of sensitivity once left her with a scorch on her chest because she couldn’t feel her skin burning.

The pain is always with her, crowding out almost every other thought, and she has to take something strong for relief.

There’s a morphine pill, which kills the pain but also pretty much knocks her out. There’s also a gummy bear or a Rice Krispie treat made with cannabis.

Most days she’ll opt for the edible.

A warmth radiates through her, and then it pulses straight to the pain. It soothes, but it also leaves her able to do things, like take a shower, bake cookies or make dinner.

“It’s like eating sunshine,” Pearson says.

Pearson, 50, of Niles, is among the medical marijuana patients in Berrien County willing, when they’re able, to travel 50, 100, 150 miles or more to a dispensary to buy cannabis products, such as edibles, buds, concentrates and topical creams. Those shops have been allowed to operate in some other parts of the state, even if they weren’t quite legal.

But later this year, patients in southwest Michigan might be able to travel just a few blocks to dispensaries in Niles and Buchanan, a convenience Pearson thinks would be “awesome.”

Several dispensaries are seeking to open in the area as the state’s medical marijuana industry gains momentum with a new commercial cannabis system and a growing number of patients.

The state is in the process this year of launching a seed-to-sale system for medical marijuana that lets communities permit different types of cannabis businesses, from growers to dispensers.

A 2008 state law first allowed the use of medical marijuana in Michigan with a system of registered patients and caregiver growers. In 2009, there were 7,000 marijuana cardholders.

Last year, the state of just under 10 million residents counted roughly 270,000 medical marijuana patients, up about 50,000 from the prior year.

Berrien County had about 4,000 medical marijuana patients in 2017, an increase of more than 1,000 from the year before.

The growth comes as other states continue to explore marijuana laws and a debate still unfolds about the health impacts of medical pot. Some critics have questioned whether the medical marijuana industry is exploding without a complete understanding of what its effect will be on public health.

For people in the middle of the debate, the issues are more clear-cut: help and relief. Patients like Pearson say the use of cannabis stems from a desire to manage crippling pain. Others see hope for managing ailments that have altered their lives.

Jennifer Bertram, of Niles, said medical marijuana could be the last hope for her daughter, Meghan Bertram, 21, to find relief from a severe form of epilepsy that has resisted every treatment.

The Bertram family recently became what Jennifer calls “refugees” because they moved to Michigan to have access to medical marijuana. She knows of families that have done the same, chasing the hope of a breakthrough.

“It could be life-changing for us,” Jennifer said.

Pain patients

Pain relief is what most Michigan medical marijuana users seek.

More than 90 percent of the state’s medical marijuana patients last year cited severe or chronic pain as their qualifying condition, according to state data.

More than 20 percent of patients listed severe muscle spasms. Another 10 percent had nausea, while 5 percent had cancer. Twelve other conditions each accounted for less than 4 percent of patients. Most patients have more than one condition, so the percent total exceeds 100.

Just over 2 percent of patients last year listed seizures.

Pearson has nerve damage from surgeries in 2014 on her carotid artery after a stroke and to remove a cancerous thyroid gland and lymph nodes. She also has neuropathy in her hands, legs and feet, deteriorating muscles and a hip so worn out that no pain reliever helps it, she said.

A friend who was a medical marijuana patient shared some cannabis with her in 2015, saying, “Girl, try this.” At the time, she was living in Elkhart, but after that she decided to move back to her hometown of Niles and get a state card.

Since using cannabis, she’s been able to discontinue prescription drugs Valium for anxiety, Wellbutrin for depression and Norco for pain. She’s trying to wean herself off the morphine, too.

Pain relief from opioids is more complete, Pearson said, but she thinks cannabis is more effective because it relieves her pain without being overpowering or addictive. She doesn’t like feeling dependent on the narcotics.

Cannabis gives her a pleasant high, too, which she likes because it helps relieve her depression. She was a telemarketer for 30 years and supervised a busy call center, and she misses going to work.

“I have withdrawals from life,” Pearson said. “When I’m stoned, I don’t feel so sorry for myself.”

She calls cannabis “a gift from God.”

