Dispute Grows Over Medical Marijuana Plants – Portland News Story – KPTV Portland
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Vancouver residents expressed concern Monday about marijuana growing in their neighbors yard.A woman growing the pot said she’s a cancer patient and she has a medical card allowing her to grow some for personal use.
But one neighbor said he thinks she is growing more than she needs and he wants law enforcement officers to do something about it.
There are some marijuana plants growing behind one home and a neighbor said he doesn’t think the plants are following medical marijuana guidelines.
“I don’t smoke pot, and I know people that do and I know that that’s a lot more than 60 days. Those are the biggest plants I’ve ever seen,” neighbor Jack Lennon said. “I think if it’s going to be grown it needs to be regulated, it needs to be supervised.”
The woman who is growing the marijuana said that she’s never done anything illegal in her life.
She said she was going to get chemotherapy Monday and that the plants are part of her treatment.
Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, you are the winner of today’s Lousy Neighbor Award! No, I take it back, how about Lousy Human Being?
Your neighbor is a cancer patient who has followed the law of the state of Washington. It is not her fault the law has such a vague standard of “60-day supply”. Indeed, how much is a valid 60-day supply of marijuana for someone who is battling death, losing hair, vomiting, poisoning their body with radiation, weakening, lowering the immune system, plagued by nausea… what, you think three ounces is good?
The Governor of Washington State asked the experts, people not like Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, people who have actually grown marijuana plants and understand that plant yields vary, that molds, mites, fungus, and various other problems can attack a garden, people who actually work with patients and understand that some may eat their medicine and thus require four times more of it than a smoker or vaporizer, and those experts, unlike Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, recommended that Washington State allow 70 ounces (that’s 4 3/8 pounds) as a “60-day supply”. That freaked out law enforcement, so now the compromise limit suggested is 24 ounces (pound and a half) which matches the limit across the river in Portland, Oregon.
But let’s suppose for a moment that Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, has a point. Maybe she does have a honkin’ huge cannabis sativa plant in her back yard and it’s more than she could use in 60 days.
So what!?! So she might have enough to last 75 days? 90 days? A year? Good! A cancer patient has more than enough medicine! Hooray! That’s something to be happy about, not something you run to cops about rather than just having a face-to-face with your cancer-stricken neighbor, Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington. Maybe she even has so much medicine that she freely gives some to other cancer patients or she donates some to the many patient cooperatives that help people with AIDS, MS, chronic pain, intestinal disorders, seizures, asthma, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and so much more.
It is regulated. It is supervised. You are already forcing sick people to get a doctor’s note to grow a non-toxic herb in their own homes. What more do you want, Jack Lennon of Vancouver, Washington, regular visits from some state graden inspector? Home supervision by a trained medical professional to control the dosage of the weed? Video cameras in the yard and inside the home supervised by Blackwater contractors plugged in directly to Dick Cheney’s secret bunker?
Oh, by the way, the Vancouver Police do not believe there is any illegal marijuana activity going on.
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You’re uneducated.
Yeah, I went to highschool with Jack Lennon and that kid was not liked by anyone. He’s a fool and because he did this I now know where the lady has her stash. awesome!
i just have two things to say snithes get stitches and shame on you
Incorrect, Sequoia.
Point 1) The current program does not adequately meet patient needs, for there is nowhere to purchase medicine. OCTA provides medicine at cost to pharmacies.
Point 2) OCTA conforms to international treaties governing drug crops. International treaties carry the force of law – law of the land, as the Constitution puts it.
Point 3) The provision in OCTA that repeals OMMA repeals all marijuana laws. You can’t be suggesting that the courts would leave standing a provision that repeals all marijuana laws while simultaneously proposing they wouldn’t allow taxed and regulated sales to stand. In order for them to keep the “no more OMMA” part, they have to keep the whole “no more marijuana laws” part. It’s not written in a way where they could work it like a Chinese buffet and take some of column A but none of column B.
Repeal of all marijuana laws is necessary to comport with treaty. A medical marijuana law, OMMA or any other in existence, does not follow the mandate of the 1962 Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs.
If the “OCTA goes down”, then so would the provision that repeals all marijuana laws, and OMMA would be left exactly as it is.
