R.I.P., Tim Garon. You Won't Be Forgotten.

In the days since I started writing about Tim Garon, who was denied a liver transplant because of his doctor-recommended use of legal medical marijuana, I've received a lot of messages from a lot of people.

But none of them has meant more to me than this:

"My name is Andy Garon. I am Tim's brother.

Thank you, alapoet, for your kindness and your support...

Keep Following Your Passion!!!"

I heard from Andy again, a little while ago; he sent me another message to let me know that Tim died peacefully this afternoon, his son Lennon at his side. "Now Tim has peace," Andy wrote. "His music and lyrics speak for themselves."

In one of those rich ironies and unbelievable coincidences of life, as I'm sitting here, crying at the keyboard, trying to find words to do Tim justice, I just this moment got another email. This one is from Laura Garon, Tim's former wife and mother of his son Lennon.

"I wanted to thank you for what you wrote on the Reality Catcher site about Tim. Tim passed away today. I thought that you might want to know. I'm his ex-wife and mother of his son, and ironically today is also my birthday. I guess that Tim wanted to make sure that our son, Lennon would not forget this day!

If you knew Tim, you would know that he probably wanted it that way....he was still making jokes and wise-cracking when I saw him last week. There are so many people who will miss him..."

Laura, it’s funny — I’m tempted to say cosmic — that I heard from you at this particular moment.

Thanks for sharing a little of the Tim you knew with me.

It makes me sad that I never got the opportunity to know Tim. Life is funny, isn’t it? Now that he’s gone, it seems as if he brought so many people together with a unity of purpose. And more people than ever are discovering his wonderful music and words... His dream of reaching a mass audience, I think, is finally coming true.

It feels strange for me to be wishing you a happy birthday on a day like this. But, yes: Happy birthday.

I’m sure you feel a little as I feel right now: Newly aware of the preciousness and fragility of life (like Tim, I have Hepatitis C), and also of life's incredible strangeness. And of its richness and beauty and mystery.

.......

I posted yesterday about how the University of Washington Medical Center Transplant Division has frantically backpedaled away from their earlier admission that Tim's medical marijuana use was the real reason for their denial of his liver transplant. Rather than answer my emails himself, the head of the Transplant Division, Dr. Jorge Reyes, had his "communications specialist" send me an email desperately trying to spin their heartless decision into something defensible.

Of course, they're not fooling anyone; their removal of Tim from the transplant list is nothing but a moral judgment masquerading as a medical decision.

Since I made that post, I've heard from a friend who actually sat in a meeting two months ago with a Harborview liver specialist who made it clear Tim's "illicit drug use" was the reason for the transplant denial.

"I about flipped the fuck out when she said that, my friend told me. "As a Washington state employee she has a responsibility to be aware of our laws and that there was NOTHING illicit about Tim's medical cannabis use - which I also note was DISCONTINUED months earlier in an attempt to appease the bastards...

"...They thought his bust was an indicator that he had a 'marijuana drug problem' (of course they never gave him a drug evaluation or assessment so once again they were talking out their ass) and had an 'addictive personality'... also to note Tim hadn't used cannabis when they made it clear he cannot and still get a transplant (so much for an addictive personality)...

"What I REALLY don't understand is how they can look into the eyes of man knowing he is dying and be so cold. That scares the crap out of me... there's something just real fucked with these folks' interiors. The rage I feel inside about this..... I wanted to picket the doctors' homes and shame them in front of their neighbors..."

There was one small light, according to my friend: "The interns were soulful and on the ball... a number of them regularly stopped in to not only see Tim but give him support - two of them shared their feelings with me about their disgust at UW/Harborview."

.......

Those of us to whom compassion is important can never forget Tim Garon and his brave fight for a second chance at life with a new liver -- only to be cruelly denied for using the legal medical marijuana that his doctor recommended.

This is barbaric. This is a travesty of justice. Those responsible should be ashamed of themselves, and should turn in their medical qualifications because they aren't practicing medicine anymore. They are practicing the ugliest kind of judgmental hypocrisy, and don't deserve to work in the healing profession anymore. Shame on you, Dr. Jorge Reyes, and to all those involved in this horrible decision.

.......

Why is making moral judgments upon people more important to some "healers" than saving lives?

Why is the use of a legal, doctor-recommended and approved medicine called "illicit drug use"?

Why did Tim Garon have to spend his last months on earth worrying about his legal problems (he was actually arrested for growing his own medicinal marijuana, and then denied his liver transplant on the basis of that arrest), in addition to his failing health?

Timothy Garon, peace be with you, wherever you are.

Know that I will not stop speaking out. I will not stop trying to change these things, to make them better, as long as there is life in my body.

Medical Marijuana Won't Kill You, But Misguided Policies Will

Tim Garon and his guitar

The national outrage continues at the treatment of Tim Garon, who was denied a liver transplant largely because, at the advice of his physician, he used medical marijuana, which is legal in the state of Washington.