Dr. Marla Gendelman sees that desire to be pain-free in most of the patients she comes across.

Gendelman, an anesthesiologist with a pain management practice in Norton Shores, Mich., staffs the Natural Solutions clinic near Niles every other Saturday, where people apply for medical marijuana cards.

She said she approves most card applications, generally suspicious only of the patients who seem too young or who sound like they haven’t dealt with a doctor before about their condition. She spends about five to 10 minutes per patient, during which she’ll talk about different cannabis strains with them. On a recent Saturday, she saw 46 patients in about 3½ hours.

Patients pay a $120 fee to the clinic to see the doctor, then another $60 to the state with their application.

They usually are middle-aged or older, Gendelman said, with painful conditions or with bodies damaged by years of rough sports or factory jobs.

Cannabis is “a lot safer than narcotics, and in many ways it’s safer than Aleve,” Gendelman said.

“When you look at the long-term side effects of taking non-steroidals, turns out they’re not benign.”

Marijuana may be “psychologically addicting,” she said, but it doesn’t create a physical dependence like an opioid.

In a comprehensive report last year, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine analyzed 10,000 studies on the health effects of marijuana and found both positive and negative factors. It found, for example, that cannabis can indeed help treat chronic pain, and that oral forms of cannabis can help ease nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy. It also found that smoking marijuana can aggravate respiratory issues and possibly some mental health problems.

The report concluded, however, that more data and study is needed before firmer conclusions can be reached.

Some medical societies, such as the American Cancer Society, have avoided taking a definitive stance on medical marijuana, agreeing that more research is needed on the benefits and harms.

The lack of definitive research is why some organizations, such as Smart Approaches to Marijuana, have warned about pot and the growth of the medical marijuana industry. On its website, the group argues that medical marijuana should be administered “in a responsible manner that formulates the active components of the drug in a non-smoked form that delivers a defined dose. However, in most states with medical marijuana laws, it has primarily become a license for the state-sanctioned use of a drug by most anyone who desires it.”

But for people like Tyler Weems, 33, of Niles, there is no debate.

Weems said he fought opiate dependence by turning to medical marijuana last year, and he wishes he’d done it sooner. He broke his back on the job seven years ago, he said, and is lucky to be able to walk. The injury left him on disability and prescription pain pills.

“Do the pills work better? Yeah, honest to God … but they’re so addicting, there’s never enough,” Weems said. “Will I ever go back to opiates? I hope not. But I don’t know. I think this is a much better way to go.”

He smokes marijuana and also creates edibles with a cannabis butter he makes. A cannabis pain gel he found at a dispensary in Bangor, Mich., amazed him.

Weems uses ropes over his bed to pull himself up in the morning, rubs the gel into the surgery scars on his back, then lies down for another 20 minutes.

“It cuts my pain from a 10 to a six,” he said, “just from the gel.”

‘We’ve done everything’

While pain relief is the dominant force behind medical marijuana use, the benefits can come in other areas.

Jennifer Bertram said her daughter Meghan has had more than 10,000 seizures since she was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 3½ in 1999, and she’s lost her ability to speak.

“We’ve done everything,” Jennifer said, reciting a list of medications, brain surgery, diets and therapies.

As Wisconsin residents a few years ago, they worked to help pass a state law that allows patients to use CBD oil. CBD — or cannabidiol — won’t deliver a high but has been known to improve many medical conditions, from inflammation to epilepsy. Meghan testified at a hearing using a spell board: “I just want to feel better.”

Gendelman, the Michigan doctor who approves medical marijuana cards, agrees that a variety of cannabis products — such as CBD, tinctures or skin creams — can be an “incredible” help.

Gendelman began using CBD oil herself to treat an old neck injury, and said it’s been so healing for her spinal cord and compression fractures that she’ll never go back to steroids.

“Medical marijuana doesn’t need to make you high to heal you,” she said.

But for the Bertram family, the hope was fleeting. They waited for CBD oil to reduce Meghan’s seizures, as it has for many epilepsy patients. When they saw no improvement, it was a blow.