Finally, OCTA has been vetted thoroughly over fifteen years by many legal experts and activists. What I find compelling is how some people in the medical marijuana community are so resistant to the push to tax and regulate cannabis for all adults. Many of these critics are wholly supportive of a plan to institute California-style dispensaries, so it’s not the marijuana sales running afoul of federal interventions they oppose.
I just don’t understand the notion that a state could pass a medical marijuana law that runs counter to federal law and potentially allow medical sales, and the feds would hate it and come bust it and rule against it in the Supreme Court, but somehow the state law stays in effect…
…but then turn around and say if the same state passes a all-adults marijuana law that runs counter to federal law and allows all-adults sales, and the feds would hate it and come bust it and rule against it in the Supreme Court, but this time that state law will be ruled invalid and the previous state law that was allowed to be in effect will be invalid, too.
I don’t get that reasoning. Especially when a successfully passed OCTA would end the need for plant limits, possession limits, cards, registration fees every year, finding a grower, seeing a doctor once a year, worrying about break-ins at gardens, and would give everyone the right to buy and possess quality-controlled, potency-measured, scientifically-studied, low-cost medicine, and that purchase helps fund state programs that could help the neediest patients even more?
Until cannabis is regulated and allowed for all adults, there will always be a black market which inflates the price of medicine and brings violence, robberies, and arrests to patients. Cannabis prohibition hurts not only the patients in Oregon but those people nationwide suffering in medical and non-medical states alike. The action won’t happen at the federal level; it must come from the states. Oregon will be that pioneering state once again – the home of the bottle bill, the public beaches, and marijuana decriminalization – Oregon will be the state that shows the rest of the states the legal key that unlocks prohibition.
I am sorry to hear that this patient has had to endure cancer, chemo treatments, and idiots for neighbors.
The problem with OCTA is that it is, as Russ says, about 15 years old and was not vetted properly for todays standards and usage by patients, who have a wonderful program that is protective and serves us well.
The only problem with OCTA in the end will be the Federal Scheduling of Marijuana. It trumps OCTA, and any other legalization efforts, every single time.
I am not saying decrim doesn’t come and go, and that is part of the OCTA problem, as it dismantles the OMMA law in the first paragraph, and when OCTA goes down….OMMA will already be gone.A decade of gone gone in a minute because the supporters of OCTA refuse to vet this action properly and change the first paragraph superceding the OMMA law.
Hey all. Jack is now fighting fires in Bend and learning how to save the world. Hope he comes across a pot fire and gets ripped. I have heard through some old friends that the last few years he has become a know it all and quite a jackass and people were starting to hate him at school. I guess he even let his girlfriend beat his ass. So on the outside he may be tuff but really hes insecure as shit and misses his daddy who didnt want him. Now that he is gone though maybe the poor lady will get some peace.
Last I checked we were innocent until proven guilty in this country. I truly hope that legal actions are brought against Jack, “Billy”, and KPTV for giving out just enough info to cause this woman and her family to have her home broken into. Everything Billy has posted is nothing but hearsay, not valid, nor can we believe it to be true since he has no proof. Where is this recorded conversation? I doubt it exist.
It sounds to me like someone is upset about something so they are trying to cause trouble for someone else. Even “IF” the people in question are drug dealers, is there any reason to insult them even more by talking about ridiculous things like facial sores? You are 18 kid have you had acne before? So quick to pass judgment on someone without thinking of the consequences of your actions.
The real thing that needs to be addressed is that there obviously isn’t anything for the teenagers to do in Vancouver…because they are more interested in stirring up drama with sick, innocent people. It might not be today, it might not be tonight, tomorrow, next month or next year but you will regret what you have done to this woman. You will remember it, and you will regret it.
What is Billy Lesse’s email address, home address and phone number? I know the lady going through the cancer treatments. I think I’m going to go for a visit, see how she’s doing and find out all of Billy’s personal contact information. I’ll let you all know what it is when I get it. Lets all see Billy’s tune change when it’s he that is being personally attacked.
Guess what? Your government is lying to you about cannabis.
2006, Washington Post: Dr. Donald Tashkin at UCLA Med Ctr finds that even heavy chronic marijuana smokers do not have an increased risk of head, neck, or lung cancers compared to non-smokers, and those who smoke both cannabis and tobacco have lower cancer risk than those who smoke tobacco alone.