The uproar has sent the University of Washington Medical Center into full damage-control mode. They are now desperately backpedaling away from their earlier admission that Garon was, in fact, denied the transplant because of medical marijuana.

UW officials now vaguely cite "other factors," but it's too late: Two separate physicians, including transplant chief Dr. Jorge Reyes, already admitted in an Associated Press story that marijuana was the reason.

In that story, Dr. Reyes said Garon was denied the transplant because he, Dr. Reyes, feared that Garon wouldn't be able to stop smoking marijuana after the operation. And another UW doctor claimed that marijuana commonly contains mold that could cause organ rejection in a transplant patient. Both of these, bereft as they are of logic, are tacit admissions that marijuana was, in fact, the reason Tim Garon was rejected as a transplant recipient.

Meanwhile, the spin control continues, with UW communications specialist Mary Guiden today emailing me, "Although medical marijuana may be an issue in rare cases, it is never the sole determinant in arriving at medical decisions about candidates for organ transplants, and whether a patient is listed."

Guiden went on to tell me "the Liver Transplant Committee looks at a number of other issues, including behavioral concerns such as a history of substance abuse or dependency. If such a history exists, then the Committee looks at the period of abstinence the candidate has demonstrated to date, efforts made to maintain this abstinence, and the potential to abuse again."

Seems we're back to Mary Jane again, Mary. You are attempting to frame the debate in terms of "substance abuse or dependency," when we are talking about doctor-recommended use of legal medical marijuana. You are attempting to impose the model of "abstinence, and the potential to abuse again"; that's trying to impose an addiction scenario on doctor-recommended medical usage of legal medicine. That is intellectually dishonest, and morally bankrupt: You are making it sound as if Tim Garon had been sucking down gallons of whiskey or scarfing down lines of coke. Tim wasn't abusing anything. He didn't need to "abstain" from anything. He was using medical marijuana.

Folks, what we have here is a moral judgment masquerading as a medical decision.

Tim Garon did nothing wrong; medical marijuana is legal in the state of Washington, and is less toxic to the liver than anything else he could have taken to lesson his nausea and pain. As Harvard psychologist and marijuana researcher Dr. Lester Grinspoon has written on his website, "Cannabis is not hepatotoxic. You can use cannabis to treat the symptoms of hepatitis C without affecting its course. Many people who have this problem use cannabis to get symptomatic relief."

The national wave of disgust at the inhumane transplant policies of hospitals including the UW Medical Center is still growing, and continues to be expressed even in the mainstream press. The Ventura County Star in California published an excellent editorial on the topic today:

Editorial: Pot costs man shot at a liver
Is death the price of inaction?
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

By the time state governments have resolved their differences over medical marijuana with the federal government, Timothy Garon will be dead, if he isn't already.

Mr. Garon, lead singer for Nearly Dan, a Steely Dan cover-band in Seattle, was reported Sunday by The Associated Press to be dying from Hepatitis C, which has destroyed his liver. He needs a new one.

He would be on an organ transplant list to have at least a crack at a new liver, if it weren't for one thing: He used medical marijuana, under the authorization of a Seattle physician, as allowed by Washington state law. Dr. Brad Roter recommended the marijuana for Mr. Garon's nausea, abdominal pain and to increase his appetite.

Little did they know that at several U.S. hospitals, people who use illegal substances — even medical marijuana where it is legal — are not eligible for a transplant. The University of Washington Medical Center has strict rules about transplant candidates' drug use, but reconsidered Mr. Garon's case when his attorney pressed the issue. Still, the university denied Mr. Garon a shot at a new liver. AP reported that UCLA Medical Center allows patients a chance to reapply for a transplant list if they stay off marijuana for six months.

The Star understands that with a shortage of organs for transplant, available organs should go to those most likely to take care of them. That is why patients who drink heavily or use illegal drugs are often excluded from transplant lists. However, it is inconceivable that a sick person a doctor has deemed a candidate for medical marijuana is lumped in the same category as a drug abuser.

It is inconceivable that in 2008, marijuana is still a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it is deemed to have no medical use in the U.S.

That is despite a 1999 yearlong study by the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Science, which concluded marijuana may be effective in easing chronic pain, nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, poor appetite, wasting caused by AIDS or advanced cancer, and muscular spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

That is despite the fact that California and 11 other states have passed laws allowing medical marijuana to be recommended by doctors.

And that is despite the fact that, just this year, the American College of Physicians — 124,000 doctors of internal medicine — formally called on the federal government to ease its ban on medical marijuana.

The U.S. government has gone to such ridiculous lengths to prohibit medical marijuana that, from 1997 to 2003, it threatened to revoke doctors' federal licenses to prescribe medicine if they even discussed the benefit of medical marijuana with their patients.