Last October, the family moved to Niles after Jennifer’s husband, Curt, took a job in South Bend.

They chose to live in Michigan in order to have access to medical marijuana.

Even though the CBD oil didn’t work, they’re hopeful other products might.

Jennifer doesn’t think they will be using a dispensary, at least not for the time being.

Instead, they’re working with an individual caregiver who can grow marijuana for them under the 2008 law, as well as a doctor in California who specializes in cannabis to find particular strains that might help Meghan, who also has autism. The caregiver will produce a concentrate from the plant that Jennifer will combine with olive oil and measure out for Meghan.

They’re hoping to reduce Meghan’s seizures, as well as calm her anxiety, aggression and other behavioral challenges.

“This is really about experimenting,” Jennifer said. “We’re used to taking risks, we’re used to trying things that we don’t know the outcome, but we want the chance. We want the chance and we want hope, because quite honestly, we don’t have many choices left.”

There’s a morphine pill, which kills the pain but also pretty much knocks her out. There’s also a gummy bear or a Rice Krispie treat made with cannabis.

Most days she’ll opt for the edible.

A warmth radiates through her, and then it pulses straight to the pain. It soothes, but it also leaves her able to do things, like take a shower, bake cookies or make dinner.

“It’s like eating sunshine,” Pearson says.

Pearson, 50, of Niles, is among the medical marijuana patients in Berrien County willing, when they’re able, to travel 50, 100, 150 miles or more to a dispensary to buy cannabis products, such as edibles, buds, concentrates and topical creams. Those shops have been allowed to operate in some other parts of the state, even if they weren’t quite legal.

But later this year, patients in southwest Michigan might be able to travel just a few blocks to dispensaries in Niles and Buchanan, a convenience Pearson thinks would be “awesome.”

Several dispensaries are seeking to open in the area as the state’s medical marijuana industry gains momentum with a new commercial cannabis system and a growing number of patients.

The state is in the process this year of launching a seed-to-sale system for medical marijuana that lets communities permit different types of cannabis businesses, from growers to dispensers.

A 2008 state law first allowed the use of medical marijuana in Michigan with a system of registered patients and caregiver growers. In 2009, there were 7,000 marijuana cardholders.

Last year, the state of just under 10 million residents counted roughly 270,000 medical marijuana patients, up about 50,000 from the prior year.

Berrien County had about 4,000 medical marijuana patients in 2017, an increase of more than 1,000 from the year before.

The growth comes as other states continue to explore marijuana laws and a debate still unfolds about the health impacts of medical pot. Some critics have questioned whether the medical marijuana industry is exploding without a complete understanding of what its effect will be on public health.

For people in the middle of the debate, the issues are more clear-cut: help and relief. Patients like Pearson say the use of cannabis stems from a desire to manage crippling pain. Others see hope for managing ailments that have altered their lives.

Jennifer Bertram, of Niles, said medical marijuana could be the last hope for her daughter, Meghan Bertram, 21, to find relief from a severe form of epilepsy that has resisted every treatment.

The Bertram family recently became what Jennifer calls “refugees” because they moved to Michigan to have access to medical marijuana. She knows of families that have done the same, chasing the hope of a breakthrough.

“It could be life-changing for us,” Jennifer said.

Pain patients

Pain relief is what most Michigan medical marijuana users seek.

More than 90 percent of the state’s medical marijuana patients last year cited severe or chronic pain as their qualifying condition, according to state data.

More than 20 percent of patients listed severe muscle spasms. Another 10 percent had nausea, while 5 percent had cancer. Twelve other conditions each accounted for less than 4 percent of patients. Most patients have more than one condition, so the percent total exceeds 100.

Just over 2 percent of patients last year listed seizures.

Pearson has nerve damage from surgeries in 2014 on her carotid artery after a stroke and to remove a cancerous thyroid gland and lymph nodes. She also has neuropathy in her hands, legs and feet, deteriorating muscles and a hip so worn out that no pain reliever helps it, she said.

A friend who was a medical marijuana patient shared some cannabis with her in 2015, saying, “Girl, try this.” At the time, she was living in Elkhart, but after that she decided to move back to her hometown of Niles and get a state card.