There is no credible evidence whatsoever indicating any health risks from second-hand marijuana smoke.
Heavy chronic marijuana smokers do suffer from an increased rate of bronchitis.
Marijuana is not “addictive”, at least in the heroin/cocaine/meth/alcohol/nicotine sense. Some users (about 9%) can develop symptoms of “dependence”, which when cannabis is ceased can lead to irritability, insomnia, and restlessness. Not exactly a puking, shaking, sweating junkie trying to kick heroin. NIDA rated the “addictiveness” of cannabis to be about as severe as caffeine.
Erm… moldy.
According to some sources, marijuana is addictive and can cause death (maybe not through OD, it’s just like how cigarettes can’t cause direct death but does cause death through cancer). And no, this research was not done on wikipedia, it was researched on a .gov site and a few creditable medial sites. Marijuana can give respiratory illnesses to smokers. Also, marijuana smoke can be ‘second hand’, like cigarette smoke.
boy oh boy… this is a doozy. Not enough words in the dictionary to explain some “people’s” absolute IGNORANCE! So she’s trash because she has sore’s on her face? This from a “friend” of “jack” who had skin cancer? Good thing this “cancer” didn’t leave HIM with any sores making him trash! or did it? and you just happen to be a really good “friend”
Maybe you guys are just jealous that some “old cancer trash lady” has better stuff in her backyard, than you got spending BOTH your allowances on?
MY Hypothesis: “Jack” IS “Billy”/”Billy” IS “Jack” it’s all one big ignorant paranoid nightmare! that I wish was funny, but when somebodys HEALTH is at risk…not funny.
Billy Boy: Karma…like cancer, is a B*TCH!!
Funny how this “pathetic drug addict” is a far better writer and speller than you, Billy.
Please tell me you enjoy a Budweiser from time to time. Only that would make your idiocy complete.
Second in command of one of the largest NORML chapters in the world?
Political director to legalize marijuna..
Yes.. I do think your a pathetic drug addict. You drug addicts along with Lori Cockreham and Colin Cockreham deserve to be locked up forever. You are all the scum of this great country and only give the US a bad name. By the way there are people over at Lori’s now all smoking pot i’m sure.
Probably for medical use.. psh.. w/e..
Billy, there is a difference between “illegal” and “unethical”. Is it illegal to post someone’s name and address? No. Knowing that person is a legal medical marijuana patient (according to WA MedMJ program) suffering from cancer (according to the doctor who signed for her) tending a legal outdoor grow (according to Vancouver PD) and then posting her name and address hoping for her private property to be trespassed upon and her medicine stolen, well, that’s beyond unethical, it’s reprehensible.
Now, as for the recorded phone conversation: No, speakerphones are not against the law. However, recording a telephone conversation on a speakerphone for submission to police may indeed be illegal…
Finally, Billy, I smoke marijuana every single day, and I am not suffering from cancer. I host a daily podcast, a weekly talk radio show, a bi-monthly TV show, I write for three blogs, I maintain three websites, I’m second in command of one of the largest NORML chapters in the world, I’m political director of a statewide initiative to legalize marijuana, and I have a successful computer consulting business as well. I guess I’m just another slacker loser “pot addict” in your mind. Are you hoping for crimes to be committed against me and all the other 25,000,000 “pot addicts” in America?
You sure are quite the man, Billy.
And again, if this lady was growing Prozac in her back yard it would be “okay” right? As Russ has said many times this problem ain’t going away until cannabis is legal for everyone. Of course Jack may need to find something else to be concerned about… like fire codes or something he knows about.
Oh Billy! Drug addicts? “She’s addicted to it” Billy please, you don’t get addicted to pot and you can’t die from it. Now why is it illegal? You need to check that out if you don’t know. Otherwise you are just another sheep listening to the lies of the prohibitionists. Okay, no body dies but its illegal. Does something sound fishy to you? Or is this okay with you? Do you get sick when you think of homosexuals having sex?
Wow. You are an evil, vindictive, horrible, hateful, spiteful person. Words can’t even express how incredibly ignorant and manipulative of a person you must be. I don’t think your posting even deserves a response.
Posting her name and address for the public to see is illegal? I guess we better go after Qwest for putting her name in the phone books cause that’s violating her privacy too right? They post just as much information as I did.