Californians and residents of 11 other states that allow medical marijuana are victims of the clash of state and federal laws that has been unresolved for too long. The U.S. Supreme Court recommended in 2005 that Congress resolve the issue.

But, earlier this year, the California Supreme Court ruled that employers can fire workers who use marijuana recommended by a physician.

And, today, Mr. Garon, if he isn't dead already, doesn't have a prayer.

So, be warned, medical marijuana — legal for the last 12 years in California with a doctor's authorization — could cost you your job. And if you need an organ transplant, it could cost you your life.

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/apr/30/pot-costs-man-shot-at-a-liver/

Fax, Email, Call: Don't Deny Transplants To Medical Marijuana Patients!

Tim Garon and his girlfriend, Leisa Bueno, who leans over to give him a kiss while they wait to hear if he will be put on a transplant list to receive a new liver on Thursday in Seattle. Garon was refused a spot, largely because he has used marijuana, even though it was legally approved for medical reasons. (AP Photo)

I can't stop thinking about Tim Garon, who was removed from the list to receive a liver transplant due to his legal, physician-recommended use of medical marijuana.

Four days ago, Tim, a talented musician (you can get his music on Amazon.com) and by all accounts a great guy, was told he wouldn't be receiving a liver due to his "illicit drug use."

This is unconscionable and inhumane. Beyond that, it's simply barbaric.

I've listened to Tim's song, "Goodbye Baby," dozens of times over the past two days and I don't mind telling you that there have been a few tears.

It's hard to believe this kind of thing is still happening, even in states where voters have legalized medical marijuana when recommended by a physician.

The Liver Selection Committee that made this decision knows full well that the medical marijuana Tim Garon smoked hasn't caused liver damage. Instead, Dr. Jorge Reyes justifies the decision in an AP article by saying marijuana can be habit-forming, and he's worried that Garon would continue to use marijuana.

As Dominic Holden wrote today in the Slog, "Excuse me, but what sort of backward logic concludes it's best to let a man to die because he used the very medication that helped him live?" Hepatitis C is explicitly covered under Washington's Medical Use of Marijuana Act for helping control the nausea caused by the disease's viral load.

In the article, another doctor grasps at straws by claiming that a form of mold that can be found on marijuana could cause his body to reject the new liver, if Garon continues to smoke pot — but (a) Tim wouldn't keep smoking pot if doctors told him not to, because he's smoking it on his personal physician's advice, and is not addicted to it like a crack addict (marijuana is one of the least habit-forming drugs), (b) Tim is not suicidal, he very much wants to live; and (c) almost all medical grade marijuana is properly cured so as not to contain any mold!

So, according to the doctor, Tim is being denied the transplant for something that hasn't happened. (Of course, we know that in reality the transplant committee is making an ENORMOUS moral judgment on Tim Garon for smoking pot -- and they're willing to let him die because of that.)

The back story, for those not already familiar with Tim Garon's plight:

This Amounts To A Death Sentence For Using Legal Medical Marijuana

This isn't the first time this has happened -- but we need to do all we can to make sure that it's the last:

http://www.marijuananews.com/marijuananews/cowan/patient_who_was_denied_liver_tra.htm

I just spoke with a very nice and helpful person at the UW Medical Center who has given me a fax number:

Liver Selection Committee
Fax 206-598-0628

If we could all send reasonable, respectful and short messages to this fax number explaining that we disagree with legal, physician recommended medical marijuana use being used as a basis for disqualifying patients from the list to receive livers, we very well might make some positive impact on the way they think about and handle this.

I'm going to send a message like this:

"I realize that the types of decisions you have to make regarding transplants are very difficult. But at the same time, I’d like to register my sincere opinion that denying a patient a liver transplant on the basis of his or her use of legal medical marijuana as recommended by a physician is not a good decision, not a logical one, nor is it a humane one."

I strongly encourage all of you who have access to a fax machine to send a message of your own.

For those without reasonable fax access, here are some phone numbers, but be aware that last time I tried, voicemail boxes tended to be full, preventing messages from being left. If by some chance you do get through, please be respectful but firm.

UW Medical Center Division of Transplant Main Number
(206) 598-6700

UW Medical Center Transplant Services
Jorge​ D. Reyes​,​ division chief,​ 206-​543-​9738
reyesjd@u.washington.edu

Kay Wicks, director, kwicks@u.washington.edu

Liver Transplant Division
Mary Kester, clinical coordinator, 206-598-4838
Theresa Hernandez, program coordinator, 206-598-4902
JoAnn Williams, patient care coordinator, 206-598-0017

Thanks for caring and blessed be...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qAoc_UKS4Y

This Amounts To A Death Sentence For Using Legal Medical Marijuana

Tim Garon lies in his hospital bed, Thursday, April 17, 2008, in Seattle. Garon was refused a spot on the transplant list for a new liver, largely because he has used marijuana, even though it was legally approved for medical reasons. (AP Photo)

In Medical Marijuana States, A Patient's Authorized Pot Use Could Block Access To Transplants

By Gene Johnson
The Associated Press

SEATTLE, April 26, 2008

(AP) Timothy Garon's face and arms are hauntingly skeletal, but the fluid building up in his abdomen makes the 56-year-old musician look eight months pregnant.

