Madison NORML

I believe my first meeting with Dr. Tod was at the First National Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics at the University of Iowa, April 6-8, 2000, presented by Patients Out of Time. I ran into him again at the NORML Conference in Washington DC in April 2001, where he was educating attendees about cannabis vaporization.

Dr. Tod with Keith Stroup, Mikki Norris and Ben Masel at HF 35.

Back in California, in the course of his practice, Dr. Tod wrote a recommendation for a woman named Cheryl Lam, who was suffering complications from being bitten by a brown recluse spider. Later, after moving to Wisconsin, Lam was arrested at Devil’s Lake State Park near Baraboo for possession of a small amount of cannabis. Citing her note from Dr. Tod, Lam’s attorney contended that under WI state law, one could possess a controlled substance with an order of a practitioner and that her recommendation constituted such an order. The Sauk County DA and judge agreed, and the case was dismissed:

Baraboo Republic
Sat, 18 Dec 2004
Marijuana Case Dismissed
Read article: click here

In February of 2005, I cited Dr. Tod’s documentation of the use of cannabis as a treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in this letter published in the Isthmus:

Thu, 17 Feb 2005
Isthmus
Vet Blues
Read article: click here

In 2005, we decided to bring in some special guests to speak at the 35th Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival on October 1 & 2 of 2005, including Dr. Tod, Keith Stroup, Mikki Norris and Chris Conrad. The weekend kicked off with the now annual IMMLY/Madison NORML medical cannabis benefit at the Cardinal Bar in downtown Madison on September 30, and all four were present. Mark Shanahan, ex of the Avalons “Legal Medicine Blues,” was playing some solo blues guitar when Dr. Tod approached him and asked him if he could sit in.

Dr. Tod speaking at HF35 on October 1, 2005.

Dr. Tod ended up singing two songs accompanied by Mark’s guitar, which were captured with a camcorder. The resulting audio is not perfect, but the audio for the first of two songs, “Midnight Special,” is of decent enough quality to offer here as an mp3 for readers to download and listen to: right click here.

Dr. Tod’s schedule did not allow him to attend both days, but he did speak at the Library Mall on Saturday, and I had the honor of introducing him and taping his speech for him. Video will hopefully be online soon. He was also mentioned in an article about Harvest Fest by Wisconsin State Journal reporter Sandy Cullen:

Dr. Tod Mikuriya, a leading figure in the medical marijuana movement in California, said that nearly 150,000 patients have benefited from medical marijuana since it was legalized in that state nearly 10 years ago.

Mikuriya said the federal government is protecting big pharmaceutical companies by opposing medical use of marijuana in favor of drugs that are less effective and can have severe side effects.

Sun, 02 Oct 2005
Wisconsin State Journal
Medical Marijuana Advocates Rally
Read Entire article: click here

I last saw Tod at the 2006 NORML Conference in San Francisco and he looked pretty good despite his battle with cancer. I recall him joking with other cannabis physicians about having to deal with doctors as a patient. I was collecting signatures on a Madison NORML t-shirt and his signature is bold and with a flourish, like one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence or some other historical document. His contribution to the very historical document Prop 215, passed by California voters in 1997 was to add the phrase in the first sentence that allows doctors to approve marijuana use in treating "any...condition for which marijuana provides relief," as Fred Gardner notes in his “The Doctor of Last Resort,” looking bad at a life spent fighting for freedom. Dr. Mikuriya was a true American. He fought for what was right for his patients. He left a big hole that cannot be filled. RIP Dr. Tod! May the Midnight Special shine its ever lovin' light on you!

Read article: click here
The Doctor of Last Resort
Wed, 23 May 2007
Anderson Valley Advertiser click here