Nice thing about America is I can say what I want. Freedom of speech. I personally hope all her pot gets stolen. She knows she isn’t using it for cancer. she’s addicted to it. he husband even told that to jack. I was in the car when he said it. The phone was on speakerphone. Speakerphone must be illegal too then right?
Billy,
You are implying this medical marijuana patient is a meth addict because nothing but meth could explain sores on the skin of a cancer patient.
You allege she is defrauding the Washington State medical marijuana laws by being cancer-free for ten years, and, by extension, calling one or more doctors who signed for her medical marijuana a liar and a fraud.
You are calling her a “low life drug dealer” based on allegations of a marijuana sale, combined with the implication of a meth addiction and the use of the words “sold pot” and “exchanged drugs” which leads one to believe you’re saying she’s selling other drugs. Yet somehow the Vancouver Police visit, declare it a legal growsite, and just let her be, despite sworn statements and recorded (illegally?) cell phone conversations submitted to these police.
You’ve violated her privacy by posting her home address on a public forum, knowing she has a legal medical marijuana growsite, thus making her an inviting target for thieves and violent crime.
I considered for a second banning you from making further comments. Then I figured they might be useful in somebody’s lawsuit.
Wndrwmn30 Says:
“Unfortunately the lady growers’ home was robbed yesterday morning sometime between the hours of 3:30am and 7:00am.”
“And it had to be by someone who our 3 dogs know…..Hmmmmm”
My Hypothesis: This IS the Lady grower/Drug Dealer.
———————————————
Again as an acquaintance of Jack’s.
Jack had skin cancer 4 years ago. His mother would never wish cancer upon somebody else no matter how trashy of people they are.
Lori Cockreham’s husband Colin Cockreham told Jack and Jack’s mom that Lori hasn’t had cancer for over 10 years. Jack was able to get a recording of the conversation off his cell phone and has presented this to the police department and the Department of Health who issued her “medical marijuana card.” Excited to see where this will end up.
Lori sold pot to a guy named “Brandon” in plain view of Jack. Jack told me he was in Lori’s house and she exchanged drugs for money. Jack also signed a sworn statement for a detective at the same time the phone conversation was submitted as evidence.
Lori also approached Jack’s 12 year old brother and told him about the pot. She also told him to keep it a secret from his mother.
I met Lori once a long time ago. She is trash and has many open sores on her face. Jack said the news reporters were joking with him saying that it looks like they should be reporting a meth house since “she looks like a meth addict.”
There is also no such thing as “beefed up security.” They are bluffing. It is public record that kptv did their report at
‘eight zero zero eight’ Macarthur Blvd in Vancouver. Just in case anybody was wondering.
Jack has a firefighting career in front of him and can’t post anything or write anything as this would be justified for a harassment suit. I don’t have a career in front of me, so i’ll write what I want.
Jack supports medical marijuana and medical marijuana patients 100% hands down. He doesn’t support low life drug dealers who can’t hold down a job.
Medical Fund? No.. you just want money so you don’t lose the mortgage on your house. You guys are pathetic drug addicts.
-Billy
The house was robbed again by high schoolers but one was caught and taken by Vancouver Police Department. He was caught by the added security and told us he heard about the marijuana from the Fox Channel 12 news story with Jim Hyde. Now, because of the news story, the plants will be leaving the property because now this HAS become a nuisance to the neighborhood where before it wasn’t. We don’t need prowlers at 3am going through our NICE neighbors property. By Nice I mean unlike Jack’s mother who said, “I hope you do have cancer, Bi&#%”. Thanks to Fox Channel 12 News for doing the story in front of the house, including Jack’s name, and doing everything but giving my friends address so now she has her medication taken away from her. I truly believe in Kharma. Does Jack or Channel 12 want to kick in for her medical fund?
Unfortunately the lady growers’ home was robbed yesterday morning sometime between the hours of 3:30am and 7:00am. There had been no problems since May until the news story brought by the neighbor who had to sneak cameras through 20 foot arborvitae to see the “plain view” plants. So the security has been beefed up, however, one of Jack’s friends, (This was confirmed with Jack’s mother) posted the lady’s name and address on another site with the comment “looking for a new drug dealer?”. This is pure harrassment and now Jack’s family has to worry about thieves burglerizing the neighborhood. But Jack brought this on his family. An 18 year old doesn’t think of consequences. The plants are almost done and will be gone forever. Almost half were stolen, but I am guessing not by a medical patient. And it had to be by someone who our 3 dogs know…..Hmmmmm.
