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 Freedom
Pigment of your imagination
 
Registered: 05/26/05
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 Oregon Guard soldier's use of medical marijuana runs into Army's drug abuse policy 
#12728021 - 06/11/10 07:01 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Oregon Guard soldier's use of medical marijuana runs into Army's drug abuse policy
Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian
Thursday, June 10, 2010,
Spc. Richelle Golden arrived at Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington state in February in a wheelchair, expecting to stay a few weeks and be medically retired. She immediately reported that she used marijuana to combat pain and nausea and produced her Oregon medical marijuana card.
But five months later, the Oregon Army National Guard soldier is still at Joint Base Lewis-McChord facing court-martial and squeezed between her home state, which allows medical marijuana, and the Army, which forbids it.
The case is playing out at the base where last month members of Congress accused the Army of providing second-class treatment to the Oregon's 41st Brigade returning from Iraq.
While Golden, 39, is not part of the 41st, she has been an Oregon Guard soldier for nine years, hired as a full-time Guard member to work recruiting events and later to work for the recruiting commander in Salem.
In October 2008, her crippling joint pain was diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren's syndrome, incurable autoimmune diseases. By January 2009, she couldn't work. Within months, the Salem mother of four couldn't walk or bathe herself. She began chemotherapy to control her flare-up. But she vomited so much and required so much pain medicine that her doctor suggested she try medical marijuana.
Retired Col. Ray Meyer reassured Golden that she could use marijuana because she was never going to return to duty. He had filed her separation paperwork himself months earlier. After her Oregon Health & Science University oncologist wrote a recommendation, Golden obtained a medical marijuana card on Jan. 15. Meyer registered as the official caregiver who would bring her marijuana.
"It was a legal prescription, by God," Meyer said, "and she thought she was out of the service."
A month later, Golden received active-duty orders to report to the Warrior Transition Battalion at Lewis-McChord for her medical discharge. She was one of 432 "warriors" assigned to the unit, one of 34 established after reports in 2007 detailing a lack of care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Any soldier who needs six months or more of complex medical care is assigned to one of these units and receives pay as they recover or rehabilitate. The average stay at Madigan is 280 days. About 60,000 soldiers have done this nationwide, with half returning to duty. The Warrior Training Units simplify and centralize care but also have been criticized as "warehouses of despair," according to an April investigation by The New York Times.
***
Golden's problems began almost immediately. Typically, those who self-identify drug use should enter an abuse program. Instead, Army records obtained from her family show that regular urinalysis was ordered. She tested positive for weeks. Golden says she quit using marijuana when she left Oregon, but the chemical stays in the body for weeks.
On March 22, she was given an Article 15 for wrongful marijuana use and was to be punished with a reduction to private, probation and restriction to barracks.
"I was in shock about what was happening," Golden said. "In my whole military career, I had never received a negative counseling statement or an Article 15. I was also told I could be going to go to federal prison for two years. I was terrified."
Golden asked for an open court-martial instead. She also repeatedly asked to return to Oregon in a community-based transition program that's available. She said she feels she's being driven into a dishonorable discharge that would cost her her military retirement, veterans disability benefits and her family's future. Since February, she has received 22 negative counseling statements from Warrior Transition staff.
"They're creating a paper trail," she said.
On May 17, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Kurt Schrader called for an investigation into possible Army discrimination against National Guard soldiers. Later that day, Golden said she was summoned to the Lewis-McChord military police offices, frisked, fingerprinted and told she was being charged with two felonies before being abruptly sent back to her room.
No charges were filed.
Last week, her former commander, Meyer, wrote the Oregon Guard that they need to bring her home.
"They have flagged her as a 'Drug Addict'" Meyer wrote. "I am certain that her Warrior Transition Battalion Command is promoting an agenda that is outside the scope of their Mission Statement and they have let arrogance and pride override regulation and common sense."
Madigan Army Medical Center Commander Col. Jerry Penner said in an e-mail Thursday that "Spc. Golden is receiving optimum coordinated medical care" and will remain at Lewis-McChord.
"Her assignment ... based on her complex medical issues is most appropriate. ... Unfortunately, Spc. Golden is a high-risk soldier for medical reasons who requires close supervision. Her supervisors must ensure her welfare and compliance with her care plan in accordance with Army regulations."
A spokesman for the Oregon Guard says the state has confidence in Penner's Madigan staff.
"We work with them on a regular basis, and they are doing the best they can in every circumstance," said Capt. Steve Bomar. "They're continuing to work the process for her."
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Oregon is one of 14 states plus the District of Columbia that permit medical marijuana. About 39,000 patients in Oregon have approved cards. Since last fall, the Obama administration announced it would not prosecute people for possession in medical marijuana states.
Nonetheless, the Department of Defense rule remains black and white: Marijuana is forbidden for active duty and the reserve.
Since August 2007, the Oregon Guard has required soldiers and airmen to declare use of medical marijuana, disclose possession of a card and appear before an impartial medical board. The soldier is counseled on treatment options instead of marijuana, which they must either quit using or quit the Guard.
Only two other Oregon soldiers have disclosed their medical marijuana cards. One was retained after seeking alternate treatment, but the other was discharged because he got the card after he tested positive for the drug. Such cases are rare nationally. A spokesman for the California-based Americans for Safe Access, the country's largest medical marijuana organization, said he has heard of only one other soldier whose medical retirement is hung up on it.