His liver, ravaged by hepatitis C, is failing. Without a new one, his doctors tell him, he will be dead in days.

But Garon's been refused a spot on the transplant list, largely because he has used marijuana, even though it was legally approved for medical reasons.

"I'm not angry, I'm not mad, I'm just confused," said Garon, lying in his hospital bed a few minutes after a doctor told him the hospital transplant committee's decision Thursday.

With the scarcity of donated organs, transplant committees like the one at the University of Washington Medical Center use tough standards, including whether the candidate has other serious health problems or is likely to drink or do drugs.

And with cases like Garon's, they also have to consider -- as a dozen states now have medical marijuana laws -- if using dope with a doctor's blessing should be held against a dying patient in need of a transplant.

Most transplant centers struggle with the how to deal with people who have used marijuana, said Dr. Robert Sade, director of the Institute of Human Values in Health Care at the Medical University of South Carolina.

"Marijuana, unlike alcohol, has no direct effect on the liver. It is however a concern ... in that it's a potential indicator of an addictive personality," Sade said.

The Virginia-based United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation's transplant system, leaves it to individual hospitals to develop criteria for transplant candidates.

At some, people who use "illicit substances" -- including medical marijuana, even in states that allow it -- are automatically rejected. At others, such as the UCLA Medical Center, patients are given a chance to reapply if they stay clean for six months. Marijuana is illegal under federal law.

Garon believes he got hepatitis by sharing needles with "speed freaks" as a teenager. In recent years, he said, pot has been the only drug he's used. In December, he was arrested for growing marijuana.

Garon, who has been hospitalized or in hospice care for two months straight, said he turned to the university hospital after Seattle's Harborview Medical Center told him he needed six months of abstinence.

The university also denied him, but said it would reconsider if he enrolled in a 60-day drug-treatment program. This week, at the urging of Garon's lawyer, the university's transplant team reconsidered anyway, but it stuck to its decision.

Dr. Brad Roter, the Seattle physician who authorized Garon's pot use for nausea, abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite, said he did not know it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant.

That's typically the case, said Peggy Stewart, a clinical social worker on the liver transplant team at UCLA who has researched the issue. "There needs to be some kind of national eligibility criteria," she said.

The patients "are trusting their physician to do the right thing. The physician prescribes marijuana, they take the marijuana, and they are shocked that this is now the end result," she said.

No one tracks how many patients are denied transplants over medical marijuana use.

Pro-marijuana groups have cited a handful of cases, including at least two patient deaths, in Oregon and California, since the mid-to-late 1990s, when states began adopting medical marijuana laws.

Many doctors agree that using marijuana -- smoking it, especially -- is out of the question post-transplant.

The drugs patients take to help their bodies accept a new organ increase the risk of aspergillosis, a frequently fatal infection caused by a common mold found in marijuana and tobacco.

But there's little information on whether using marijuana is a problem before the transplant, said Dr. Emily Blumberg, an infectious disease specialist who works with transplant patients at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital.

Further complicating matters, Blumberg said, is that some insurers require proof of abstinence, such as drug tests, before they'll agree to pay for transplants.

Dr. Jorge Reyes, a liver transplant surgeon at the UW Medical Center, said that while medical marijuana use isn't in itself a sign of substance abuse, it must be evaluated in the context of each patient.

"The concern is that patients who have been using it will not be able to stop," Reyes said.

Dale Gieringer, state coordinator for the California chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, scoffed at that notion.

"Everyone agrees that marijuana is the least habit-forming of all the recreational drugs, including alcohol," Gieringer said. "And unlike a lot of prescription medications, it's nontoxic to the liver."

Reyes and other UW officials declined to discuss Garon's case.

But Reyes said that in addition to medical concerns, transplant committees -- which often include surgeons, social workers, and nutritionists -- must evaluate whether patients have the support and psychiatric health to cope with a complex post-operative regimen for the rest of their lives.

Garon, the lead singer for Nearly Dan, a Steely Dan cover-band, remains charged with manufacturing weed. He insists he was following the state law, which limits patients to a "60-day supply" but doesn't define that amount.

"He's just a fantastic musician, and he's a great guy," said his girlfriend, Liesa Bueno. "I wish there was something we could do legally. ... I'm going to miss him terribly if he passes."

___

Garon performing his song "Goodbye Baby":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJDihYn_fJA

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2004375764_webtrnsplant26.html