Since using cannabis, she’s been able to discontinue prescription drugs Valium for anxiety, Wellbutrin for depression and Norco for pain. She’s trying to wean herself off the morphine, too.

Pain relief from opioids is more complete, Pearson said, but she thinks cannabis is more effective because it relieves her pain without being overpowering or addictive. She doesn’t like feeling dependent on the narcotics.

Cannabis gives her a pleasant high, too, which she likes because it helps relieve her depression. She was a telemarketer for 30 years and supervised a busy call center, and she misses going to work.

“I have withdrawals from life,” Pearson said. “When I’m stoned, I don’t feel so sorry for myself.”

She calls cannabis “a gift from God.”

Dr. Marla Gendelman sees that desire to be pain-free in most of the patients she comes across.

Gendelman, an anesthesiologist with a pain management practice in Norton Shores, Mich., staffs the Natural Solutions clinic near Niles every other Saturday, where people apply for medical marijuana cards.

She said she approves most card applications, generally suspicious only of the patients who seem too young or who sound like they haven’t dealt with a doctor before about their condition. She spends about five to 10 minutes per patient, during which she’ll talk about different cannabis strains with them. On a recent Saturday, she saw 46 patients in about 3½ hours.

Patients pay a $120 fee to the clinic to see the doctor, then another $60 to the state with their application.

They usually are middle-aged or older, Gendelman said, with painful conditions or with bodies damaged by years of rough sports or factory jobs.

Cannabis is “a lot safer than narcotics, and in many ways it’s safer than Aleve,” Gendelman said.

“When you look at the long-term side effects of taking non-steroidals, turns out they’re not benign.”

Marijuana may be “psychologically addicting,” she said, but it doesn’t create a physical dependence like an opioid.

In a comprehensive report last year, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine analyzed 10,000 studies on the health effects of marijuana and found both positive and negative factors. It found, for example, that cannabis can indeed help treat chronic pain, and that oral forms of cannabis can help ease nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy. It also found that smoking marijuana can aggravate respiratory issues and possibly some mental health problems.

The report concluded, however, that more data and study is needed before firmer conclusions can be reached.

Some medical societies, such as the American Cancer Society, have avoided taking a definitive stance on medical marijuana, agreeing that more research is needed on the benefits and harms.

The lack of definitive research is why some organizations, such as Smart Approaches to Marijuana, have warned about pot and the growth of the medical marijuana industry. On its website, the group argues that medical marijuana should be administered “in a responsible manner that formulates the active components of the drug in a non-smoked form that delivers a defined dose. However, in most states with medical marijuana laws, it has primarily become a license for the state-sanctioned use of a drug by most anyone who desires it.”

But for people like Tyler Weems, 33, of Niles, there is no debate.

Weems said he fought opiate dependence by turning to medical marijuana last year, and he wishes he’d done it sooner. He broke his back on the job seven years ago, he said, and is lucky to be able to walk. The injury left him on disability and prescription pain pills.

“Do the pills work better? Yeah, honest to God … but they’re so addicting, there’s never enough,” Weems said. “Will I ever go back to opiates? I hope not. But I don’t know. I think this is a much better way to go.”

He smokes marijuana and also creates edibles with a cannabis butter he makes. A cannabis pain gel he found at a dispensary in Bangor, Mich., amazed him.

Weems uses ropes over his bed to pull himself up in the morning, rubs the gel into the surgery scars on his back, then lies down for another 20 minutes.

“It cuts my pain from a 10 to a six,” he said, “just from the gel.

e 2008 law, as well as a doctor in California who specializes in cannabis to find particular strains that might help Meghan, who also has autism. The caregiver will produce a concentrate from the plant that Jennifer will combine with olive oil and measure out for Meghan.

They’re hoping to reduce Meghan’s seizures, as well as calm her anxiety, aggression and other behavioral challenges.

“This is really about experimenting,” Jennifer said. “We’re used to taking risks, we’re used to trying things that we don’t know the outcome, but we want the chance. We want the chance and we want hope, because quite honestly, we don’t have many choices left.”