 A
Hilo grandmother whose medical marijuana plants were stolen received $2,000
from her insurance company for loss of four plants.
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- Tammy VanBuskirk, 57, who smokes marijuana to treat glaucoma,
has a Hawaii state permit to grow a limited amount of marijuana at her
Sunrise Ridge home, and to use it with a doctor's approval.
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- VanBuskirk said the plants were stolen from her yard
on May 5.
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- "They jumped my fence and grabbed what they could,"
she said. The burglar fled when her groundskeeper's son spotted him in
the yard, she said. The boy ran to get his dad, but by then the burglar
was gone, leaving a trail of plant debris in his wake.
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- Early that evening, someone came back and made off with
the remaining plants while VanBuskirk was inside her house, she said.
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- She filed a police report but no arrests were made. She
then filed a claim with American Reliable Insurance Company, based in Scottsdale,
Ariz.
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- VanBuskirk bought the homeowners policy when she moved
into her home about 18 months ago. Nine months after she bought the house
she received her permit to grow and to use marijuana to treat glaucoma.
This was her first crop in Hawaii. "Prior to this I'd never grown
outside."
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- The former Washington state resident also was permitted
to use marijuana for glaucoma in Washington. "They were legal long
before Hawaii," she said. "I moved to Hawaii when it was not
legal (here)."
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- Hawaii is one of eight states and the District of Columbia
with medical marijuana laws, and the state Narcotics Enforcement Division
reports that about 920 medical marijuana permits are currently in effect
statewide.
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- According to Hawaii's law, adopted in 2000, patients
with permits who are under a doctor's care may possess up to 3 ounces of
marijuana and grow up to seven plants at a time to alleviate suffering.
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- The largest plant in VanBuskirk's yard had grown 6 feet
tall and 8 feet wide, she said. It was visible from the street despite
a 6 - foot rock wall that the thief had to scale to get into her yard.
"I grew it in front of God and everybody. The police were well aware
of the plant."
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- She has a only a small amount of marijuana remaining
and must either wait until her next crop matures or attempt to obtain what
she needs illicitly, VanBuskirk said.
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- She's considering a 6 - by - 6 - foot fenced dog - kennel
- like enclosure with a car alarm to thwart future burglaries. She could
go back to growing indoors but the electricity cost for the lights is prohibitive.
"I'm still working on ideas," she said.
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- She said her local insurance agent, whom she declined
to name, was reluctant to report her claim.
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- A spokesperson for American Reliable Insurance in Arizona,
who did not want to be identified, said the company has paid two similar
claims in California. VanBuskirk's is the first the company has paid in
Hawaii.
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- VanBuskirk said the case is significant because the mainland
insurance company recognized the Hawaii law over the federal prohibition
of all uses of marijuana.
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- The federal government continues to oppose states' medical
marijuana laws, and in March a federal judge in California refused to block
the U.S. government from potentially prosecuting two women whose doctors
say marijuana is the only medical relief for their ailments. Federal law
does not recognize marijuana as a lawful drug, the judge ruled.
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- But as long as the medical marijuana is sanctioned by
the state in which a permitted user makes the claim, the insurance company
considers pot plants like any other plant or shrub, the company spokesperson
said.
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- VanBuskirk received $500 for each of the four plants
stolen. She filed the claim for more than $500 per plant - she declined
to say how much more - but her policy carries a limit on the amount per
plant.
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- The insurance company applied the policy's $1,000 deductible
to the excess amount of the claim, however, and sent VanBuskirk a check
for $2,040.31, which includes small amounts for damage to a money tree
and vegetable plants in her yard.
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- The largest plant likely would be worth more than $500
if processed and sold on the street, but medical marijuana permit holders
are prohibited from selling their crops. The plant also was so big that
it might have yielded more than the legal amount VanBuskirk may possess.
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- "I would have to give some away," she said.
"But I have to be careful about that. There are a lot of gray areas
in the law.
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- "I go strictly by the law and the rules," she
said, and considered giving her excess pot to the police. "I want
to see this program work. I don't want to go blind. I'm just growing what
I need."
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- VanBuskirk believes in religious use of marijuana and
uses it for spiritual reasons as well as medicinal. She describes herself
as a "born - again baptized believer in Jesus Christ," but is
not affiliated with any church that considers marijuana a required sacrament.
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- She first started using medical marijuana after being
diagnosed with glaucoma in the 1990s in Washington. Her doctor was unfamiliar
with the treatment, but after a year of using it he told her it was unusual
to find no deterioration of her condition.
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- "It doesn't take away the pain, it prevents it from
happening," she said, by reducing the pressure inside the eyeball
that glaucoma causes. Marijuana also relieves a debilitating pain in her
back. "It helps with many things. It brought my blood pressure down
and relaxes my muscles."
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- VanBuskirk, who has four adult children, 10 grandchildren
and an 11th on the way, continues to be active despite her ailments. "I
have business to take care of. I'm not a down - and - outer," she
said. "Under a controlled situation I find marijuana to be a miracle
drug for me. It makes my life a lot easier to live. I value my eyesight
and it works."
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- Hunter Bishop can be reached at hunter@hawaiitribune
- herald.com.
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- http://www.hilohawaiitribune.com/daily/2003/Jul-24-Thu-2003/news/news1.html
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