OCTA sounds too good to be true! I’m confused on this statement:
Now: patients must visit their doctor and obtain medical records (spendy!), visit a clinic and get a doctor’s recommendation (another spendy!) register with the state every year (costs $100), fill out paperwork, register a growsite address, and be limited to 6 plants greater than 12 inches, 18 plants less than 12 inches, and 24 ounces of medicine.
After OCTA: No registration, no fees, no licenses, no doctors, no limits. Every adult 21 and over will be free to grow and possess as many of their own plants as they choose, so long as they do not sell.
NOW I can see how the gov’t and other officials will shoot this down. I support the OCT Act, but how are you going to regulate adults over 21 who are growing plants inside or outside of their home? There’s no real way to regulate because I can see ppl still selling their stash. Not everyone is an honest responsible smoker! Some ppl are greedy and will grow a shitload of plants for a surplus to market. The gov’t will throw that in your face that there’s no way to regulate it. They may be cool with 21 and over to purchase from liquor stores and pharmacies, but they won’t be up for everyone opening shop in their homes. You know ppl will take advantage of the OCTA and that can make the plan fail. Yeah, I do agree OMMP stinks! A new policy should be made!
In response to MedMan:
Now: patients have no source of acquiring medicine.
After OCTA: patients (and anyone over 21) can go buy marijuana at a liquor store (and patients at a pharmacy for cost).
Now: patients get their gardens ripped off by black marketeers.
After OCTA: people who aren’t patients who want marijuana can go buy it at a liquor store, alleviating any incentive to rip off patients.
Now: patients suffering from PTSD, anxiety, depression, and a host of other ailments cannot qualify for an OMMP card.
After OCTA: patients won’t need any card, like any adult over 21, they can possess and use the marijuana they buy at a liquor store or pharmacy.
Now: patients must visit their doctor and obtain medical records (spendy!), visit a clinic and get a doctor’s recommendation (another spendy!) register with the state every year (costs $100), fill out paperwork, register a growsite address, and be limited to 6 plants greater than 12 inches, 18 plants less than 12 inches, and 24 ounces of medicine.
After OCTA: No registration, no fees, no licenses, no doctors, no limits. Every adult 21 and over will be free to grow and possess as many of their own plants as they choose, so long as they do not sell.
How in the world can you consider the current OMMP system, with its fees, limits, paperwork, and prying eyes of the state, superior to OCTA, with its freedom for all to use weed however they see fit?
Unless, of course, you find some financial benefit in black market marijuana sales, and the loss of a captive market share of desperate patients who have nowhere to turn but you for their $350 ounce of medicine.
Please, MedMan, explain how “OCTA is a farce”. I’m curious about your expert legal opinions, since you seem to feel the legal experts who wrote and refined OCTA over a dozen years to conform to international treaty and survive a federal court challenge are mistaken.
If OCTA fails, that does nothing to the current OMMP. If OCTA succeeds, how does allowing healthy people to smoke weed and removing state government obstacles to patients make things worse for them?
To billy and annie:
You both have no clue what medical marijuana is or how it works. That is obvious by the stupid remarks you make.
Marijuana is the SAFEST medicine available period. No man made drug has ever been safer or more effective than cannabis.
You cannot overdose on it.
You do not get addicted.
It saves lives, cures cancer, and makes life livable for thousands who would otherwise have died without this miracle plant.
People like you should not speak since all you accomplish when you do is to show your stupidity.
In response to Urb Age:
The OCTA is a farce. It is poorly written and will put thousands on the OMMP in jeopardy of losing the only medicine that works for them.
If you support medical patients then voting no on the OCTA is the only way to go.
