|
 Majzlik faces a thorny dilemma: The Czech Republic legalized
medical marijuana use this year, but maintained strict restrictions
on growing, selling and importing it. For Majzlik, the solution is
breaking the law to grow pot for his daughter.
"She's my child and it is my duty to take care of her," Majzlik
said, standing in front of a cannabis plant in his garden. "I do
what I have to and I will continue doing so. I have no other
option."
Medical marijuana is legal in a number of European countries, Israel
and 20 U.S. states as well the District of Columbia. Advocates say
it gives patients relief from the debilitating symptoms of illnesses
including cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, where
more conventional treatment fails.
The Czech Republic's parliament legalized medical marijuana this
year by an overwhelming majority, with the law becoming effective
April 1. But some 20,000 patients who are estimated to be eligible
for cannabis treatment have no chance to get it legally — although
so far police have largely ignored renegade growers such as Majzlik
who technically would face prison.
Patients and medical experts blame interference by the Health
Ministry, which has long fiercely opposed legalizing medical
marijuana.
"There's a very consistent effort from the Ministry of Health not to
make the law really enforced," said Dr. Tomas Zabransky, a U.N and
EU adviser on drug issues. The ministry denies deliberately blocking
access to medical marijuana, but few question that its policies have
raised steep barriers for patients to access pot legally.
The Health Ministry and its State Institute for Drug Control, the
nation's drug agency, banned health insurance companies from
covering the cost of medical marijuana, and set the maximum amount
patients are allowed at 30 grams (1.1 ounces) per month, an amount
Zabransky says often falls woefully short of providing effective
relief.
The government also banned treatment for those under 18 and allowed
imports of just four types of cannabis that can be obtained only
from the Netherlands at a cost of about $10 per gram — prohibitive
for most patients in a nation where the average monthly salary is
$1,300 and the average pension is $500.
The government said it restricted legal use to these four types from
the Dutch marijuana monopoly to ensure quality. Health Ministry
spokeswoman Dana Salamunova said medical marijuana is not covered by
insurance because the "positive effects of cannabis have not been
clearly clinically proven."
So far, two licenses have been issued allowing import and
distribution of marijuana, and Salamunova said the cannabis approved
under those licenses may hit pharmacies in December. But the
pharmacies won't be able to legally sell it until an electronic
registry is set up to record prescriptions, sales and patient
information — and it's not clear when it will be up and running.
The law currently only allows medical cannabis to be imported. The
Czech drug agency plans to call a public tender in April for up to
10 licenses to grow an unspecified amount of medical marijuana. The
winning bidders won't be able to start growing until they've been
issued licenses, a process that could take months in this
bureaucracy-heavy nation.
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Jindrich Voboril, the government's national drug coordinator, said
the conditions for obtaining medical marijuana are "unnecessarily
limiting and discriminating." Under current rules the illegal market
will continue to be the main supply source, a situation Voboril
calls "unacceptable."
Zabransky said doctors' only real option is to advise patients to
obtain pot illegally, either growing it or buying on the black
market.
Even that route may be getting harder: The government last week
launched a harsh crackdown on stores suspected of supplying material
for growing marijuana, carrying out about 100 raids and putting
dozens of people under investigation.
Majzlik's 46-year-old daughter has been fully dependent on her
parents since her marriage fell apart three years ago. Martina
Kafkova was teaching guitar at a school for disabled children when
she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 19 years ago.
Kafkova, who uses a wheelchair, needs five joints a day to get
relief from severe stiffness, painful spasms and breathing troubles
because other available medicine is not effective enough.
"Cannabis has saved my life," said the tiny woman, who weighs just
43 kilograms (95 pounds), during a recent interview in the apartment
where she lives with her parents. Living without it, she said,
"would be a nightmare."
Her father had to step in after she ran out of supplies following
her divorce.
"She was in pain, screaming and begging me to help her die," he
said.
Meanwhile, Majzlik spends most of his time bombarding authorities,
including health officials and police, trying to make it easier to
access marijuana and to lift the ban on growing it for pain relief.
"That I face five years in jail for trying to provide something the
current medicine can't do is insane," he said. "I don't want to be a
hero. I am breaking the law and that's a problem for me. I don't
think I'm a criminal."
His activities helped persuade lawmakers to vote in favor of medical
marijuana. Now he's angry it is still not widely available. He
recently approached the U.N High Commissioner for Human Rights and
the Council of Europe for help.
Kafkova, who received the equivalent of $400 a month from the state,
expressed despair over her situation: "I only hope that I will die
sooner than my parents. What would I do without them?"
[Associated
Press; KAREL JANICEK]
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