"Can someone remain in the uniform service and use medical marijuana?" Oregon Guard spokesman Bomar said. "The answer is no."
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Richelle Golden says her disclosure has prompted Madigan medical staff to disregard her civilian doctor's diagnoses, change her medication and ignore ongoing problems.
"I'm sick," she said. "I didn't understand this would become a huge issue."
The Madigan commander defends Golden's care. In statements to The Oregonian and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., he said it was appropriate to review her previous care and prescriptions and adjust accordingly. The inspector general for the Western Regional Medical Command in May in response to Golden's complaints also concluded that Golden had access to an attorney and that care was being provided and closed her complaint.
Her distress, though, has persisted. She is isolated at the Warrior Transition Unit, a rare female soldier in a small room in the 1930s barracks where she uses a walker to get around. She has four sons, ages 15 to 24, but has seen only two of them since winter. She says she never dreamed her marijuana use would jeopardize her retirement and reputation. She cries frequently and has called a suicide hot line since February. She has posted on her Facebook page and elsewhere pleading for help. She has accused the noncommissioned officers supervising her of verbal abuse. She says the medical staff has ignored masses on her breast and on her ovary until this week when her contact with The Oregonian became known.
"I am in so much pain," she wrote last Friday, "I can hardly stand it anymore."
She worries her situation will affect her husband of two years, Tom Golden, a warrant officer with the Oregon Guard. His father, brother and sister-in-law all serve in the armed forces.
"I'm not worried about me," said Tom Golden. "It's horrible hearing from her and not being able to do anything to help."
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 gamer4life
Natures Child
Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 810
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Re: Oregon Guard soldier's use of medical marijuana runs into Army's drug abuse policy [Re: Freedom]
#12728375 - 06/11/10 08:24 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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This is very sad.But I also can't see the military letting someone use the drugs that they are at war with.Legalize!This is Bullshit
--------------------
Legalize!
Stop putting our children in prisons.
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psilynut
aka Patchraper
Registered: 10/22/09
Posts: 1,244
Last seen: 7 years, 7 days
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Re: Oregon Guard soldier's use of medical marijuana runs into Army's drug abuse policy [Re: gamer4life]
#12729316 - 06/11/10 11:57 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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There was a time in our history when blowjobs were illegal. We can look back on that kinda shit now and go wow those people who created those ridiculous laws were insanely cruel and inhuman, they were the scum of the earth that destroyed everything good in life. In the future people will look back at shit like this and judge these animals the same way. Or at least I hope they do
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LeAto
Listener
Registered: 07/25/08
Posts: 144
Last seen: 4 years, 18 days
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Re: Oregon Guard soldier's use of medical marijuana runs into Army's drug abuse policy [Re: psilynut]
#12729378 - 06/12/10 12:15 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Eh, for as much as I am for legalizing she was a dumb bitch to think that she could smoke in the military, yes the Col. said she could smoke but I guarantee he never said she could smoke while still a member of the armed forces. The army will suck you in once you fuck up until its done trying to correct a perceived problem instead of just getting rid of you. I'm getting tired of people complaining about how the military shits on them, they don't seem to realize they are under a completely different judicial system and set of laws. Its the military its never been remotely user friendly but it does its job, and it performs it well. Anyways 2 cents from a former medic from the 82nd.
~ LeAto
Edit: Additional fact, having a drug discharge from the military is a general discharge under honorable conditions. She retains all of her VA(medical) and school benefits(GIBill, and military grants/scholarships :: for school benefits, only if she has completed over half her term or 18months(which ever is shorter))
Only way it could be a dishonorable or general under dishonorable is if the member of the service being discharged is an E-6 or higher(staff sergeant) or the selling of drugs
Edited by LeAto (06/12/10 12:21 AM)
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thatguyv2
Stranger
Registered: 05/27/09
Posts: 12
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Re: Oregon Guard soldier's use of medical marijuana runs into Army's drug abuse policy [Re: LeAto]
#12730412 - 06/12/10 08:20 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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I was in the Air force and have one of those General under Honorable circumstances discharges and no VA medical benefits,and no GI Bill. And yes I hit the 18 months and had fully paid everything into the GI Bill.
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LeAto
Listener
Registered: 07/25/08
Posts: 144
Last seen: 4 years, 18 days
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Re: Oregon Guard soldier's use of medical marijuana runs into Army's drug abuse policy [Re: thatguyv2]
#12731017 - 06/12/10 11:24 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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I call shenanigans on thatguyv2. Reason being, I have a general under honorable for smoking that dope. I have full VA benefits and I was able to use all of my GI Bill. Or maybe they weere lenient on me because I assisted for Hurricane Katrina, mmm on second thought no... Thatguyv2 is just a fool...
~ LeAto
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thatguyv2
Stranger
Registered: 05/27/09
Posts: 12
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Re: Oregon Guard soldier's use of medical marijuana runs into Army's drug abuse policy [Re: LeAto]
#12733436 - 06/12/10 08:36 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Not a fool here chief, but then again I didn't get mine for smoking dope. I got mine for depression that wasn't diagnosed until after I was in so that might change the benefits and what not.
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