In response to Billy Lesse: I highly doubt you have ever seen her backyard. “The neighbors whole backyard is pot” is an absolute fabrication. The backyard is approximately 2000 square feet and the plants under a shelter take up a 3ft by 9ft square area. Is that really the whole backyard? Did you pass Geometry? Also, how do you know she hasn’t had “cancer for over 10 years”? Do you have her medical records? Are you clairvoyant? Do you have a crystal ball? Are you a doctor that has treated her? Who is the idiot now? If Jack had asked her, she would have shared her medication info but instead he went to the police and news which in turn showed she was doing everything legally under Washington State laws and told her that Jack and his family were actually harassing her. She’s not a drug dealer. This is for her own personal use due to nausea from injections and Methotrexate. Lastly, if you think people who leave long comments need to do something with their lives, why did you post here? Do you need a hobby?
Billy: The cops side with Tracie and I’m sure Tracie and her doctor better know her condition than you or Jack.
Annie: Don’t know where you got the crack comments. And there is no such thing as a marijuana OD (overdose), so don’t worry about the kids. Tracie has more to fear from the kids than vice versa.
My reason for posting this story has to do with how neighbors can be very misunderstanding when it comes to medical marijuana. If the cops, the doctor, and the law have no problem with Tracie’s garden, what’s a busybody neighbor doing poking his nose into other people’s business?
I am the lady with the “huge operation” in my backyard. Thank you to all of those who have supported me. Kudos to the Vancouver Police Department. They have been extremely kind to me. They came to my house yesterday and thoroughly inspected my house. I am well under my allowed grow.
I am not sure why Jack decided to take this action. I have in the past given him Blazer Tickets, a cell phone, and my husband sold him his first car. We have always been close to Jack, his brother and mother. Why Jack all of the sudden became an expert without asking me first, is beyond me.
Jack’s mother was fully aware that I am a card holder. I told her as I said it was up to her whether or not she wished to discuss this with her children.
Jack has now been informed that there is no illegal activity taking place on my property, and that if he, or anyone else on my block bother me, the Vancouver Police Department will site them for harassment.
Again, thank you to all those that care. I am starting to feel better…good day today. Have another round of chemo on Thursday, so keep me in your prayers.
F–k you all. I know Jack personally and he’s such a sweetie. He’s a local volunteer fireman in training and doesn’t diss on those who might save you one day. Asses. He has quite the right to speak his mind. He doesn’t do crack or whatever you think he does. He probably did want any other high schooler did while in high school: partied, but he didn’t do crack. Get off his back. So what if they lady is a cancer patient? To be honest, I’m more worried that she has those things growing in her backyard where a kid could hop the fence and OD on it. =P
I am an acquantance of jack and talked with him about the issue. the neighbor’s whole backyard is pot. She hasn’t had cancer for over 10 years. She’s full of shit and i have to side with Jack. Do something with your lives rather than write page long comments supporting an illegal drug to be grown.. idiots
I don’t smoke pot, and I want to beat this guy’s ass. Reciprocity for being an asshole to a sick woman.
Jack Lennon needs to mind his own buisness. What a person does on their own property is nobody’s buisness except for their own- so long as they don’t infringe upon the rights’ of another. Those rights of another don’t include the right to tell someone they can’t grow what they like upon their own property for whatever reason- so long as the plants don’t grow over the property lines, et cet.
Jack Lennon’s of the world could do well to keep their nose in their own affairs and stay out of other people’s personal activities and lives. While the fact that this lady apparently informed the neighbors of the growing makes it seem like she is being a good neighbor, she didn’t even have to do that.
Whether sick or not, someone’s personal activities involving themselves and their property should be nobody else’s buisness.
Hopefully Jack Lennon never gets sick or finds himself engaging in activity that, while doesn’t infringe upon another’s rights, is looked down upon by others. Maybe then he’d realize, too late, that part of being a decent person and a decent community is not infringing upon another’s mutual right to their own body, life, and property.
The good news is by our friend Jack saying this “I don’t smoke pot, and I know people that do and I know that that’s a lot more than 60 days. Those are the biggest plants I’ve ever seen,” neighbor Jack Lennon said. “I think if it’s going to be grown it needs to be regulated, it needs to be supervised.”
That means he is for the OCTA, Oregon Cannabis Tax Act and we sure could use his vote. So Jack, if you have any friends living in Oregon, get them to vote yes for the OCTA in 2010. Its a win win Jack, the cannabis gets regulated and your neighbor gets her needed medicine. BAMM!!!