VIEWPOINT: Patients Without Time discontinues medical cannabis support for patients - December 7, 2007
By BRIAN MURPHY

This is an open letter to the doctors, patients, medical community of Maui County, their families and their loved ones who have been helped by Patients Without Time.

When I founded PWT several years ago, I wanted to help Maui’s medical community by providing information about medical cannabis.

As a disabled American veteran, I know better than Michael Moore the challenges we face with the current health care system.

I had the simple hope of creating both support and legislation for the thousands of our neighbors who need a medicine that incurs the wrath of societal biases, brands patients as criminals and exposes vulnerable people to dangerous black market activity.

Patients Without Time came about to help patients navigate current laws while trying to create more enlightened legislation – a far cry from the cannabis clubs that operate as stores and dispensaries on the Mainland.

For many years we were reasonably successful in our attempts to improve the quality of our neighbors’ lives. Of course our “successes” were often bittersweet, evidenced by the many times families thanked us at funerals.

It seems that the commercial and attendant violent aspects of medical cannabis have found their way to Maui, and we at PWT find ourselves the target of several malicious and dangerous campaigns.

At least one campaign is being waged by two disgruntled former “associates” of Patients Without Time in the hopes of creating support for their new operation.

Rather than engage in a war that cannot be won, with the goal of registering voters and creating legislation that will help our most vulnerable neighbors get the medical care they deserve.

Brian Murphy is the founder and director of Patients Without Time. He lives in Haiku.