His testimony came in a hearing that is part of a trial of a Beach Park woman charged with unlawful possession of cannabis. Brenda K. Kratovil, a 42-year-old mother of two teenagers, contends that she has grown cannabis in her backyard for her own medical use. Investigators from the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group raided the Kratovil home on Oct. 22, 2001, and confiscated what they reported was 25 plants from the backyard, each approximately seven feet tall, and another eight plants drying in the house. The outcome of the hearing, based on a motion to suppress filed by defense attorney David Stepanich, before Judge Mary Schostok, and the eventual decision, could be precedent-setting in Illinois.

The Illinois Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ("NORML"), contends that Illinois has a law which can allow physicians to prescribe cannabis for patients suffering from glaucoma, radiation therapy for cancer or for other "medically necessary" conditions. Glaucoma is a condition of increasing pressure within the eye, which impairs vision and slowly causes eye damage and loss of vision. A "drain" in the eye gets blocked, Savitt said, and fluid normally produced within the eye cannot be released as necessary to prevent pressure buildup.

Savitt is an opthamologist specializing in glaucoma, with offices in Gurnee, Libertyville and at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke in downtown Chicago, where he is also on the teaching staff. His glaucoma patient total is approximately 6,000, he said, and he performs about 10 surgeries a month. Standard treatment for glaucoma includes laser surgery and "eye drop" medication. The former is not without risk, Savitt said, and the latter, over years, can create other problems.

Kratovil, who has been his patient for about six months, has "a very, very advanced glaucoma. She has had several cornea transplants and is legally blind," Savitt said. The cause is genetic and symptoms started when she was a teenager. Her vision is decreasing and the pain increasing, he said." Scar tissue from surgeries leads to inflammation from medications, Savitt said, and aside from the pain, "medications can't keep up as the disease progresses." Kratovil's pain "can be severe, like a severe toothache. Chronic pain limits your ability to live a normal life, Savitt said."

One of the "top 10 questions" of patients is the effect of cannabis, Savitt said. "In the 1970s and 1980s, studies demonstrated that cannabis lowered eye pressure by over 25% in a three-hour period." He indicated there are no current studies, "because the drug is illegal." Some new medications can drop pressure 30 to 35%, he said. New studies "would be beneficial," as would "anything that could lessen patients' pain and preserve vision," Savitt said. "No one is suggesting that everyone with glaucoma be placed on cannabis. Brenda Kratovil is in a very extreme range of patients with very limited options. The disease is progressive and hers will get worse every year. All we can do is decrease the rate by lowering the pressure, through any means."

Savitt said Kratovil has told him that using cannabis "makes her feel better and helps her to lead a normal life, by decreasing her pain." Questioned by prosecutor Amy Meister-Falbe, Savitt said the American Academy of Opthamologists doesn't endorse cannabis use because the organization "doesn't endorse anything that is illegal." Asked by the prosecutor about oral medications for glaucoma, Savitt said they have "very complicated side effects" ranging from kidney stones to life-threatening anemia. Stepanich briefly brought Kratovil to the witness stand but a dispute arose over whether her statements could be used in a later trial. Stepanich said they could not, but Schostok said that is not her understanding of the law. Schostok continued the hearing until Monday, to allow Stepanich to bring in case law to support his contention.

Not allowed to testify was another witness called by Stepanich, Elvy Musikka of Sacramento, Calif. Schostok ruled that Musikka's testimony would not be relevant to how cannabis helps someone else. Outside the courtroom, Musikka, 63, said she has medically used cannabis legally since 1988, as treatment for her glaucoma, which started in her early 30s. She is one of seven people who had been federally licensed for the use.

When the program was closed in 1992, their use was "grandfathered" and allowed to continue. Each month she receives a large tin with enough cannabis "cigarettes" to use at a rate of 10 per day, she said. Musikka uses a vaporizing machine to limit the actual smoke that enters her lungs. She also cooks with cannabis, adding that ingestion is easier than smoking at night. She said usage dries the eye, thereby easing pressure, and "dilates the entire eye, increasing side vision." The cannabis eliminates any need to take medication for arthritis, insomnia or depression, she said. According to the NORML organization, she is not alone. In seven west coast states and Maine, approximately 2,500 people legally use cannabis for medical conditions. Musikka said a Nebraska doctor has tested, over the years, those participants in the federal program. "Our functioning is perfectly normal," she said.

Story by: Art Peterson, Staff Write, 6/5/03:  http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/top/w05cannabis.htm